Zen Internet named best UK broadband provider as bigger rivals disappoint in pandemic

Customers of the UK’s major broadband providers have struggled with unreliable connections and sluggish speeds during the pandemic, new research from consumer group Which? has found.

While the majority (71 per cent) of the 4,478 adults surveyed said they’d used the internet more since the outbreak of Covid-19 in the UK last March, the number of customers experiencing issues with their connections also rose substantially in comparison to the previous year.

Very slow internet speeds (59 per cent) and frequent dropouts (53 per cent) were the issues most commonly experienced during the past 12 months, Which?’s annual customer satisfaction survey found, with just under half (48 per cent) saying they had been left without a connection for more than a day.

Zen Internet, a small provider based in Rochdale, emerged as the service with the highest levels of customer satisfaction, as it garnered 70 per cent in customer scores.

It was ranked significantly higher than its major rivals BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media, which supplied nine in 10 households in the UK.

Nearest rival BT scored 57 per cent in customer scores but still came in eighth place in Which?’s overall ranking, with Sky and TalkTalk both receiving a 54 per cent score.

Virgin Media followed with 53 per cent, which the group said was second to bottom – the position held by John Lewis – in its satisfaction rankings.

Despite Virgin Media having its own cable network in parts of the UK, meaning it operates independently of other providers which are reliant on BT’s Openreach’s broadband infrastructure, one in three of its surveyed customers said their had been at the mercy of a dropped connection for at least an hour within the past year.

Although TalkTalk ranked highly in terms of being good value for money, as its services are cheaper than many of its rivals’, its customers were the most likely to say they would not recommend the provider to other people.

Similarly, a quarter of Sky users said they had experienced frequent drop outs in the past year despite paying more for their connections than the average broadband customer, with more than a quarter saying the price of their broadband deal has increased within the past year.

While BT’s rankings were average in most categories, its customers rated it poorly in terms of being value for money.

“Broadband providers must up their game and meet the challenge of providing fast, reliable connections and good customer service for millions of customers whose needs and expectations have risen over the last year,” said Natalie Hitchins, head of home products and services at Which?.

“The industry and government must also work together to ensure more people have the chance to switch to faster and more reliable gigabit-capable broadband services in the years to come – or risk undermining the UK’s goal of becoming a world leader in connectivity.”

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