Brits complained a bit less about connectivity when they were allowed to go outside and see people in the flesh
- Reference: 1637141411
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/11/17/ofcom_report/
- Source link:
Ofcom has collated whinges from consumers about landline, fixed broadband, pay-monthly mobile and pay-TV services.
The figures the regulator publishes are relative to the size of a provider's customer base and its latest set of numbers make for interesting reading since they cover the period (April to June 2021) during which the UK began to ease lockdown restrictions.
[2]
The timing is significant as fewer people had to press the home broadband into service to run a remote office, and the reopening of schools left fewer parents weeping into a keyboard over the latest Google Classroom (or alternative remote-learning tool) freeze.
[3]
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However, while complaints have fallen to pre-COVID-19 levels (Virgin Media in particular had "significantly" reduced complaint volumes), grumblings persist.
TalkTalk topped the table (closely followed by Virgin Media) with 19 complaints per 100,000 customers. The industry average, according to Ofcom, was 12. It also topped the Landline list at 13 compared to an industry average of 7.
[5]Ofcom slams slammers: Telcos fined for switching punters' phone lines without their knowledge or consent
[6]Still reeling from the Great Facebook Blackout of 2021? Turns out Zuck is not the worst offender
[7]BT shelves efforts to find investor to share FTTP build, says Openreach can run project alone
[8]Having made £1bn in gross savings well ahead of March 2023 deadline, more cuts could be on BT's agenda
Other companies, such as BT-owned Plusnet, were also above the industry average while BT itself just squeaked in below at 10 and 6 for broadband and landline complaints respectively.
That said, BT's complaints did not include those related to the broadband [9]universal service obligation (USO) , which was launched on 20 March 2020. The USO gives customers the right to request an affordable (£46.40 per month) broadband connection of at least 10Mbit/s down from BT or KCOM in Hull.
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However, even taking the USO into account, complaints have trended down to impressive levels, although broadband continued to generate the most unhappiness.
While its broadband service generated 17 complaints per 100,000, behind TalkTalk's 19, Virgin Media fared less well in Pay-TV, with the most complaints. Virgin Mobile was also leader of the pack in Pay-Monthly mobile complaints, ahead of Three and Vodafone.
Ernest Doku, broadband expert at Uswitch.com, said: "Customer complaints spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic as consumers depended on a reliable internet connection but struggled to contact their providers when things went wrong."
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You think?
However, Doku noted: "Complaints have returned to pre-pandemic levels, and are close to the record lows we saw before 'social distancing' entered our vocabulary."
While noting that it was reassuring that customers were generally satisfied with their broadband, Doku went on to say "Ofcom's report shows that more than four in 10 of all fixed broadband complaints were about faults, service and provisioning.
With many households still reliant on their internet connections for work, education and entertainment, it's clear that providers have to do more to prioritise these types of problems."
The Register contacted TalkTalk regarding its place in the report but we have yet to receive a response. ®
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[1] https://www.ofcom.org.uk/news-centre/2021/q2-2021-latest-telecoms-and-pay-tv-complaints-revealed
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YZTg1jV2JxdjgzD24tqxWAAAAEk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YZTg1jV2JxdjgzD24tqxWAAAAEk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YZTg1jV2JxdjgzD24tqxWAAAAEk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/15/ofcom_fines_slammers/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/11/uswitch_outage_champions/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/04/bt_openreach_markets/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/01/bt_update/
[9] https://www.bt.com/about/bt/policy-and-regulation/keeping-the-uk-connected/a-universal-service-obligation
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YZTg1jV2JxdjgzD24tqxWAAAAEk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YZTg1jV2JxdjgzD24tqxWAAAAEk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
At AnthonyHegedus, re: constant outages.
Keep a log of every single time the service cuts out, with date+time stamp & duration of the outage. When contacting the company to do the repair work, add that fact to the log along with the date+time stamp of all the details WRT the service call. Log when they say they will show up, when they actually show up, the length of time they actually spend "fixing" things, if they actually fixed the issue or simply left it unresolved & requiring another service call, et al. Log *everything* about every issue you (the customer that calls you) have with the service & the (non) fixes provided.
Then, when it comes time to talk about a bill you theoreticly owe, bring up the log & point out that you may pay for $X level of service but are obviously only getting $Y. Include a copy of the log up to that point with every email you send them so they can see that you are not only recording the level of (dis)service you are getting, but that you can also provide that data to a lawyer if it comes to legal blows. If they threaten reprisals for your "bad attitude", you can counter with a lawsuit shot broadside to remind them of your rights.
A paper trail is almost always your best friend. The more accurate you maintain it, the more issues noted in depth, breadth, & scope, the more it will bolster your case when/if you have to take matters to court.
I've lost count of the number of times my log of similar events about my ISP of the time has helped me get out of "early termination fees". You can't charge me ETF if you've failed to uphold your end of the contract. If I'm paying for 99.99% uptime & you can barely manage (checks notes) 67.89% instead, you won't stand up for a nanosecond in court trying to defend yourself to a judge.
TL;DR: Keep accurate logs, they can save your ass.
It's not talktalk's network that's the problem - we have about 50 customers all using talktalk's wholesale network with pretty much zero problems that can be attributed to TalkTalk. It's all to do with OpenWretch and their appalling network of corroding copper and aluminium, and their terrible record at actually fixing problems. How your ISP deals with them is what you see, and if TalkTalk retail don't manage them and customer expectations properly (which they don't), they'll appear to be worse than the other ISPs. It doesn't help that their customer service staff are really quite poor in general.
But OpenRetch really do set these companies up for failure. Case in point: we have a client who is reasonably far from the street cabinet and can only get about 30Mbps / 5Mbps service. Every few weeks, the line goes through a phase of going up and down, which is no good for the client because they use VoIP. The fault indicator says there's either a high resistance fault or water ingress to something. Openreach come out, don't find a fault, charge BT wholesale, who charge TalkTalk wholesale, who charge our upstream provide, who charge us. We pay, and then we argue with them six months later for a refund, which we never get.
OpenWretch never fix the actual line problem the right way when they do occasionally find a fault - they just patch the problem. A few weeks later, same thing happens again.
Earlier this month we tried to order a second line for this client. Openreach turn up 4 hours late, start the job, and then run out of time. They won't continue the next day or anything obvious like that - the job needs a) re-appointing and b) paying for a re-appoint (which we need to argue about when we see the invoice and pay).
The whole thing is designed for Openreach's convenience, not the end user. Their job scheduling stinks, and all the customer sees is their provider being bad. Presumably Openreach do a better job if they know it's BT...