ISP customer satisfaction rated

AOL, BT and Orange have come bottom of an ISP customer satisfaction poll conducted by price-comparison service uSwitch.com.

The three ISPs - which account for more than 50 per cent of home broadband connections in the UK - 34 per cent of AOL customers were unsatisfied with the ISP, now owned by The Carphone Warehouse, with the figure 26 per cent and 30 per cent for BT and Orange respectively.

Steve Weller of uSwitch.com said: "It seems that some of the more established broadband companies are slowing down with age and have lost sight of what customers want – speed and reliability, backed up by efficient customer support should things go wrong.

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At the other end of the scale, O2 had the highest percentage of satisfied customers, with 92 per cent saying they were happy with the ISP. Plusnet was second with 88 per cent of punters satisfied.

"The difference in performance between the best and worst companies is now greater than ever, so it’s vital for customers to keep tabs on their situation to make sure that they are getting the best bang for their buck," Weller said.

O2 was also praised for its value for money, customer service, speed and ease of use. TalkTalk won plaudits for its billing system while Plusnet came out top in terms of connection quality.

At the other end of the scale, Orange was judged to have poor customer service and technical support, while AOL customers were unhappy with billing, speed and connection quality.

uSwitch.com polled some 12,000 broadband customers in its research.