A new Oftel-endorsed leaflet that helps residential consumers compare the quality of service of fixed line telephone companies was launched in November.

Consumers can compare whether orders were completed on target, the number of faults reported on each network, whether faults were repaired within the promised time, complaint handling, and billing accuracy.

The leaflet How well did your telephone company do? compares resultsfor BT, Eurobell, Kingston, ntl (and its regional companies), Telewest and Thus.

The leaflet is available in local libraries across the UK. A more comprehensive publication - Comparable Performance Indicators, Residential Customers - can be found at www.cpi.org.uk, along with a version for business consumers.

The information is collected and published by the Telecommunications Industry Forum, which comprises telecoms companies and consumer groups.

Oftel has also published independently audited Comparable Performance Indicators (CPI) for UK mobile operators.

The results show successful call set-ups, dropped calls and overall call success rates for each operator. This information is available on Oftel's website at www.oftel.gov.uk/publications/research/2001/call_survey/index.htm.

For more information, contact Chris Smithers (tel: 020 7634 8876/e-mail: chris.smithers@oftel.gov.uk).