Report: Complaints about broadband, landline, mobile and pay-TV services

Phones and broadband Service quality Research, statistics and data
Published: 25 January 2024
Last updated: 26 October 2026

As the UK’s communications regulator, Ofcom receives complaints from customers about their landline, fixed broadband, pay-monthly mobile and pay-TV services.

To better understand the reasons for dissatisfaction among residential customers in our sectors, we compile that data and determine the number of complaints received by provider and by service. To compare the performance of providers, on a quarterly basis we publish the number of complaints that we received about them relative to the size of their customer bases (i.e. per 100,000 customers).

Overall trends

In the quarter from April to June (Q2 2026), complaints to Ofcom decreased compared to the previous quarter (Q1 2026: January to March 2026), driven by a decrease in the complaints we received about pay-TV. Complaints about fixed broadband, landline, and pay-monthly mobile stayed the same. ‘Faults, service and provisioning’ was the biggest driver of complaints in broadband, landline and pay-monthly mobile, and ‘Complaints handling’ was the biggest driver for pay-TV.

  • BT, EE, TalkTalk and Vodafone were the most complained about fixed broadband providers. BT remained static, EE saw an increase, TalkTalk and Vodafone saw a decrease in their complaints per 100,000 subscribers compared to the previous quarter.
  • The least complained about fixed broadband providers were Plusnet, Sky and Virgin Media.
  • Plusnet was the most complained about landline provider. Complaints about Plusnet saw an increase from the previous quarter. Customer complaints were primarily driven by how their complaints were handled.
  • Sky, Utility Warehouse, Virgin Media and Vodafone generated the least landline complaints.
  • O2 and Sky Mobile generated the most pay-monthly mobile complaints. Customer complaints were mainly about issues with faults, service and provisioning (O2) and experiences changing provider (Sky Mobile).
  • EE, Giffgaff, Tesco Mobile, Three, Vodafone and iD Mobile generated the least pay-monthly mobile complaints.
  • The most complained about pay-TV providers were EE and Virgin Media.
  • The least complained about pay-TV provider was TalkTalk.

See below for information about the comparability of certain providers’ number of complaints. Our background and methodology document goes into more detail.

The chart below shows the relative volume of complaints we have received for broadband, landline, pay-monthly mobile and pay-TV services. You can use the slider to filter by year.

Relative volume of complaints per 100,000 customers

Taking a year-on-year comparison, the relative volume of complaints about fixed broadband, landline, and pay-TV decreased and complaints about pay-monthly mobile stayed the same.

For the best experience, expand to full screen (click on the button in the bottom right corner).

League tables & key complaints

Fixed broadband

Landline

Pay-monthly mobile

Pay-TV

Comparability of complaints per 100,000 customers

Where the actual measurable difference between providers’ number of complaints per 100,000 customers is less than 1, we consider their results to be comparable. Within the following sectors, we consider the listed providers to be comparable:

Fixed Broadband:

  1. Virgin Media, Sky and Plusnet; 
  2. Plusnet and Industry Average; 
  3. EE, Vodafone, TalkTalk and BT.

Landline:

  1. Utility Warehouse, Sky, Vodafone and Virgin Media; 
  2. Virgin Media and Industry Average;
  3. EE and BT; 
  4. BT and TalkTalk.

Pay-Monthly Mobile:

  1. Giffgaff, Tesco Mobile, EE, Vodafone, iD Mobile, Industry Average and Three;
  2. iD Mobile, Industry Average, Three and O2;
  3. O2 and Sky Mobile.

Pay-TV:

  1. Sky and Industry Average; 
  2. Virgin Media and EE.

Overall complaints by sector

The chart below shows complaints for all providers in each of the four sectors.

For the best experience, expand to full screen (click on the button in the bottom right corner).

Comparing different providers

To compare two or more providers’ performance, select the service and then the providers you want to compare from the lists on the right.

For the best experience, expand to full screen (click on the button in the bottom right corner).

Complaints by provider

To compare two or more providers’ performance, select the service and then the providers you want to compare from the lists on the right.

For the best experience, expand to full screen (click on the button in the bottom right corner).

More information

The underlying data is available in CSV format. We also include overall trend data for pay-as-you-go mobile complaints.

You can also read the report’s background and methodology.

Older reports

Older reports are available via the National Archives.

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