Ofcom compares Quality of Service of broadband, mobile and landline services

Ofcom published last month its first report exploring the quality of service that customers from the largest landline, broadband and mobile providers received in 2016, and it was accompanied by an interactive tool designed for consumers. The “Comparing Service Quality??? report covers the consumer experience on reliability, performance and customer service. It found that most customers are satisfied with their service overall, though 13% of broadband customers lodged a complaint with their provider in the last 12 months, against 5% of landline and 4% of mobile customers.

Ofcom collected data from large providers of telecoms services, and consumer research which includes data relating to complaints made to the Regulator.

The report revealed that quality of service issues reported by broadband customers refer to slow speed and problems within the in-home network (faulty home-wiring, incorrect router or set-up, faulty devices, WiFi interference from other devices). Customer satisfaction was also considered low as an average of 56% of broadband customers were satisfied with the way their complaints were dealt with over the phone.

The report also outlined common issues with how providers tackle network faults (repairs and installation of services). Although noting that Openreach has met Ofcom’s standards in terms of timing for installation and repairs, it states that “Openreach could do better???. It is currently consulting on new rules to regulate the quality of Openreach services as part of its Wholesale Local Access Market review.

A follow-up report will be published next year, with Ofcom aiming at collecting more comparable data from a wider range of providers.

The BSG is intending to explore the differences between Quality of Service and Quality of Experiences and whether it is possible to measure the latter in a paper this year.