Landline complaints: the UK's best & worst home phone provider

Virgin Media attracted the most gripes once again while Sky generated the fewest, according to the latest Ofcom complaints tables.

Some might say that the humble home phone has had its day, as many of us now opt for the convenience of mobiles to keep in touch instead.

That said, most households still need a landline to receive broadband, which is why many internet bundles come with one as standard.

But which providers should you go for and which should you avoid?

While price is obviously a key concern, reliability and the quality of service you can expect to receive should also be front of mind.

Before we look into the latest customer complaint trends from Ofcom, it’s important to flag that these figures only reflect the complaints escalated by customers to the telecoms regulator when the provider has failed to resolve the issue.

So, while these figures may look low, the total number of complaints filed with each provider will likely be far higher.

You can compare broadband, phone and pay TV deals with Sky, or ditch the landline and compare mobile deals with Carphone Warehouse.

Worst landline providers UK

Ofcom's latest data looks at all complaints received between the three months between October and December 2023, so it won't cover any recent major faults or issues that customers might have endured.

The report revealed that Virgin Media generated the highest number of complaints for the third consecutive quarter.

Ofcom received 13 complaints per 100,000 Virgin customers.

While that represents an improvement on the previous quarter's total of 19 per 100,000, it is still almost double the industry average (seven).

According to Ofcom, the main problems raised by Virgin's customers related to service issues (34%) poor complaints handling (31%), and billing problems (18%).

Sitting just above Virgin in the complaints table was Shell, with Now Broadband (10) and TalkTalk the only other firms with complaint levels above the industry average.

Best landline providers UK

At the other end of the scale, Sky was the landline provider with the lowest number of complaints at two per 100,000 customers.

You can compare phone, broadband, and pay TV deals with Sky here.

EE was second with three complaints per 100,000, followed closely by Vodafone (4) and Plusnet (6).

These were the only firms to come in under the industry average.

See below for the complete complaints league table, according to Ofcom.

Complaints to Ofcom per 100,000 landline customers

Landline complaints table (Image: Ofcom)

So, there you have it, your round-up of the worst (and best) landline firms.

If you'd like to find out which firms topped the broadband complaints list then head this way, while this article will highlight the worst Pay TV providers.

*This article contains affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission on any sales of products or services we write about. This article was written completely independently.

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