Landline complaints: the UK's best & worst home phone providers 2025

Utility Warehouse fared best in the latest Ofcom complaints tables, while three providers shared the wooden spoon.

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, many 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 itself.

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 July and September 2024, so it won't cover any recent major faults or issues that customers might have endured.

The report revealed that TalkTalk, EE and Now Broadband all generated the highest number of complaints, with each generating eight complaints per 100,000 customers.

Ofcom revealed that by far the most gripes related to 'faults, service and provisioning', suggesting many customers struggled with outages over the quarter.

Sitting just above these three in the complaints table is Virgin Media, which generated seven complaints per 100,000 customers.

Plusnet (6) and BT (6) were the only other firms with complaint levels above the industry average of five per 100,000.

Best UK landline providers 2024

At the other end of the scale, Utility Warehouse was the landline provider with the lowest number of complaints.

The firm generated just one complaint per 100,000 customers over the quarter. 

Sky was the runner-up for the third quarter in a row – you can compare phone, broadband, and pay TV deals with Sky here (this is an affiliate link) – with the company generating two complaints per 100,000.

Vodafone was third with three complaints per 100,000, which was the only other firm 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

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.