O2 customers had to make the most complaints while Tesco Mobile customers made the least, latest figures show.
New quarterly figures from the telecoms watchdog have revealed the companies faring the best and worst in terms of customer complaints.
Tesco Mobile remained the provider with the lowest number of official gripes, while O2 finished bottom of the pile for the fourth quarter running.
Remarkably, the company generated almost three times as many complaints as any other provider.
According to Ofcom, the most common issues related to O2's poor complaints handling (33%), billing problems (24%) and service issues (19%).
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Total complaints figures far higher
The graphic from Ofcom below highlights how all the major networks compare and covers the three months between April and June 2024, which are the latest figures available.
It's worth pointing out that, while the number of complaints appears low for all mobile providers, these are issues that customers have needed to escalate to Ofcom as they've been unable to resolve their issues directly with their provider.
The actual number of complaints made directly to network providers is far higher: Ofcom's data suggests that around one in eight (12%) mobile customers said they had a reason to complain over the last 12-month period.
Best & worst mobile firms: complaints per 100,000 customers
Source: Ofcom
Tesco Mobile generated just one official complaint per 100,000 customers, putting it top of the pile for the second quarter in a row.
There was a three-way tie for second between Sky, EE and Vodafone with a total of two complaints per 100,000 customers each.
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At the bottom of the table, O2 was responsible for eight complaints per 100,000.
This is the highest among all the major firms and more than double the industry average (three).
Which providers offer consistently good service?
Ofcom publishes data on the number of complaints it receives about each of the big telecoms providers every three months.
Looking at such a short period can be unreliable – any provider can have a temporary problem that dramatically skews the figures.
In order to give you a clearer picture of how the mobile network giants consistently fare, we've listed the complaints figures for the last six quarters (18 months) in the table below.
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Complaints per 100,000 customers over the last 18 months
|
Provider |
Q4 2022 |
Q1 2023 |
Q2 2023 |
Q3 2023 |
Q4 2023 |
Q1 2024 |
Q2 2024 |
|
Vodafone |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
|
iD Mobile |
2 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
|
BT mobile |
4 |
7 |
8 |
5 |
3 |
*N/A |
*N/A |
|
Three |
2 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
|
O2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
8 |
|
EE |
2 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
|
1 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
|
|
Tesco Mobile |
2 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
|
Industry average |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
*Ofcom did not publish data for this provider in these quarters
Mobile coverage
Practically speaking, the most important thing to keep in mind when signing up for any phone contract is the coverage and reception offered by the operator (you can read about the best networks for signal and speed here).
Ultimately, an extremely helpful call centre is of little use if you can't even phone them in the first place!
To make sure you don't live in a particular network's 'blackspot', the links below will take you to each network’s coverage map or coverage checker, so you can get a decent idea of the coverage you can expect where you live.
Finally, find out which other telecoms providers you should be dodging by reading our regularly updated roundups of The UK’s worst pay TV providers, The UK's worst home phone providers and The UK’s worst broadband providers.
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