Slow broadband service is biggest consumer gripe, Ofcom survey finds

♦ Households are more dissatisfied with broadband than any other utility, the telecoms regulator has admitted for the first time.

One in five of the UK’S 24 million broadband customers are dissatisfied with their service, Ofcom found, with frustration over slow internet speeds the most common gripe. It is thought that people are growing more impatient with their broadband because speeds are failing to keep up with the increasing hunger for data.

Ofcom said 15 per cent of broadband customers had a reason to complain in 2017, up from 13 per cent in 2016. The most common cause was a slow and patchy connection. The survey of more than 2,000 people showed that people were most happy with their bank current accounts, with 92 per cent saying they were generally satisfied.

Margot James, the minister for digital, said: “Broadband has become a necessity, and we all know how frustrating it is when it doesn’t work. We’ve introduced a raft of measures with Ofcom to help protect consumers, including compensation, and making it easier for customers to switch.”