BT voted least popular home phone firm

BT has been voted Britain's least popular home phone company in a survey that has revealed a general dissatisfaction among consumers with the telecoms industry.

Price comparison service uSwitch said over three million BT customers said they are not satisfied with their service.

BT was voted bottom of the table, despite being the biggest UK home phone operator with a 43 per cent market share.

The UK's second largest company, Virgin Media, comes second to last with over a quarter (27 per cent) of its 4.1 million customers dissatisfied.

Sky, the market's newest entrant, was voted the best provider, with 85 per cent of its customers claiming to be satisfied.

Overall, home phone satisfaction dropped four per cent from last year – six million customers (26 per cent) are not satisfied with the overall service provided by their home phone company.

Tim Wolfenden, Head of Home Services at uSwitch.com, said: "The younger phone companies are easily outperforming the traditional incumbents.

"Unfortunately though, many loyal home phone customers are now finding themselves paying more for a service which, they believe, has declined.

"On top of the recent hikes to line rental and call charges, 13 million customers are being stung by additional fees of up to £237 million a year simply for receiving their bills by paper or paying by methods other than direct debit."

The 2008 Home Phone Customer Satisfaction Report by uSwitch.com is based on the responses of over 10,000 home phone customers.

Winners and losers of the uSwitch Home Phone Customer Satisfaction Awards 2008:

	Winner	Loser
Best overall customer satisfaction	Sky	BT
Most likely to be recommended	Sky	BT
Best value for money	TalkTalk	BT
Best customer service	Sky	TalkTalk
Best for billing	TalkTalk	Virgin Media
Ease to interpret bill	TalkTalk	BT
Best online account management	Tiscali	BT
Best talk and payment plan	Sky	BT
Best ‘deal for you’	Sky	BT
Best for ease of use	Sky	BT
Best for setup support	Sky	BT