What’s the best mobile network?

Each day around 450 people make a complaint about their mobile, home phone or broadband provider to the UK’s telecoms regulator - Ofcom.

This shocking statistic means that if you’re considering switching mobile phone networks, it’s vital that you do your research first to discover which mobile phone networks are voted the best - and worst - and what to do if you have a complaint.

The UK’s worst mobile operator

In April 2011 Ofcom published its first Telecoms Complaints report - a summary of how many consumers made complaints about each of the five major UK mobile networks between October 2010 and February 2011.

While the report doesn’t disclose which problems consumers complained about the most - it could be anything from poor network coverage to sub-standard customer care - its findings can help you get a clearer perspective of how other Brits view their mobile network.

Three (www.three.co.uk) was the most complained about network between October 2010 and November 2011, while O2 (www.o2.co.uk) was the least.

While Three, Orange (www.orange.co.uk), T-Mobile (www.t-mobile.co.uk) and Vodafone (www.vodafone.co.uk) customer complaint levels weren’t massively dissimilar, Ofcom received significantly fewer complaints about O2.

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Make sense of the complaints

When networks make changes to anything from contract conditions to download speeds, it’s unlikely that every customer will be happy - even if they're trying to improve the service. As a result, Ofcom will probably receive a higher than normal number of complaints about that network during upgrades.

So you shouldn’t base your decision on which network to sign-up with on a small hike in customer complaints within a short period, especially if the network’s overall customer satisfaction has been good for several years.

For example, Ofcom’s report revealed a huge spike in complaints about T-Mobile when it changed its fair usage policy for data downloads. The complaints soon died down though and the average number of complaints went back down to their normal levels.

How to pick a mobile network

There’s no way of guaranteeing that you won’t ever have an issue with your mobile provider, but there are a few things you can do to minimise the risk of problems:

• Online coverage checker - poor coverage is one of the problems consumers complain about most. Always use an online coverage checker - most networks have one - to check what signal strength is like where you live and work
• Speak to friends - ask mates which network they’re signed up with and their experiences of everything from coverage to customer service and billing
• Short-term pay-as-you-go - scope out potential problems, such as poor customer service and signal strength, before signing up to a monthly contract
• Compare deals online - find the cheapest mobile phone deals by comparing offers from multiple networks.

What to do if you have a complaint

Consumers complain about mobile networks for many different reasons, but the most common are related to:

• Billing - speak to your network. If they agree that you’ve been overcharged then you should be offered the option of repayment into your bank account or a credit on your next bill
• Network coverage - act quickly, because most mobile networks give new pay-monthly customers a 14-day get-out clause that lets you end the contract if you’re receiving persistently patchy coverage.

From mid-July 2011 all mobile networks will be required to include information about how to resolve complaints on customers’ paper bills - making it easier to know where to turn if you have a problem.

If your complaint isn’t resolved within eight weeks then your mobile network provider will be obliged to send you a letter with details of how to voice your complaint through a “dispute resolution service”, such as the Ombudsman Services: Communications or Cisas.

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