Ofcom Complaints by Provider 2026: Who Gets the Most (and Fewest)

The 2026 complaints league

Ofcom's quarterly complaints data is the closest thing UK broadband has to an independent service-quality scoreboard. It counts the complaints consumers make directly to the regulator about providers with a market share of 1.5% or more, then scales them per 100,000 customers so a giant like BT and a smaller brand like Plusnet can be compared on level terms.

This quarter's table has a clear shape. Vodafone sits alone at the top on 11, a position it has now held or shared for two consecutive quarters, with TalkTalk just behind on 10. BT and EE, stablemates within BT Group, sit together on 8, just above the average. Sky lands exactly on the industry average of 7. And at the good end, Virgin Media and Plusnet share the fewest complaints on 5, a result that would have read as a misprint for Virgin only three years ago, as we cover below.

If you are weighing up any of these providers, the league pairs usefully with our head-to-head provider comparisons and the live prices on our postcode comparison.

What people actually complain about

The headline numbers tell you who; the breakdown tells you why, and the why is consistent across the market.

• Faults, service quality and provisioning lead the gripes. For Vodafone, the quarter's most complained-about provider, just over half of complaints were driven by faults, service quality and getting connected in the first place.
• Complaints handling itself is a close second. A large share of escalations are not about the original fault but about how badly the complaint was then handled. If that is where you are right now, our guide to compensation and service failure covers what you are owed when things go wrong.
• The quarter's overall rise was a mobile story, not a broadband one. Total complaints to Ofcom rose for the first time since late 2023, but the driver was mid-contract price-rise announcements by mobile providers, with O2 attracting the most pay-monthly mobile complaints. Fixed broadband complaints fell.
• Landline followed a similar pattern, with BT, EE, NOW Broadband, Plusnet and TalkTalk attracting the most landline complaints and Utility Warehouse the fewest.

Putting the league to work

1. Choosing a provider? Use the table as a tiebreak. When two deals are close on price and speed, the complaints record is the best free signal of what the service feels like when something goes wrong. Shortlist with our provider guides, then sanity-check against this table.
2. With a top-of-the-table provider? Document everything. Complain in writing, keep dates, and know that after six weeks unresolved, or sooner with a deadlock letter, the free Ofcom-approved dispute schemes open: the Communications Ombudsman and CISAS. Our full escalation guide is at your complaint rights, step by step.
3. Remember a complaint to Ofcom still counts. The regulator cannot resolve your individual case, but every complaint registered feeds this very league table and Ofcom's monitoring. Complain to your provider to get it fixed, and tell Ofcom too, so the record reflects reality.
4. And if the relationship is beyond saving, switching is one contact under One Touch Switch, and the well-behaved end of this table is a fine place to start: compare live deals at your postcode.

Questions people ask

Which broadband provider has the most complaints in 2026?

In Ofcom's most recent data, covering Q4 2025 and published in May 2026, Vodafone attracted the most complaints of any UK broadband provider, at 11 per 100,000 customers, with TalkTalk second on 10. Both sat above the industry average of 7.

Which broadband provider has the fewest complaints?

Virgin Media and Plusnet were joint least complained-about in the latest quarter, both at 5 complaints per 100,000 customers, well below the industry average of 7. For Virgin Media that completes a striking three-year turnaround from being under Ofcom investigation in 2023.

How does Ofcom collect this complaints data?

Ofcom counts complaints that consumers make directly to the regulator about the largest providers, then scales them per 100,000 customers so providers of different sizes can be compared fairly. It publishes the figures quarterly, around four to five months after the quarter ends.

Is complaining to Ofcom the same as complaining to my provider?

No. Your provider must handle your individual complaint, and after six weeks unresolved, or a deadlock letter, the free ombudsman schemes can rule on it. Ofcom does not resolve individual cases, but logging your complaint with Ofcom feeds this league table and the regulator's monitoring, so it is still worth doing.

How often is this page updated?

Within days of each quarterly Ofcom release. The next publication, covering Q1 2026, is expected in August 2026, and this page and its PDF will be refreshed then. Every figure change is noted in our public corrections log.