Ofcom Q4 2025 telecoms and pay-TV complaints: Vodafone and TalkTalk top broadband, O2 tops mobile, EE TV tops pay-TV

The big picture: the UK telecoms market is quietly getting better

To put the numbers in context, Ofcom's quarterly complaints league table is one of the most useful tools UK households have when shortlisting a broadband or mobile provider. It strips out raw volume (which always favours small providers) and instead expresses complaints as a rate per 100,000 customers, making BT's millions of homes directly comparable with a smaller challenger.

Step back, and the long-run trend is striking. Broadband complaints peaked at around 40 per 100,000 in Q1 2011 and now sit in the single digits. Landline peaked at 42 per 100,000 in Q4 2010 and has fallen to 3 today. Pay-monthly mobile (Ofcom's series begins in Q1 2013 at an industry average of 12) has trended down to around 3 today. That is what a maturing, competitive market looks like, and it dovetails neatly with the infrastructure picture set out in our Connected Nations 2025 analysis.

Broadband: Vodafone and TalkTalk top the table; Plusnet and Virgin Media are the safe pair of hands

Note: NOW Broadband has been removed from this category from Q3 2025 onwards after four consecutive quarters with a market share below the 1.5% inclusion threshold. TalkTalk and Vodafone results are inside Ofcom's comparability group (less than 1 per 100,000 apart).

Three-quarter view: who is improving, who is slipping

Landline: Utility Warehouse continues to lead; EE and NOW Broadband joint-highest in a five-provider top cluster

Pay-monthly mobile: O2 stands alone, and contract pricing is why

Three-quarter view: the autumn 2025 O2 spike in context

“It is disappointing to see an increase in customers complaints during this quarter, especially following a sustained period of decreases. However, a main driver of these complaints appears to be unexpected mid-contract price rise announcements for some mobile customers in the Autumn of 2025.”

Pay-TV: EE TV continues to draw the most heat; TalkTalk is the calmest

Why providers attract complaints: the reasons behind the rankings

Ofcom publishes the leading reason-for-complaint for each provider whose complaint rate is above the industry average. This is genuinely useful for switchers, because it tells you which providers struggle with which kinds of problems. Here is the Q4 2025 snapshot:

The pattern is informative. EE and EE TV both struggle most with switching, which is fixable and worth raising with the regulator. Vodafone and NOW Broadband both struggle most with faults, which is harder to fix overnight. O2's issue is contract pricing, which is squarely a regulatory and disclosure question. And nobody in Q4 was flagged primarily on billing, which is a meaningful improvement on five years ago.

Comparability groups: when two providers really are the same

Ofcom's methodology rounds complaint rates to the nearest whole number per 100,000 customers, and where two or more providers are less than 1 per 100,000 apart, Ofcom treats them as comparable rather than ranking them. This stops the league table from making spurious distinctions. The Q4 2025 comparability groups are:

• Broadband (four comparability groups):
  1. Virgin Media and Plusnet (joint-lowest)
  2. Sky, Industry Average and BT
  3. Industry Average, BT and EE
  4. TalkTalk and Vodafone (joint-highest)
• Landline (three comparability groups):
  1. Virgin Media, Sky and Vodafone (low cluster)
  2. Vodafone and Industry Average
  3. BT, Plusnet, TalkTalk, EE and NOW Broadband (top cluster)
• Pay-monthly mobile (three comparability groups):
  1. Three, EE and Tesco Mobile (joint-lowest)
  2. Tesco Mobile and Vodafone
  3. Vodafone, Industry Average and iD Mobile
• Pay-TV (two comparability groups):
  1. TalkTalk, Sky and Virgin Media (low cluster)
  2. Sky, Virgin Media and Industry Average

Read this as: if a comparability group includes the industry average, the named providers are statistically indistinguishable from the average, which is a reassuring place to be. And if a low cluster sits comfortably below the industry average (for example, the landline low cluster of Virgin Media, Sky and Vodafone at 2 to 3 per 100,000 versus an industry average of 3), those providers are demonstrably ahead of the pack on that service.

Provider scorecard: every named provider, every sector

The table below summarises each major UK provider's Q4 2025 performance. Every provider name links to its dedicated page in our UK ISP directory, where you will find live deals, technology details and current consumer review scores.

Reviews from real customers complement the Ofcom data. Our directory captures live consumer review scores for 429+ UK ISPs alongside each provider's market share and technology mix.

What this means for UK customers overall: the story behind the numbers

Behind the numbers, the story for UK households is genuinely upbeat. Ofcom's consumer experience tracking consistently shows broadband satisfaction in the low to mid 80s and mobile in the high 80s. Most of us, most of the time, get a service that works.

The Q4 2025 mobile spike is best read as regulation working as intended: Ofcom's January 2025 pounds-and-pence price-rise rules made it easy for customers to spot when a provider's mid-contract increase looked larger than originally disclosed. Customers complained. Ofcom captured the data, named O2, and published a quotable explanation. That is what a healthy regulator looks like.

Three positive trends are worth highlighting:

1. Full-fibre is reaching scale. Per the Connected Nations 2025 report, UK full-fibre availability reached 78% of residential premises by July 2025, up from 69% a year earlier. This is the single biggest infrastructure shift in UK telecoms in 20 years, and it explains why broadband complaints continue to fall.
2. The complaints process is faster. From 8 April 2026, customers can escalate an unresolved complaint to an Alternative Dispute Resolution scheme after six weeks instead of eight. This is a meaningful tightening of consumer rights.
3. Switching is friction-free. One Touch Switch means you contact only your new provider, who handles the migration end-to-end. Compensation applies automatically if anything slips. No phone calls. Most switches complete in 2 to 14 working days.

How to act on this data: a five-minute switch plan

1. Check your renewal date on your latest bill or in your provider's app.
2. Test your current line speed at ukspeedtest.co.uk so you know what you are really getting.
3. Work out the speed you actually need using rightspeed.co.uk or our speed guide.
4. Compare live deals at your postcode on our comparison page. Filter by full fibre, contract length or price.
5. Sign up with the new provider. They activate One Touch Switch and notify your old provider for you. Read our switch checklist and engineer-visit checklist if you have an installation booked.

Methodology and caveats

Ofcom's quarterly report covers only complaints received directly by Ofcom. It does not include complaints sent only to the provider, to the ISPA, or to an Alternative Dispute Resolution scheme (Communications Ombudsman, CISAS). It only includes providers with at least 1.5% market share in each category. Volumes are expressed per 100,000 residential customers to allow fair comparison across providers of different sizes.

Where the measured difference between providers is less than 1 complaint per 100,000, Ofcom treats their results as comparable (see the comparability groups section above).

BroadbandSwitch.uk is a trading name of SearchSwitchSave®. We track 35+ live providers and 429+ UK ISPs. Our editorial process is described in our methodology and trust hub. Corrections welcome.

About this analysis

This report was written by Alex Martin-Smith, Editor at BroadbandSwitch.uk, and reviewed by Adrian James. BroadbandSwitch.uk is a trading name of SearchSwitchSave® and tracks 35+ live providers and 429+ UK ISPs. Our editorial standards are documented in our methodology and trust hub. We accept corrections via our corrections form and aim to action verified corrections within two working days.

Published 12 May 2026. Last reviewed 12 May 2026. Next scheduled refresh: on publication of Ofcom Q1 2026 complaints data (expected mid-August 2026).