Ofcom receiving complaints about Broadband providers

Many consumers are finding that switching their broadband connection is resulting in severe delays in getting connected and industry regulator Ofcom receives an average of 180 complaints a week about this matter.

Over half of all homes now use this high-speed access to the internet and with both O2, the mobile phone provider and the Post Office joining the market, the rate of sign-ups could increase significantly.

Ofcom said weekly complaints in 2006 was over 500 a week so there is an improvement but the industry still has much to do to improve its service standards for customers.

Simon Bates of Ofcom said since February, internet service providers have been obliged to give customers their migration authorisation code (Mac) within 5 working days. A Mac is a serial number to identify the broadband connection and is required by customers wanting to switch to another provider.

In spite of this new regulation, research shows broadband customers are still waiting at least 2 weeks to get their service up and running, even if Macs are provided on time.

The comparison site, moneysupermarket.com, discovered that customers with TalkTalk, owned by The Carphone Warehouse, are waiting 5 weeks to be connected, with over 10% of customers waiting between 7 and 10 weeks.

In addition, customers of Sky Broadband, owned by satellite broadcaster BSkyB, must wait an average of over 3 weeks before they are connected.

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