Get more for less by switching to smaller mobile providers, says Which?

Customers nearing the end of their phone contracts are urged to switch to smaller mobile providers if they're unhappy with their current service. Which? found people prefer smaller mobile providers.

Anyone based in the United Kingdom looking for a mobile carrier that offers customer satisfaction, value for money, and reliability should use smaller providers such as Smarty, Voxi, and Talkmobile, according to a survey from the consumer group Which? As usual, the big providers did awfully.

The smaller, previously mentioned carriers all scored 80% or more on customer scores. On the other hand, the big players were well below, with Three doing the worst at 63%. Customers rated Three poorly across the board, whether it be network reliability, customer service, or value for money when roaming.

Regarding O2 and Vodafone, Which? had this to say:

"O2 and Vodafone fared slightly better with customer scores - scoring 68 per cent and 69 per cent respectively. O2 usually returns a consistent but unimpressive row of average ratings, but this year customers were less impressed – rating most categories as poor, including customer service, ease of getting in touch and technical support...Vodafone received mediocre scores and was rated particularly poorly for communication with customers, network reliability and incentives and rewards offered."

If you are looking to go with one of the big four providers, then your best bet would be with EE as it scored 71%. Its scores were pretty average but it did well on download speeds. However it was rated poorly for roaming value and incentives.

One of the really big issues in recent years has been mid-contract price rises. With inflation being so high, companies took the opportunity to whack up their prices to customers’ discontent. According to Which?, smaller providers are much less likely to increase prices mid-contract. They also have cheaper sim-only offers with more data, making them a good pick if you want to save money.

On the back of these findings, Which? is urging dissatisfied customers nearing the end of their contract to seek deals with smaller providers for lower prices, better service, and to avoid mid-contract price rises.

Source: Which?