Actrix has for the second year running been rated by Consumer NZ members as the country's top internet service provider (ISP).
The wooden spoon went to Compass Communications with nearly half its customers dissatisfied with the service.
More than 12,000 Consumer NZ online members rated their ISP for overall performance, customer service and connection problems. Actrix has been among the top performers since 2006. This year 98 percent of its customers rated the company's overall performance as good or very good.
Consumer NZ CEO Sue Chetwin said nearly three-quarters of broadband respondents belonged to one of the big three - Telecom, TelstraClear, or Vodafone. Telecom was by far the biggest ISP and 42 percent of respondents were its customers. "After being at the bottom of the pile for years (it received an abysmal 42 percent rating in 2007), it has slowly improved to reach 65 percent satisfaction this year."
However, Vodafone which rated at the bottom last year, only moved into second to bottom place with a low 58 percent satisfaction.
TelstraClear moved down from 83 percent satisfaction last year to 78 percent this year, but it was still markedly better than Telecom or Vodafone, Chetwin said.
Interestingly less than 4 percent of this year's respondents used dial-up, compared with 50 percent in 2005. The numbers on dial-up may not reduce much further; many say they can't get ADSL broadband and other options like satellite are either unavailable or too expensive.
Newcomer 2degrees was rated best overall for mobile broadband, with 78 percent saying it was good or very good. 2degrees' customers reported the least problems with global roaming and global charges, dropouts, slower speeds, billing, excess usage and hidden conditions. Telecom was next best at 63 percent and Vodafone (which had the lion's share of Consumer respondents on mobile broadband at 62 percent) trailed at just 53 percent satisfaction.
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