The UK’s three biggest mobile network providers have been rated as the worst by customers – with Vodafone finishing bottom of the pile for the eighth year in a row –in the annual mobile-customer satisfaction survey from consumer group Which?

The study, which gathered the opinions of 6,135 Which? members, placed EE and O2 in the bottom three along with Vodafone, while Giffgaff came out on top among the 13 networks included.

Participants were asked to rate their mobile network provider based on customer service and value for money, as well as how satisfied they were and if they’d recommend their provider to friends and family.

Vodafone only manged to receive one-star ratings for customer service, value for money, and technical support. 20 per cent of Vodafone customers said the customer service was poor, while 20 per cent rated the network as being ‘poor value for money’ and one in seven rating the quality of its technical support as poor. 25 per cent also criticised Vodafone’s incentives and rewards.

Just 27 per cent of EE, the UK’s largest mobile network, customers said they had received good or excellent technical support – with less than half saying the same about ease of contact and customer service.

One in 10 O2 customers rated its value for money as poor. And just 25 per cent rated its incentives and rewards as good or excellent, despite its O2 Priority scheme.

On the other hand, nearly all of Giffgaff’s customers said it was good or excellent when it comes to value for money, and that they’d recommend the network to friends and family.

Sim-only deals were found to be on average 31 per cent (£3.56 a month) more expensive with one of the ‘Big Four’ providers – EE, O2, Vodafone, and Three. And it’s a similar story when it comes to the month contract price for an iPhone XS, which was found to be 18 per cent more (£10.11), and a Samsung Galaxy S10, at six per cent more (£3.22).

“The continuing reign of smaller networks over the big players goes to show exactly how important customer support and value for money are to mobile users,” said Natalie Hitchins, head of home products and services at Which?.

“If you think you’re paying too much or are not getting the level of service you expect from your provider, you should shop around for a better deal – you might find you save yourself some money and probably a lot of grief, too.”