A survey of broadband internet providers has revealed that complaints to customer service departments have risen.

Tiscali has scored the highest in a customer satisfaction survey beating eight other broadband internet providers to gain the top spot – although satisfaction levels overall have decreased.

The J.D. Power and Associates 2007 UK Broadband Internet Service Provider (ISP) Satisfaction Study has revealed that broadband providers perform below average in customer and technical support areas, with the average call waiting times to speak with a technical representative at an average of 17 minutes.

Caspar Tearle, J.D. Power and Associates’ Director of Service Industries, said: “The 2007 study finds that call waiting times continue to increase when customers contact their ISP…Complaints to customer service departments have risen again in 2007, and now outnumber customer service-related questions for the first time (52% vs. 48%).

“With customers of most suppliers paying from their own pocket for these calls, these high levels of complaints come as no surprise.”

The study not only looked at customer service and technical support but also at performance and reliability; cost; image; billing; email services; and offerings and promotions.

Virgin came second place in the poll, and Sky third.