It appears that big is not better when it comes to choosing an ISP.

In a survey answered by 15,000 Consumer subscribers, Vodafone and Telecom were judged the worst performing ISPs in the country, while Actrix and Inspire were the best.

Only 57% of Vodafone broadband customers were satisfied with its overall performance, and 89% claimed speeds were slower than expectation. Vodafone also rated poorly for customer service and had above average problems for disconnection and drop-outs.

Telecom was marginally ahead of Vodafone, with a 63% satisfaction rating. However, it too rated poorly for customer service, problems for disconnections, drop-outs and slower than expected speeds.

Of the big ISPs, TelstraClear performed the best with 83% of its customers satisfied with its performance.

The best performing nationally available ISPs were Actrix and Inspire. Actrix’s overall performance was rated good or very good by 97% of its customers and Inspire achieved 96% satisfaction.

Regardless of performance it appears that New Zealanders are loathe to switch ISPs, with just 10% of respondents changing ISPs in the past year. Over a quarter of those who did encountered problems with billing, connection delays, or set-up issues.