Origin Broadband Reviews

I switched to origin a month ago and I can't ask for better service amazing broadband connection and speed I live in Scotland I will be recommending to friends and family

• Satisfaction
  5 stars
• Customer Service
  5 stars
• Speed
  5 stars
• Reliability
  5 stars

Don’t use this company. Appalling speeds. I rarely get over 4MB using WiFi (my mobile phone connection hits 90MB). Forget a connection during peak times.

I cannot even stream TV properly and the signal completely drops out all the time - this is not an exaggeration. I live in the city, not out in the country.

They are refusing to cancel my contract despite this stating they cannot guarantee wireless speeds. Who actually uses a wired connection anymore?

Terrible customer service. Terrible service in general. Have read other similar reviews since I started looking. Wish I had known before I signed a 12 month contract.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

I joined them on an 18month supersaver deal and paid upfront for my landline and broadband. Yet almost EVERY month they kept taking money out of my account for broadband and line rental. It is unbelievable how difficult it is to get you money back from them. They keep lying which is why they are so difficult to deal with. First they promise you itl be back in your account within 7days, after 7days they say another 7days, then they increase that to 30days, then they say its not company policy to send a paid back to an account via BACs and that they've posted a cheque to my home address. A further month later when no cheque arrives and after screaming at them down the phone, they finally agreed to send my money into my account via BACs.

These fictitious cheques NEVER made an appearance. And I had to go through this same torture pretty much every month as despite being on a supersaver they refused to allow me to cancel my direct debit.

Don't even get me started with Kim in the complaints department who refuses to give you her surname. When you get sent through to her in complaints she never responds back to you when she says she will. Also when you mention members in the team you have spoken to, TWICE shes told me two members of Origin staff who promised me refunds that never arrived have now left the company. I thought I would ring customer services to see if she was telling the truth, only to find she was lying as usual.

Not only is their broadband constantly dropping speeds, their is no point speaking to anybody at Origin about anything as the whole company just send you on a wild goose chase and never resolve anything. Fastest speed I managed to get on my line with Origin was 30mbps with constant drop in connection. I have now switched to Vodafone Broadband with whom I get 38mbps on the same time with no drop in connection.

Origin Broadband are just awful. STAY AWAY!

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

Origin Broadband may seem attractive because of their low prices, and that's half the reason I took the leap, but it was honestly the worst mistake I ever made. While I like to take chances on smaller relatively unknown companies, this was one of the few times that decision has bitten me in the butt.

First, I'd be surprised if your connection remains stable for longer than a few weeks. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the number of times our internet went offline without warning, sometimes for days at a time. This wasn't limited to just me, either, check Twitter, more often than not, huge regions of customers will be completely cut off without warning.

On the rare occasion it is online, connection speeds fluctuate no matter what time of day it is. This is likely due to the outdated tech that they call a "router". But hey, if you have a couple of hundred quid to throw their way, you can buy their more up-to-date router.

Oh, and their customer support, I kid you not, is the same person every time I've called. But don't worry, why not head on over to Twitter to express your concern? A few times I'd spoken to their customer service via Twitter who seemed to "solve" the problem for me (they didn't) and reimburse some of my bill for the inconvenience (they didn't) as well as correct a double-charge on my account (they didn't).

Oh and don't even dare Tweet at them directly with complaints about their terrible service because they'll just block you. Yep. Having simply tweeted them about losing connection (again) I went to check their page for a status update and low and behold, I'd been blocked. Bloody good customer service there. Ignore the problem and it'll go away.

You're right, I did go away, to another ISP.

TL;DR - Origin Broadband is a terrible company with unstable connection and abysmal customer service. I'd avoid at all costs even if the deal seems too good to miss.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  2 stars
• Reliability
  1 star

If you want your internet to not work half the time, zero customer support, a very cheap and unsuitable router, all for one cheap price, pick these boys. You will also not have internet for 2 months when you switch because they will mess up the switch over. AVOID.

P.S. Don't let your flatmate pick cheap when you both need the internet a lot.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  2 stars
• Reliability
  1 star

I am submitting reviews to warn people off this company due to appalling level of service. Don't let the cheap price fool you if you have a problem your stuck with it as its virtually impossible to get through to technical support. I have had my land line broken for 4 days now and tried every day multiple times upto 20 minutes on my mobile just waiting in a queue with no idea where I am in the queue. No announcements just a continual loop of music. The customer service and sales pick up straight away as us us but cannot even pass details of your problem to tech team they just put you back in the never ending queue. Steer clear its not worth it

• Speed
  3 stars

I ended my contract early because of poor broadband service, worst ever customer service. Origin agreed to refund credit from my account. This was October 2018 and despite promises to settle payment has never been made.
I had paid the year up front but the service I received was disappointing. I couldn't connect to the internet. Customer service was non existent. I would recommend stay clear of this company. Rip off!!

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

The worst service i have ever received!

Thinking of saving money on a slightly less premium brand than Sky or BT? Believe me the hassle is not worth the saving. Took me 3 months and persistent daily calls to chase anyone up to install my router. Their customer service is disgusting with no one really willing to put their hands up and take blame, nor apologise for the inconvenience; they simply bombard you with secret unwritten policies and T's and C's.

Finally my contract had run it's course and i rang them one final time to cancel; and then was told that i had been billed for one month extra, as yet another unclear T&C struck me with a brand iron whip, told that "While your account is still open, even if your contract has ended, we employ a rolling contract unannounced to the customer".

Genuinely disgusted with how i've been treated by this company.

So in conclusion, really do go elsewhere..

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  2 stars
• Reliability
  2 stars

Asus N16 latest firmware update available to download and install from Asus Help web page. Cured all my router problems.

• Satisfaction
  4 stars
• Customer Service
  4 stars
• Speed
  5 stars
• Reliability
  5 stars

Terrible internet provider. They're cheap but you understand quite quickly why. They draw payments twice quite often by mistake, take ages to refund you, they stop your connection by mistake as well (never missed a payment and my connection has been cut twice over 1.5 years with them). I'm currently not supplied by them anymore but it's now the 3rd month they withdrew and I'm still waiting for them to stop and refund me... Customer service is terrible as well. Completely useless.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  2 stars
• Reliability
  2 stars

Never get internet with these half - an hour waitin for them to answer the routers don’t work frew the day always looses connection and thehy fink am gna lay £49 for another router wen online its says its free installation and router not ad internet since last wekend they wunt recommend these to anyone agen Gota wait another month for them to actually cancel it so paid another bill for no internet

Unfortunately, I cannot find Anything good to say so I won't. All I can say is avoid like the plague if you want a peaceful life. with a broadband service which works also, at a speed which is useful.

• Customer Service
  2 stars

Total confusion from the beginning! We paid £158 for a whole year up front. Just wanted basic broadband for a holiday let so it seemed a perfect fit. The first router was faulty. The second was faulty.

Eventually got up and running. Speed not brilliant but just about acceptable. After a few weeks realised we were being billed for £21 a month. Rang to query and was told that the price had gone up as it had been upgraded to fibre. I didn't want or need fibre and I certainly didn't want to pay £21 pm for a service I'd already purchased for a year in advance!

I'm not convinced it is fibre at all. It's certainly no faster.

The worst bit is the time they take to answer the phones. I don't think I've ever got through in less than 3/4 of an hour. If it was my own residence I'd have cancelled it and asked for my money back.

• Satisfaction
  2 stars
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  2 stars

I have been with Origin for over 2 years, and for the first year services was excellent.

Then after a year it all changed, they seem to have got into trouble laid off staff, then the service went way downhill, dropped connections are normal, speeds that will suddenly drop to less than old dial up speeds.

You get used to responses such as "We cannot find a fault with the service on our side." and "we do not provide a guaranteed minimum speed with our packages"

Origin insisted it was not them, as all checks carried out showed no issues at their end, so it must be BT or an intermittent exchange issue- odd, as visits to neighbours showed other providers were not have any problems.

Cut long story short the company has gone into a CVA, and the service continues to reduce. I would advise any potential customers to do your research, When it works the service is good, but for last 6 months it has not been good and I for one will not be renewing my contract

• Satisfaction
  2 stars
• Customer Service
  2 stars
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  2 stars

Was one of the first people to sign up with Origin Broadband here on the island...was with them the best part of 3 years...at the beginning, all problems were dealt with promptly and couldn't fault them...fast forward to now....was supposed to be on 36meg download....for close on 6 months had constant drop to between 1 and 5meg...complained after numerous calls, nothing done...emailed abuse, still nothing done...cancelled direct debit, it worked for about a month then back to the same shenanigans of not even being able to stream bbc i player at peak times...what a joke...Origin even had the cheek to ask me to reinstate payment while they try and sort it out!!!...Hilarious!....have decided tonight to switch to EE fibre in hope of a peaceful life...Avoid Origin Broadband folks, the began a great company but have got lost in the fog of their popularity and would rather bury their heads in the sand than sort out their longest running punters...should be banned by OFCOM with their carry on

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

Very good customer service with resolving issues. I switched because we experienced drop outs and slow speeds over the term of our contract and I hoped that our new ISP would be better.

• Satisfaction
  4 stars
• Customer Service
  5 stars
• Speed
  4 stars
• Reliability
  4 stars

Cancelled my service today and it’s the only time in 2 years I’ve managed to get through to customer services in a reasonable length of time. With fibre speed less than 0.5 MBps and virtually unusable I sacked it. Totally appalling ISP from day 1. Steer clear. Shouldn’t be in business.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

The worst internet ever I had to get a new router box as the first one they sent me didn't work. I tried to ring them the first time and had to wait an hour and the internet still did not work. I have rang them twice since as the internet keeps cutting off. Then they said they are going to charge me £198.00. Avoid this rubbish company.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

spend hours trying to reach the customer support, no help, sending emals trying to schedule technician visit but not replying, no action, was without internet for 5 weeks, such a waste of time needed to switch

I am now in my third year with Origin. My experience has been mixed, I try to avoid all contact with the accounts dept as they never follow up on requests for genuine refunds. I also had slow speed and drop outs which I finally resolved myself by downloading and installing the latest firmware from Asus for the DSL-N16 router. Don't rely on the automatated update in the router software as it does not recognise the latest update (December 2018). I hope this helps others frustrated with their speed and reliability. Good luck.

• Satisfaction
  3 stars
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  4 stars
• Reliability
  4 stars

It took 2 weeks to get a confirmation set up was complete. turns out it wasn't complete and was on hold for 49 minutes while trying to contact customer services to get it resolved. was then told the issue would take 5 to 10 days to correct. terrible, do not use

• Customer Service
  2 stars

The broadband is completely unreliable.
It drops out at least 20 times a day. Customer service personnel say they don’t take responsibility for the WiFi reliability or speed, even though I’m sat 2 feet away from the router.
Absolutely rubbish all the way through.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

The reason I am posting this review is because Origin are lying to Trustpilot by saying my reviews are false because I am not a customer!, I have noticed they have an active campaign using the same excuse with other bad reviews to have them removed and Trustpilot are cooperating with Origin, I had all the same problems as the other reviewers, Origin illegally attempting to take money after ignoring your confirmstion that you will nit renew the contract etc, it is a good job that I do not actually live close to this shower of thieves, I have never,ever had to deal with such a disgusting excuse of a company before, they should be closed down by OFCOM.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

We’ve been customers here for over 3 years and haven’t seen such humiliation and depression when it comes to customer service, honestly I’ve been on the phone with other companies that took a long time to answer but NOT as long as Origin Broadband takes to pick up the phone. The internet is great but I’m sorry I honestly cant believe that for a company as big as yours with all those phones and yet people are still waiting in line for 1 hour or 1.5 just to say that my broadband isn’t working and we’ve paid everything in full and they told us that it would take approximately 1 hour to work, btw WE GOT EXAMS.

• Satisfaction
  3 stars
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  5 stars
• Reliability
  5 stars

AVOID, absolute cowboys. every time I tried to call I was on hold for hours it’s only recently that they I improved the ways of getting in touch with origin which has possibly come from all the bad reviews you have recieved in the past, I emailed on several occasions confirming that I would like the leave when the 12 month contract finished as they can see from my account I paid for 12 months contract then stopped paying as I emailed to say I’m leaving, not once did I say I want to renew my contact therefore the contract was unlawfully extended without my knowledge or agreement, not once did I receive a phone call or email or letter saying the contract has been renewed, the broadband has never worked as the engineer didn’t Install the phone line correctly, I have been on talk talk since the first month I took out the last Initial contract but I knew I had to stay in the 12 months period which I did, they can check the broadband connection and can see that it’s never been used because it never worked. I told them via email that either the broadband is cancelled or I will happily take my email evidence of wanting to leave origin after the 12 month period to court if you try to ask for any outstanding balance. Don’t let origin get the better of us, it needs to be shutdown NOW!!!

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

Update: switched to Zen internet and all my internet problems are solved, even ones I didn't realised were caused by Origin e.g. LG TV would sometimes not connect automatically to internet which I thought was it being slow or malfunctioning. Nope, it was Origin and their terrible router.

Complete ripoff, way more expensive than other providers yet worse in every way. Screw this company they are useless.

The connection is absolute garbage: drops out or becomes unusable multiple times per week. I can see this is the same others are getting as review sites have been flooded with similar 1* reviews recently i.e. nothing to do with my setup, just this terrible company again.

My devices are feet away from the router yet once a fortnight do I get zero lag or delays. The rest of the time it ranges from annoying to unusable.

The router is complete rubbish too - complicated to setup, UI is almost unusable because it is some terrible ASUS one and it doesn't even have 5G. I'm paying £38 a month, way more than I would for same speeds with other providers, yet they can't even give a solid 5G router.

I went with Origin for the 24/7 UK based support and here is my summary of that:
- nice but moronic staff that have zero knowledge on anything.
- technical support are clueless morons
- hold times are always very long
- no one ever answers the live chat, you send your message and it says someone is there but no one replies.
- terrible tinny hold music played on repeat whilst on hold.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

If i could give minus stars i would, put up with Origin for the entirety of my 18 month contract. Took it up through a cashback website and to start, never received the cashback. As soon as broadband set up, they mixed my details with another customer account which stopped me being able to log onto broadband, once remedied (after many calls to customer services with minimum 45 mins before anyone answered), constant WIFI dropping, very slow speeds (and this was meant to be quicker than my previous provider, paying £10 more than before for the privalage! Received an estimated final estimate for £60 when i'd gone through my bank statements, I had actually paid for 18 months service and i'm leaving a month early. Contacted customer services to explain to them to sort their billing out.. Girl didn't sound like she knew what she was doing, told me the account will be updated to show i owed nothing, then get a final payment due letter to say i now owe £35! Cancelled direct debit, router sent packing. Calling customer services again. Honestly AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

Customer service might be OK if they ever answer the phone! Abysmal! I have now held for 45 minutes twice and still not got through to anybody. I only wanted to upgrade my package but thinking I'll just wait until my contract ends and leave them.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

The speed of the internet is slow, can not be any quicker. Always the same speed with previous providers.

• Satisfaction
  5 stars
• Customer Service
  5 stars
• Speed
  3 stars
• Reliability
  5 stars

Very poor speed (1Mb/s), intermittent connection, customer services reaction was "that's the speed you get" (tough!)
they block incoming connections (FTP etc.), although they deny it, unless you pay extra for fixed ip (DDNS is blocked.

I have changed supplier, instant speed increase to 4Mb/s - engineer visit, speed now 7.5Mb/s. I am also now able to use ddns without issue.

my advice - Avoid origin Broadband.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star

Worst customer service known to man, if you like to listen to 3 different songs for multiple hours while trying to contact your Internet provider then this is the site for you! And if you like paying for a service your not provided then also this is a site for you, but if your one of them really lucky people (the type that wins the lotto multiple times) then you will eventually have someone answer the phone, but they will just fob you off with what you want to hear "so you go away" and then never answer the phone again. But on the plus side you will have the option to switch provider, just as soon as your contract runs out, Advised.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

Ratings should have -5 stars the only good thing I can say about this service is they don't have that terrible noise we older folk can remember from dial up. Do not I repeat DO NOT be conned. This must be the worst service ever.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

Want give me my money back even thought I cancelled one day after signing up. Do not use this company. Decided to cancel due to press coverage of them being in trouble (financially) - no refusing to give me my sign up deposit back. Seriously do not consider these.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

Terrible company. Broadband regarding speed and reliability ok, but a complete mess regarding invoicing. I can only repeat what others have already mentioned....AVOID....AVOID....AVOID...at all costs. The market will do the rest.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  3 stars
• Reliability
  3 stars

Here we are another Originbroadband fail no phone no broadband again !
We have been overcharged month after month . we spend hours on hours to contact them they to tell them they over charged they then charge the right amount for one month then we have to ring again next month overcharged again. This as gone on for months they promised refund never arrived now we have paid hundreds of pounds over our contract 18 months @ 23.50p some months 65.00p. And now no service phone or broadband at all for five days but they will still take there money for no service again These clouns must be stopped

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

Poor beyond belief, imagine if Fawlty Towers ran a broadband company. Didn't tell me about my activation day, turned up unannounced and then the changeover left me without broadband as they hadn't posted my router yet (they sent it to the wrong address 3 times!) and lack of notice meant had to pay out my notice for old broadband provider. Slow speeds. Unreliable. Received other people's bills on more than one occasion. Terrible customer service. Posted router back at end of contract and after 4 phone calls and 2 emails am now taking them to court to be paid back the money for the postage they agreed to pay 3 months ago. Avoid at all costs.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  2 stars
• Reliability
  2 stars

Never buy broadband with them, they are the worst ISP inn the country, the internet will be down 70% of everyday, the internet speed you paid for will never be met and should you call to tell them that it is not working they will say it is working according to their computer and that it will cost us heavily if we call out a bt technician. I AM SERIOUS I TYPE THIS TO WARN YOU DO NOT GET THEIR BROADBAND!!!

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

Avoid. Guilty of breech of consumer trading law: "False Free Avertising".

They advertise the router as included and "totally free of charge"... yet you will get stung with the follwing when you leave after your term completes.

Origin policies page :

"However our relationship comes to an end, we will need our modem/router back. So you will be required to return our modem/router to us within 14 days after termination/cancellation.

If you do not return our modem/router to us we will invoice you for each piece of equipment in the amount of £40.00 (including VAT). The modem/router will then become yours."

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

I have been contacting Origin Broadband recently because they are preventing the activation of a new Superfast broadband cabinet in the village of Hatfield Woodhouse near Doncaster. They have failed to give their agreement to Open Reach for activation of the new cabinet and the result is that their customers who are paying for a fibre broadband service are being denied the best broadband available (even though they are already paying for it) and a large number of other residents in Hatfield Woodhouse cannot access Superfast Broadband even though the cabinet is installed and has been ready to be activated for 6 months.
I am told that Origin Broadband have caused the same problem in other areas but they are unwilling to make contact with Open Reach and resolve the problem.
From my conversations with Origin, I don’t believe they understand the problem so they are denying it exists.
If you are an Origin fibre broadband customer in Hatfield Woodhouse I recommend that you contact them to seek compensation as they are not fulfilling their responsibility to provide you with the best broadband service available.

• Satisfaction
  1 star

This is my review and to be honest I don't know where to begin with this company. Unreliability has been a major problem with the internet going down without prior warning of doing so. Despite numerous times I've rang to discuss issues like most of you the people are nice to talk to but it's like with there internet they can't function and go into the classic default mode of trying to blame BT or lying repeatedly to me about this will get solved or as I had with one of the complaints team " I know about the final right to reject and I accept that and also we will pay back in full the money that you paid out for the router that I had to pay for". This of cause was another lie. The other problems I've had is the internet will go off when we need it the most as I've got a one year old son he likes watching YouTube videos of his favourite tv shows it's very difficult telling a one year old that the internet has gone off and it's not his fault. Generally the moto for origin is correct the only thing they got right. Where it begins. Yes it begins with them lying, taking money for a service that works when it wants to and not accepting blame. If any of you have an enemy and they ask for advice for there next internet company then go with origin. This company should be shut down completely and Ofcom and relevant associations should close them down before anybody else's hard earned money goes to this horrible company.

• Customer Service
  2 stars