Meanwhile, as our overflowing mailbag will testify, providers also need to work harder when it comes to basic customer service. One reader, Sarah, wrote to us in desperation last week after her 89-year-old grandfather was left without internet for almost month. He is deaf and the internet is the only way he can communicate with his family, she says. Despite being flagged as a priority customer, Virgin Media repeatedly failed to fix the issue. And his tale is far from unique. Even reporting a complaint can be a headache in itself. Research for Money Mail last year revealed that a quarter of broadband customers were unhappy with the service they had received, with 7 per cent left on hold for more than an hour.