Poor coverage the major phone grievance

Poor mobile phone coverage and service drop-outs are behind a record number of complaints to the telecommunications ombudsman in the last year.

The costs associated with smartphones and billing disputes were also prominent grievances among the 197,682 new complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) in 2010-11.

Ombudsman Simon Cohen said more than half the new complaints were about mobile phone services, up 51 per cent from the previous year.

"Of these, more than 32,000 were about Vodafone, almost tripling the number of its new mobile phone complaints when compared to the previous year," Cohen said.

The growing popularity of smart phones has also caused consumers headaches, with many complaints about inadequate information provided on the costs associated with smart phones.

"There has also been an alarming increase in the number of consumers with high debts because they could not monitor their usage adequately, the majority using mobile phones," Cohen said.

"Customers who have complained to us have been frustrated not only by mobile telephone problems, but also by deficient customer service and complaint handling."

Complaints about landline, internet and mobile premium services all reduced in 2010-11.

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