As the NBN rollout reaches the halfway mark, Telstra retains the lion's share of home broadband users who remain loyal even though they're some of the country's least satisfied customers.

If you're unhappy with your home broadband connection you're not alone, with 62 per cent of Australians experiencing internet issues in the last six months, according to Choice Australia's Internet Satisfaction Survey of 1910 home broadband customers.

Speed and reliability account for 81 per cent of all problems and it's not just homes which are still stuck on legacy services like flaky ADSL that are feeling the pain. Some NBN users are also unhappy, with 76 per cent of those with problems complaining of slow speeds and drop outs.

While we can all agree that Australia's broadband user experience leaves a lot to be desired, it's more difficult to agree on exactly where the blame lies. Sometimes it's the physical cables in your street, but other times it's your retail service provider skimping on backend capacity. It's tough to get to the bottom of it all when their customer service can be so appalling.

Choice Australia's customer satisfaction scores (out of 100) for the major retailers tell a familiar story, aligning with the reputations they've built up over the years.

1. Internode: 81
2. iiNet: 78
3. iPrimus: 75
4. Optus (Optus and OptusNet): 75
5. TPG: 74  
6. Telstra (Bigpond and Belong): 70
7. Dodo: 69

They rank in the same order for the individual categories of reliability, speed, technical support and customer support. There's one key exception; Telstra rates dead last for value for money at 66, ahead of Dodo which comes second last at 74. Telstra has always been expensive, dragging down its overall rating.

When you level the playing field by only looking at homes on the NBN, Telstra slips below Dodo to come last on overall satisfaction – including last in value for money at 69.

Of course unsatisfied customers can vote with their wallet and take their business elsewhere, but Telstra still owns 37 per cent of the market with Optus coming in a distant second at 18 per cent. When you allow for the fact that TPG owns Internode, iiNet and a few other ISPs, it actually has more customers than Optus but still lags behind Telstra.

Telstra benefits from the fact that unsatisfied customers still seem reluctant to make a change. Almost half of Australians (46 per cent) have been with their current provider for five years or more, and this rises to 59 per cent for rusted on Telstra customers.

So why don't more Australians give their ISP the flick in search of better service? In some situations they have little choice but to be with Telstra or Optus, especially if it's a choice between Telstra/Optus HFC cable or else slow ADSL. Some homes have also bundled mobile phones and other services on their broadband bill and might consider switching too much of a hassle, while assuming that all providers are as bad as one other.

Who's your retailer service provider? Are you happy or are you thinking about a change?