Customer service was hands down the most popular complaint category, with 35 per cent of small businesses who picked up the phone to the ombudsman doing so because their service provider hadn’t responded with any action to fix the problem, or had a delayed response to the concerns.

More than 15 per cent of businesses took action after delays connecting their service, while 16 per cent complained after losing their service connections.

Seventeen per cent of small business complaints were lodged about the quality of internet services.

The ombudsman's office highlighted that overall it was pleasing to see complaints across most categories slow in the last quarter of 2018.

But Council of Small Business Australia chief executive Peter Strong says no matter how many complaints are on the books, having to chase a phone provider is a big hassle for small businesses.

"The issue is that phones and internet are more important than ever before. It depends from business to business, but this could end up affecting profits," he says.

"The fact that they’ve had to find time to make a complaint is really annoying, because most small business people are self-reliant - it's annoying, if they have to then go and complain about these things."

Service knockouts and disconnections have been front of mind for business as the rollout of the national broadband network continues.

An August report from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) suggested as many as 40 per cent of businesses had been left without phone or internet services when transitioning to new broadband products.

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