Australians made a whopping 167,955 complaints to the telecommunications watchdog in 2009/10 including a surge in grievances about global roaming charges.

The peak consumer body, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), said the complaints - almost 650 per day - remained at unacceptably high levels.

Furthermore, ACCAN believes the complaint figures reported by the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) are just the tip of the iceberg.

It recently released Galaxy research finding just 7 per cent of people who are dissatisfied with their telcos' response to a complaint go to the TIO for help, with about a third unaware that the TIO exists.

The most common complaints to the TIO related to billings and payments and involved poor explanations by phone and internet companies about product plans, confusing advertising and poor customer service.