Wireless carriers struck out once again in Consumer Reports’ annual survey of cellular phones and service. Cingular Wireless L.L.C.’s acquisition of AT&T Wireless Services Inc. came in for particularly harsh criticism, since many former AWS customers reported low satisfaction after the merger.
Overall, customer satisfaction with carriers earned a rating of 67, virtually unchanged from last year’s score of 66 and previous scores of 65. A score of 100 would indicate all respondents were completely satisfied, while 60 would mean somewhat satisfied. Only 47 percent of survey participants categorized themselves as completely or very satisfied with their cellular phone service.
“Things are stalled, and they’re stalled at a place that’s below the satisfaction that we see with a lot of other services,” said Paul Reynolds, electronics editor for Consumer Reports.
Verizon Wireless kept its spot as the highest-rated carrier, to the company’s satisfaction.
“It’s about the network and it’s about outstanding customer service, and that’s what we aim to do today and tomorrow,” said Verizon Wireless spokesman Tom Pica. However, he added, “We have to work hard to keep that. You don’t stand still and keep customers.”
T-Mobile USA Inc. finished second, followed by Sprint Nextel Corp. and Cingular. Because the survey took place so soon after Sprint Corp. acquired Nextel Communications Inc., the two were treated as separate carriers in the survey results.
The online survey of subscribers to ConsumerReports.org was conducted in September and included 50,515 responses from cellular phone users in 18 metropolitan areas. The survey is much larger than in past years, when it has included as few as six markets and 22,000 subscribers.
“These are becoming more and more representative, we think, of what Americans are experiencing in terms of their service,” Reynolds said.
Although carriers often have shrugged off Consumer Reports’ figures or defended themselves with the results of internal surveys, the numbers fell in line with a J.D. Power and Associates 2005 study of customer satisfaction. That survey ranked Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile as the top carriers in almost all markets, but gave T-Mobile the edge in several regions. The J.D. Power survey noted a 10-percent decrease in customer satisfaction in 2005, in large part due to carrier mergers.
For the first time, Consumer Reports said it collected enough data that two regional carriers made the list-and did well compared with the national carriers. U.S. Cellular Corp. was rated best among carriers in the Chicago market, and Alltel Corp. took the second-rated spot in Phoenix.
“It’s another recognition that we are able to compete in large markets with the likes of the best and the biggest and hold our own-or even better than that, be better,” said U.S. Cellular President and Chief Executive Officer John Rooney. He noted that U.S. Cellular continues to expand its reach in markets such as Oklahoma City, which was not included in the survey, and St. Louis.
The survey also noted that 31 percent of wireless customers are so unhappy with their service that they are seriously considering changing carriers. Static and busy circuits were the most common problems, and, depending on the company, between 6 and 14 percent of subscribers reported billing issues.
In terms of the Cingular/AWS merger, Consumer Reports noted that more than half of the Cingular customers who participated in the survey were former AWS customers-and many of them weren’t pleased with post-merger service, unless they had purchased a new Cingular phone.
“We’re now in a transitional period, where we’ve brought some new benefits to customers but are also making changes in order to provide additional improvements,” said Cingular spokeswoman Rochelle Cohen. Cohen emphasized Cingular’s customer-friendly offerings such as a 30-day trial period for service and a customer-service summary that estimates first bills and ongoing bills. “All the positive changes are not going to happen overnight.”
In light of the problems caused by the Cingular/ATW merger, Consumer Reports predicted that Sprint’s purchase of Nextel would likely mean more hassles for consumers. Jennifer Walsh, a spokeswoman for Sprint Nextel, objected to the magazine’s gloomy forecast. Rather than trying to quickly merge its networks, she said, the company plans to keep both Sprint’s CDMA and Nextel’s iDEN networks running.
In general, the magazine concluded, “Even the best of today’s providers have considerable room for improvement.”
Along with wireless service, Consumer Reports continued to rate handsets. Motorola Inc.’s E815 phone took top honors for use on Verizon Wireless or Alltel’s network, followed by LG Electronics Co. Ltd.’s VX8000 and VX8100. Consumer Reports rated PalmOne Inc.’s Treo 650 and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s MM-A800 best for Sprint Nextel’s CDMA network. For GSM handsets, Samsung’s e335 and SGH p735 both received top scores, followed by Motorola’s V551.
