Strong regional differences in call quality among carriers showed up in the latest J.D. Power and Associates consumer survey, with no carrier dominating nationally. J.D. Power also noted that the number of calls made from inside buildings exceeded the number of calls made from outside—and the difference is affecting customer experiences.
Verizon Wireless placed either first or tied for first place in three regions of the country, and both T-Mobile USA Inc. and Alltel Corp. placed or tied for first in two regions. U.S. Cellular Corp. took first place for call quality in the North Central region for the second year running.
Verizon Wireless was the clear winner in the Northeast and edged out Sprint Nextel Corp. in the Mid-Atlantic region, then ended up in a three-way tie for first in the Southeast with Alltel and T-Mobile USA. Alltel also garnered its first stand-alone win in the Southwest, with subscribers “reporting fewer problems with echoes and timely voice message notification,” according to the survey.
Along with the first-place tie in the Southeast, T-Mobile USA placed first in call quality in the West; however, the carrier was on the bottom rung in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions.
Despite Cingular’s multi-billion dollar network investments and its ad campaign about having the fewest dropped calls, the J.D. Power survey ranked the wireless operator at or below the industry average in call quality in all six U.S. regions. Sprint Nextel did slightly better, falling at or below the industry average in four regions and performing best in the Mid-Atlantic (second place) and West (fourth place) regions. However, wireless service from Qwest Communications International Inc.—which operates on Sprint Nextel’s network—somehow managed to outrank its host network in call quality in the West, placing second with an index ranking three points higher than Sprint Nextel’s.
The survey was based on responses from 27,151 wireless users in March, April, June and July of this year. J.D. Power said it examined seven problem areas reported by customers: dropped/disconnected calls, static/interference, connection on the first try, voice distortion, echoes, and timely voice and text message notifications.
According to the survey, wireless users made 51 percent of their calls indoors, up from 47 percent in 2005. About 29 percent of calls were made from home, a slight increase from 2005’s figure of 27 percent. Mobile calls from vehicles decreased from 31 percent last year to 27 percent this year.
“It is clear that carriers need to manage their networks to reflect the specific usage patterns of their customers in order to provide the best possible call quality experience,” said Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates. Parsons added that “carriers that offer superior network quality will improve their likelihood of attracting new customers and will increase customer retention …. as customers experiencing at least one call-quality problem are three times more likely to indicate they `definitely will’ switch carriers in the future.”
