Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA Inc. and Nextel Communications Inc. all gained bragging rights from this year’s J.D. Power and Associates Wireless Call Quality Performance Study. Customers rated each carrier highest in call quality in at least one of the six geographical regions included in the study.
The study was based on experiences reported by 22,730 wireless customers and focused on static/interference; connection on first try; voice distortion; echoes; dropped/disconnected calls; immediate voicemail notification; and immediate text-message notification.
Overall, the 2005 survey found that the average number of initial connection problems for wireless calls dropped 50 percent from last year despite increasing wireless call volume. J.D. Power noted that three out of every 100 calls includes at least one call-quality problem with the initial connection compared with six out of every 100 in last year’s study.
“It’s clear that wireless providers have made great strides in making sure calls connect on the first attempt,” said Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power. “With an increasingly competitive environment and an increase in calling volumes, carriers that offer superior network quality will improve their likelihood of attracting new customers and will retain more of their existing base.”
Verizon Wireless garnered the most top placings with either an outright win or a tie for first place in five of the six regions. The carrier stood alone atop the podium in the Mid-Atlantic, North Central and West regions and shared the spotlight in the Northeast and Southeast. The only blemish on Verizon Wireless’ record was a last-place finish in the Southwest region.
T-Mobile USA gave Verizon Wireless a run for its money, posting a pair of ties with its larger rival in the Northeast and Southeast regions. The carrier received an above-average rating in the West, an average rating in the Southwest, and below-average ratings in the Mid-Atlantic and North Central regions.
Nextel was the only other operator able to post a top placing, as the carrier received top marks for its network in the Southwest. However, the win was somewhat hollow, as Nextel received below-average marks for network call quality in the other five regions.
Of the remaining nationwide wireless operators, Sprint Corp. managed to post above-average rankings in the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and West, but fell below average in the Northeast, North Central and Southwest regions. Cingular Wireless L.L.C., which acquired rival AT&T Wireless Services Inc. last year and is in the midst of integrating networks, managed only average rankings in the Northeast and Southwest regions, with below-average rankings in the remaining four regions.
Several regional operators were included in the study in their respective service areas. Alltel Corp. posted an above-average ranking in the Southeast region and below-average rankings in the North Central and Southwest; and U.S. Cellular Corp. received an above-average ranking in the North-Central region and a below-average ranking in the Northeast region.
Qwest Communications International Inc., which recently migrated its customer base to Sprint’s wireless network, received a below-average ranking in the West, which was surprisingly several points lower than Sprint’s above-average ranking in the same region.
Overall, average call-quality rankings also increased year-over-year in the Northeast, Southeast, North Central and West and remained the same in the Mid-Atlantic and Southwest compared with the 2004 survey.
Not surprisingly, the study also found that urban wireless customers reported significantly fewer call-quality problems than their rural counterparts, particularly in regard to dropped/disconnected calls, initial connections, static and delayed voicemail notifications. J.D. Power attributed the discrepancy to the denser cell-tower locations prevalent in more highly populated areas.
