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Consumer Reports Rates Cell Phone Service

In a report that will hit the newsstands with the January 2010 issue (and online), Consumer Reports today stated that only 54 percent of respondents were “completely or very satisfied” with their cell phone service. The annual cell phone service survey was based on responses from more than 50,000 readers in 26 cities.

One piece of good news for those interested in content on mobile devices: the survey reported that, in 2009, roughly 40 percent of survey responders said they access the Internet with their phones, up from 23 percent two years ago. Despite the surge in accessing the mobile Web (and texting), however, only 24 percent of respondents rated their web and e-mail experience as excellent. Eighteen percent of e-mail users cited the inability to send or receive e-mail as a problem.

But that’s just some of the bad news. “Despite “smarter phones,” more flexible plans, and faster wireless networks, cell service continues to be among the lower-rated of all the services that Consumer Reports evaluates,” said Paul Reynolds, Electronics Editor at Consumer Reports. Reynolds also noted that respondents are “lukewarm” about cell phone service and concerned about its cost in the current economic down times. About one in five respondents cited high prices as their top complaint, a higher percentage than any other complaint. Almost two-thirds of the respondents had at least one major complaint.

Verizon, the nation’s largest wireless carrier, was rated above average in every attribute–customer support, voice connectivity and data sesrvice–except one: cost. Approximately one in five Verizon customers cited high cost as their top complaint. The report stated that Verizon’s $60 Nationwide basic with 900 voice minutes is more expensive compared to carriers such as T-Mobile, which offers 100 extra minutes for the same price.

The next best carrier in overall satisfaction was T-Mobile, although this carrier received lower scores in voice, messaging, web and e-mail services. Sprint, the worst carrier last year, shares the title with AT&T this year, and got low marks for customer service. AT&T’s main weak spot is voice connectivity, but this carrier also scored below average in every attribute except Web access and texting.

Apple iPhones were rated the top smart phones, with 98 percent of iPhone users saying they were satisfied enough that they would buy the phone again, despite dismal ratings for AT&T, the phone’s exclusive carrier.

One interesting finding was that over one-third (38 percent) of respondents switched carriers in the last two years in order to get the phone they wanted. Twenty seven percent said they shopped with a specific phone in mind.

Other items of note was the boost that Boost Mobile got, perhaps because prepaid contracts are popular in down times. Boost Mobile added 1.5 million new customers in the first half of 2009. According to the report, “the fairly small percentage of readers who used prepaid service were generally happy with it.” TracFone received the highest satisfaction score;  T-Mobile, Verizon and Virgin Mobile prepaid options received the next highest scores.

As might be expected, texting and data usage increased dramatically. Almost 70 percent of respondents sent and received text messages, compared to 55 percent in the 2007 Consumer Reports survey. Twenty percent this year sent 10 or more messages per day.

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Tags: Apple iPhone, AT&T, Boost Mobile, cell phone service, Consumer Reports, mobile data, mobile devices, mobile web, smarter phones, Sprint, T-Mobile, texting, Verizon

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 at 8:30 am and is filed under Devices, Home Feature, Monetizing Mobile.