AT&T is the worst U.S. carrier, says Consumer Reports

December 7, 2010 By Jeffrey Van Camp

Consumer Reports surveyed its readers and found that those using AT&T are least happy with their service.

Consumer Reports, a nonprofit review magazine, has named AT&T the worst cell phone carrier in the United States, according to a survey of 58,000 of its readers. The survey is one part of a larger annual report on the cell phone industry.

“Consumer Reports data, reflecting all versions of the phone, found that iPhone owners were much less satisfied with their carrier and rated data service (Web and e-mail) lower than owners of smart phones on other carriers that, like the iPhone, have a host of apps to encourage heavy data use,” the magazine said on its blog.

AT&T ranked last out of five carriers, scoring a 60 out of 100 from readers. More than 50 percent of those who used AT&T owned a version of the iPhone. The score is a six point drop from the same survey last year. The carrier got almost unanimously horrid ratings for service and customer support. Verizon, which also has a fleet of iPhone-like Android devices, was the second highest ranked carrier with a 74 percent.

“We take this seriously and we continually look for new ways to improve the customer service,” said an AT&T spokesperson.

“Our survey suggests that an iPhone from Verizon Wireless, which is rumored, could indeed be good news for iPhone fans,” said Paul Reynolds, Electronics Editor for Consumer Reports. Verizon has taken a hit this year as well. In most years since 2003, the carrier was ranked number one, but this year U.S. Cellular handily defeated it and Sprint nearly tied. Could heavy data use from Android phones be hurting Verizon as well?

Consumer Reports made news a few months ago when it refused to endorse the iPhone 4, citing reception issues with the devices’s internal antenna, a hot talking point when the device hit shelves in June.

Showing 58 comments

oscar at 4:56pm 28th December 2010 I have the best service in the world bit&&s move to Japan you'll see
Jay B at 3:17pm 25th December 2010 Not surprised by this article at all. AT&t also cheats and robs their very own customers. I have a family plan w/ 4 phones. My line has the unlimited data plan.. Now the services, regarding antenna signal and so forth are very good and I've had any issues. NOW my other 3 lines are limited to text and 700 shared minutes a month w/ rollover.. Free nights and weekends of course. Funny thinsg is that I get charged an extra 20 to 30 dollars per month because of access to ringtones and like last month, Dating and Flirting tips. I tried calling customer support to see how it got on my account, since interent is disabled on those 3 lines. Their answer, "well even if your sent an SMS message to your phone and open it, you subscribed to it." Funny thing is that you dont even have to access these sites from anywhere, they can jsut send you crap like this.
jay b at 2:17pm 25th December 2010 The AT&T rep tell me that they auto pay those charges and in turn charge the customer. I love it, they can add whatever charges they want to my account without authorization of the account owner, who is me. And refuse to credit the account. Now I am giving AT&T the benefit of the doubt. I mean its not like its the CSR's fault that AT&T went over seas to a country where no one UNDERSTANDS english. Anyone can read from a scripted sheet of paper, but if you don't now what your saying eading then you jsut taking up space. Too damn bad i just purchased the new Blackberry Torch and signed a new 2 year contract.
Blake at 7:35pm 20th December 2010 I have deep hatred and resentment for AT&T in regards to my previous cellular service and home internet/phone services. I received terrible customer service the entire time I had AT&T and paid 50% more for the service than I now do for Verizon. On top of that, I live in the middle of one of the largest cities in the US and could never get more than 1 bar with AT&T and would calls were constantly dropped. When I moved to a different part of the city my home phone/internet plans with AT&T took over 3wks to activate because they did not service this area, Verizon did. After fighting with them for weeks, they refused to let me out of my contract, unless I wanted to pay $200,but they finally activated my service at a 20% premium b/c they were subcontracting the service through Verizon. After switching to Verizon, I now pay significantly less and never have reception issues. They have been more than helpful and they joked that the majority of their new customers are old AT&T customers that are fed up with their BS. I will never go back to AT&T and I will continue to blasphemize them in hopes that others see the light
Mom in WV at 9:27am 15th December 2010 I've had a cell phone since before my 15-y.o. son was born (remember the old "bag phone" that was like a purse, with a shoulder strap?). Never changed carriers. Carriers changed on ME, from Cellular One to Cingular to AT&T to Cingular to AT&T. I stuck with them. This month, I moved to Verizon. Reasons . . . AT&T notified me that they were dropping Xpress Mail, the push e-mail on my Nokia E71x. I called tech support for help, they agreed that nothing they offered would provide me with push e-mail (3 options: 2 for corporate MFE users, 1 not push). I shopped for new phone, explained why I was changing, need for push e-mail. Web-based sales rep offered me a Blackberry with Xpress Mail. Had to send her a link FROM AT&T SITE to show her that Xpress Mail was dead. She suggested I use Google. Got a Droid 2 at Verizon; son got Droid X. They had a great promotion that put the phones within an acceptable price range. There is a program with $9.99 off pda service on each added line for 24 months. Moving my pda plan from AT&T and upgrading son from data/text to pda plan ended up costing less at Verizon (AT&T WAS cheaper before son moved to smartphone, but would have cost more after move). We both love our new Droid phones. Felt like we were treated well by Verizon. Store staff were completely competent, able to discuss phones knowledgeably and provide us with useful information, answer setup questions. We don't have enough of a history with Verizon to know how they will work out, but they are off to a great start. I've considered moving for the last 4-5 years . . . feels good!
rob at 8:06pm 7th December 2010 ha
Guest at 1:44pm 7th December 2010 what is the point of arguing about this? if you like ATT stay there if you like VERIZON stay there or if the opposite is true switch. WHO CARES? Second, most people who are on verizon dont care about the iphone. Even if it was released for verizon, most android users would not switch. @Brian - it was a good try to hurt some 12 year olds who dont make their own plan decisions, but any adult can choose and switch their plan if they want to, the iphone alone isnt worth it.
Brian at 9:48am 7th December 2010 This report is a load of crap.. I have had two Iphones and been with AT&T for over five years and I love their service. I never get dropped calls either. Oh yeah by the way I own the Iphone 4 and it kicks ass on reception. Keep dreaming Verizon people you will never get the Iphone....HAHAHHAHA
Eric at 9:18am 7th December 2010 I have had an iPhone, along with my wife, on AT&T for a couple years now. We're in the Baltimore suburbs, and it's been great. I have no complaints whatsoever. In fact, we left Verizon for the iPhone and have since had better reception and more coverage. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
ALLEN at 9:14am 7th December 2010 I have an iphone with AT&T and I'm happy to say I can't wait for the day when all these unhappy customers move over to Verizon for their new iphone and it gets bog down from too many customers and AT&T finish with it's new system which will be faster than 4G. I'm sticking with AT&T nothing last forever they'll get better. It will be funny to watch everybody try to move back to AT&T.
ratnose at 9:05am 7th December 2010 I have a fleet of over 50 devices with AT&T. Their customer support with regards to billing ,equipment provision and support was horrendous, but so was that of our users with Verizon and Sprint. We solved our customer support problem by using an AT&T rebiller. I now get much better support due to the rebillers smaller customer base, I have product on hand for emergency replacements, and I save 10% over AT&T direct billing while still taking advantage of their nationwide and International network availability. I think the fact that both AT&T and Verizon lost ground as compared to last year is evidence of a bandwidth issue caused by an overpopulation of smart phones and their associated data use. I expect both carriers to improve as they rebuild the infrastructure of their networks to accomodate the increased network traffic. As for US Cellular, it's hard to overload a network with 3 phones on it.
Jhs at 9:03am 7th December 2010 All I live in silicon valley and I used to be AT&T customer , due to dropped call switched to verizon guess what it has worst service and drop call issues. AT&T is not the best but much better in predicting where I will drop call unless like verizon phones ( blackberry and android based ). I give credit to verizon customer support they are great compare to AT&T anyday.
jjc at 8:34am 7th December 2010 The reason why people give poor ratings for AT&T is because they use iphones, which are strictly for soccor moms, get an android phone, get a copy of a new software version (takes about 2 minutes even for non-tech savy)
1. JasonF at 9:27am 7th December 2010 I disagree. I have an iPhone with AT&T service and I use it heavily for business. I am able to process credit card transactions, make and send invoices to customers on the road, do all my emailing, remote into my laptop @ home if needed, access files on a "cloud" storage, etc. The coverage from AT&T in Oregon and Washington is superb (only Verizon matches it) and I almost never (1 of 60 times) drop a call. I used Windows phones in the past and used Excel natively which I do miss on iPhone, but I have learned workarounds in order to have all the other features I enjoy from the iPhone.
bchou at 8:32am 7th December 2010 AT&T is probably only carrier - which charges for failed or missed connection. I use their GoPhone - and I know for sure.
Scott at 8:31am 7th December 2010 58,000 CR readers out of nearly 292 million wireless subscriptions in the U.S. I'm not saying that this has to be complete bunk, but let's at least get a significant sample. This is 0.02% of all wireless users. Even if you get generous and say the average subscriber has 4 phones each, you are still looking at a sample of less than 1/10 of 1%.
jjc at 8:30am 7th December 2010 People that say AT&T is bad must have never been a Sprint customer...they are by far the worst. I have had tmobile, sprint and AT&T among others that are now gone...at&t's customer service is second to none, however do hear good things about us cellular but they are not available in many markets including the entire state of Michigan.
A Cedillo at 8:30am 7th December 2010 I cannot wait until At&t removes their claws from Iphone apple, I understand there is not such a thing as perfect provider, but when you pay more than $150.00 a month. for the basic phone+internet access connection. that becames a problem with me.. let me tell you why... -6 out of 10 calls drop when at home. -extra charges every time I travel outisde US -complined many , many times, and there is nothing they can do. -poor customer service -and many more reasons, March 2011 I will switch to any other provider but learn my lesson 2 years ago whe I put my eyes on the Iphone.
Joe at 8:29am 7th December 2010 No surprise here with at&t. Have to wonder if Verizon is on the way down as well since they were first last year and almost tied for 2nd with Sprint. Companies today don't care about customer service, all they want is our good hard earn money and we get terrible service in return. I know on the LAND line side of the house Verizon is the WORST carrier and nothing get solve when u talk to an idiot oversees who can barely speak the English....
joe at 8:28am 7th December 2010 I swtiched from Verizon about 5 years ago when their less than honest policies became intolerable. I have ATT and have no more problems than one expects from the cell phone industry, which, in general, is as customer friendly as the average lawyer or great white shartk. The entire industry seems to have a culture emphasizing rape, pillage and plunder..
Mr. T at 8:28am 7th December 2010 I bought a Droid Increadible from Verizon because I did not want to deal with AT&T. I had them as my longdistence carrier and the bill was necer clear and cust. service was week. I was happy to dump them.
meh at 8:24am 7th December 2010 have had at&t, which had poor customer service after a 6 year relationship, then sprint/nextel, which sold an android phone with the promise of upgrading it to android 2.0, then reneged when the 6 month satisfaction window passed. nextel's acquisition of sprint ruined sprints great customer service. so i went to tmobile. data rate with hspa+ is as advertised.. very fast, very nice. phone is as advertised. Plan is in budget. coverage is acceptable. It was a relief to finally port my numbers from at&t and sprint...
Khalil Ahmed at 8:22am 7th December 2010 I think AT & T is focusing on Technology and ignoring the fact that ultimately, customer who buy and use this technology. Customers like me, went to AT & T because of iPhone. This is not the success of the AT &T but rather a success of the comapny that made those phones ( Good Job Apple!). I wish the AT & T would have better job for customers they are here for. I canceled my services with the AT&T for the billing error and for charging me for calls I never made. I was not even in the country and not carrying my phone. Bill I received had 5 numbers listed. I kept fighting with customer service, but they never were able to help me.( They were all good people whom I talked with) but did not help me because company had not authorized them to look at the records. I was forced to pay the bill because they would have sent my case for non payment to a collection agency, which they did. They did not provide me any explanation of the charges. I am not a company has any value for the customer so why customer would rate them good. I am not surprised. I am surprise though on how this company is surviving now. Thanks to I Phone!
@richmondloring at 8:19am 7th December 2010 I was an att customer from1996 to 2008 the reason I left was because of the dropped calls I got from a blackberry curve on their edge network. They and I both knew it was not the phone after changing it twice so I had no other choice but to pay the $75 and find a new carrier. Nice way to treat a 12 year customer of course during that time at some point they were cingular but still to have the same account so long and be treated that way its not good customer support. I will never go back to them again.
TLWiz at 8:12am 7th December 2010 I am so happy to no longer have to deal with AT&T's underwhelming network and impossible so called customer service. Verizon is not great - but it is a huge improvement. I can usually make a phone call with Verizon whereas it was always a crap-shoot getting through with AT&T.
John Finlay at 8:11am 7th December 2010 Me and the wife have been with At&T for over years, including when we where with singular. Everything is fine until my phone died when i turn it off when we went to see a movie. I wont turn back on. I went to the store and asked for help. they told me that it might be my battery and put a new one back in and still nothing. the girl was very fluster and ask her boss for help and i quote his reply " make him go away". Talk about a bad taste in my mouth. I have until April until i can renew my contract so they cant help me instead i have to go with a GO Phone which i they charged me $60. a week later the saw the same phone at Radio shack for $29 another bad taste in my mouth. Needless to say this week me and the wife will go with Metro PCS...no more BS contracts and only $50 a month for each of us with the new android phones. My wife work it out that even with the early termination we will still save money with the cost over the same months as our contract. Later AT & T
countrygurl65 at 8:10am 7th December 2010 We have had ATT for over 10 years and I would say that 80% of the time my bill is wrong. They add features and I have to call to take them off, they take away features and then I am charged for 100's of text messages. My calls drop 80% of the time on the FREEWAY in the MIDDLE OF THE CITY. I do love my iphone though....besides the drop calls, the internet works well....never any real problems. Customer Service seems great and then you find out that your problem was not fixed and there is no notes in the system that you called in so you have to start all over. If I could take my iphone and go....I would!
Jason at 8:01am 7th December 2010 Subscribing to replies and new comments
Rave at 8:01am 7th December 2010 I have AT&T wireless and do not have the problems claimed by CR. I tried T-mobil for two days and found the reception very poor. I lost my initial start up "fee". I had Sprint before and got no reception at home except for standing on a table top, preditory customer service when I complained. They will use any method to get their money when Sprint is not willing to fix the problem. The reception I get from AT&T is good in California, Arizona, Georgia and Tennessee. There are blind spots as you travel through the mountains at times. My reception at home is excellent. Did not try Verizon or US Cellular.
steve at 8:00am 7th December 2010 I was a long time ATT customer and we moved to a rural area, although the ATT maps showed us having service it would literally get dropped at our drive way. Tried calling ATT several times hoping for a remedy but alas no help what so ever finally got fed up and went with verizon and not had any problems since, Ironically ATT did build a new tower right after I switched that is a couple miles from the house, the rest of our family is still on att and although they now have service here occasionally it drops the call more than it completes them, I am only sorry for not switching sooner.
Jason at 8:00am 7th December 2010 I have an AT&T iPhone too and love it for many reasons. Anybody with an ounce of brains is going to take these "ratings" with a “grain of salt.” In the last 10 years, I have been with Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T. The service (phone, web, etc.) with AT&T is about the same as with Sprint and Verizon. On average, I have had no more or less (about the same) dropped calls with AT&T as with the others. Not to mention AT&T's 3G coverage, while not quite as expansive as Verizon and a little behind Sprint's 4G service, is certainly much faster than Verizon and Sprint's 3G. Where AT&T does not have 3G, and until it gets its 4G service up and running, I can certainly get by with Edge or Wi-Fi. One last thing, my comparable plan with AT&T now for my iPhone costs me about $50 less a month than with Verizon.
TJR at 7:59am 7th December 2010 I have found that AT&T is unresponsive at best to customer questions. The representatives are nice enough, but except for the most basic tasks they really cannot get beyond basic scripts. There was a culture against customer service in Cingular and the name change to AT&T did not change it. Slowly there is improvement, but it seems that improvement only comes as a result of competitive pressure and not from any initiative on the part of AT&T. However, Verizon is not so far ahead that it can crow about its customer service. We dropped their land line service years ago and brought in Comcast which has not always been perfect, but who has truly tried to be responsive. The answer may be that AT&T needs a management change from the top.
Carl at 7:57am 7th December 2010 ATT has been good for me, and I've had them for over 2 years. I'm not an Iphone owner but I own a smart phone (Nokia e63) and I hardly use their data plan. Wi-fi speeds are faster and cheaper than anything 4G and 3G can offer at the moment. If all these smart phone owners realized this and used their 3G/4G data when they really needed it (as opposed to using it for tethering or download a load of useless apps), there would be little to complain about. Once Verizon gets the iPhone, it's going to be the same old story for them as well.
Roberto Conrad at 7:54am 7th December 2010 I tend to agree with the probability of error, or coloring of the Consumer Reports results by internal or external bias---just as there was with Apple until they considered that Apple gave superior service, had more stable and virus or mal-ware resistant products---then they switched whole hog when they finally realised MicroSoft confy and incompetent approach before Windows 7. I respect their(CR's) articles and service to get the issues and perspective I need to make a good decision but not all of their ratings on camera's, cars or electronics. In 1995-2001 AT&T had good to great service in WDC and on the east coast said CR , but my experience has been very positive since then in the rural Midwest, near Des Moines Iowa and nationally as well as with Sprint. It is true that VERIZON has invested heavily to both destroy and compete effectively with the former and current AT&T. Sincerely, Roberto Conrad (IOWA & DC)
Wayne at 7:50am 7th December 2010 I have 6 phones with AT&T with no problems. My last Sprint phones, would not on even work at the World headquarters of Sprint in Overland Park, KS. In Kansas City, when someone dropped a call, the joke was must be with Sprint.
RBF at 7:43am 7th December 2010 AT&T must not have funded any part of this or they did not pay for ad space in the latest CR publication. My AT&T service ,plan and phone are nop notch.
1. RobM at 8:22am 7th December 2010 Consumer Reports doesn't sell add space or take any revenue from vendors. They purchase all items that they test through the same retail channels that a general consumer would. That's why their tests are truly independent.
todd at 7:43am 7th December 2010 I just switched from Verizon to Sprint.... Sprint is fantastic. Much cheaper than verizon, faster data.. just as good coverage... Whats not to love?
1. DJ Smith at 8:31am 7th December 2010 I left Verizon because Sprint and T-Mobile have much better rate plans. Verizon tries to sell their coverage but people want affordable rate plans.
Frank at 7:42am 7th December 2010 I used to live in St. Louis, and had nothing to complain about the AT&T service over there, but I moved to the silicon valley, and now the service is miserable... Calls are frequently dropped (approx one call in every 3 is dropped)... I rarely get full signal... and the data speeds are miserable... (Only thing keeping me with AT&T is the IPhone) I've had similar experiences when visiting New York... My guess is that the AT&T service varies greatly from area to area, and the more populated the area is, the worse the performance.
Erick at 7:40am 7th December 2010 It's hard to spin reception issues. The thing to realize however, is that reception problems, signal coverage and the like, will always depend on your location. If AT&T built a new tower a couple of miles from where they tested phones, they'd have excellent scores. You will ALWAYS have people that say, "But I have so and so and I have GREAT signal!" To top it all off, the fact remains that some individual cell phones will be better holding a signal compared to others. Customer service issues are a bit harder to mask. I can't say anything for other carriers, but I've had Verizon for nearly 10 years... Customer service for me has been good, but only because I've NEVER had to call and/or stop into a store to use them. I travel from the western edge of Pennsylvania, as far north as deep into New York from Erie, PA, to as far south as Morgantown, WV, and as far east as New York City. I've never had cell phone reception issues despite (in recent years) using a phone as a GPS navigation unit, along with other data reliant applications. Those, however are my experiences only and do not reflect anyone else's perceptions of service quality for any other Verizon customer.
Lou at 7:39am 7th December 2010 I am a very unsatisfied customer of T-Mobil! Cannot use my phone anywhere in my work place...and most times cannot use it anywhere else...complained to customer service, they sent a representative, no satisfaction...so have an expensive toy that sits home most of the time...what a shame they can get away with this...
Ryu at 7:37am 7th December 2010 ATT Staff knowledge and Voice service is completely misleading. But ATT deserves what they are getting becuase they are laughing to the bank as they rape every iphone user out there.
Iphone guy at 7:36am 7th December 2010 Just like CR reviews of electronics, appliances etc, they tend to be long outdated when published. I will have to say that being an iphone ATT user and past Verizon customer, ATT's customer service is outstanding compared to the Verizon and many other service providers. Their customer service department bends over backwards to help, inform, and satisfy customers demands. AT&T's wireless infrastructure is acknowledged to be inferior especially if outside urban corridors. The upgrading of the wireless infrastructure unfortunately is more costly and not easily fixed.
Fred at 7:34am 7th December 2010 I have been an AT&T wireless customer since 1996 and dont have any of the problems stated by CR. The iPhone users have overburdened the AT&T network and they are addressing it as we speak.
1. Sarahatatt at 8:32am 7th December 2010 I too have had at&t for many years and my one issue is with Apple not at&t. Apple requires that ALL customers deal with them only when they have issues and the corporate at&t stores are unable to help. As soon as Verizon gets the iPhone, they will go down as well. Place the complaint to where it's due. Apple makes it difficult, not the company who sells their merchandise. As far as at&t goes, the customer service in the stores are amazing! They are always willing to help, contact customer care for me, and make sure that I have everything I need when I leave. I also have a Verizon phone as well and I am satisfied more with my at&t device than my Verizon device.
Pat at 7:31am 7th December 2010 I live in rural Indiana and use an iPhone 4 without any issue. I had US Cellular prior and could not get reception 4 miles out of town.....I have to wonder about the spin on this.......
1. Shawn at 8:34am 7th December 2010 I live in Fort Wayne Indiana and have an IPhone and cannot get any reliable service any where in my house. My kids are counting down the days when we can dump AT&T and go Verizon.
2010VWGTI at 7:26am 7th December 2010 Go AT&T!!! I think this is bull, I have been grossly mislead by CR before in buying their recommended cars and appliances. I have AT&T service for everything, and it's fantastic, I have excellent service.
1. FireMAnTT at 7:46am 7th December 2010 We have about 40 phones on ATT for our business and I woudl not recommend them. Poor attitude and customer service. Sprint is/was much better. Apple would have done better making a restricted trade agreement with Sprint not ATT. Where are the FED's on this one???
2. RobM at 8:17am 7th December 2010 As a 30 year subscriber to Consumer Reports, I have found their product tests to be highly accurate and have been quite happy with my buying decisions which were influenced by their suggestions. I am one of those 58,000 cited in the article. I have an iPhone 3G and AT&T certainly is horrid wen it comes to service levels and support. Have been holding on for the past year just waiting for iPhone to be offered elsewhere.
  1. AceRadCat at 8:48am 7th December 2010 How can US Cell be number one when they did not even get a grade for 33% of it? How can you trust Cosumber Reports even say they are number one. If I did not 'read' this information vice hearing it I would think US Cell is number one with only 66% known grade. I would not trust Consumer Reports just based off this alone.
  2. Brian at 9:46am 7th December 2010 I got news for you its not gonna be offered elsewhere. Pipe dream. I LOVE ATT
    apaul at 10:20am 13th December 2010 I completely agree that ATT's service is terrible. I could write many examples, but let's just say that I've actually corrected corporate store reps and MANAGERS on their own policies (very sad) and that I almost never got consistent answers to my questions (a lot of times the answer was "I don't know", which is correct, they usually don't know at all). Heck, even the reps at the Office of the President don't know what they're doing (yes, I HAVE talked to them, only to give up because they're just as incompetent). Another thing is, when they do help you, they act like they're doing you a favor. With Verizon, I get greeted at the door and the store managers are actively on the floor when they can. With ATT, the managers are hidden away behind closed doors and they act like it's a pain to come out and interact with customers. Finally, two things I never understood: one is why ATT is selling a 3G iphone in a lot of areas that DON'T HAVE 3G !!! The other is why ATT has an upgrade fee. Why should I pay $18 to give THEM another two years ? Amazing !
3. Big Ace at 1:48pm 29th December 2010 I agree, I have had at&t services for years and currently have 4 cell phones 3 of which are iphones and could not be happier. Go AT&T>>>
Jesse at 7:24am 7th December 2010 Why is it that they are only commenting on these two carriers and not how well or poorly the rest did?
christina at 7:20am 7th December 2010 Go US CELLULAR!
1. DJ Smith at 8:28am 7th December 2010 It's easy to provide great coverage when there isn't anyone around for miles. :-)