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.
From report, “More than 50 percent of those who used AT&T owned a version of the iPhone.” If Apple doesn’t open the iPhone to Verizon after this, they’re just stupid.
Agree with Tyler
The internet home service sucks too.
Always losing connection.
I have the best service in the world bit&&s
move to Japan you'll see
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.
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.
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
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!
ha
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.