Dissatisfaction Grows With Wireless Users

Are you generally dissatisfied with your wireless provider, especially in light of the major mergers which have gone on of late? If so, you are not alone, according to new figures from J.D. Power and Associates which reveal a continued downward trend in overall satisfaction performance amongst wireless carriers.

The annual wireless provider satisfaction report, J.D. Power and Associates said, shows that customer happiness has decreased 10 percent since last year. The research firm pins this, and the general downward trend since the survey launched in 1995, on a number of factors such as competitive expansion, key regulatory programs and mergers.

Mergers have an especially hard impact on customer perception as they create a sense of confusion. J.D. Power and Associates said. Nextel and Sprint in particular had the largest satisfaction decline compared to 2004.

Measured across six key factors including cell performance and reliability, customer service and service plan options, the study polled just over 24,000 cell phone users. T-Mobile ended up faring the best across the six American regions measured, followed by Verizon.

“Given the number of major changes consumers have experienced over the past couple of years, the gap between customer expectations and actual service experience tends to widen as uncertainty from mergers greatly influences consumer perceptions,” said Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates. “Case in point is the impact major market dynamics plays in future switching intent. Between 2004 and 2005, there has been a 5 percent increase in the intent to switch wireless carriers in the next 12 months — a reverse from the past two years, where future switching intent remained stable.”

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