
Motorola V600
T-Mobile sucks!
J.D. Power study finds Verizon Wireless has best network quality while Alltel's is worst.
July 31, 2003: 6:23 PM EDT
By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN/Money Staff Writer
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Verizon Wireless has the best-quality cellular network, according to a study by J.D. Power and Associates. Nextel was a close second.
For their Wireless Network Quality Assessment Study, the market research and customer satisfaction survey company polled 16,800 wireless telephone customers. Wireless companies were ranked on a scale, with 100 representing an average score. Scores above 100 represented better network quality.
Verizon (VZ: Research, Estimates) scored best at 104. Nextel (NXTL: Research, Estimates) and Cingular followed, with scores of 103 and 101, respectively.
AT&T Wireless (AWE: Research, Estimates) was average while Sprint PCS (PCS: Research, Estimates), with 95, and T-Mobile, with 94, were below average.
America’s worst phone service
Telecoms hit with slow growth, numerous fraud probes
By Jane Spencer
The Wall Street Journal
Oct. 3 — For flailing phone companies, luring new customers has become a game of seduction: MCI gives out DVD coupons and T-Mobile (the former VoiceStream) offers up a glossy-lipped Catherine Zeta Jones inviting you to “get more.” One discount provider, Working Assets, even promises a year’s supply of free ice cream.
BUT THE PARTY ENDS quickly. As the industry crumbles under slowing growth, criminal-fraud probes and the largest bankruptcy in history, consumers are feeling the aftershocks. The Federal Communications Commission received 10,182 complaints from consumers frustrated with wireless and long-distance service in the first quarter of this year alone. And as industry wide layoffs approach the half-million mark, companies from wireless carrier Sprint PCS to AllTel have shut down some customer-service call centers.
Are there any good options? We did a wide-ranging analysis of major nationwide phone services, including 10 long-distance carriers and eight wireless companies. The assessment began by examining a year’s worth of complaint data from the FCC and matching it up with Public Utility Commission data from more than a dozen states. We also looked at so-called churn rates, the number of times customers move from carrier to carrier, to see which ones people tend to dump most frequently.
From there, we evaluated plan offerings and rates that vary as much as 8.2 cents a minute on average at T-Mobile to 14.8 cents a minute at Verizon Wireless, according to research firm Yankee Group. And we did our own testing of services around the country, including everything from the ease of getting credit for a wrong number to whether you can check online to see how many minutes are left in your cellphone plan.
The results weren’t particularly encouraging, as many consumers know firsthand. Ivan Goldstein, a retired accountant from Springfield, N.J., spends a good chunk of his life trying to untangle his phone service. When he switched his residential service to MCI last year, the first bill came to $680. (They were billing him for other people’s numbers.) Then Sprint PCS recently convinced him he could save money with a $79 family-share plan. He switched, and the first bill came to $400.
Mr. Goldstein thinks incompetence is part of the industry’s business plan. “Today you talk to Jane, tomorrow you talk to Mary, the next day you talk to Harry,” he says. “You get caught in this maze and it’s just too time consuming to fight it, so you just eat it and walk way.”
Our analysis found that, when it comes to choosing a long-distance company, smaller is often better. That’s because customer service isn’t anything to call home about at almost any long-distance company. So you may as well go for the small discount carriers rather than the big-brand names.
In our survey, the better options for long-distance service were two discount carriers many people have never heard of: VarTec Telecom and IDT Corp. — both of which offer cheap rates and tolerable customer service. There are literally hundreds of discount carriers that offer long-distance service at cut-rate prices. Consumers can track them down through Web sites, like TollChaser.com. But the worst options were the big carriers, particularly MCI.
On the other hand, when it comes to wireless, you generally don’t want to go for the cheapest carrier. The reason: When you pay more, you are often getting more. Verizon Wireless, one of the two better options in our survey, is by some estimates the most expensive cellphone carrier. But they also have the strongest nationwide network — a key factor in avoiding dropped calls — and the strongest customer service of anyone in our tests. The other wireless option that ranked high on our list was Cingular, a joint venture of SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp., which also has a strong network and lets customers on some plans bank minutes from one month to the next.
At the bottom of our wireless ratings: T-Mobile, Sprint PCS and Qwest. VoiceStream, for example, offers the cheapest prices of any carrier — but has one of the worst complaint records in the industry. The FCC has received 1,443 complaints about the company, which amounts to one for every 55,000 subscribers. A key problem is that the company has a notoriously weak network.
One caveat: In cellphone service, everything is local. T-Mobile customers in New York and Washington D.C., where the company has a relatively strong network, report high satisfaction with the carrier.
Below are our own assessments of various phone services — grouped in categories ranging from “worst” to “less bad” to “better.”
WIRELESS
Worst:
Sprint PCS
Sprint PCS is the cellphone company people love to hate. It got more per complaints per subscriber than any of the top five carriers over the past year.
As its customers drift away, the company is adding new fees and restrictions. Since the start of the year, it has rolled back the time night minutes start to 9 p.m. on some plans, and has started charging customers airtime for checking how many minutes they have left on their plan. Some customers, typically those with poor credit, are even charged a $3 fee to speak with a customer-service agent.
At Sprint, there is a specific target for customer frustration: Clair. She is the “virtual service representative,” that answers customer calls. Clair can transform even the most basic customer query or billing question into a nightmarish chase, with her tendency to misunderstand speech commands and direct customers to the wrong departments.
“I’d like to egg her virtual house,” says Daryll Rhoades, a standup comedian from Atlanta who has been frustrated by his inability to find human assistance at the company.
Qwest Wireless
Qwest Communications, which is under fire for allegedly overstating its revenue last year by more than $1 billion, has also had trouble keeping its customer accounts straight. In Colorado alone, the state Public Utility Commission has received 1,550 complaints about Qwest’s wireless, long-distance, and local services.
“Consumers ought to be able to get their bill fixed without calling the attorney general,” says Janet Napolitano, Arizona’s attorney general. Her office has filed suit against the company over marketing and billing practices. Qwest acknowledges that it had service problems in the past, but says it has made big improvements recently.
T-Mobile
T-Mobile is in the midst of a massive makeover. In recent months, the company changed its name and launched an ad campaign featuring Ms. Zeta Jones.
The company has a history worth hiding. T-Mobile, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, is known for having a weak national network, and the FCC received 1,466 complaints about the company in the past year, giving it one of the worst complaint rates in the industry. T-Mobile says their complaint rate has tapered off and that they have made substantial network improvements.
But T-Mobile is the cheapest wireless provider, available, with an average cost of just 8.2 cents per minute. (Verizon, by contrast, costs 14.3 cents per minute.)
Less Bad:
AT&T Wireless:
AT&T Wireless is the only major wireless company to provide a consumer-friendly perk: an automatic “dropped call credit” under which customers are reimbursed for any call that was cut off mid conversation and immediately redialed by the caller.
Such civility comes at a price. AT&T’s rates are on the high side, with a typical cost per minute of 12.5 cents. But the company is a good choice for high-volume users in parts of the country where their next-generation network is available. In those markets, the company is leading the current round of pricing wars, with a plan that offers unlimited minutes for $99 a month.
But like many of its competitors, the company has been adding new fees. The cost of directory assistance, for example, has jumped to $1.25, and the company bills you for airtime if you make a call that rings for more that 30 seconds, even if it’s not answered.
Better:
Verizon Wireless:
You pay for what you get. At 14.3 cents a minute, Verizon is the most expensive wireless carrier. But it also has the strongest nationwide network, a lower complaint rate and the strongest customer service of anyone in our tests.
E-mails we sent to the company were answered in less than half an hour, and helpful customer service reps came on the phone in less than a minute. (Compare that with a 15-minute wait at Sprint.)
There were some flaws, including a charge for receiving text messages, whether you read them or not.
#1)T-Mobile has gotten much better since then. #2)AT&T dropped the unlimited plan long ago and now has 20 minute CC hold times. Then when a rep answers and you ask for a change to your account, they put you on hold for another 10 minutes. Not to mention that little fiascle during the holiday season last year when I couldn't even activate or access a GSM customer's account.
Pos...
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Tell me, anyone. How many JD Power awards has TMobile won? Ok let me change my question, outside of Verizon or AT&T has anyone else won the overall customer satisfaction award?
Let me point out, that JD POWER IS BASED ON POLLING OF CUSTOMERS.
Bottom line: T-Mobile isn't getting the phone. T-Mobile has the smallest customer base as of not only last year, but this year too. T-Mobile has sold the company how many times in 5 years? This is what, their 3rd name?
Go argue with the hardcore Sprint guys. Thats about where you belong. With Cingular absorbing AT&T there are only two companies worth a damn. Cingular, and Verizon.
I just hope that all goes well for him when his company is merged into cingular and his new bosses start eliminating redundant positions.
B.T. said:
You have to respect hot md guy. He is a company man through and through. He has always argued that at&t will get the phone and no one else. (never mind the fact that an unlocked phone can be used on any gsm network) and was stunned that people would want an unbranded phone. He probably doesn't mind the AT&t branding or the AT&t flex on the phone.
I just hope that all goes well for him when his company is merged into cingular and his new bosses start eliminating redundant positions.
I know.. he sounds like an AT&T/JD Powers zombie. MD, have you tried to call AT&T customer care lately? Pull out your watch and time their response. Then, once they answer, ask them to do something simple like add...
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I also talked to the rep about the merge btwn att and cigular, she said it is good for the customers because it will combine the att towers and cigular towers so we will get much better reception...has n e one heard about this...??
Tingtong187 said:
Ordered my phone through CS today for 249...with a one year..and got all the shipping and upgrading fee's waived.
I also talked to the rep about the merge btwn att and cigular, she said it is good for the customers because it will combine the att towers and cigular towers so we will get much better reception...has n e one heard about this...??
Yeah, but it won't probably happen until next year. I can't wait because my AT&T service is a bit spotty in the Chicagoland area, plus I'll be doing some rural Illinois traveling soon.. it would be nice to be able to access the 850Mhz without paying roaming fees.