AfterDawn: Tech news

AT&T gets lowest rating, again, in Consumer Reports satisfaction

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 07 Dec 2011 9:56 User comments (10)

AT&T gets lowest rating, again, in Consumer Reports satisfaction For the second year in a row, AT&T has gotten the worst rating in Consumer Report's annual satisfaction survey.
On the high end, little regional carrier Consumer Cellular got the highest ratings.

Among the major carriers, Verizon took first, Sprint took second and T-Mobile took third.

Despite being in third, T-Mobile had significantly higher ratings than its GSM rival, across the board. AT&T had tried to acquire the carrier for $39 billion but was rebuffed by the U.S. government.

"Our survey indicates that subscribers to prepaid and smaller standard-service providers are happiest overall with their cell-phone service," added Paul Reynolds, electronics editor for Consumer Reports. "However, these carriers aren't for everyone. Some are only regional, and prepaid carriers tend to offer few or no smart phones.The major carriers are still leading options for many consumers, and we found they ranged widely in how well they satisfied their customers."



Consumer Reports says "we surveyed over 66,000 of our subscribers about their service and customer-support experience with both standard and no-contract providers." The full report will be available next month.

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10 user comments

17.12.2011 22:42

As an iPhone user I agree, awful, awful service. Ditching them the minute I can.

28.12.2011 00:55

T-Mobile would probably be a lot better rated if they only surveyed the people with T-Mobile coverage. I know that they sell T-Mobile out west in spite of the fact that there are almost no towers. Here in Florida, T-Mobile is far better than Verizon.

38.12.2011 02:04

Since I have been a customer of AT&T for over 10 years without a contract and my monthly cell phone bill is only $43.00, I don't feel the need to lose them. Never had any issues with my service. However if ever have a good reason to purchase a smart phone or tablet I will change service providers. Then again it's six of one and a half dozen of the other.
Jeff

48.12.2011 03:21

Originally posted by Jeffrey_P:
Since I have been a customer of AT&T for over 10 years without a contract and my monthly cell phone bill is only $43.00, I don't feel the need to lose them. Never had any issues with my service. However if ever have a good reason to purchase a smart phone or tablet I will change service providers. Then again it's six of one and a half dozen of the other.
Jeff
$43 a month just for a cell phone? I pay less than $10 more for a 4G smartphone!

58.12.2011 03:29

How much is your contact and other add-ons? I don't have a contract.
If was only $10.00 a month for a smart phone I would ditch my old Razor.

Also, don't you have a business where you will get discounts? Not the same thing Bug.


Jeff

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 08 Dec 2011 @ 3:37

68.12.2011 05:51

Originally posted by Jeffrey_P:
How much is your contact and other add-ons? I don't have a contract.
If was only $10.00 a month for a smart phone I would ditch my old Razor.

Also, don't you have a business where you will get discounts? Not the same thing Bug.


Jeff
I just have an individual plan...It is $50 a month, but they give me 10% off because they were having a promotion on the day I happened to walk in...so it is $45 a month plus taxes. Also, I don't have a contract as I paid for the phone myself.

78.12.2011 06:40

Okay, but the phone alone must have been expensive. Think I paid $25.00 for my Razor V3.

If I could justify the cost of a new smart phone I would buy one.
At this time I have no need for one since I don't text message, own a business or use the internet function. Sometimes you just have to get away without newer technology. I can wait until I'm home for all the neat stuff. Also I'm not a big fan of streaming.
I guess you can call me an old fuddy-duddy.:)

My 27 and 29 year old daughters are the definitive social butterflies who would be lost without their iPhone and HTC phones.

I would go for something with an Android OS sans malware issues that seems to be a problem with Android.
I'm not about going to be an igadget fanboy.

Jeff


This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 08 Dec 2011 @ 6:49

88.12.2011 12:41

It's my belief that price is first and foremost for almost all consumers regarding cellular service. Followed by feature/phone sets and THEN customer service.

When one shops around, they're not thinking of "who's the best customer service", they're thinking "who's got the best price/packages and equipment/features" and then LATER they deal with crappy customer service fallout. Hence.........why Verizon and ATT have so many customers.

Here in Chicago, T-Mobile rocks. So do they all to be perfectly honest but I am willing to take a dropped call here and there (though I'm sure it's the same with all providers ultimately) on T-Mobile and lose data/4G coverage in obscure areas I rarely visit if even at all for a plan that is what I have now..........59.99-Unlimited talk/text/web (2GB high speed data technically)

On that note.........F off Verizon you shady, arrogant company and F off ATT with crappy pricing too.

98.12.2011 12:45

Originally posted by Jeffrey_P:
Okay, but the phone alone must have been expensive. Think I paid $25.00 for my Razor V3.

If I could justify the cost of a new smart phone I would buy one.
At this time I have no need for one since I don't text message, own a business or use the internet function. Sometimes you just have to get away without newer technology. I can wait until I'm home for all the neat stuff. Also I'm not a big fan of streaming.
I guess you can call me an old fuddy-duddy.:)

My 27 and 29 year old daughters are the definitive social butterflies who would be lost without their iPhone and HTC phones.

I would go for something with an Android OS sans malware issues that seems to be a problem with Android.
I'm not about going to be an igadget fanboy.

Jeff


NEVER EVER EVER EVER!!!!!!! Have I EVER had a "malware issue" with Android. Only techno morons have that problem. PERIOD.

Be gonneth techno morons!

108.12.2011 13:49

Originally posted by KillerBug:
Originally posted by Jeffrey_P:
How much is your contact and other add-ons? I don't have a contract.
If was only $10.00 a month for a smart phone I would ditch my old Razor.

Also, don't you have a business where you will get discounts? Not the same thing Bug.


Jeff
I just have an individual plan...It is $50 a month, but they give me 10% off because they were having a promotion on the day I happened to walk in...so it is $45 a month plus taxes. Also, I don't have a contract as I paid for the phone myself.
Pretty much same thing here, buy phones myself and have extremely cheap service from T-Mobile. Have family plan with parents and younger brother. We don't all live in same place but everyone pays their piece each month and it ends up being $25 or so each after corporate discount. Two of us have unlimited minutes, data, texting, the other two have unlimited texting and limited minutes, no data.

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