Wireless Service Consumer Ratings

The cell phones introduced new senes of speed and connectivity to social life, resulting in unprecedented numbers and varieties of individuals. However, wireless industry's consumer ratings are low compared to others.

Consumer Reports released a new survey last week showing that only 47 percent of customers said they were completely or very satisfied with their cell-phone service, one of the lowest showings for any type of service in the United States.

This year's Consumer Reports survey includes ratings on a pair of smaller carriers in two metro areas. Both the carriers, US Cellular and Alltel, did relatively well and were among the leaders in their respective areas. Verizon was among the top-rated carriers in all the metro areas and was ahead of the pack in 9 cities in a statistically meaningful way.

Verizon Wireless consistently won the most praise nationwide, with generally good service credited to the wireless company.

The recently merged AT&T (NYSE: T) and Cingular was rated lowest among the top four big cell-phone companies, with apparent problems in making the two systems compatible, the magazine said.

Consumer Reports annual cell phone report shows more than half of customers are unhappy with their service. The January 2006 issue of Consumer Reports shows connection problems are among the highest complaints from customers.

Some other highlights from the survey include:

• Thirty-one percent of respondents were seriously considering a switch of carrier. Those who had switched in the past three years said they were after better service and better price.
• Eighty percent of respondents said they used their cell phones at least twice a day during the past week - up from 69 percent last year.
• Thirty-seven percent of respondents said they were using text messaging but 21 percent of those said that text messaging cost more than they expected.
• Recent company mergers caused a lot of difficulties for customers.

You need to find out which carrier has a good service reputation in the places where you expect to use your phone. J.D. Power and Associates and Consumer Reports rank all the major carriers in each region.

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