Consumer Reports Gives AT&T Lowest US Carrier Rank

tekgoblin writes "Consumer Reports has just released results for consumer satisfaction across all US cell phone carriers. The survey covered around 58,000 Consumer Reports subscribers. Over half of the respondents who used AT&T used the iPhone when taking the survey. According to Consumer Reports, iPhone users were less satisfied with AT&T than other users with different phones. An AT&T spokesman responded by citing independent speed tests, as well as higher subscriber numbers and a dropped call rate within 0.1% of the industry leader." Update: 12/07 01:49 GMT by S : Corrected last sentence to indicate the 0.1% dropped call rate statistic is the difference between AT&T and another carrier, not 0.1% overall.

Now, I know that correlation != causation, but...

[rekenner]

"Over half of the respondents who used AT&T used the iPhone when taking the survey."

Duno

[mrsteveman1]

Most of the iPhone users i've talked to say its been just fine on AT&T. I've got an iPhone 4 and it's working great, 3G speeds are plenty fast, and calls haven't dropped at all. Voice sounds bad, and AT&T might be worse in that respect than other carriers, but poor call quality seems to be part of a trend that followed the switch to digital phones, they just sound worse than the older analog ones and definitely worse than landlines.

Most of the AT&T hate seems to be coming from users in large cities like SF and NY. I expect that the signaling issues that TechCrunch and others have reported on that are specific to AT&Ts network are hitting hardest there.

Re:Now, I know that correlation != causation, but.

[dumbnose]

I had two different iPhones over two years. I experienced dropped calls all the time. It was awful. I hated AT&T. During this time, I even moved from the East Coast to the West Coast and still had the same poor experience. I was ready to leave AT&T. I had friends on AT&T that didn't have iPhones and they said they had a good experience with AT&T. So, I decided to get a new phone. I got a Samsung Focus running Windows Phone 7. Now, my experience is really good. The network seems fast and reliable. No more dropped call issues. I can't speak for everybody. But, this is my experience. I wish I had changed phones sooner. It would've saved me tons of aggravation.

AT&T admits to being sub par anyway.

[Anonymous Coward]

I got hired with Convergys, a company that handles AT&T customer service. During the course of the training, we were told that, yes, AT&T is the most expensive carrier. We learned how AT&T grades their customers, on a scale of 1 to 0 to 5, with 0 being the type of customer they want to lose, the one who always calls with complaints and requesting adjustments. Meanwhile the 5's they will bend over backwards to keep.

The most astounding thing I learned, however, was during a discussion about international roaming charges. The question was posed to the class, "If I take my iPhone to Mexico, and hook up to my brother's wi-fi, will I be charged international roaming?" Of course, I answered no, seeing as how being connected to a private access point means that AT&T is not providing any network service at all, but it turns out I was wrong. We were told that the customer can avoid the charges by not having their SIM card inserted. But if the card is in there, apparently AT&T can charge you for a service they are not providing.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[hedwards]

Customers that demand good service are too expensive and need to be driven out, didn't you get the memo on that?

Re:Now, I know that correlation != causation, but.

[timeOday]

You bought two iPhones plus the Focus in the space of two years? An iPhone is $400 if you haven't served out your two-year sentence, isn't it? Then about $100/mo for service. I'm just curious how much all that cost?