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.

Re:Dropped call rate of 0.1%?!

[Matheus]

Bad Summary / RTFA. They say "our dropped call rate is within 1/10 of a percent - the equivalent of just one call in a thousand - of the industry leader." NOT that they have fewer than 0.1% dropped calls.

Re:They'd complain about anything probably.

[nxtw]

Tens of millions. Big deal. There are 4.6 billion cell phone subscriptions worldwide as of 2009 according to Wikipedia. Actually, that's pretty sad.

Those tens of millions of iPhone subscribers:

• have a high credit rating or the extra cash to put down a deposit
• have enough money to afford a $200+ (subsidized) mobile phone
• have a stable enough income to pay at least $40/mo for voice service and $15/mo for data service, plus taxes

They are among perhaps the top 10% richest and most influential mobile subscribers worldwide. Not the kind of people who barely scrape together the money to top up a prepaid SIM in their Nokia.

Re:their internet / home phone is worse

[Z34107]

Their internet service especially is awful. Ideally, setting up DSL should go something like this:

1. Unpack box, throw away disc.
2. Plug modem into wall.
3. Plug other end of modem into router

How it works with AT&T:

1. Open the DSL modem's management page, expecting to find something useful. Instead, experience a "setup wizard."
2. The "setup wizard" requires Internet Explorer and flash, because the setup wizard has to talk to you. Good thing the instructions are also mostly on-screen, unless you're on a netbook, in which case you're just fucked because 600 vertical pixels just doesn't cut it for AT&T.
3. If you can click on the "next" button from step 2, the setup program will try to download some other setup program, for Lord knows what reason. Unless you're running 64-bit Windows, in which case the x64 installer will just crash. Or unless you're running Linux, in which case you never made it past step 2, neckbeard.
4. Pride wounded, you open the disc, which requires breaking a a seal labeled something along the lines of "open only under the instruction of AT&T support."
5. Rage at the disc, because the setup program on it is password protected.
6. Dig through the directory structure a bit and find an older version of the setup program that died in step 3. This will finally let you finish activating your account with AT&T, and your DSL modem will now finally have service.

If you're like me (easily frustrated and poorly shaven), there's a few optional steps:

1. Immediately call AT&T to cancel because you'd rather eat the business end of an iPhone (you know which end) than give money to anybody who thought any of the above was a good idea.
2. Send back your used modem for the largest deposit I've ever paid for a lump of plastic.
3. Get sent a bill for $150 over what you owe because they lost your modem.
4. Spend a week trying to call their support number. Contrary to what their website and any other department you call will tell you, it's only open until 5:00 in your timezone. (Bonus points for making them call that number themselves and listen to the "we're closed" tape.) (Although you can add services online, you cannot cancel online; imagine that.)
5. Finally get somebody to "find" the modem.
6. Get told to wait for a new, corrected bill.
7. Receive a collections notice in lieu of said new, corrected bill.
8. Call back AT&T during work hours. Play back the recording made of step 6.
9. Pay correct amount over the phone, and then cancel the card.
10. Thank the Almighty God, who makes the Sun orbit the Earth, that your service, bill, and credit check were all in the name of Ranka Lee [sankakucomplex.com]. (Kira~! ^_>) Let me know if you see her name in a telephone book somewhere; I didn't pay extra to opt out of that.

Can anyone tell me if signing up for their wireless service still requires an acoustic coupler and landline?