AT&T dead last in Consumer Reports wireless survey

I'm not surprised.

As I've said previously, there has been a noticeable deterioration in at&t's service here (OKC) since 3G was rolled out two years ago. It was noticeable then, never really significantly improved from that level and then another even more pronounced decline starting three months or so ago.

I only use data, but on Edge and not an iPhone. It now takes several minutes to achieve a data connection/retrieve EACH e-mail and even longer to send EACH e-mail. This is a significant change from that of several months ago, where the data connection/activity was fairly immediate. And interestingly, I was out of town for the extended holiday weekend in an area where at&t does not have 3G coverage - the performance was at least the same level I'd enjoyed up to several months ago. The minute I returned to the city/3G coverage, the data connection issues began again.

I know there are a lot of users who are very pleased with at&t's level of service - even now. But there are certainly many areas where at&t customers had completely adequate to "good" service and no longer do. I'm not necessarily looking to move my mobile phone service at the moment - but right now I definitely would not commit myself to a contract extension or any new service with at&t either.

I'm interested to see if ultimately the 3G enhancements improve things - but I guess I'm skeptical that they will - at least unless you are using a 3G device. (? Guess I'm hoping that an increase in transmission speed may help alleviate network congestion for everyone? lol. I'm not a techie - I don't know if that's how it should work or not.)

 

With only 9 points separating the carriers there's really not a whole lot of difference. I'm wondering if the Sprint results include both iDEN and CDMA. Because Sprint's messaging and data scores should have been higher. IMO unless the iDEN side is bringing them down a little.

 

Could be Larry. I text/pic message some people on Boost /iDEN side and sometimes there still are delays coming in. My friend on Sprint gets them quickly most times. Sometimes he reports delays (I guess the pre shows the time I actually sent it and compares it to the time stamp from sprint)

 

Consumer Report's surveys are also notoriously fashion sensitive. A good brand will get you extra points and a bad brand will cost you. Sprint and AT&T are likely feeling the effects of this.

 

How ironic — the iPhone driving the subscriber rate up and dragging customer satisfaction down

 

I agree. They are so dramatic making it seem that 75 is so much better than 66. LOL! But it goes to show that AT&T has deteriorated in network quality. Coverage is great but 3G works slow sometimes and calls drop for me about 2 to 3 times per week.

 

The differences are too small to determine a clear leader in service. It just shows how much coverage with all carriers has improved, and equalized to a certain extent. I have noticed the AT&T complaints in SoCal have gone down in the past six months or so. Talking to my uncle, he is much happier with his iPhone as of late. And the little bit of testing I have done has been good, no dropped calls.