Consumer Reports Slams U.S. Carrier AT&T

U.S. carrier AT&T may be home to some of the most unhappy subscribers in the industry. As rated by Consumer Reports, AT&T has scored the worse possible scores in 8 of 9 possible categories, with slightly better than worse on the texting category.

Customers perceive the carrier to have worse value, and worse voice and data services. The carrier consistently scored a worse mark in all channels and mediums customer service. In response to the Consumer Report score, the carrier had prepared the following email:

“We take this seriously and we continually look for new ways to improve the customer experience. The fact is wireless customers have choices and a record number of them chose AT&T in the third quarter, significantly more than our competitors. Hard data from independent drive tests confirms AT&T has the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network with our nearest competitor 20 percent slower on average nationwide and our largest competitor 60 percent slower on average nationwide. And, our dropped call rate is within 1/10 of a percent – the equivalent of just one call in a thousand – of the industry leader.”

It’s unclear how there is such a discrepancy between how AT&T is perceiving itself and marketing its networks through independent tests compared to how customers are viewing the carrier. Regional carrier U.S. Cellular tops the rankings, with national carriers Verizon Wireless and Sprint following closely behind and T-Mobile trailing Sprint, but still leading AT&T.

Casey Pham
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: AT&T, carriers