AT&T Comes in Dead Last in Consumer Reports' Network Survey

Posted 12/01/2009 at 5:41pm | by Ryan Whitwam

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The annual Consumer Reports survey of wireless customer satisfaction has just come out, and it isn’t looking too good for AT&T. More than 50,000 customers of the big four carriers in 26 cities submitted their ratings to Consumer Reports. AT&T came in last in the overall ratings. In the city by city data AT&T was rated lowest in 19 areas including, unsurprisingly, New York and San Francisco. The same survey placed Verizon at the top of the scale.

AT&T was given low marks for service availability, circuit capacity, voice service, and dropped-call frequency in 73% of markets. Many have posited in the past that it was merely tech savvy consumers in a few markets that had a problem with AT&T’s service. This survey seems to imply that there are many more dissatisfied customers spread over a larger swath of the nation.

Perhaps the most interesting bit of data here is that of the iPhone users surveyed, 98% said they were satisfied enough that they’d buy the phone again. Only 79% of people with other AT&T phones said the same. Apparently, a good phone can help smooth over a lot of rough spots in a carrier’s network.