Earlier this year AT&T made it known that they would be spending $2 billion to improve thier cellular network. This gave many iPhone users hope, but in the most recent ChangeWave Research poll of smart phone customers, it's not looking so good for AT&T. In fact, the number of dropped calls reported by customers has reached an all time high.
The poll asked 4,040 smartphone users on the four major networks how many dropped calls they had experience in the last 90 days. AT&T customers reported an overall dropped call rate of 4.5%. So every one in 22 calls on an AT&T phone is likely to be dropped. Verizon, by contrast, lost only 1.5% of calls. Sprint and T-Mobile were in the middle with 2.4% and 2.8% of calls dropped respectively.
It makes us wonder where that $2 billion is going. Over time Verizon has managed to reduce dropped calls even as they begin supporting high bandwidth devices like the Motorola Droid. If the iPhone comes to another carrier, it will be interesting to see if that network can withstand the crush. If you're an AT&T customer, let us know if you're service has been improving or worsening.
Image via ChangeWave
