AT&T might still be the only U.S. carrier to offer the coveted Apple iPhone, but its customers are apparently not too thrilled with AT&T's service. An annual survey of cell-phone carriers from Consumer Reports said Monday that AT&T is the worst cell-phone provider in the country.
AT&T was the only carrier whose scores for overall satisfaction dropped significantly since last year, Consumer Reports said. For overall satisfaction, AT&T had a ranking of 60 percent.
"Our survey suggests that an iPhone from Verizon Wireless, which is rumored, could indeed be good news for iPhone fans," Paul Reynolds, electronics editor for Consumer Reports, said in a statement.
"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," AT&T said in a statement. "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."
Among the nationally available carriers, Verizon and Sprint were basically tied, with 74 percent and 73 percent satisfaction, respectively. "Verizon Wireless has an edge in voice service overall. Sprint scored better in some aspects of customer service, which is a remarkable turnaround from past years when that was a weak point for the company," Consumer Reports said.
T-Mobile came in third with 69 percent satisfaction.
Among regional carriers, meanwhile, US Cellular – which is available in 26 states – had an 82 percent satisfaction rating. "It stands out for value, voice service, and customer service," the magazine said.
Consumer Reports also evaluated the best smartphone for each carriers, including the Motorola Droid X for Verizon, the Samsung Epic 4G for Sprint, the Samsung Captivate for AT&T, and the Samsung Vibrant for T-Mobile.