Neil Hughes
In a daily survey of 5,000 people 18 and older, YouGov's BrandIndex tracks companies based on factors of quality, value, satisfaction, recommendation, reputation and impression. When combining those categories, AT&T's index score of 18.3 on June 16 had eroded to a 14.6 on Thursday — a change company senior vice president Ted Marzilli told AppleInsider is "statistically significant."
He said the survey could indicate that some people may pause before they buy an iPhone because they don't want to be locked into an AT&T contract. Though he believes the contract between AT&T and Apple has likely been beneficial to both parties for the last two years, the timing of AT&T's public perception decline suggests the issue can be traced to the launch of the iPhone 3GS — or, more specifically, the network's inability to meet the bandwidth needs of users with the device.
"It may be hindering iPhone adoption at this point," Marzilli said, "and I think Apple is going to take a hard look at what they will do next."
AT&T has always been perceived as an inferior brand to Verizon Wireless in the index rankings. However, it was in mid-June that the gap between the two companies began to widen. Though AT&T's 14.6 score in overall feedback remains relatively positive, it still lags behind well behind Verizon in consumer perception. In the last three months, AT&T's biggest hits came in the quality and recommendation rankings.
"AT&T can come out with its initiatves and its announcements, but the problem is people on the Web are starting to blog about their problems with the AT&T network," Marzilli said. "It's a bit of a snowball effect."
While the study found AT&T's score to consistently drop over the last three months, Verizon has stayed much the same as it was in January. Its Sept. 10 score was 21.2. Scores can range from 100 to -100. A score of zero would mean equal positive and negative feedback.
The BrandIndex rankings sample a representative portion of the U.S. population. The company said it conducts more than 1.2 million interviews per year from an online panel of more than one million individuals. The company said its survey's margin of error is +/- 2 percent.
AT&T has had its share of troubles with the iPhone's bandwidth use on its network, going as far in recent weeks as to publicly admit its own shortcomings. With the exclusive contract between AT&T and Apple for the iPhone set to expire in 2010, some have speculated that the device will become available on other carriers. However, others believe it would be beneficial for the handset maker to extend its current contract.
In recent weeks, AT&T has begun its own aggressive public relations campaign to combat bad press and Internet buzz that has plagued the wireless carrier since the launch of the iPhone 3GS this summer. The company also announced improved coverage in the Tri-State Region and revealed plans to build nearly 1,900 new cell towers in the U.S. this year. The company plans to invest more than $17 billion this year to enhance its wired and wireless networks.
Because BrandIndex checks daily, Marzilli said AT&T's recent efforts might show up in rankings in the next few weeks. Whether public relations alone, though, can overcome AT&T's network troubles remains to be seen.
"The real issue for AT&T is how quickly can they alleviate the problem," he said. "It's interesting news that they're investing billions of dollars, but what does that mean for me as an AT&T customer over the next month, three months, six months?"
Bon Adamson
Wesley Hilliard
Christine McKee
Malcolm Owen
AppleInsider Staff
Amber Neely
65 Comments
Gee, I wonder if it has anything to do with me having to make 56 attempts (literally) in a row last night before my call went through?! Over 50% of my calls have one problem or another. I would think that I was in the middle of nowhere instead of downtown Manhattan...
Very happy here in Houston with our new 850 Mhz spectrum and will be even happier when we get our 7.2 speeds. Well of course we will never get that fast, but it will certainly be faster than what is around now. For all those that leave AT&T when a competitor sells the iPhone, adios. The less there are of you, the more bandwidth for those that remain. And if you think you're going to get a better price at Verizon, good luck. They charge the same data rate, same voice rates, same messaging rates and they even charge 3 bucks more for visual voicemail on any qualifying smartphone plan. Oh well.
Public opinion is not usually based on anything rational. A bunch of bloggers who are very vocal in their complaints can actually skew the public perception. I have average people tell me "Oh I heard the iPhone is not very good because of this or that they heard somewhere..." when actually they know nothing about it, but they have formed an opinion.
The whiners are for the most part pissed about the $100 a month charge. If it were half that price we wouldn't be hearing any complaints at all. It's all about the perceived value not the network. The network complaint is just a smoke screen for the real reason. They love the iPhone, hate the monthly fee.
All carriers have dropped calls and dead zones. I had Verizon before I got the iPhone and it did have better signal compared to AT&T at that time but AT&T is much better now that 3G has been implemented.
"may be" hindering iPhone adoption? In my case, it definitely is.
I've no love for Verizon, but my coverage and reliability (using a 3 year old RAZR v3c) is great. As much as I like the iPhone's tech, ultimately any phone decision is going to be a function of the device's capabilities as a phone, with everything else coming second. And the phone capabilities are tied very closely with its network.
I find it interesting how Europeans always talk about how great their GSM phones are (especially when I mention how my CDMA phone doesn't work in Europe) but when they visit here and end up roaming onto the AT&T network, they find that it isn't so great anymore.
Hopefully, AT&T will manage to expand its capabilities enough to break this problem. But failing that, maybe Apple will decide to release a Verizon-compatible iPhone, although I doubt that will happen before VZW rolls out 4G services (probably not for at least another year.)
Until then, I'm sticking by a basic phone for calls, and using a plain PDA for everything else. Not ideal, but it's worked for me for many years and will continue to work until something better finally comes along.
In my opinion, AT&T took advantage of the iPhone users. They knew they didn't have to improve their service because customers were both locked in a 2 year contract with AT&T as well as locked into the love of the iPhone. I left AT&T years ago because of their lousy service but went back to them ONLY because of the iPhone. Now their exclusive contract is about to expire and they're announcing they will spend billions to expand their service. Why didn't you do this 2 years ago AT&T? Oh, that's because you didn't have to. Now you're afraid and you'll spend the money to keep as many customers as possible? Little too late for me. I signed another 2 year contract to get the 3Gs, but I will GLADLY pay the cancelation fee to go to Verizon or Sprint.