Daniel Eran Dilger
For the tenth time in a row, the latest customer satisfaction rankings from J.D. Power and Associates show that Apple is again the top company for smartphones across major U.S. carriers.
The latest study breaks down rankings by carrier for the first time, detailing customers' satisfaction with both phone makers and their carrier.
The firm notes that the study, conducted across over 16,000 owners of smartphones less than a year old, measures customer satisfaction "in four factors: performance (33%); physical design (23%); features (22%); and ease of operation (22%)."
The study found that among major American carriers, AT&T ranked first in average satisfaction scores, followed by Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon last among the top four.
However, Apple's highest score by carrier was on Verizon. On both AT&T and Verizon, Apple ranked higher than the carriers' average score, and was the only phone maker to be ranked "among the best" on either major carrier.
On AT&T, Nokia and Samsung were nearly tied for second place, but both phone makers delivered models that were below the AT&T average. Other phone makers, including LG, Pantech, Motorola and Blackberry ranked well below average, earning a "the rest" ranking by the study.
On Verizon, Apple scored substantially above second place Samsung, which was ranked "about average" but ahead of HTC and Motorola. Blackberry, LG and Pantech earned significantly lower scores.
Nokia and Samsung were nearly tied for second place, but both phone makers delivered models that were below the AT&T average. Other phone makers, including LG, Pantech, Motorola and Blackberry ranked well below average, earning a "the rest" ranking by the study.
On Sprint, Apple ranked slightly lower than Samsung, but both were ranked in the top "among the best" circle, with HTC, LG, Motorola and Blackberry all earning scores well below Sprint's average.
Apple didn't figure into the T-Mobile rankings because the study began in February, before the company had launched iPhones with that carrier. Samsung scored slightly above average, but there was less divergence among the remaining scores.
Since the study began, Apple has also launched its new iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s, which add new LTE wireless support for foreign carriers primarily in Europe and Asia. However, both models also add new carrier support for bands used by Sprint, something that may help enhance users' experience on that carrier.
AppleInsider Staff
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
8 Comments
Well the survey backs up what I have been saying for a long time which is VZ is not that good when it comes to dealing with customers. AT&T does a better job, what I find interesting is a phone like the Iphone can make a sucky provider like VZ look better than they really are. It is probable due to the fact when you have an issue with the phone you call apple not VZ unlike what happen with every other phone. Again Apple read the market correct consumer do not want to deal with the service providers when they have a problem since they have no clue to begin with. This is what all the other cell phone companies are hurting since the service provide sits between them and the customer and generally can not deal with issue with the phone.
Surprise!
My job has me carry around a phone of each Verizon and ATT, both iphones. For years AT&T was my primary # and it just sucked, sucked, sucked. Finally had them transfer it to Verizon and it is SO much better. No contest. I clung to AT&T too long because of the ability to do simultaneous voice and data and the theoretically better LTE speeds. But those speeds are basically useless on AT& in the NYC Metro/NJ area (and similar results whenever I have visited LA or SF Bay Area) since a majority of the time it will say you have full bars with LTE and you get nothing but time-outs. Happens with Verizon occasionally but so much less often. Basically I could get a stable data connection on AT&T a minority of the time, at the office, home, kids school, commute along the Northeast Corridor, etc. Quality of iphone life on Verizon at least in my market is night and day better.
Also surprising was the customer satisfaction among the carriers. AT&T 1st, Sprint 2nd, T-Mobile 3rd, and Verizon in last place at 4th. Verizon commercials love to tell us all how great their network is but it seems their actual customers disagree. I am loving unlimited LTE on Sprint. I am getting about 25/8 on average which is not half bad. Anything over 8 on a phone is actually overkill but still nice to have that speed. I can't imagine having to monitor my data usage every month. I don't even bother with turning wifi on anymore since LTE is just as fast.
Cellphone service is like politics, it is all local. That is why it pisses me off when people say an entire network sucks because they get poor coverage or slow data in their tiny neck of the woods.(not saying that about your post by the way) Hell, even within a city or even neighborhood it can vary by a wide margin. Everyone has to do their homework and talk to people you know that live or work where you will use the phone most often and also use 3rd party coverage sites like sensory.com and others to find the carrier that works best for you. It might surprise you. I am with Sprint and my speeds and coverage here in Georgia has been fantastic and I love paying half as much as my friends who are mostly on Verizon and have like 2GB data caps so are afraid to even use their phones. I have a Verizon work phone as well and the coverage is very good as is the data but I am just glad I don't have to pay for it since it would more than double my monthly bill not to mention mean watching my data usage which defeats the whole point of LTE in my opinion.
In all fairness to Verizon it should be noted that the iPhone on Verizon scored 861 and only 856 on AT&T.