Verizon Nabs Top Spot In JD Power Call Quality Rankings

I wonder if Apple is really eyeing this as far as selecting a new carrier for the iPhone?

I think data performance is much more important than voice quality for a typical iPhone user, but it certainly doesn't hurt when sitting at the table negotiating.

That depends on the overall issue.
Dropped calls vs dropped data - possibly
Dropped calls vs. slow data - probably not.

I think some areas have 'just' (finally) deployed 3G on a 2nd carrier channel (San Fran if I'm not mistaken).

Might not want to be an AT&T customer in the Northeast(CT, Maine, Mass, NH, NY, RI, VT). Especially if you are also a Fairpoint land line customer.

I am and AT&T is better than Verizon.

PA is part of Mid Atlantic region and NOT the Northeast region in the study.

And AT&T turned in its best performance from around the country in the Mid-Atlantic region, but still behind Verizon:

I agree. Where I am, AT&T is way ahead of Verizon in terms of reliability and signal or call quality. My fiance has Verizon Wireless, just as I did, and she has trouble even getting a signal at my house and other places. At the same time, I am getting 5 full bars of 3G on my iPhone 3G and have not had any call problems at all. I think Verizon pays off JD Power for these reports just so they can keep up their image of being the "most reliable."

I wonder if this survey takes into account the quality of the handset? Some models have very good radios (e.g., most Motorola phones), some have crap.

Wow.... now that is some funny stuff. Who do you write for fanboy? You are clearly in the entertainment business.

Some people just can't handle the facts... What then? Call the facts lies unless they begin to support you and then we would be sure that ATT didn't pay them off... right?

I'm simply reporting my own experiences between Verizon and AT&T in my area and that I personally believe Verizon would participate in some sort of shady marketing strategy to retain it's "golden boy" image in the wireless industry. I'm a web developer and I do not work for AT&T and I never have... however, based on your response, it's quite obvious that you're either a low-level support tech or sales guy for Verizon that takes it personally if somebody doesn't like your shitty company. But thanks for the pointless response, FLAMER.

You accuse a very reputable company such as JD Powers of accepting bribery and anyone that disagrees is a "flamer"

You have a million of them! A regular joke a minute.

No... I do not work for any telcom and never have... I am an IT admin and more importantly, a former (very unhappy) ATT customer that is now a VERY satisfied Verizon customer. Is Verizon perfect? No... definitely not but the service and product quality in my opinion and frankly every other non-biased consumer survey done... shows that Verizon has the best network and best customer support.

If you can't handle the facts then the joke is on you.

If you had disagreed with me, that would have been one thing. To simply blanket label me as a "fan boy," whether that was a reference to Apple or AT&T, is not a disagreement, it's trolling/flaming. Do I like the iPhone? Yes, and it was actually the first Apple product I've ever owned. Do I prefer AT&T over Verizon? Yes, because where I live AT&T has much better coverage... not to mention the fact that Verizon royally screwed me over when I switched to AT&T by not sending me my final bill and, instead, just sent it to a collection agency!

i wonder what the official "region" was like for the northeast.
not offering excuses, but to me, the northeast includes two very densely populated cities (nyc and boston). the amount of people contained in those two cities alone is staggering. i'm wondering if att suffered call quality problems because of the overwhelming popularity of the iphone and its data usage?
i'd be interested in finding an estimate of the number of iphones per region and seeing how that correlates to the other carriers. i'd venture a guess that if you included 3g-aircard devices as well as 3g-enabled smartphones together as "data devices", att would have the largest number simply because of the iphone.

q.

I have minimal complaints, here in Maine (probably because I live in the southern part with new 3G [as of last fall]) I travel all over the state, and sure, Verizon might cover some places that AT&T doesn't, but AT&T has always done right for me.

In fact, it's been a lot better since I've moved to the 3G capable BlackBerry Bold, earlier this year (my signal in my home almost doubled). Call quality is better, but 3G coverage is still very limited (southern part of state), slightly due to population density, and a lot of roaming on former Unicel EDGE equipment in a good portion of Western/Central->Northern Maine. AT&T's biggest issue in this state is roaming on another carrier's network, although I think Verizon does the same with U.S. Cellular.

The only places I've really had call quality problems are where I try not to use my phone: metal buildings, while driving through rural areas (I-95, and most major routes are generally okay). Topography is a killer in some parts too, but that applies to all carriers in different ways, of course.

I guess I'm more lax, or some people here in Maine sometimes to like complain, just for the sake of it. Either that, or maybe J.D Power surveyed mostly rural customers (in places such as Canton, or T2R9).

And FairPoint lines work fine if you have an active one, haha. Who knows about the billing though, but things are slowly getting better. It's just too slowly.

For those interested.
All the regional scores together, averaged, and rounded to the nearest whole number is:

Verizon -8

ATT, Tmo and Sprint - 13

Yup - and since those are complaints/issues out of 100, its 'NOT' that far off.

Of course, being that this is wireless, location/service will vary somewhat.

And what device is in use also plays a big role, some negotiate weak signals better... etc..

As a customer, I find USCC working hard to compete with the bigger outfits. While I'd like to have an iPhone, I know USCC has built their network to be second to none, and these figures reflect that. Free incoming texts for everyone, too. It's tough to even think about leaving them.

"In the North Central region, U.S. Cellular ranks highest for an eighth consecutive reporting period. Compared with the regional average, U.S. Cellular has fewer customer-reported problems with initial connections, static or interference, and late or failed voice message notification."

Don't worry, sooner or later they will get bought out just like Alltel.

ROFL!!!

Wish they would count the local cellular carriers in the lower Tier 2 and Tier 3 range.

Every time I have to call Verizon to correct a billing mistake, I experience: no dropped calls; no static/interference; the call connects to their hold systemn on the first try; no computer generated voice distortion; no echoes.

And when there is a problem on my account, I receive no immediate voicemail notification; and no immediate text message notification.

So yes, they should score high marks.

I'm on this site A LOT and I can't remember the last time I actually laughed out loud at a post. But I did for this one. Thanks.

to see:

a) the raw data -- I'm wondering how much difference there is between the carriers -- is it very small differences or big differences?

b) the study methodology -- in particular whether they used 3g-enabled phones or not. I would think this would make a big difference in their metrics.

I know where I live in Minnesota in the metro all the companies are really close but if you go up to your cabin or out of town there is a big difference I have a sprint work phone and a Verizon personal one and my Verizon works much better, Oh and I had att b4 and it did not even work at my house but like you say its the AREA you live in