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Sprint Falls to Last in Consumer Reports Satisfaction Survey

Sprint has talked a lot about improving the customer experience after the Nextel fiasco, but judging from the latest Consumer Reports study, consumers don't appear to agree. According to the latest satisfaction rankings of cell phone service providers by Consumer Reports, Sprint now inhabits last place -- a position that had been consistently inhabited by AT&T in recent years.

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The survey, which polls some 58,399 Consumer Reports readers, found Verizon Wireless scored highest in customer satisfaction among major carriers, but prepaid operator Consumer Cellular scored the highest marks overall.

AT&T and T-Mobile got "mostly ho-hum marks" according to Consumer Reports, whose entire rankings are buried behind a paywall or available in the latest edition of the company's print magazine. The company's ratings did note that AT&T is receiving high marks for the reliability of their new LTE network.

"Our latest cell service satisfaction survey revealed a somewhat precipitous decline by Sprint that shuffled the rankings of the major standard service providers," said Glenn Derene, Electronics Content Development Team Leader for Consumer Reports. "And smaller, no-frills, no-contract and prepaid service providers continue to do a better job of satisfying customers, and provide an increasingly viable alternative to some of the expensive, long-term contracts that many consumers find themselves locked into."

While T-Mobile has seen stronger consumer growth by embracing consumer-friendly policies and pricing, Sprint spent the last few years quietly becoming more like AT&T and Verizon on a lot of policies (not that those policies have hurt Verizon's showing in these kinds of surveys). Sprint has also found themselves at the back of the back when it comes to surveys of both LTE speed and LTE coverage.

Sprint's justification is that the company is in a period of transition, and improvements will arrive after the dust settles from the entire SoftBank and Clearwire acquisitions.

"We've asked customers during the past year to 'pardon our dust' as we build out and upgrade our network," Sprint said in a statement. "We're working to deliver an advanced wireless network that we believe over time will deliver unmatched speed and performance to our customers."

Most recommended from 71 comments


robewhitener
join:2001-06-22
Asheville, NC

5 recommendations

robewhitener

Member

I didn't think it was too much to ask for.

IF Sprint delivered as advertised.
IF Sprint would have a consistant signal in areas that they say it's covered completely.
IF Sprint had anything resembling decent 3g, 4g, and LTE speeds.
IF Sprint CSR's were given full facts, or at least a little hint as to what the left and right hands are doing.
IF Sprint gave a damn about it's long term customers anymore...

They'd have been much higher in the rankings.