anujit 0 Report post Posted January 5, 2005 (edited) Consumers: Cell phone service still stinks Published: January 4, 2005, 5:02 PM PST By Reuters More than half of U.S. consumers are less than satisfied with their mobile telephone service and give the lowest ratings to providers involved in large mergers, according to a Consumer Reports survey. Poor call quality, difficulty comparing service plans and less-than-helpful customer service were problems cited in a survey from the magazine's September survey of 39,000 people in 17 major cities. The survey results, largely unchanged from a similar study a year earlier, will be published along with a separate look at the merits and drawbacks of Internet-based telephone services in Consumer Reports' February issue. Verizon Wireless left customers in 17 cities feeling most satisfied and T-Mobile USA, owned by Deutsche Telekom AG, had the second best review from responses in 12 cities, according to the study released on Tuesday. Nextel Communications, which is being bought by Sprint, was ranked last due to network coverage limitations, according to Consumer Reports. But it said it only counted the company in its results for four U.S. cities because few customers responded elsewhere. Sprint's ratings from 17 cities came in at the middle of the pack while Cingular Wireless, which is still integrating AT&T Wireless after their combination in October, was ranked second to last according to results from 12 cities. Almost 70 percent of frequent mobile users had at least one dropped call in the week before the survey, and about 60 percent reported a call with poor sound quality. About 35 percent of people were seriously considering switching to a rival mobile phone service, but roughly half had difficulty comparing services and deciphering service costs. In another report, Consumer Reports said people who spend more than $60 a month for local and long-distance telephone services should consider Internet telephone services. These voice over Internet Protocol--or VoIP--services are cheaper because they transmit calls in the same way Web pages are sent over the Internet compared with traditional phone calls, which require a dedicated circuits. But the magazine warned that Internet telephony falls short of traditional services and recommended keeping a basic land line for emergencies. Its testers reported trouble with sound quality, incoming calls and setup support. It tried services from companies including Vonage, AT&T Verizon Communications, the cable arm of Time Warner Inc and Cablevision Systems Corp. Story Copyright © 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. http://news.com.com/Consumers+Cell+phone+s...ml?tag=nefd.top Edited January 5, 2005 by anujit Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
