To determine whether which cell phone carrier is the best, and which ones are the worse, the research group J.D. Power and Associates conducted a survey that involved more than 22,000 wireless customers in the first half of 2011.
The customers surveyed were questioned about dropped and lost calls, text-messaging issues, Web-browsing problems, slow downloads, email and voicemail problems, and more.
According to the study, Verizon Wireless won out as the best cell phone carrier in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Southwest and West U.S. regions.
AT&T took second position in the Southwest and Mid-Atlantic, but demonstrated one of the poorest performances in most of the other regions around the country.
The study, published earlier this week, found that Americans are sending more text-messages than voice calls. Wireless customers are now using an estimated 450 minutes per month, 79 minutes less than in 2009.
People who own smartphones tend to report more problems than those who own traditional handsets. Salt Lake City, Utah, residents report the least cell phone problems, while people in Sacramento, California, experience the most.
The study found that cell phone network performance is highly inconsistent around the United States.
“… it’s critical that wireless carriers continue to invest in improving both the voice quality and data connection-related issues that customers continue to experience,” said Kirk Parsons, the senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates.
Parson states that carriers should note that cell phone customers are willing to pay more for a higher-quality network. Costumer spending increases by an average of $10 per customer when they have switched from a previous carrier to a new carrier in order to receive a better network with better cell phone coverage.
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