Out of four major U.S. cellphone service providers, Verizon was ranked the highest of its competitors in a mobile carrier satisfaction survey.
The results from the Consumer Reports National Resource Center’s 63,253-person survey remained the same as last year: Verizon stayed in the lead, Sprint and T-Mobile followed behind at second and third and AT&T held its last-place position.
The release also said no-contract plans, or prepaid phones, save customers about $20 a month.
Richard Lutz, a UF marketing professor, said while this may be true, phones without the commitment of contracts have limits to heavy data users.
“I think people are looking for price and want to get the best deal, but the most important thing is reliability,” he said. “You want it to work.”
Verizon has the highest-rated voice and data quality of the carriers, but AT&T’s LTE, or Long Term Evolution, network is considered the best, the release said.
C.J. Wittus, a manager of Best Buy Mobile, said Verizon has the largest amount of coverage everywhere for 4G LTE, but AT&T provides better service in certain areas due to its more widespread 4G network.
Wittus, a 20-year-old UF criminology junior, agreed with the report’s claim that Verizon is the best, but he said AT&T deserves more credit.
Wittus said the company’s biggest pitfall is customer service.
“From personal experience, they sound disinterested,” he said. “But they’ll change their attitude toward new customers or if you say you’ll leave.”
