Consumer Reports Ratings are Out----Verizon top carrier in 14 outof 20 cities, T-Mobile top carrier in 3 cities

It really matters where and how you use your phone. Most of my phone service
is done within 20 miles of my home. There is a Sprint tower within 1/4 mile
from my house. I have full EVDO service and it works very well, for me and
has for the past 7 years.

Plus the fact that my family in California, Washington State, West Virginia,
and Massachusetts all use Sprint. Sort of a no-brainer.

When they do these surveys they are bound to be wild variances. No one
phone/service will do everything for everybody.

"SMS" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> The January 2007 Consumer Reports has their annual survey of cellular
> phone service out. They surveyed about 43,000 cellular subscribers and
> rate the carriers in 20 metropolitan areas on metrics of coverage, network
> congestion, dropped calls, and static.
>
> As in previous years, Verizon is the top carrier in most metro areas, but
> T-Mobile and Alltel also did well in many areas.
>
> The most amusing part of the story is the sidebar about Cingular's claim
> of "fewest dropped calls." Consumer Reports states: "our own surveys have
> found Cingular to be only about average when it comes to dropped calls and
> one of the poorer performers in terms of overall satisfaction."
>
> This annual survey is statistically the most accurate survey of wireless
> carriers, though J.D. Power's survey of about 24,000 users has a similarly
> small margin of errer. JD Power reached essentially the same conclusions
> as Consumer Reports, with Verizon and T-Mobile leading in all regions.
>
> The metro areas where Verizon had a significant lead over Cingular (8 or
> more points) were Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Phoenix, San Diego, San
> Francisco, Tampa, and Washington D.C..

---

› See More: Consumer Reports Ratings are Out----Verizon top carrier in 14 outof 20 cities, T-Mobile top carrier in 3 cities

RHinNC wrote:

> When they do these surveys they are bound to be wild variances. No one
> phone/service will do everything for everybody.

The reason that they use such a large sample size is to eliminate wide
variances that can occur. It all evens out when the sample size is so
large. For every person that is close to a tower and gets great service
from a carrier, there is someone else in the opposite situation. They
won't report results if the sample size isn't sufficient to ensure that
wild variances won't occur.

There will always be situations where the highest rated carrier doesn't
have coverage at a specific subscriber's home, office, or frequently
visited locations.

Cyrus Afzali wrote:

> You gotta hand it to Navvy, he's questioning one of the most
> recognized and prestigious consumer information organizations on the
> planet when he's got no special information on its methodology.

The margin of error for the Consumer Reports survey, assuming an equal
distribution of surveys per metro area, is about 2%.

The respondents, Consumer Reports subscribers, are, as the magazine
states, not necessarily representative of the population as a whole.
They tend to be more highly educated, have higher incomes, and tend to
be more liberal on social issues, but moderate on economic issues.

However there is nothing to indicate that this would skew the results of
one carrier but not another carrier. If the subscriber is more critical
of service company performance, it would hold for all carriers, and if
the subscriber is more forgiving of service company performance it would
hold for all carriers.

>> In other words, differences were relatively small and not terribly
>> meaningful.
>
> That's a composite score of all carriers, Navvy. It in no way reflects
> how big the differences are from one carrier to another. What it DOES
> mean is that people by in large often have a gripe about their
> wireless service.

In some cases the differences were small, in some cases they were
moderate, in some cases they were large, and in some cases they were
very large.

Comparing Verizon and Cingular:

Very large differences
----------------------
Cingular was much worse than Verizon in Los Angeles, Miami,
Minneapolis-St. Paul, Phoenix, San Diego, Tampa, and Washington D.C. (7
cities).

Large differences
-----------------
Cingular was significantly worse than Verizon in Boston, Cleveland,
Detroit, Houston, Philadelphia, and San Francisco (6 cities).

Moderate differences
--------------------
Cingular was moderately worse than Verizon in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas,
New York, Seattle (5 cities)

Small differences
-----------------
Cingular was slightly worse than Verizon in Denver and Saint Louis (2
cities).

In article <G%[email protected]>,
"RHinNC" <rhinnc@[get rid of this] hotmail.com> wrote:

> It really matters where and how you use your phone. Most of my phone service
> is done within 20 miles of my home. There is a Sprint tower within 1/4 mile
> from my house. I have full EVDO service and it works very well, for me and
> has for the past 7 years.
>
> Plus the fact that my family in California, Washington State, West Virginia,
> and Massachusetts all use Sprint. Sort of a no-brainer.
>
> When they do these surveys they are bound to be wild variances. No one
> phone/service will do everything for everybody.

But every year, the Yankee Group, JD Power, and Consumers Reports reach
the same conclusion.

Cingular is poor in Customer Service, Sprint is worst.

>
> well, so much for surveys. for the real life test go with cingular.
> verizon has great coverage.........where they have coverage, but that
> is not that many places. i have verizon and i rv, so i get around.
> verizon is worthless. cingular has twice the coverage that verizon
> has and that is being conservative. i get nothing at all at about 80%
> of the places that we go camping at, yet my friends with cingular have
> never lost the signal. talk all the tech crap that you want, that is
> a real life comparison. verizon sux. their customer support is
> terrible. i will drop them as soon as i can and will go to cingular.

What is your metro area, wireless carriers perform some better than
others in Markets? It is my Understanding that Verizon, Sprint, &
T-Mobile all being CDMA use the same towers, However cingular is
on a TDMA network and would have 1/3rd the towers of the other
carriers if this is true and would also show less dropped calls due
to network capicity although TDMA only holds 8 switchs per
circut vs CDMA holds 64 switchs per circut. Could be good could
be bad but if it were not for churn Cingular would be at full network
capacity.

To: All Sprint Nextel employees


As you may have seen in the news last week, Sprint Nextel took a few
hits from the media, including a less-than-favorable article in
Consumer Reports. A few months ago we had a similar evaluation in the
annual JD Power survey. Tough coverage is always expected when a
company takes action to change and transform itself. Unfortunately,
this type of story will likely continue until we restore confidence
with improved results.

We've always said it will take time to see the improvements over the
long term - research has shown that it takes about 12 months for
people's perceptions to change about coverage and call quality - and
these recent ratings underscore the importance of the strategy we have
put in place and our need to execute.

In the meantime, don't let media coverage rattle or distract you.
Sprint's execution during the past several months is paying
dividends. We know how to get this business moving in the right
direction, and we are making progress.

We recognize that we are in a competitive business and to be successful
we must provide an exceptional customer experience. In many markets,
Sprint is the leader in performance. In most markets it is a
statistical dead heat. We are completely focused on our networks,
improving customer satisfaction, reducing churn, and giving our
customers the best pricing on innovative products and services. In
fact, Consumer Reports cited Sprint specifically as the leader in data
services.

I just spent two days last week visiting a handful of contact centers,
and there's a big difference between perception and reality. What I
saw were determined, passionate employees who are engaged, innovative
and attentive on every call. They care about meeting the needs of their
customers, about making Sprint the undisputed leader in customer
service, and, frankly, they're taking this criticism personally.
Working in Retail or taking Care calls is not any easy job, and I'm
very proud of the commitment I see in those who do it.

One example that our renewed strategy is working: Our Care organization
exceeded its annual forecast/target for subscriber account renewals a
full month before the end of 2006, and they are trending to secure
almost 13% more contract renewals by year end. That's awesome! This
is even more remarkable given the fact that contract renewals were
below monthly targets for the first four months of 2006. Much of our
progress is due to impressive improvements in close rates (we have
doubled our year-over-year close rate performance), despite declining
call volumes into Customer Care.

Also, our Rio Rancho Contact Center was named by New Mexico Business
Weekly one of New Mexico's "Best Places to Work." This team
proves that combining hard work and good fun can deliver powerful
results. Rio Rancho is routinely among the highest performing contact
centers in the company, helping reduce churn while turning in great
sales numbers. Our associates in Rio Rancho are a great example of what
our people can deliver for our customers.

I believe all of us are committed to "righting the ship." We know
that to be successful we must provide the best customer experience.
We're taking new steps to retain customers, and we expect to post
significant gains in customer loyalty in 2007 through network
enhancements, our new marketing campaign and a relentless focus on the
customers' experience with our network and when they call us for
service.

Sprint's mission is to make our customers' lives simpler and more
productive. We are continually working to improve customer service, so
that we can quickly and effectively answer their questions, resolve
their issues, and increase the value they receive.
As employees, make sure you're armed with these facts to deflect
skeptics' opinions and to explain the progress we're making:

* $7 billion to network enhancements in 2006 - more than $2 billion
going into the Nextel National Network.
* 1,600 new cell sites.
* PowerSource (hybrid) phones that operate on the iDEN network for
walkie-talkie services and on the CDMA network for voice and data
services.
* Industry-leading mobile broadband coverage (CDMA).
* EVDO network now covers 219 major markets, 725 airports, and more
than 181 million people.
* Our planned buildout of the 4G WiMAX network - working with
Motorola, Intel and Samsung - will be the standard for future
mobility products and services.
* Sprint was the first carrier to offer live TV, and today we offer
more than more than 50 video channels that feature live and on-demand
programming.
* The Sprint Music Store, an over-the-air music download service,
celebrated its one-year anniversary in November and is the first
service of its kind to reach 8 million song downloads.
* Sprint Family Locator - an innovative tracking system that employs
GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) - represents an overall effort to
attract customers and build loyalty.
* Sprint Movies, our pay-per-view service for mobile phones, is the
2006 winner of the 3G CDMA Industry Achievement Award for Innovative
Use of Mobile Television, given by the CDMA Development Group (CDG) and
Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF).

So you can see, we're not sitting back and watching the competition
pull away. There are many reasons to feel good about Sprint, and you
should know you are making a difference in people's lives by giving
them world-class telecom service.

Tim Kelly

In alt.cellular.sprintpcs [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> What is your metro area, wireless carriers perform some better than
> others in Markets? It is my Understanding that Verizon, Sprint, &
> T-Mobile all being CDMA use the same towers, However cingular is
> on a TDMA network and would have 1/3rd the towers of the other
> carriers if this is true and would also show less dropped calls due
> to network capicity although TDMA only holds 8 switchs per
> circut vs CDMA holds 64 switchs per circut. Could be good could
> be bad but if it were not for churn Cingular would be at full network
> capacity.

What that heck have you been reading?

T-Mobile is and always has been GSM, not CDMA. Verizon and Cingular have some
legacy AMPS service that they maintain. Verizon and Sprint are
CDMA(CDMA2000). Cingular is mostly GSM, with legacy TDMA as well as the
mentioned AMPS.

T-Mobile - GSM
Cingular - GSM, TDMA, AMPS
Verizon - CDMA, AMPS
Sprint PCS - CDMA (and AMPS roaming)
Nextel - iDEN

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: D281 77A5 63EE 82C5 5E68 00E4 7868 0ADC 4EFB 39F0

In alt.cellular.sprintpcs [email protected] wrote:
> should know you are making a difference in people's lives by giving
> them world-class telecom service.
>

Fix your management software to meet customer demands [one shouldn't have to
wait for the next billing period to review account details, including usage,
when a change, of any caliber is made]. I honestly believe that the software
used to manage the customer is the #1 cause of all Sprint PCS issues
concerning customer service and satisfaction. I think the best ratings from
customers come from customers that have not had to significantly engage with
customer service, at least, that has been my observation, a limitted sample I
admit.

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: D281 77A5 63EE 82C5 5E68 00E4 7868 0ADC 4EFB 39F0

[email protected] wrote:
>> well, so much for surveys. for the real life test go with cingular.
>> verizon has great coverage.........where they have coverage, but that
>> is not that many places. i have verizon and i rv, so i get around.
>> verizon is worthless. cingular has twice the coverage that verizon
>> has and that is being conservative. i get nothing at all at about 80%
>> of the places that we go camping at, yet my friends with cingular have
>> never lost the signal. talk all the tech crap that you want, that is
>> a real life comparison. verizon sux. their customer support is
>> terrible. i will drop them as soon as i can and will go to cingular.
>
> What is your metro area, wireless carriers perform some better than
> others in Markets? It is my Understanding that Verizon, Sprint, &
> T-Mobile all being CDMA use the same towers, However cingular is
> on a TDMA network and would have 1/3rd the towers of the other

Wow, you're more confused than the resident Cingular shill.

"Thomas T. Veldhouse" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> In alt.cellular.sprintpcs [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> What is your metro area, wireless carriers perform some better than
>> others in Markets? It is my Understanding that Verizon, Sprint, &
>> T-Mobile all being CDMA use the same towers, However cingular is
>> on a TDMA network and would have 1/3rd the towers of the other
>> carriers if this is true and would also show less dropped calls due
>> to network capicity although TDMA only holds 8 switchs per
>> circut vs CDMA holds 64 switchs per circut. Could be good could
>> be bad but if it were not for churn Cingular would be at full network
>> capacity.
>
> What that heck have you been reading?
>
> T-Mobile is and always has been GSM, not CDMA. Verizon and Cingular have some
> legacy AMPS service that they maintain. Verizon and Sprint are
> CDMA(CDMA2000). Cingular is mostly GSM, with legacy TDMA as well as the
> mentioned AMPS.
>
> T-Mobile - GSM
> Cingular - GSM, TDMA, AMPS
> Verizon - CDMA, AMPS
> Sprint PCS - CDMA (and AMPS roaming)
> Nextel - iDEN
>
> --
> Thomas T. Veldhouse
> Key Fingerprint: D281 77A5 63EE 82C5 5E68 00E4 7868 0ADC 4EFB 39F0
>
>


And... you forgot to mention one other thing to our mis-informed friend...

Carriers MAY share towers (forced to by NIMBYs, etc) in some locations.
But they DO NOT share antennas/electronics.

Andrew: Look at the bottom of a tower with 2-3 or even more antenna 'platforms' on it
Notice the multiple equipment cabinets and/or small buildings? Each carrier on the
tower has completely separate radios and antennas.

Lots of ideal spots will sometimes have 'antenna farms' - multiple antenna structures
close to each other. Each carrier built their own...

Ness net wrote:

> Carriers MAY share towers (forced to by NIMBYs, etc) in some locations.

You say that like it's a bad thing. The alternative is putting up
multiple towers.

What's amusing is to be at a planning commission meeting, where most of
the members are real estate people or developers (as is the case in most
towns), and Sprint or T-Mobile come in to try to get a tower approved.
Invariably, the opponents of the tower will bring up the fact that
Cingular and Verizon are able to provide coverage without towers in
these sensitive locations, and the carriers then have to hem and haw
about how they need more towers due to their operating frequency, how
it's unfair to penalize them for being newer operators that got the less
efficient spectrum, etc.

Bad thing.... no.

Aesthetically, 1 with many vs. 2-3+ towers on a hill.
The 1 with many wins.

In the beginning, it was every carrier for themselves. We built
many sites within a stone's throw of a McCaw site. Then, the PCS
guys came along and built also. "Antenna farm" is the term.

NIMBY has made carriers play nice - (nicer anyway)




"SMS" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Ness net wrote:
>
>> Carriers MAY share towers (forced to by NIMBYs, etc) in some locations.
>
> You say that like it's a bad thing. The alternative is putting up multiple towers.
>
> What's amusing is to be at a planning commission meeting, where most of the members are real estate people or
> developers (as is the case in most towns), and Sprint or T-Mobile come in to try to get a tower approved. Invariably,
> the opponents of the tower will bring up the fact that Cingular and Verizon are able to provide coverage without
> towers in these sensitive locations, and the carriers then have to hem and haw about how they need more towers due to
> their operating frequency, how it's unfair to penalize them for being newer operators that got the less efficient
> spectrum, etc.

i dont agree i have had sprint and the crs's are very polite and friendly in
maine whare i have a service plan with them.
had charges removed in one call call backs to mak sure all is well ect

--
AL'S COMPUTERS
"Jackzwick" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In article <G%[email protected]>,
> "RHinNC" <rhinnc@[get rid of this] hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > It really matters where and how you use your phone. Most of my phone
service
> > is done within 20 miles of my home. There is a Sprint tower within 1/4
mile
> > from my house. I have full EVDO service and it works very well, for me
and
> > has for the past 7 years.
> >
> > Plus the fact that my family in California, Washington State, West
Virginia,
> > and Massachusetts all use Sprint. Sort of a no-brainer.
> >
> > When they do these surveys they are bound to be wild variances. No one
> > phone/service will do everything for everybody.
>
> But every year, the Yankee Group, JD Power, and Consumers Reports reach
> the same conclusion.
>
> Cingular is poor in Customer Service, Sprint is worst.

"I just brought two more of my phones over to Sprint".....

"I even brought two from Nextel"

I assume you mean phone NUMBERS, right?

Sprint doesn't activate non-Sprint phones on their network, period.
And... Nextel is iDEN, Sprint is CDMA (a Nextel phone won't work on CDMA)


"jjim" <[email protected]> wrote in message news[email protected]...
> I also don't agree. I switched from Alltel to Sprint about three months
> ago and have nothing but good service, good customer support, and good
> tech support. I use the PalmTreo 700p. I had many problems with Alltel
> and caught them in 2300.00 in overcharges, still battling with them. I
> just brought two more of my phones over to Sprint, and as soon as my other
> contract expires, three more will move over. I even brought two from
> Nextel, they seemed really happy about that. Got the Treo for free and
> other phones at rock bottom.....
>
> --
> gone in less than one second---------->>>>>>>>>>>>
> jjim..........registered linux user 281836

thanks jim i would love to see more sprint pots on this group or maby get
time warner news admins to add a group for sprint users

--
AL'S COMPUTERS
"jjim" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> On Wed, 13 Dec 2006 07:34:58 +0000, Andy wrote:
>
> > i dont agree i have had sprint and the crs's are very polite and
friendly
> > in maine whare i have a service plan with them. had charges removed in
one
> > call call backs to mak sure all is well ect
> >
> > --
> > AL'S COMPUTERS
> > "Jackzwick" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> >
> I also don't agree. I switched from Alltel to Sprint about three months
> ago and have nothing but good service, good customer support, and good
> tech support. I use the PalmTreo 700p. I had many problems with Alltel
> and caught them in 2300.00 in overcharges, still battling with them. I
> just brought two more of my phones over to Sprint, and as soon as my other
> contract expires, three more will move over. I even brought two from
> Nextel, they seemed really happy about that. Got the Treo for free and
> other phones at rock bottom.....
>
> --
> gone in less than one second---------->>>>>>>>>>>>
> jjim..........registered linux user 281836