AmericanCustomerSatisfactionIndex
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T-Mobile leads the big four in customer satisfaction survey
T-Mobile has outranked the rest of the big four carriers in the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), knocking Verizon off its throne. While prepaid company TracFone Wireless remains at the top of the wireless provider list, it only got a point higher than T-Mo, which has scored 74 out of 100. That's six percent higher than its result last year, though Sprint has shown the most growth with an eight percent increase. T-Mobile became the third largest (un)carrier in mid-2015 and even gained 2.2 million new customers in the first quarter of this year. It has launched new no-contract options in recent years and expanded the features of its controversial Binge On offering.
Samsung edges past Apple in US smartphone satisfaction study, but reverse is true in Korea
What a difference a year makes. Apple topped American Customer Satisfaction Index's smartphone rankings back in 2012, but Samsung has taken the lead in 2013 by a slim margin. Owners responding to ACSI's national survey gave an 84-point score to both the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II, putting the two Samsung phones just past the 82-point iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S. Researchers haven't explained the changing attitudes, although they add that the Galaxy S 4 and other newer phones didn't ship in time to count. It's at least clear that the American sentiment doesn't extend worldwide -- ACSI notes that South Koreans ranked the iPhone 5 higher than the Galaxy S III despite Samsung's home turf advantage. Apple also maintains the lead in ACSI's device-independent scores at 81 points to 76, although Samsung is quickly catching up. It's safe to say that neither smartphone maker can afford to relax.
iPhone waltzes into top spot of US phone satisfaction index, small carriers trump the giants
We know almost too well how smartphones perform in US market share; what we don't usually see is how happy customers are once the shrink wrap's off. Going by a newly-expanded American Customer Satisfaction Index, it's the iPhone that most scratches the itch at a score of 83. Despite having just been added, Apple was noticeably ahead of a three-way tie between HTC, LG and Nokia at 75. You might not want to look if you're a freshly-minted RIM executive: the BlackBerry made its freshman debut on the charts at the bottom, or 69. Big carriers have their own reasons to wince, too, knowing that smaller carriers like US Cellular and TracFone scored higher on the happiness meter than incumbents hiking service fees. While there's definitely some wiggle room for your own experience to have been better or worse, if you were an iPhone owner on a regional carrier in the past few months, you were statistically the most likely to be on Cloud Nine.
Sprint joins Verizon atop customer satisfaction survey
Sprint is on a bit of a roll recently. Sure, there were some problems with its Google Voice integration and the company is still losing money, but it's adding subscribers at an impressive rate and now it's tied Verizon for the number one spot in a recent customer satisfaction survey. The American Customer Satisfaction Index showed Sprint had made significant gains in the last three years, rising from dead last amongst the big four with a score of 56 in 2008 to match Big Red's field-leading 72. At the same time, both T-Mobile and AT&T saw small drops in their satisfaction scores, with AT&T hitting 66 points -- its lowest rating since the launch of the iPhone. Of course, with T-Mo hemorrhaging customers and the reanimated husk of Ma Bell claiming the ignominious title of most dropped calls, we can't say we're particularly shocked.
Survey says pay TV customer service is at new heights
The American Customer Satisfaction Index has been tracking the satisfaction of pay TV customers since 2001, and in that time the results have never been as high as they were in the first quarter of 2010 -- thanks to the new players. Verizon's FiOS service lead the charge with a score of 73 out of a 100 with U-Verse close behind at 72. Dish Network was right in line behind those two with 71, while DirecTV moved in the opposite direction, as the rest of the industry, dropping three points to 68 -- which is still above the overall overage of 66 for the entire pay TV business. Not a big surprise that Charter, Comcast and Time Warner brought down the average by bringing up the rear scoring 60, 61 and 61. Although this is a trend headed in the right direction it is hardly stellar as the average for other sectors like wireless, utilities, health care and even motion pictures is considerably higher.
