Survey Says Cellular Calls Are Getting Better

from the if-you-say-so dept

Fri, Mar 16th 2007 1:21pm — Carlo Longino

A new survey says that complaints about the quality of wireless networks in the US are at an all-time low, adding that 3G technologies which can increase network capacity are largely to thank. Still, these results are based on customer-reported answers to survey questions, rather than anything more objective, so we can't help but wonder if things have actually improved, and operators are offering markedly better service than they have before, or if consumers' expectations have simply dropped. It probably won't really matter, though, given the operators' penchant for coming up with their own reasons why their network is the "best", so the ones at the top of the list will gladly accept the accolades and move on. This survey almost gives the impression, though, that call quality has improved mostly because of technology, rather than any real effort by the operators to make their service better (though such a conclusion might be splitting hairs) -- and that's not too hard to believe, with the widespread dissatisfaction with the level of service they generally provide.

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Anonymous Coward, 16 Mar 2007 @ 1:44pm

hahahahhahahahaha
no, nothing has improved. expectations have lowered.

I still miss my old analog cell, it was better in every aspect for voice calls. and thats all I use a phone for.
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Chronno S. Trigger, 16 Mar 2007 @ 1:50pm

I guess its possible
IF you ignore everything that has ever been said about Verizon. (I can't pass up and opportunity to bash Verizon.)
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Ron (profile), 16 Mar 2007 @ 2:12pm

Quality
Generally speaking, I think quality has improved for my Cingular (now the NEW AT&T). I generally have decent voice quality, I have had very few dropped calls (although the number has remained about the same; I just have few of them), and my coverage area seems to be fairly good. I don't think my expectations have lowered because I am generally fairly picky so I think things have gotten somewhat better. There is still, however, huge, vast, space for improvement. Costs are still too high, voice quality, especially on long distance could be way better, there are still too many marginal signal areas, plans are too complex and confusing, and customer assistance is generally horrible (but they are usually polite).
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Brian, 16 Mar 2007 @ 2:24pm

good bye cingular
i had cingular for over two years, it's for homeless people. their trick for having the "fewest dropped calls" is to not admit that a call was dropped. they are easy enough to find, look on your bill for every time you talked to someone for X amount of time. then called them right back the same minute the call ended. cingular's excuse was that the other person i was talking to must have dropped the call, land-line or not thats their reasoning.
i've had t-mobile for 6 months now and i love it, i can actually drive the entire 20 miles to work and not lose service. even though i wont be able to get an iPhone, its worth it.
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Loesch, 16 Mar 2007 @ 2:31pm

I have to agree with Anonymous Coward. It couldn't be said any better. I had a phone I got at Radio Shack, cost me $20 a month and was still my best phone ever. Why do so many people care about being able to take pictures or listen to MP3's? They have separate devices for those things that accomplish those tasks much better. It'd be nice if companies focused on the calling features entirely so a better product could be produced.
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JoeTrumpet, 16 Mar 2007 @ 2:43pm

I had the opposite experience of Brian. I had Cingular for a couple years and it was nice, very few dropped calls, wide service (other than a ton of electronic interference), and recently switched to T-Mobile. Now the service in my own house shifts between 1 and 0 bars. Random patches of the city seem to have no service, though others nearby have the full four bars (they are far and few between). Calls are often dropped and it's quite common to see a "new voicemail" message with no missed calls, suggesting people often caling me while I have no service. On the other hand, Verizon seems to be the best choice by far in my area. Nobody here ever seems to have fewer than 100% signal strength.
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Jill-the-pill, 17 Mar 2007 @ 5:58am

Local: "Can you hear me now?"
Distant: "What?"
Local: *moves to improve reception* "Can you hear me now?"
Distant: "What?"
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