Cell Phones

How satisfied are you with your wireless provider? Your answer may indicate your age.

When J.D. Power polled consumers about their wireless customer experience, they found that what it calls “pre-boomers” have more complaints about their wireless service than baby boomers, with the number of issues increasing as consumers get younger, with Gen Z reporting the most.

One possible explanation could be that Gen Z uses their phones a lot more than older generations. According to the J.D. Power survey, Gen Z averages 300 minutes a day on their phones while boomers use their devices much less.

“Younger generations, particularly Gen Z, are very demanding of their wireless networks,” said Carl Lepper, senior director of technology, media and telecom at J.D. Power. “Not only do they heavily rely on their devices, but they also stream and game at higher rates than older generations and have less tolerance for data-related issues. As wireless users get younger, network speed and reliability must remain at the forefront for providers to retain and attract customers." 

When it comes to reported problems with service, AT&T and Verizon Wireless ranked the highest in a tie for fewest problems in the Mid-Atlantic and North Central regions, each with nine problems per (PP) 100 uses.

Verizon Wireless ranked highest in the Northeast region with eight PP100. T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless ranked highest in a tie in the Southeast region, each with nine PP100. Verizon Wireless ranked highest in the Southwest region with 10 PP100 and ranked highest in the West region with 10 PP100.

What ConsumerAffairs reviewers say

When it comes to ConsumerAffairs reviewers, none of the “Big Three” providers poll particularly well. Verizon has an overall rating of 1.3-Stars, with 1-Star reviews accounting for 88% of all reviews.

T-Mobile also manages only an average of 1.3-Star reviews. Complaints range from coverage to service.

AT&T does slightly better, averaging 1.4-Stars with our reviewers. Eighty-seven percent of its reviews are 1-Star.

It may sound like a carnival act, but new research shows that if someone knows your age, they can probably predict whether or not you’ve ever dropped and broken your cell phone.

Most of that onus is squarely on the shoulders of Americans under age 44, Recon Analytics found in a consumer study done in partnership with AT&T.

Out of those who self-admitted their oopses, 77% were between ages 18-29. Seventy-four percent of consumers between the ages 30 and 44 also fit into that category.

When it comes to furthering the fault-finding, those people in those demographics admitted that they had dropped their phone in the toilet or bathtub, thrown it against the wall, or were just a complete oaf and dropped their phone while removing it from their purse or pocket.

“Most people are clumsy,” Roger Entner, founder and analyst at Recon Analytics, told ConsumerAffairs. He said that for something people can spend as much as $1,000 on, they sure don’t take care of it.

But, does this mean you should get phone insurance?

With an estimated 1.5 phones being lost, stolen, or damaged every second, is the situation important enough that consumers should have phone insurance to protect against lost or stolen devices, accidental damage from handling physical or liquid damage, and out-of-warranty malfunctions?

Maybe.

If you paid good money for your phone and if having to repair or replace it would be very expensive for you, then it’s a “yes” if you can afford it, Todd Stern at The Money Manual told ConsumerAffairs.

Entner agrees. “If you’ve dropped your phone more than one time a year, insurance makes sense. On the other hand, phone insurance isn’t cheap. The younger you are, the more careless you are with your device which means that device insurance pays off,” he said.

Plus, if you’ve got small kids who handle your phone – or you could use some peace of mind – the extra protection could come in handy.

“As the mom of three young kids, I can tell you first hand - a smartphone is never out of arm’s reach for this generation,” Emily Wiper, vice president and general manager of AT&T New England, told ConsumerAffairs.

“Phones aren’t just a mechanism enabling traditional connection, they’re mobile research devices, calculators, and entertainment screens. One in four people lose or damage their device every year and that number is growing with a smartphone in exponentially more hands!”  

What should consumers look for – and how to get a good deal – on phone insurance

Stern agreed with Wiper, saying that at a minimum, consumers should look for an insurance plan that covers damage, lost phones, and theft. And if consumers take part in the insurance that the major carriers offer, they might get a wide number of devices covered under one umbrella.

For example, Wiper noted that AT&T’s plan covers connected laptops, tablets, and smartwatches – and all that does with those devices like battery chargers and SIM cards. 

Stern said that consumers might be surprised to find phone insurance might be already built into things they’d never even think about. He recommends that phone owners ask their credit card providers if there’s phone damage insurance that’s part of their arrangement.

One he pointed to was the Chase Freedom Flex card which provides a maximum of $800 per claim, with a limit of two claims per 12-month period, and a $50 deductible per claim.

“The catch is that you must use that credit card to pay your monthly phone bill,” he said.

There are other places consumers should look, too – especially renters.

“A lot of people don’t realize it, but many renters insurance policies will cover a cell phone under certain circumstances,” Sean Burgess, Lemonade's chief claims officer, told ConsumerAffairs.

“While theft is probably the most common, your phone is also covered for things like vandalism, fire, or other damages—even if you’re traveling abroad. If you’ve simply lost or misplaced your phone, however, your insurance policy isn’t likely to cover it.” 

Consumer complaints about customer service have generally been rising across nearly all industries since the pandemic but wireless providers may have finally flipped the script. At least, that’s the finding of a new study.

J.D. Power’s 2023 U.S. Wireless Customer Care Study (Vol.1) found that more wireless providers have improved how they deal with customers, including reducing the time it takes to resolve a problem. On J.D. Power’s customer satisfaction scale, wireless providers have improved their standing by 14 points.

“After a period of fighting through staffing challenges and investing heavily in more dynamic, advanced tool-enabled digital customer support solutions, wireless providers are now reaping the dividends of that hard work in the form of faster customer care resolution and more satisfied customers,” said Ian Greenblatt, managing director of technology, media & telecom at J.D. Power. 

“It is particularly noteworthy that we’re seeing consistent improvement in both digital/automated and live channels via interaction with in-store and phone-based representatives. It is clear from the data that the top-performing wireless providers take a systemic, channel-coordinated approach to customer care and problem resolution.”

Praise for people

ConsumerAffairs has noted more positive reviews of wireless providers in the last 12 months.

Back in late November, Roxanne, of Mound, Minn., had nice things to say about the staff at a T-Mobile store in Chaska, Minn.

“Thank you to Erin, Nick and Josh…for making our Black Friday shopping experience that we were dreading so absolutely fabulous!” Roxanne wrote in a ConsumerAffairs review. “They each had the patience to answer all of our questions, explain what we needed to do and when, and even giving us a follow-up call.”

Hartney, of Mason, Ohio also credited the AT&T staff she encountered for making her experience a positive one.

‘Made my day’

“I had an issue with my husband's phone and called customer service feeling frustrated but was greeted by this wonderful young man named Torron!” Hartley told us. “He had such great energy and a positive attitude that it just made my day better!”

According to J.D. Power’s rankings, T-Mobile had the best showing among major providers  with a score of 829 on a 1,000 point scale. Metro by T-Mobile ranked highest in the mobile virtual network operators segment with a score of 832, followed by Cricket (830) and Boost Mobile (825).

Consumer Cellular ranked highest in the value mobile virtual network operators segment for the 14th consecutive volume with a score of 869, followed closely by Mint Mobile, with a score of 864.

At a time when mobile phone plans can be a concern for consumers who are trying to save money, Cricket Wireless is giving consumers an opportunity to try its network for free with the launch of the tryCricket app in the Apple App store.

Being a low-cost carrier, Cricket doesn’t always get the same ink that the wireless big boys like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile do, but it has 13 million subscribers who apparently like the service. As an example of that, earlier this year Cricket ranked number one in Customer Service and Purchase Experience for the second consecutive time in a J.D. Power study.

Another question that might be asked is about coverage areas. Riding on the backbone of AT&T, Cricket users have access to the same coverage area, a fact not lost on ConsumerAffairs reviewer Francisco, of Berber, Calif.

“I've used Cricket Wireless for over a year now. Before this, I actually used Metro By T-Mobile, he wrote in his review of the company. "When I compare both cellular companies I actually get better coverage almost wherever I go. Although where I live it's kind of slow sometimes but most of the time I'm able to do most of my things. Usually, I need to have the internet when I go to work in which Cricket does the job.”

Comparing prices, the Cricket plans that ConsumerAffairs reviewed were far more straightforward than the larger carriers, with four-person plans going for $100 a month. 

The only thing that might be a barrier for some is that Cricket is all about simple and essential vs. bells and whistles. If you or someone in your family is a data hog and constantly streaming videos, you need to know that if Cricket’s network gets busy, it “may” temporarily slow speeds.

How this try-before-you-buy offer works

On the surface, it may sound confusing that someone who’s on a T-Mobile plan can actually try another carrier service without changing phones or SIM cards. But in the digital age, someone came up with the bright idea of “eSIM,” which allows mobile customers to switch services without having to physically switch out a SIM card.

Jeff Moore, principal of Wave7 Research, thinks highly of eSIM.

“There are several benefits of eSIM for simplifying consumer experiences, including the ability to switch carriers more easily, the ability to have more than one number associated with a device, and the ability to easily choose a carrier when traveling abroad," he said.

The tryCricket offer is only available for iPhones at the moment, but an Android version could come later. When someone signs up for the tryout, they’ll get a temporary phone number with 3GB of data with unlimited talk and text during the trial period. If they like what they see, then they can port over their current phone number. The tryCricket app is available here.

T-Mobile will use SpaceX’s Starlink satellites to expand cellular coverage, connecting consumers’ phones with satellites orbiting the earth.

The wireless provider announced an agreement with the Elon Musk-owned company – the first of the major cellular providers to offer service from space. 

You may have seen ads from most of the cellular providers, coloring in the areas where they have coverage. While there is a lot of color on most of those coverage maps, there are some white spaces – gaps in the coverage. Melissa, a T-Mobile customer in Onstead, Mich., says she lives in one of those gaps.

“We have 5 phones connected to the T-Mobile network,” Melissa wrote in a ConsumerAffairs review. “When we are home not one phone gets network service. We can only use our calender, alarm clock, and camera on our phones.”

T-Mobile says there are plenty of cellphone users who have Melissa’s problem. Despite powerful LTE and 5G wireless networks, the company says well over half a million square miles of the U.S., in addition to vast stretches of ocean, are untouched by cell signals from any provider.

That should be changing, albeit slowly, at T-Mobile. The company said it will offer plans that will include satellite coverage, along with the current plans that only use cell towers. 

Most users won’t need a new phone

The satellite networks will use T-Mobile's mid-band spectrum. Because of that, most consumers who sign up for the expanded coverage won’t have to buy a new phone. The new satellite plan will start with texting services in a beta test early next year.

“We’ve always thought differently about what it means to keep customers connected, and that’s why we’re working with the best to deliver coverage above and beyond anything customers have ever seen before,” said Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile. “More than just a groundbreaking alliance, this represents two industry-shaking innovators challenging the old ways of doing things to create something entirely new that will further connect customers and scare competitors.”

Musk said the agreement will benefit consumers while improving safety and security, noting that it “means there are no dead zones anywhere in the world for your cell phone.” 

T-Mobile’s announcement did not contain any information about what the new satellite coverage will cost.

Wireless companies spend lots of money on ads that urge consumers to switch providers. But a new study suggests that consumers find the process of purchasing a new phone or wireless plan less pleasant than in the past.

J.D. Power’s 2022 U.S. Wireless Purchase Experience Study found a number of reasons for this diminished satisfaction. Consumers who participated in the study and who purchased a wireless phone or switched to a new provider in the last six months said the transactions are taking longer to complete.

They also complain that they’re having to do much of the work themselves because of a decline in customer service. Ian Greenblatt, managing director at J.D. Power, says it might be a result of the upheaval in the job market caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Staff retention constraints, shorter representative tenure, and less training are leading to a longer time to complete the purchase, more perceived effort from the customer, and ultimately, a decrease in satisfaction,” Greenblatt said. “As consumers increase their device usage and reliance, the purchase experience becomes that much more important. The study finds that respondents believe they’re paying more and receiving less.”

Happy T-Mobile customer

Among the big three wireless operators, T-Mobile was rated as the easiest to deal with by consumers posting their feedback at ConsumerAffairs. Jacqueline, of Virginia Beach, Va., recently told us about a good experience.

“I had Toure from customer care assist me today in transferring my phone from the Sprint network to the T-Mobile account,” Jacqueline wrote in a ConsumerAffairs review. “She went above and beyond on customer service. She followed through the entire process and got me where I needed to be. She was amazing and T-Mobile should be so grateful to have her on their team!”

Sammy, of Bloomfield, Colo., told us about a frustrating experience with Verizon when he switched from AT&T and tried to transfer four lines on his plan.

“Only three lines were transferred and they forgot to transfer my fourth line,” Sammy told us. “And when I called to [activate] that fourth line they keep telling me that they cannot verify my information.”

Virtual mobile network operators did better in the J.D. Power survey than the legacy carriers. While T-Mobile had a satisfaction score of 797, Cricket led mobile virtual network operators with a score of 821. Metro by T-Mobile ranked second, and Spectrum Mobile ranked third, with both earning satisfaction scores above 800.