Nextel the Tops for Service in the USA

In its second wave of quarterly wireless Internet customer satisfaction studies, In-Stat/MDR has found that, for the second quarter in a row, Nextel's customers rated it higher than any other USA cellular provider's (AT&T Wireless, Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless) customers. In the third and fourth quarters of 2001, 68% of Nextel's customers were completely, or very satisfied with the carrier's services.

"In-Stat/MDR has found that there are four attributes that are key to driving customer satisfaction with wireless Internet services; reliability of service, ease of use, breadth of applications available and quality of service," said Becky Diercks, a director with the high-tech market research firm.

Although just a very small percentage of all subscribers are extremely or very likely to churn to a new service provider in the next three months, carriers can't rest easy, as 31% of the higher spending wireless Internet users are thinking about churning. According to Diercks, "Carriers must work to ensure customers are satisfied with all of these very crucial attributes, in addition to taking advantage of new technologies like J2ME, BREW, WAP 2.0, GPRS and CDMA 1xRTT."

In-Stat/MDR also found that Sprint PCS's service is most popular with wireless Internet panelists, followed by Verizon Wireless, Nextel, and AT&T Wireless (in descending order). Looking at satisfaction with individual attributes, AT&T Wireless and Nextel were virtually tied for customer satisfaction with service reliability. Verizon Wireless received the highest customer satisfaction rating for two attributes: customer service and support, and geographic coverage, while it was nearly tied with Nextel on technical support.'"

Posted to the site on 8th May 2002