Zagat, a name many New Yorkers immediately associate with restaurant reviews, has stretched their field of expertise to cover the North American mobile operator space. In their first ever survey on wireless companies, 2,319 customers to asked to rate their operators based on several criteria such as voice quality, coverage, and the range of devices their operator provided. On a scale of 30 points Verizon Wireless scored the highest overall with 22 points, followed by T-Mobile, AT&T and Sprint, who achieved 19, 18, and 18 respectively.
With regards to coverage the scores are Verizon: 26, Sprint: 18, AT&T: 18, T-Mobile 17. Reliability saw Verizon on top again with 26 points, T-mobile with 20 points, Sprint with 19 points, and AT&T last with 18 points. Who has the best rate plans? T-Mobile and Sprint tie for the top spot with 20 points, Verizon is next with 17 points and AT&T is last with only 14 points.
The average AT&T customer spends the most each month, an average of $85.12, followed by Verizon Wireless at $75.74, Sprint at $74.08 and T-Mobile is the cheapest at only $66.91. Would you recommend your current operator to friends and family? For Verizon customers the answer is 92% yes, Sprint and T-Mobile customers both said yes 79% of the time, and AT&T is last again with customers saying yes only 69% of the time. Not surprising considering the terrible reputation AT&T has after taking on the iPhone and failing to deliver an experience that even closely resembles reliable.
More stats can be found in this PDF.