Ranking America's wireless service providers in an entirely objective manner is not easy, but while user evaluations of network quality or customer care experiences might sound like inherently subjective reference points, it's hard to argue with the reliability of a study that yields the same winner over and over again.
After surveying more than 12,000 people who contacted their carrier's customer care department within the past three months, J.D. Power essentially reached the same exact conclusions today as back in February, when almost 13,000 US mobile network operator clients were interviewed and asked to rate their experiences across 12 different areas. We're talking everything from in-store contact to online chat, email, social media interactions, website search, user forum, carrier app search, and good old fashioned phone support.
So many titles, so many records, so much love
When all of the above information was taken into consideration, T-Mobile absolutely crushed its "full-service" rivals... yet again, this time with an even higher 852 score than the 848 points collected for Volume 1 of the 2020 J.D. Power US wireless customer care performance study.
Believe it or not, this is the "Un-carrier's" 20th ever win over the nation's traditional carriers in the data analytics company's biannual in-depth evaluation of this key performance metric, as well as the sixth consecutive crown.
Furthermore, Magenta managed to set yet another record for points, accumulating 36 more than the industry average and defeating Verizon by a whopping 34 points. In case you're wondering, Big Red made a teeny-tiny gain of a single point from February, while AT&T and Sprint jumped an impressive 22 and 13 points respectively to... still finish below the 816 industry average.
For what it's worth, Verizon did dominate the latest J.D. Power report assessing the wireless network quality of America's five biggest carriers (US Cellular included), while T-Mobile failed to impress from that particular standpoint.
Redefining greatness during a tough time
T-Mobile's customer care victory and the fact the aforementioned industry average surged from 805 points almost six months ago are made that much more remarkable by the challenges carriers had to overcome to raise their support standards in the midst of a pandemic.
Magenta, for one, had to "quickly move more than 12,000 care reps from 17 domestic call centers", which took just 20 days and involved over 60,000 pieces of equipment, so that all of those employees could serve you from the comfort (and safety) of their homes without a hitch.
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But T-Mo has even more to celebrate, pulling off a second consecutive double victory by also taking the "non-contract full-service" crown with the help of its "flagship prepaid brand." Metro by T-Mobile edged out Cricket Wireless after gaining six points from February, with Virgin Mobile completing the podium and Boost Mobile falling from second to fourth place, presumably due to all the uncertainty regarding the drawn-out deal between Sprint's new parent company and Dish.
Finally, Consumer Cellular easily won the "non-contract value carriers" competition once again with a towering score of 871 points that was incredibly enough lower than the 888 total from earlier this year. Both Straight Talk and TracFone managed to improve their results, which means this industry average is on the rise as well, defying the "unwavering call volume and uprooted workforce" caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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