Overall U.S. Wireless Carriers Improve in Call Quality, Led by Verizon

U.S. wireless carriers have been improving their call quality in general over the past six months, with fewer dropped calls, static and interference, and failed connection, according to a new study by the research firm J.D. Power and Associates.

The 2009 Wireless Call Quality Performance Study, conducted from January to June in 2009 among 25,512 cellular subscribers, analyzed the performance of major wireless carriers based on problem areas such as voice distortion, interference and failed call connection. Results show that the overall wireless service of the industry is getting better, with dropped calls decreased from 5 to 4 out of 100 calls, failed initial connections fell from 4 to 3, and static calls declined from 3 to 2.

Among the numerous service providers, Verizon Wireless ranked top in four out of six regions, offering the best cellular call quality in general. The carrier was doing particularly well in minimizing dropped calls, failed initial connections, and delayed or failed text and voice messages. Verizon was also in tie with Alltel and T-Mobile in the West region, while in the North Central region, US Cellular took the lead. On the contrary, AT&T and Sprint lagged behind other rivals in general despite their nationwide connection coverage.

According to J.D. Power and Associates, the overall improvement in performance could be attributed to the continuous upgrade in the existing network infrastructure. However, following the boom of smartphones like iPhone 3GS, Nokia N97, Palm Pre, HTC Touch Pro 2 and BlackBerry Curve 8520, customers continue to increase their demand in data use for texting, emailing and mobile web surfing. To satisfy this growing demand, the carriers have been busy enhancing their performance by upgrading their wireless networks.

For instance, Verizon is said to be preparing the launch of its 4G LTE network next year. Sprint has teamed up with Clearwire to launch 4G service in 10 cities, and more will be covered in 2010. AT&T has also begun its new 3G band for better high-speed coverage starting with Atlanta. As a result, it seems reasonable for customers to expect ever-improving call quality in the future.

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