When it comes right down to it, most Americans don’t care what amazing things they can do with a mobile device if they can’t get the necessary reception to use it, says Prosper Insights and Analytics.
Commenting in its research, the company said, “In the April Prosper Mobile Insights™ survey, nearly 70% of Mobile Users 18+ say that the best service/coverage is more important than the latest technology. Almost half (48.8%) say they’ve experienced connection issues with their mobile device. Slow Internet connection (42.9%) and inconsistent access to 3G/4G networks (32.4%) are significant challenges users have with mobile service providers.”
Another important metric to watch, says Prosper, is the likelihood that users of a particular service will recommend it to others. Competition is said to be tight, room for error minimal, and room for improvement is shared by all of the big providers.
That said, Verizon has first place to itself by a wide margin, even if its recommendation score is a seemingly lackluster 15.44%. But Sprint is far behind in 2nd with 3.43%, and two others are in negative territory – T-Mobile stands at +0.89% and AT&T at -2.97%.
“With no-contact plans abound and the competition between mobile manufacturers remaining fierce, mobile users are becoming increasingly untethered from loyalty to any particular brand, make, or service provider,” said Pam Goodfellow, analyst for Prosper Insights & Analytics™. “Service providers and manufacturers who are losing sight of the ‘basics’ – fast connections, longer battery lives, reliable functionality, and so on – may be playing with fire, and their customers will move on before they get burned.”
