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So J.D. Power and Associates has come out with another telecommunications survey. We’ll spare you our tirade on Mr. Power and his associates, and our not understanding how they’re granted the credibility to hand out all those accolades. The findings of this particular survey show that customers are far more satisfied than last year with prepaid service offerings and call quality. This, to us, makes complete sense, since prepaid is still in an evolutionary stage in the US. We’re the land of subsidized phones and two-year contracts, so even a baby step forward for prepaid is a victory.

The study, now in its second year, measures customer satisfaction with current prepaid wireless service across seven key dimensions (in order of importance): call quality (24%); company image (19%); cost of service (17%); account management (15%); initial activation (11%); service plan options (8%); and customer service (6%).

The survey is based on a 1,000-point scale; prepaid services rose 10 points from 2006 to 2007, which is a significant step forward. The biggest area of improvement: cost of service, which rose 21 points from last year. That’s a point we’ve been trying to hammer home since we started this here blog. There are enough options with prepaid that you can create a plan that is affordable.

Call quality also improved dramatically, rising 14 points from last year. What we’re wondering is if this represents an overall improvement across the telecommunications industry, or a mostly-prepaid thing, with regional carriers improving service during the year. Either way, though, it’s another gain for prepaid.

A couple other interesting figures: prepaid users spend an average of $38 when they top up, and the average monthly cost is $71 per month. Prepaid users also use fewer minutes than the postpaid variety…less than half: 218 to 528.

Which company came out on top in customer service? Virgin Mobile. We must respectfully disagree, though. See, Virgin has this voice-activated phone menu, which is easily the most annoying call feature ever. It takes forever to navigate it and actually get a live person on the line. In that department, we’d vote T-Mobile best. When we have a question, we never have a problem reaching a life rep, and our question is usually answered fully.

Here’s to a great 2007 to 2008, prepaid.

[DMN Newswire]

Posted By : Joe
Posted at : August 24th, 2007 - 9:00 am
Filed under : Consumer Issues, Prepaid Services