Hasta La Gadget!

AT&T is the absolute bee’s knees in customer care among the big four carriers. That’s if you’re listening to J.D. Power, anyway, which finds that longtime champion Verizon is no longer the best at solving its customers’ problems. As a precaution, this study is rather narrow in scope and considers just three components of customer care: telephone assistance, online support and in-store personnel. Naturally, this is just one component of customer satisfaction, and factors such as coverage, data speed and call quality aren’t considered — look to Consumer Reports for insight on those. Still, customer care is important and J.D. Power suggests that it’s now at its highest levels since 2009. Sadly, not everyone’s a winner, as the study also finds that Sprint and T-Mobile both fall below the industry average.

On the prepaid side, MetroPCS is keeping its position as the front-runner, but even more curious, it’s said that a whopping 69 percent of non-contract customers use carrier apps to manage their accounts. What’s more, customer satisfaction is reportedly considerably higher among prepaid carriers that provide these management apps to their subscribers. In this context, it seems that well-targeted bundled apps aren’t necessarily bloatware, but we still think its carriers should let you remove that stuff.

Filed under: Wireless, Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile

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The results from the American Customer Satisfaction Index are in, and parroting a recent study by Consumer Reports, Verizon Wireless is named the front-runner with the most happy subscribers among the big four carriers. The survey takes a number of factors into account, such as call clarity, dropped calls, network coverage, data speeds, helpfulness of in-store staff, diversity of plans and the quality of the carrier’s websites. As the dust settled, Verizon notched a three-point gain to chart a score of 73 (out of 100), whereas ACSI’s previous front-runner, Sprint, held steady with a score of 71. AT&T is portrayed as “in a statistical dead heat with Sprint,” which climbed one point to chart an ACSI score of 70. Meanwhile, satisfaction among T-Mobile customers fell a point, which caused the carrier to pull up the rear with a score of 68.

On the whole, ACSI suggests that subscribers are generally more satisfied with regional providers and MVNOs, as the little dogs hold an aggregate score of 78. Speaking in broader terms, the ACSI reports that the wireless industry has reversed its two-year trend of sliding customer satisfaction to hit a benchmark score of 72, which matches the industry’s 10-year high. Naturally, improvements still need to be made across the board, but at least things seem to be moving in the right direction.

Filed under: Wireless, Mobile

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Via: FierceWireless

Source: ACSI

Android and iOS are probably two of the biggest names when it comes to mobile operating systems, although at the moment Android is certainly leading in terms of market share, with iOS coming in second. Considering that Android has more manufacturers and appeals to customers ranging from those looking for a budget device, to those looking for the best money can buy, it is not surprising. However according to a research from the Yankee Group, they believe that by 2015, iOS will be nabbing the top spot due to their supposedly more loyal user base.

Surveying 16,000 US customers in the past 12 months, the Yankee Group found that almost half the people they surveyed owned an Android device, while 30% used an iPhone. When it came to platform loyalty, they found that 91% of the iPhone owners they surveyed said that they would be sticking to the iPhone when it came time to upgrade, with 6% saying they would switch to Android. As for Android users, 76% of them said they would be sticking with Android, with 18% planning to jump ship to iOS when it came time to get a new device.

Of course there are many reasons why people would switch devices, i.e. better specs, newer technology, apps, services and so on, so while it is an interesting survey, 2015 could be completely different from what they have predicted.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Google Now Available On iPhone, iPad As Google Search Update, Instant Messaging Overtakes SMS Texts For The First Time,

There was lichen on some trees near El Malpais National Monument in north west New Mexico on January 14, 1987. No, seriously there was. If you want to double check, the U.S. Geological Survey has released a database called Biodiversity Information Serving Our Nation (BISON) that tracks 100 thousand species in the U.S.. More »

Thanks to the relative anonymity of the internet and hiding behind usernames, many people have found the “courage” to insult people online and say things they normally wouldn’t in real life. However it seems that the increasing “ease” of being able to be rude to someone online has inevitably spilled into real life and thanks to a new social media survey, it has been discovered that at least one in five people have reduced face-to-face contact with someone they actually know in real life after having an argument online.

According to Joseph Grenny, the co-chairman of corporate training firm VitalSmarts who ran the survey, 19% of online arguments have led to people blocking, unsubscribing and even “unfriending” someone the other party. Grenny was quoted as saying, “The world has changed and a significant proportion of relationships happen online but manners haven’t caught up with technology.” Admittedly having taken part in several online arguments myself, it is true that people online tend to say things they wouldn’t normally say in real life. We’re not sure if it’s because it’s easier to type it out than to say it out, or because they believe that since the exchanges are made online that they’re safe being any physical violence. What do you guys think? Have you lost any friends over online arguments?

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