Telephia Inc. released last week the results of its Wireless E-trac survey of the New York metro area, and despite past reports of capacity problems, AT&T Wireless Services Inc. emerged as the carrier both wireless users and non-users would choose first when selecting or changing their wireless provider.
Current wireless users ranked Bell Atlantic Mobile as their second choice, while non-users ranked Sprint PCS as their second preference, according to the survey.
Telephia, in conjunction with Harris Interactive, polled about 4,600 wireless users and non-users in the New York metro area via the Internet.
Among other things, the survey found New York consumers ranked Nokia Corp. first and Motorola Inc. second when asked what product brand comes to mind when thinking about wireless phone manufacturers. Surprisingly, AT&T was given as the third most popular answer to the question, although it does not manufacture handsets, Telephia said.
Better network performance was second only to price as a reason for switching to a new carrier. Price also was given as the primary reason by non-subscribers for not having wireless service.
Telephia and Harris Interactive also conducted a nationwide survey of 36,385 people and found price of the wireless service or phone is the most important attribute when picking a service provider.
The completion of calls without being interrupted or dropped was cited as the most important service attribute among those polled. Clear voice quality was a close second.
In each of its Wireless E-trac surveys, Telephia asks participants to respond to questions regarding customer satisfaction, brand awareness, and switching and loyalty, and then compiles the data to create the reports, which also include demographic and attitudinal profiles of the participants.
