Survey: Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA tops in catching customer calls: Pali Research measures response times by the nation’s wireless providers

Sprint Nextel Corp. maintained its position at the top of Pali Research’s customer care survey during the third quarter. Sprint Nextel is not a common recipient of such news (aside from CEO Dan Hesse’s nod as an RCR Wireless News Mover & Shaker) but the carrier managed to keep its customer service in check two quarters in a row.
Pali also named Sprint Nextel best during the second quarter. Prior to its position on top, Sprint Nextel resided at the bottom of the survey’s results.
According to Pali, Sprint Nextel answered 89% of 1,000 customer care calls in less than 30 seconds, and was the only carrier to reach over 80% in the category. During the second quarter, Sprint Nextel answered 90% of calls in fewer than 30 seconds. T-Mobile USA Inc. could not match Sprint Nextel, but did see significant improvement. The industry’s No. 4 carrier answered 79% of calls in 30 seconds or less, a drastic improvement from the 43% posted during the second quarter.
The industry’s two largest players rounded out the bottom of the list. Verizon Wireless’ response time fell to 68% during the third quarter, down from the 85% of calls it answered in less than 30 seconds during the second quarter. AT&T Mobility saw even worse stats; the nation’s largest carrier only managed to answer 43% of customer service calls in fewer than 30 seconds during the third quarter.
Given more time, T-Mobile USA swam to the top of the ranking. The carrier managed to answer 100% of calls within two minutes, just nipping ahead of the 95% posted by Sprint Nextel. Verizon Wireless nabbed 91% of calls within two minutes, with AT&T Mobility managing to catch only 65% of calls in fewer than two minutes.