The study is out for the J.D. Power 2019 U.S. Wireless Network Quality Performance Study—Vol. 1.
As the release linked above describes, this study measures network quality experienced by customers with wireless phones and network performance of tablets and mobile broadband devices. It’s based on responses from 32,159 wireless customers and was fielded from July through December 2018. Carrier performance is examined in six regions: Mid-Atlantic, North Central, Northeast, Southeast, Southwest and West.
The metric used is quality problems per 100 connections (PP100) in call quality, messaging quality, and data quality in each region. Simply put, the lower the number, the fewer problems customers experienced by customers and the better the overall experience is.
The release notes that wireless network problems are rising among customers in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and North Central regions, but that problems have decreased in the Southeast region.
As for what carrier is doing the best overall, Verizon is the clear leader. It ranks highest in all six regions covered in the study, achieving the lowest network quality problems per 100 connections (PP100) in call quality, messaging quality and data quality in each region. T-Mobile ties Verizon in data quality in the Northeast region.
You can find specific charts for each region in the study.
Here’s the link to last year’s release if you’d like to compare.
