April 5, 2011

A new ChangeWave survey of 4,068 consumers has taken a close up look at key comparisons between Verizon iPhone 4 owners and AT&T iPhone 4 owners – including customer satisfaction and dropped call rates.

The ChangeWave survey, completed March 28th, was conducted several weeks after Verizon began offering the iPhone 4. Among other things, the results provide insight into how owners believe the AT&T and Verizon iPhones stack up against each other in a couple of key areas.

Owner Satisfaction Ratings

Now that both AT&T and Verizon offer the iPhone 4, are there any differences in terms of owner satisfaction? The following chart compares the overall satisfaction rating of Verizon iPhone 4 owners vs. AT&T iPhone 4 owners.

In terms of overall satisfaction the two iPhones are virtually indistinguishable. A look at the Very Satisfied ratings for each shows 82% of Verizon iPhone 4 customers saying they're Very Satisfied versus 80% of AT&T iPhone 4 customers.

Before looking at the dropped call rates reported by each set of iPhone owners, here's a brief review of ChangeWave findings on overall dropped call rates for the major wireless service providers.

Overall Dropped Call Rates Among Wireless Providers

For the past few years ChangeWave has been tracking overall dropped call rates among the major wireless service providers in its consumer surveys.

In the current survey, Verizon continues to maintain the best overall rating in the industry, with their customers reporting on average only 1.4% of calls dropped over the past 90 days. T-Mobile (2.3%) comes in second, followed by Sprint/Nextel (2.7%).

AT&T ranks last among the four major providers in the current survey – with its customers reporting an average of 4.6% of calls dropped over the past 90 days.

Historical Perspective

AT&T has trailed Verizon in terms of overall dropped call rates since ChangeWave first began surveying on the subject back in September 2008. However, in our previous survey in December 2010 we noted that AT&T had registered a significant improvement on this measure. And in the current survey of 1,264 AT&T subscribers, their overall dropped call rate has improved once again, if only slightly (from 4.7% to 4.6%).

At the same time, the overall dropped call rate among the 1,283 Verizon subscribers surveyed is now at its lowest level ever recorded in a ChangeWave survey (1.4%).

iPhone 4 Dropped Call Rates – Verizon vs. AT&T. The following chart compares the reported dropped call rates of Verizon iPhone 4 owners (1.8%) vs. AT&T iPhone 4 owners (4.8%) in the current ChangeWave survey.

Similar to the historical patterns in our overall industry findings – Verizon iPhone 4 owners currently report a lower dropped call rate than their AT&T iPhone 4 counterparts.

Verizon iPhone 4 Owners vs. AT&T iPhone 4 Owners

In sum, while the survey finds overall customer satisfaction ratings are virtually indistinguishable between Verizon iPhone 4 owners and AT&T iPhone 4 owners, there are apparent differences in the relative percentage of reported dropped calls – where in the current survey Verizon is outperforming its industry rival.

We note, however, that Verizon is still in the early stages of its iPhone 4 offering to consumers. It remains to be seen how well the Verizon network performs as the number of Verizon iPhone 4 owners ramps up and inevitably puts more pressure on their system.

And in a sign of the magnitude of the ramp-up Verizon is facing, 46% of those who plan on buying an iPhone 4 in the future say they'll use Verizon as their service provider compared with 27% for AT&T.

Full report details include:

• Demand for Apple iPhone (AAPL), Motorola (MMI), Research In Motion (RIMM), Samsung, and HTC smart phone handsets, among others

• Customer Satisfaction Ratings by Manufacturer and Operating System – including a historical comparison of Apple iPhone vs. RIM-BlackBerry

• Planned Buying Trends by Operating System – Biggest Winners and Losers

• Comparison of Android OS Demand vs. Apple iOS Demand

• Features Most Important to Planned Smart Phone Buyers

• Growth Trends: Overall Smart Phone Market

About ChangeWave Research
ChangeWave Research, based in Rockville, Maryland, is an independent research firm founded in 2000. ChangeWave identifies and quantifies change in telecom trends, consumer spending & electronics trends, and corporate buying & business trends. This is accomplished through a weekly series of large sample surveys to its network of 25,000 accredited business and technology professionals – along with early-adopter consumers – working in more than 20 industries. To learn more, visit www.changewaveresearch.com.

About The 451 Group
The 451 Group is a leading technology-industry analyst company focused on the business of enterprise IT innovation. The company's analysts provide critical and timely insight into the market and competitive dynamics of innovation in emerging technology segments. The 451 Group is headquartered in New York, with offices in key locations, including San Francisco, Washington, DC, London, Boston, Seattle and Denver. For additional information on The 451 Group, go to: www.the451group.com.