J.D. Power released findings this week indicating that customers are generally quite satisfied with carriers’ recent speed improvements, but significantly less happy about escalating data glitches with tablet and mobile broadband devices.
“J.D. Power 2017 U.S. Wireless Network Quality Performance Study − Volume 1” says that an increasing percentage of customers are having their expectations exceeded with regard to data speeds. Currently, 16 percent of customers say the data speeds on their 4G phones are “faster than expected,” up from 13 percent in the 2015 version of the report. On the flip side, 14 percent say data speeds on their 4G phones are “slower than expected,” down from 17 percent in 2015.
Notably, J.D. Power says that the incidence of overall data problems has remained stable from 2015 at 17 PP100 (problems per 100 connections), but users say they have experienced a considerable increase in data problems on tablets and mobile broadband devices during this period. “The incidence of data problems on tablets has risen to 12 PP100 from 9 PP100 in ‘2015 Volume 1,’ and mobile broadband errors increased to 14 PP100 from 10 PP100,” J.D. Power reported.
Kirk Parsons, senior director and technology, media, and telecom practice leader at J.D. Power suggested that overall network reliability might be getting overlooked as carriers compete against each other to deliver faster data speeds. “Speed is critical. However, reducing data problems is essential for reliability,” Parsons said. “Reliability is critical for differentiating a wireless network and should be a focus for carriers as they decide how and where to make upgrades for future planned 5G rollouts, especially those in urban areas.”
More information on the report is available here.
