Taberna Cell Phone Survey

By Wayne Maruna

 

Subscribers to Taberna’s email distribution system, Tabmail, may recall a cell phone survey I sent out in early February. With Tabmail reaching over 700 people in just over 500 homes, I set my expectation for receiving between 50 and 100 responses.  I ended up with 103.

 

My purpose in sending out the survey was to gauge which cell phone service carriers were most relied upon, which phones were most popular, and in particular, what people felt about the quality of service in and around Taberna and Craven County.

 

If I were to create a composite model cell user in Taberna, that person would be on the Verizon network, utilizing an Apple iPhone. They would have a family/shared plan, a landline, and would have been with their current cell carrier for over ten years.  They would feel that their service at home was good to excellent, and even better outside of Taberna.  They would have no compelling reasons, other than perhaps a significant price reduction, to change carriers.

 

As for the details behind that composite user, see the following:

Carrier selection:

61%  Verizon

19%  AT&T

  8%  U.S. Cellular

  4%  Consumer Cellular

  3%  TracFone 

  5%  All others, including T-Mobile, Straight Talk Wireless, Sprint, and Boost Mobile, none of which had more than 2 customers.

 

As for phone operating systems, there was a similar division of two big dogs and the rest of the pack:

55%  Apple iPhones

35%  Android phones (Samsung, LG, Motorola, several other brands)

  2%  Windows phone

  1%  Blackberry

  7%  Basic non-smart phones

 

As far as types of plans, 69% were on family/shared plans, 27% were on individual plans, and 4% were on pre-paid plans.

 

Most people (87%) keep their land lines.  Reasons mentioned included home security systems, quick and accurate access to the 911 system, fax machines, and the ability to easily pick up a second handset and join a conversation.

 

While not quite on par with bald eagles that are said to mate for life, people tend to stay with their cell phone carrier.  An astounding (to me) 67% had the same carrier for the last ten years or longer.  Obviously people are happy enough with their carriers, by and large, to not chase the latest promotional pricing.  In some cases, the perceived hassle of changing carriers and porting numbers was seen as making any switch not worth the while.

 

Of course, the key to a happy customer is good reception, and here is where the numbers really surprised me. Over 86% of respondents graded their home reception as at least good, including 9% who rated their reception as excellent.  In almost all cases, reception improved when one got out of Taberna.  In a few AT&T cases, excellent reception was only achieved with the installation of one of their microcell devices within the home, using the home’s wireless router to rebroadcast the cellular signal.

 

Quality of Reception:

  9%  Excellent

77%  Good or very good

  8%  Fair

  6%  Poor

 

Reception was rated as good or better nearly across the board by carrier.  Carriers rated as poor were Sprint, Boost Mobile, and one of the two T-Mobile customers.  Three Verizon customers gave their reception poor marks, but those were outlier ratings.  This does point out the fact that reception depends heavily on just where you are in Taberna, and also on your particular phone.  A change in phone may improve reception.  It’s certainly easier and cheaper than changing your location.

           

            The March issue of Consumer Reports magazine reported on their summer 2016 cell phone survey sent to 100K subscribers, a mere thousand times larger sampling than the Taberna survey.  In their survey, more than 80% of respondents used one of the big 4 providers: Verizon, AT&T, U.S. Cellular, and T-Mobile.  For Taberna, where options are more limited, that score was 92%. In terms of overall rating of eleven providers, T-Mobile came in 5th, U.S. Cellular 8th, Verizon 9th, and AT&T dead last at 11th. (Consumer Cellular was first.)   Taberna’s survey results were decidedly different. Tabernians were generally very pleased with Verizon, AT&T, U.S. Cellular, Consumer Cellular, Straight Talk Wireless, and TracFone.  My unsubstantiated guess, based on demographic observations, is that we do far less data streaming (movies and music) and are therefore less subject to slow downs and less affected by marginal signals.

 

            If you are considering a move from your current carrier, be aware that it may require a change in phones.  That’s because the carriers use one of two different technologies:  CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) or GSM (Global System for Mobiles). Verizon, Sprint, U.S. Cellular, and MetroPCS are among those using CDMA.  In the U.S., AT&T and T-Mobile are the primary users of GSM, although many other carriers, including Consumer Cellular and Straight Talk Wireless, use the AT&T or T-Mobile towers.  All of Europe uses GSM. Be sure to check with any proposed new carrier to determine whether your current phone is compatible.

 

When it comes to cell phones, people have different needs.  A prepaid plan may be perfect for someone who wants an individual plan or a cell phone strictly for emergencies.  Not everyone needs or wants the latest hardware, nor is everyone willing to pay the price for same.  What’s great is that there are a lot of options, and a surprising number of carriers offering satisfactory reception.

 

Personal Addendum:  Carrier contracts seem to have gone the way of the dinosaur. My 2-year contract with Verizon came to an end in mid-February of this year.  I was using a Samsung S5 phone.  Despite having downsized from my previous Samsung Galaxy Note to the more reasonably sized S5 (5" screen), I found it still too large to carry around comfortably.  I wanted something smaller.  I found a refurbished Apple iPhone 5se on Amazon for 37%  less than new.  The phone, with its 4" screen, 64GB of storage, and innards essentially similar to the larger iPhone 6, was an unlocked phone intended for use on a GSM system.  It looked absolutely new.  I decided to break from the crowd and sign up with Consumer Cellular.  They sent me a SIM card, I popped it in, they ported my number over from Verizon, and I was good to go.  My wife remains on Verizon despite her contract having been up several months ago.  She has a Verizon issued iPhone 6 and loves it, so she has no reason to get another phone.  As for myself, I am now paying half of what I was paying on Verizon, though they have now changed their plan to where I could have essentially broken even with Consumer Cellular had I made the correct inquiries prior to the switch.  The cell phone companies are constantly playing pricing games, and it's hard to keep up.