rated AT&T lowest in customer satisfaction, for a second year in a row. Based on a survey half of them Phone users, AT&T got the lowest possible rating in every single category of the survey except for texting. AT&T was also the only carrier to see a significant drop in overall customer satisfaction, according to a blog post announcing the findings.

Consumer Reports surveyed over 50,000 of it’s readers about the US big four – AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile – as well as U.S. Cellular, which covers the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, parts of the East Coast and most of New England. U.S. Cellular actually got the highest ranking of any of the providers, with a score of 82. Verizon was second with 74, followed by Sprint with 73, T-Mobile with 69, and AT&T bringing up the rear with a lowly 60.

AT&T scored the lowest possible ranking in eight of the nine categories, including overall value, voice service, data service, support via phone, support via website, support via e-mail, staff knowledge, and issues resolved. In the only other category – texting – the carrier managed to get the next-to-lowest possible score.

Consumer Reports who recommended against iPhone 4 when it was launched, says that half of the AT&T customers surveyed were iPhone users, and were overall much less satisfied with AT&T than other customers. AT&T iPhone users especially rated their data service lower than owners of smart phones on other carriers. Paul Reynolds, the electronics editor at Consumer Reports, noted that “an iPhone from Verizon Wireless, which is rumored, could indeed be good news for iPhone fans.”

Last year’s survey also had AT&T coming in last, though with a considerably better showing. The overall score was 66, and that was before AT&T made major investments in infrastructure this year to improve its service.

Are you on AT&T network? What’s your experience like with the carrier? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below. And, as usual, stay tuned for more new and info by following us on Twitter and/or by subscribing to our RSS Feed.

[Sources: TUAW; ConsumerReport]

Authors: _GadgetNews

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