U.S. Mobile Customers More Satisfied, AT&T Leads, But Billing Issues Still Drive 44% of Inbound Customer Service Traffic

In its latest study of mobile service provider customer care satisfaction, J.D. Power found U.S. consumers were more satisfied with customer care experiences.

But some things do not seem to change. Questions about billing are huge drivers of in-bound customer service activity.

Among wireless customers contacting their carrier by telephone, billing (44 percent) is the most frequently reported reason for contact.

The same is true for customers contacting using the online channel (52 percent).

On the other hand, the majority of mobile customers visiting a retail facility for customer service purposes do so with questions about service options and equipment (40 percent).

AT&T ranks highest among  full-service carriers, with an overall score of 820. So some things change, in the mobile consumer satisfaction area.

AT&T performs particularly well in the walk-in (retail stores) and online channels, and performs above the full-service average in all four service channels, J.D. Power said.

Consumer Cellular ranks highest for the first time among wireless non-contract carriers, scoring 878.

Consumer Cellular performs above the non-contract average in all four service channels, especially in the automated response system channel, followed by the customer service representative  channel.

AT&T ranks highest among wireless full-service carriers, with an overall score of 820. AT&T performs particularly well in the walk-in (retail stores) and online channels, and performs above the full-service average in all four service channels.

Consumer Cellular ranks highest for the first time among wireless non-contract carriers, scoring 878. Consumer Cellular performs above the non-contract average in all four service channels, especially in the ARS, then CSR channel.

Overall satisfaction among mobile full-service customers is 804, an improvement of 16 points from the 2016 Full-Service Study—Vol 1, J.D. Power said.

Satisfaction among non-contract wireless customers is 761, a significant 23-point increase from the 2016 Non-Contract Study—Vol 1, J.D. Power aded.

Overall satisfaction is highest among customers whose online contact was via a user forum (838), followed by social media (836), email (827), carrier website (826) and online chat (813).

Researching information on the carrier's website (51%) is the most common activity via online contact, followed by online chat (44%), email (26%), user forums (23%), and social media (7%).