16% of AT&T customers plan to switch to Verizon for Apple's iPhone - survey

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
A total of 16 percent of AT&T customers indicated they would switch to Verizon if it began offering the iPhone, in a survey conducted before this week's CDMA iPhone announcement.



ChangeWave on Thursday released the results of a survey of 4,050 U.S. wireless customers, conducted just before this week's announcement that the iPhone 4 will arrive on Verizon's network Feb. 10. The survey indicates more customers want to leave AT&T than in any other poll dating back to June of 2009.



Of those surveyed who are AT&T customers, 16 percent said they would switch to Verizon if the competing carrier began offering the iPhone. And even without the iPhone factored in, 15 percent of AT&T customers said they would switch wireless providers in the next 90 days.



Solely among iPhone owners, an even higher number -- 26 percent -- said they planned to switch to Verizon to have the iPhone on the rival network.



By comparison, only 4 percent of Verizon Wireless customers said they planned to leave their carrier in the next three months. That was the best in the industry, beating the 10 percent who plan to leave Sprint, and 15 percent who want to ditch T-Mobile.



Of the customers who said they are likely to switch from AT&T, 42 percent said they planned to leave because of poor reception or coverage. Another 27 percent said the reason for their departure would be dropped calls. Just 17 percent said their main concern was the cost of AT&T's service.







ChangeWave said the survey shows that the launch of the Verizon iPhone is likely to have a "major impact" on U.S. wireless service providers. AT&T's exclusive arrangement for the iPhone after it launched in 2007 helped the company narrow the gap with Verizon in terms of total customers.







There was one bright spot in ChangeWave's latest survey for AT&T, as respondents in December indicated they experienced fewer dropped calls on the network. Of those polled, 4.7 percent said they had experienced a dropped call in the last three months, less than the 6 percent who said they had dropped calls in September.



But AT&T's dropped call rate is still higher than Verizon, where just 1.7 percent of customers said they had experienced a dropped call in the last three months.







Last July, a ChangeWave survey prompted AT&T to publish internal dropped call data in an effort to defend its network. AT&T's figures contrasted those reported through the survey.



But ChangeWave also found evidence last August that conditions on AT&T's network were improving, along with the reliability of Apple's iPhone. A survey of iPhone 4 owners found that Apple's latest handset experienced fewer dropped calls than those who own a previous-generation iPhone 3GS.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 77
    tenobelltenobell Posts: 7,014member
    I'm in the 60% category
  • Reply 2 of 77
    tnsftnsf Posts: 203member
    Never believe what consumers say about their future purchase behaviour.
  • Reply 3 of 77
    As a U.S. citizen who owns an iPhone in one of AT&T dead zone areas, I am planing to switch to Verizon at some point, however, I do not intend to do so in February. My hope is that the iPhone 5 is released this summer with LTE. If that is the case then I most likely will make the carrier switch then.



    I've been extremely unhappy with AT&T and not just for the lack of an ability to make a call without issue. Their customer service representatives ? all the way up to the PR reps for the President of AT&T ? have told me numerous tall tales about improving service in my area and flat out refused to compensate me with a reduced plan rate for the months I've spent in an area only recently finally declared to be a 'non service area' by AT&T.



    One thing that I do not like about Verizon already though is the simple fact that they have not released the full sheet of pricing for services to be available on the iPhone, especially the data plan rates. Verizon spent nine months preparing for the iPhone and yet won't reveal the data plan pricing structure. That seems a bit fishy to me.
  • Reply 4 of 77
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Of those surveyed who are AT&T customers, 16 percent said they would switch to Verizon if the competing carrier began offering the iPhone. And even without the iPhone factored in, 15 percent of AT&T customers said they would switch wireless providers in the next 90 days.



    So the Verizon iPhone has only affect 1% of AT&T?s total user base. I would bet that other phones on Verizon will be much more affected than that.



    From most to least affected?
    • Other phones on Verizon

    • Sprint

    • T-Mobile

    • AT&T

  • Reply 5 of 77
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ChaseC View Post


    My hope is that the iPhone 5 is released this summer with LTE. If that is the case then I most likely will make the carrier switch then.



    Not going to happen. Note that CES 2011 showed no LTE phones that are as small as the iPhone. Note that the original iPhone has ?2G? even though ?3G? on AT&T was much more built out than LTE is now, not to mention the other 4 countries in launched in that year. Note that Apple cares about battery life and performance, not about adding some marketing letters to a spec sheet.
  • Reply 6 of 77
    Will switching carriers require getting a new number?
  • Reply 7 of 77
    dvhdvh Posts: 9member
    Probably a hundred or so dropped calls (Boston area) since I started on the 3G in June 2008 and no real improvement on the iPhone 4. It's not a phone issue as users in non-congested areas will tell you their iPhone works fine and never drops calls.



    AT&T has had time to fix their network issues. They haven't. No confidence they'll be any better in the future.



    I expect in NYC, SF and other problem metro areas users will be jumping ship from AT&T in droves.



    So in two years I upgrade again to Verizon's LTE iPhone. By then LTE will be ready for prime time. Absolutely don't care about the network speeds, data/voice feature, etc. Just want a phone that won't drop calls every day - and am totally happy with the iPhone except for the AT&T issues.
  • Reply 8 of 77
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by september11th View Post


    Will switching carriers require getting a new number?



    For over 3 years now you can keep your number when switching carriers. However, there is a way to lose your number if you don?t do it correctly, so make sure you do it with your carrier?s help.
  • Reply 9 of 77
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TenoBell View Post


    I'm in the 60% category



    I'm moving from Verizon to AT&T.
  • Reply 10 of 77
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TNSF View Post


    Never believe what consumers say about their future purchase behaviour.



    Quite - they may just be expressing some dissatisfaction fuelled by reading forums such as this one ;-). But whether they will really change provider is a different story. Changing providers is a pain. I know I can get the cost of my plan reduced considerably and yet it has taken me 6 months since discovering this fact to come to the sad realization that I am stupid. Once again. Doh! But really, I will do it soon. Really, I will. Its pissing me off that I pay much more than my brother in law for the same service with less data.
  • Reply 11 of 77
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer View Post


    I'm moving from Verizon to AT&T.



    There?s always gotta be one in a group
  • Reply 12 of 77
    Let's see if we can get more like 40-50% to jump ship. The more of you that move to Verizon, the less saturated AT&T's network will be!
  • Reply 13 of 77
    If these people start switching to Verizon, perhaps AT&T's network will have less traffic and thus those of us that remain will have better service? And by better, I mean less bad.
  • Reply 14 of 77
    I wouldn't even consider it until I see how Verizon handles the iPhone.
  • Reply 15 of 77
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    There’s always gotta be one in a group



    Sorry, but speaking to back end folks, and having to deal with the crap with Verizon's 5 times fraudulently billing me [several hours of phone calls to get them removed] I'll be enjoying the transition.



    I am waiting until after AT&T's end of March light up and the June release of OS X and iPhone. It doesn't cost me a dime because I've never upgraded my phone with Verizon, since Jan 2003. I've been out of my contract for a long time.
  • Reply 16 of 77
    Let's wait and see how the Verizon network does over the next couple of months. My renewal is not for another nine months, so I should be able to figure out which carrier is best for me by then.
  • Reply 17 of 77
    Is this a poorly presented analysis of the survey or is it just me? I can't tell from the information provided if 16% of all ATT customers or only 16% of ATT iPhone customers claim they will be switching to Verizon; and if they're switching to Verizon, will they be buying an iPhone or something else?



    How many of those polled are from NYC or SF? The results could easily be skewed by locations everyone acknowledges are ATT black holes.
  • Reply 18 of 77
    I'm in the minority, I guess.



    I am very happy with AT&T.



    I NEVER have a dropped call.



    I live in Westchester county, north of NYC.



    I feel sorry for people who get frustrated with bad service, dropped calls, weak signals etc. Probably all the tall buildings in NYC contribute to that. I imagine Verizon and Sprint have their problems in NYC as well.



    My ONLY issue with AT&T is over cost. The more companies carrying the iphone and the more competition in general, the better it will be for consumers.

    Companies are allowed to make profits of course but $30 a month for text messages, paying for phone minutes I never use (even with rollover provision) and requiring data on iphone plus ipad plus laptop etc is just greed and TOO MUCH!
  • Reply 19 of 77
    iliveriliver Posts: 299member
    2 Questions:



    1.) How many would actually break their contract and incur that AT&T succubus fee?



    2.) Do these people actually realize that their AT&T iPhones won't work on Verizon's network and will need to buy a new one?



    I doubt it, and seeing that this was released a week prior to the announcement, I'd bet most surveyed weren't even aware of it.
  • Reply 20 of 77
    Strange how the dropped call rate for AT&T shot up when the iPhone 4 came out....and then when the bumpers became easily available, the dropped call rate came back down.



    Oh, it's not Apple's fault.
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