Verizon and Sprint Top 'Consumer Reports' Carrier Ratings, AT&T Lowest

Consumer Reports today announced the results of its consumer satisfaction survey of mobile phone companies in the United States for 2011, with Verizon topping the list and AT&T once again ranking at the bottom.

Of the four major U.S. national cell-phone standard service providers, Verizon again scored the highest in this year’s Ratings, followed closely by Sprint. Survey respondents gave very good scores to Verizon for texting and data service satisfaction, as well for staff knowledge.

T-Mobile was below Verizon and Sprint but continued to rate significantly better than the higher-priced AT&T, which recently withdrew its application to the FCC to merge with its better rival.

Consumer Reports' survey included 66,000 customers, and the magazine's January issue includes both full rankings of nationwide performance and more localized rankings from 22 major metropolitan areas.

AT&T also ranked last in last year's survey, but was the exclusive iPhone carrier in the United States at that time. With Verizon having added the iPhone in February and Sprint coming on board in October, U.S. consumers now have a number of options for iPhone service.