Filed under: Surveys and Polls, Apple, iPhone
3GS has 99% satisfaction rate, AT&T not so much
A recent customer survey (of only 200 customers -- what are these surveys getting away with only 200 respondents?) claims that the iPhone 3GS has a 99% satisfaction rate. A full 99% of 200 polled iPhone customers claim that they are satisfied with their purchase, while 82% of them claimed they are "very satisfied." That's higher than previously, too: previous versions of the iPhone got a 73% satisfaction rating. You're probably not surprised by this, but guess what? People love their iPhones.What don't they love about them? 8% said the phone wasn't compatible with their company's IT infrastructure. 41% still say the battery life isn't long enough for their tastes. And a little company called AT&T has drawn the most ire: 55% of respondents say the AT&T network was the worst feature of the iPhone 3GS. So there you go. This just in: ten of eleven Twitterers I just surveyed do like ice cream. That survey is probably just as shocking as the iPhone one, which is not much.
Still, quite a deal Apple has. Your product has almost unanimous satisfaction from customers, and the worst thing about it... is the fault of a completely separate company. Good deal indeed.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
jigme said 6:13AM on 8-18-2009
"...the fault of a completely separate company."
really? if i make a deal with the devil and stuff starts going wrong for me - that's the devil's fault?
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Izzy said 8:36AM on 8-18-2009
Yes, because the Devil LIES!
Ian said 7:01AM on 8-18-2009
I've never understood all this AT&T hate. Maybe my area is better than most... often, I'll turn off Wifi and just surf on 3G for the better battery life! (Searching for hotspots is a real battery suck.)
Folks need to realize that AT&T is the worst of all providers, except for all the other ones.
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BeyondtheTech said 7:14AM on 8-18-2009
I can tell you that AT&T's reception is less than satisfactory.
When I commute from NJ to NYC, there are at least 3 dead zones I cross. When I travel the Garden State Parkway to visit my parents in upstate NY, there are 2 more dead zones - that's a major highway for Christ's sake! None have been fixed in years, even after submitting outages and issues to AT&T.
When I am down at Point Pleasant Beach, data service is spotty at best, non-existent at worst using 3G. In EDGE mode, it's a coin-toss. Luckily, I catch an Optimum Wi-Fi hotspot, but not on the sand where I would like to stream some Pandora or other radio station I get further north.
The only thing I like about AT&T is the fact that I get simultaneous voice and data because of the 3G GSM technology that allows it. When it works, it works brilliantly. Other than that, I can see that TPTB at AT&T have pretty much squandered their exclusivity time so far and the profits they received while having the iPhone. If T-Mobile officially offered it, I may have switched for gits and shiggles.
Jordan said 10:44AM on 8-18-2009
AT&T isn't that bad, what's bad is all cell companies raping customers for text messages and internet usage. I pay 30 bucks a month for maybe 150 MB of data? I know...you can say it's my fault for not using it, but at the same time I should be allowed to choose an internet plan that better suits my usage.
The phone on the other hand, is not all that great. Like everyone, I liked it at first. It was shiny, cool looking, and appealing. After that all wore off, reality kicked it. The phone does not know the term "battery-life". It's buggy and slow. The app store is a complete rip-off and until Apple changes their polices I will not buy any apps off of it. I just feel completely limited using it. I'm not saying I will never get another one, but I'm not sure I will either.
Take a real survey. 200 respondents of new iPhone users? Of course they're all mostly happy. They now think they're cool.
GSM networks do suck, but I don't find AT&T to be all THAT bad. I do wish the iPhone was CDMA though, it would tempt me more to get a new one the next time I'm looking for a phone.
Scott said 11:28AM on 8-18-2009
Huh? WiFi uses much less power than 3G. Maybe "searching" uses more, but once you're on, it's much less.
Charles said 6:54PM on 8-18-2009
Wifi will give you better battery life than 3g if you're surfing
mentalsticks said 7:12AM on 8-18-2009
>only 200 customers -- what are these surveys getting away with only 200 respondents?
These surveys get away with it because some news outlets and weblogs will write about them no matter what.
If you don't like the sample group, ignore the survey.
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Heimbachae said 8:20AM on 8-18-2009
they polled 200 people? personally i don't believe that's a large enough control group to get real accurate findings.
p.s. i like mine, just wish it had better battery life.
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puhsitch said 8:37AM on 8-18-2009
If you randomly poll 200 people (emphasis on the "randomly"), and 99% of them respond in the same way, I'd bet the farm that anyone's statistical analysis would give you a rather hearty thumbs-up. Even if you poll another 500 people, it would be extremely unlikely for the numbers to move much at all.
shmooopy said 10:33AM on 8-18-2009
Keep in mind that 99% said they were satisfied but that does not mean that they all said the same thing. Like it said, 82% were very satisfied. So 18% were something like "somewhat satisfied". 1% not satisfied. You sound like you'd fall into the 18%.
itguy08 said 9:46AM on 8-18-2009
Must be one of the few that find AT&T to be 100% better than Verizon. I know because I have both and compare them quite frequently.
In the places I live, work and travel to - Central PA, Philly area, N. NJ, I've found AT&T to be better than Verizon.
Anyone that says T-Blobile is better is smoking crack - they are the Swiss Cheese network and in many places fall back on AT&T...
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PSM said 2:40PM on 8-18-2009
My dissatisfaction with AT&T has nothing to do with call quality or coverage. I find them to be OK -- not as good as Verizon in my home area, but better elsewhere. I wish their 3G was a little more prevalent nationwide, but I'm OK with the coverage.
My dissatisfaction is MMS and tethering.
hedbluntincharge said 4:40PM on 8-18-2009
while i despise AT&T for various reasons they are still significantly better than verizon, verizon is not only one of the worst cell providers ever, they are one of the worst companies ever. I already hated verizon when i was a customer for 5 or so years and got 0 service from 3 separate houses (pretty much every house i lived in over that 5 year span) then you get them pulling bs lawsuits out against vonage because they are two inept to compete on a level playing field (or to innovate in ANY way) so they have to levy dubious patent lawsuits. i know im getting off topic. long story short i agree that AT&T is the WORST part about the iphone, but verizon would definitely find a way to be significantly worse.
216 said 8:33AM on 8-18-2009
200? That's it? 200 people surveyed is not newsworthy
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shmooopy said 10:35AM on 8-18-2009
It would be more newsworthy if we could see comparative data for other devices with similar sample sizes. I don't think 200 is a problem.
Brian said 10:02AM on 8-18-2009
You write "what are these surveys getting away with only 200 respondents?"
Well, as long as you'll cover them in your blog, then apparently 200 is enough. Next time they'll try 175.
Or you could ignore them until they choose more people, but you've just demonstrated that they don't need to.
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mfaibish said 6:13PM on 8-18-2009
No news there. The iPhone is very solid, well designed, and chock full of useful and versatile functions. The the only problems I have with it is that the battery life is a bit less than satisfactory (although i've long stopped giving a hoot), Apple's tyrannic restrictions over what you can do with it, and then service problems and restrictions (such as mms, download limits, etc) that mainly stem from AT&T's network's inadequacies.
I still don't know why nobody has tried staging a revolt against AT&T. Think about it, if we got something like 500k-1mil iPhone users to spam the network, we could easily bring it down. That's how business should work, the customer should dictate over the supplier, after all, it is our money.
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Cole Thompson said 1:46PM on 8-18-2009
I would rate the iPhone 3GS a near perfect, and AT&T a near failure. I'd switch back to Verizon in a millisecond if they offered an iPhone.
AT&T is pure frustration, poor coverage in my area, dropped calls, and blah, blah, blah.
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cheetos72 said 11:21AM on 8-18-2009
I have to agree -- AT&T isn't that bad (as far as service) -- cost is another issue. T-Mobile is MUCH cheaper (but of course for me in FL the coverage is not nearly as good)
$30 for text messages (and MMS -- uh when do I get that?)
$30 for data - (which I use, but $30?! for unused bandwidth?)
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