T-Mobile Tops JD Power's Customer Care List Again

For the third straight reporting period, T-Mobile garnered the highest marks in JD Power & Associates’ semi-annual Wireless Customer Care Performance Study, topping the list of the United States’ five largest cell phone carriers. The results are based on responses from more than 11,490 wireless customers who contacted their respective customer care departments in the past year, and the data was gathered in July and October of 2005.

T-Mobile grabbed the top spot with an index score of 108, the same high mark posted by the company in each of the last three studies. Verizon Wireless mirrored T-Mobile’s consistency, posting a solid 104 for the second straight time. Alltel, meanwhile, showed the largest improvement over 2005, moving into a tie with Verizon for the second spot on the list. Cingular remained in fourth place, while newly merged Sprint-Nextel gained ground. As a whole, customer care improved, as reflected by the positive bump in the industry average.



T-Mobile ranked first in eight of nine categories, and scored especially high in all three point-of-contact methods— customer service representatives, automated response systems, and the walk-in retail experience. Each category is analyzed for problem resolution, hold-time, and efficiency. The study found that customers are three times more likely to switch carriers when forced to re-contact a company two or more times to resolve a problem; the leading carriers’ success in this arena, then, is a significant achievement.

The first of two Wireless Customer Care Performance Studies due this year also found that the overall number of cell phone users who contacted customer service departments in the past twelve months has declined slightly since a similar report in January, 2005. Given the increasing complexity of wireless services, the decrease in the total number of customer service calls is noteworthy, and indicates an industry-wide awareness that the challenge of providing good customer service is paramount.

About Wirefly

Launched in 2003, Wirefly (www.wirefly.com) is an online leader in one-stop comparison shopping for cell phones, wireless service plans and wireless accessories. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Simplexity, Wirefly is an authorized dealer for every major cellular carrier, including Cingular Wireless, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and Sprint. Wirefly also offers discounts and services not available in retail wireless stores, including real-time online order status and tracking, and the guaranteed lowest price – online or anywhere else -- on cell phone devices from Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, LG, BlackBerry and many other cell phone handset manufacturers. Wirefly.com has been named Best of the Web by Forbes magazine as the “best all-around number portability portal” and “Best in Overall Customer Experience” by Keynote Performance Systems. For more information on Wirefly, its wireless products and its services, visit www.wirefly.com.

Launched in 2003, Wirefly is an online leader in one-stop comparison shopping for cell phones, wireless service plans and wireless accessories. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Simplexity. (NASDAQ: INPC), Wirefly is an authorized dealer for every major cellular carrier, including Cingular Wireless, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and Sprint. Wirefly also offers discounts and services not available in retail wireless stores, including real-time online order status and tracking, and the guaranteed lowest price – online or anywhere else -- on cell phone devices from Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, LG, BlackBerry and many other cell phone handset manufacturers. Wirefly.com has been named Best of the Web by Forbes magazine as the “best all-around number portability portal” and “Best in Overall Customer Experience” by Keynote Performance Systems. For more information on Wirefly, its cell phones and its services, visit www.wirefly.com.