Wireless customers living in urban areas experience the highest number of overall network problems and have lower tolerance of those problems, according to the J.D. Power 2016 U.S. Wireless Network Quality Performance Study.
The finding underscores the importance of continued investment by carriers in urban areas as the use of 4G LTE compatible smartphones grows and customers expect faster data speeds.
According to the study, the high level of problems in urban locales exists across all network problem areas, for example, customers living in urban areas experience more calling problems than those living in rural or suburban areas. Also contributing to the high incidence level is that urban areas have a much higher proportion of younger wireless subscribers as these segment of users are heavy users of their devices.
This holds true knowing that urban customers are especially likely to defect when they experience a high number of network problems, said J.D. Power.
The study also found that Verizon Wireless ranks highest in five of the six regions.
Kirk Parsons, senior director and technology, media & telecom practice leader at J.D. Power
Enhancing network performance to ensure customers consistently experience a high-quality connection—especially those living in urban areas—can substantially improve loyalty for wireless carriers. This can be accomplished by improving bandwidth efficiency, data connection speeds and reliability. To retain customers, carriers need to proactively expand and upgrade networks to align with the latest generation of services and devices, particularly those that rely on data speed and consistent connections, such as broadband devices.
