T-Mobile obtained the highest score in terms of satisfaction among business wireless customers in the United States as part of a study conducted by research firm J.D. Power. The firm surveyed 2,707 customers and categorized the businesses based on the number of employees into very small, small or mid-sized, and large companies. To gauge user satisfaction, the company considered six factors including performance and reliability, cost of service, and (the perception of) customer service quality. T-Mobile garnered the highest score in all three business categories, while AT&T obtained the second spot in the large enterprise category. Sprint, on the other hand, trails T-Mobile in the small and mid-sized business category and Verizon ranks second in the very small business category.
Among the factors that likely contributed to T-Mobile’s business customer satisfaction ratings are the carrier’s unlimited data plan offerings. The survey results show that satisfaction of business customers with unlimited data plans is considerably higher compared to those with plans with monthly data caps, with a 40-point gap in satisfaction score between the two groups. This gap is, in fact, larger than what is observed in the consumer market, which only had a 21-point discrepancy between the two groups. The research firm noted two key reasons behind the increased satisfaction – predictable budgeting and unrestricted data access. Predictable budgeting appears to refer to the consistent cost of unlimited data plans since there is no need for a business to pay for overage charges. Moreover, businesses are also more likely to subscribe to unlimited data plans than regular consumers, the study indicates. Around 69 percent of interviewees were already paying for an unlimited data plan, compared to the consumer market where only 21 percent of subscribers are using the same offering. Providing unlimited data plans may also help in reducing churn rate due to increased customer loyalty, J.D. Power suggested. The study indicates that 80 percent of customers with unlimited plans certainly won’t switch to another carrier, while 73 percent of interviewed customers with monthly data caps claimed the same.
Two other offerings that boost business customer satisfaction among carriers are unlimited text plans and international roaming, according to J.D. Power. The study also suggests that large enterprises are more satisfied with the services offered by the carriers, while the very small business are most dissatisfied with the U.S. wireless companies.
