The newest JD Power report, the 2012 US Wireless Network Quality Performance Study shows that T-Mobile places somewhere in the middle when it comes overall wireless network quality. The study “is based on 10 problem areas that affect the customer experience (in order of importance): dropped calls; calls not connected; audio issues; failed/late voicemails; lost calls; text transmission failures; late text message notifications; Web connection errors; email connection errors; and slow downloads. Network performance issues are measured as problems per 100 (PP100) network connections, with a lower score reflecting fewer problems and better network performance. Carrier performance is examined in six geographic regions: Northeast; Mid-Atlantic; Southeast; North Central; Southwest; and West.”

The most notable finding of the study was the number of data-related issues, especially those relating to slow-connection speeds was much lower among customers using 4G LTE/WiMAX/HSPA+ services.

“It’s very interesting to see the stark performance differences between the newest generation of network technology,4G LTE, and other network services that were the first offerings of 4G-marketed devices in early 2011,” said Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates. “With the network advantages of using 4G LTE technology, in terms of spectrum efficiencies and increase in data connection speeds and reliability, it’s not unexpected that wireless carriers are rushing to expand and upgrade their networks to align with this latest generation of service.”

For the 16th consecutive time, Verizon took the top spot in the Northeast region, as well as the overall winner in the study, though US Cellular did rank highest in the North Central region for the 14th consecutive time.

The study is based on 26,695 wireless customer responses studied between January and June of 2012.

So how did T-Mobile place?

• Second (out of four) in Northeast Region
• Third (out of four) in Mid-Atlantic
• Tied for second with Sprint in Southeast
• Fourth (out of 5) in North Central
• Fourth (out of four) in Southwest

What’s going to be really interesting is how all of this plays out next year when T-Mobile begins its own LTE rollout, Sprint has more than 10 cities live with LTE as well as AT&T lighting up far more markets. When every company has LTE alive and ready, that’s when we’re really interested to see how this plays out.

JD Power