Now in its ninth year, the semiannual study has been expanded in 2011 to collect evaluations from wireless customers’ most recent usage activities in three areas that impact the network performance: calling, messaging and data. Overall network performance is based on 10 problem areas that impact the customer experience: 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, where a lower score reflects fewer problems and better network performance. Carrier performance is examined in six regions: Northeast; Mid-Atlantic; Southeast; North Central; Southwest; and West.

For a 14th consecutive reporting period, Verizon Wireless ranks highest in the Northeast region. Verizon Wireless achieves fewer customer-reported problems with dropped calls, initial connections, transmission failures and late text messages, compared with the regional averages. Verizon Wireless also ranks highest in the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Southwest and West regions.

In the North Central region, U.S. Cellular ranks highest for a 12th consecutive reporting period. Compared with the regional average, U.S. Cellular has fewer customer-reported problems with dropped calls, failed initial connections, audio problems, failed voice mails and lost calls.