Significant Improvement in Last Two Years as a Result of Network Enhancements
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), September 07, 2016 – Sprint (NYSE:S, news, filings) now ranks second for wireless network quality performance in five out of six geographic regions of the U.S. according to J.D. Power, a leader in independent industry benchmark studies, in its 2016 Wireless Network Quality Performance Study – Volume 2. Sprint has the second-highest network quality in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Southwest and West Regions.
In the study’s Power Circle Ratings Sprint received “Better than Most” in the Southwest, and “Above Average” in the Northeast, Southeast, North Central and West. Sprint’s latest rankings are a significant improvement from just one year ago when Sprint finished last or tied for third in three segments and placed third in two. Even more dramatic is Sprint’s improvement since August 2014 when the company finished last in every region by a large margin.
Now in its 14th year, the semiannual study is based on 10 problem areas of the customer experience: dropped calls; calls not connected; audio issues; failed/late voicemails; lost calls; text transmission failures; late text message notifications; Web/app connection errors; slow downloads/apps; and email connection errors. Network performance issues are measured as problems per 100 (PP100) connections, with a lower score reflecting fewer problems and higher overall performance.
“Following our ongoing investments and technological advancements in the Sprint network, our customers are having a significantly improved experience and our gap in performance to the market leader is smaller than ever before,” said Dr. John Saw, Sprint Chief Technology Officer. “While that gap is small, our customers know that there’s a huge difference in value. Wireless consumers no longer have to choose between a good network and one they can afford – at Sprint they can have both.”
Sprint has been expanding its LTE coverage and increased the number of super-fast LTE Plus markets to 237. The company’s 2.5 GHz deployment and roll-out of two-channel carrier aggregation has made a significant improvement in coverage, reliability and data speeds. In fact, Sprint’s analysis of drive test data from Nielsen – covering the top 106 metropolitan markets in the U.S. – shows that Sprint’s reliability now beats T-Mobile’s and performs within 1% of AT&T and Verizon.1
About Sprint:
Sprint (NYSE: S) is a communications services company that creates more and better ways to connect its customers to the things they care about most. Sprint served more than 59.4 million connections as of June 30, 2016 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; leading no-contract brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Sprint has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) North America for the past five years. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
About J.D. Power:
Headquartered in Costa Mesa, Calif., J.D. Power is a global marketing information services company providing performance improvement, social media and customer satisfaction insights and solutions. The company’s quality and satisfaction measurements are based on responses from millions of consumers annually. For more information on car reviews and ratings, car insurance, health insurance, cell phone ratings, and more, please visit jdpower.com. J.D. Power is a business unit of McGraw Hill Financial.
1 Claim based on Sprint’s analysis of latest Nielsen drive test data for average network reliability (voice & data) in top 106 markets.
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CONTACT(S):
Sprint
Media:
Adrienne Norton, 425-256-7014
adrienne.norton@sprint.com
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