VERIZON iPHONE USERS HAVE LESS DROPPED CALLS THAN THOSE AT AT&T

Market research firm ChangeWave on Tuesday released the findings of a recent study analyzing iPhone 4 owner experiences and owner satisfaction. The study pitted Verizon Wireless’ iPhone 4 against the same model from AT&T, and sought to compare consumer experiences with the device at each carrier. Following years of complaints regarding poor service and dropped calls on AT&T, the question on everyone’s mind following the iPhone’s launch with Verizon Wireless was whether or not service quality would improve.

According to ChangeWave’s findings, the answer is yes. In a survey of 4,068 customers, ChangeWave found that over the past 90 days, Verizon Wireless iPhone 4 users have dropped approximately 1.8% of calls while AT&T iPhone 4 owners dropped 4.8% of calls. Of course Verizon’s iPhone hasn’t even been on the market for 90 days and calling habits and frequency were not taken into account, so the results do become somewhat suspect. What’s more, ChangeWave notes that its survey started “several weeks after Verizon began offering the iPhone 4,” so we could be looking at just over a month of anecdotal Verizon Wireless data being compared to three months of anecdotal AT&T data. ChangeWave also found that Verizon Wireless iPhone owners are slightly more satisfied than AT&T iPhone 4 owners, with 82% saying they were very satisfied compared to 80% for AT&T.

AT&T TO LOSE UP TO 26% OF CUSTOMERS

According to a survey by ChangeWave Research, AT&T's customer churn rate is increasing with 15% of their customers planning to switch in the next 90 days. In contrast Verizon has only 4% of customers saying they will switch in the next 90 days.

16% of current AT&T customers say they'll switch to Verizon now that they offer the iPhone, and 23% don't know if they'll switch. 26% of current iPhone owners say they'll switch to Verizon. ChangeWave stated "The Verizon iPhone is causing a major transformational shift in the wireless industry, and for now the momentum clearly favors Verizon."

You do wonder how many of these customers remember that they have a $325 ETF (pro-rated at -$10 per month. AT&T's putting a lot of stock in the fact that the majority of their customers who'd like to leave can't or won't -- because they're locked into long term contract, or are on a family or business plan.

There was some good news for AT&T in the survey. Their dropped call rate decreased, however it is still higher than Verizon's rate.