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AT&T Ranked Worst Wireless Provider by Consumer Reports (T,AAPL,S,VZ,CS)Dec 06, 2010 (SmarTrend News Watch via COMTEX) -- Consumer Reports ranked AT&T (NYSE:T) the worst wireless network provider in the nation, according to media reports on Monday. Respondents were asked to rate AT&T's quality of wireless data, phone calls, text messages and customer service. AT&T ranked last in all categories, except for text messaging, which ranked the carrier second-worst. Surveyed iPhone users reported the least amount of satisfaction from the carrier as well, which has an exclusive deal with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) to offer iPhones. AT&T's total score was 60 points, Sprint (NYSE:S) earned 73 points, T-Mobile scored 69 points, Verizon (NYSE:VZ) earned 74 points, and U.S. Cellular scored the highest, with 82 points. "We take this seriously and we continually look for new ways to improve the customer service," said AT&T officials in a statement. "The fact is wireless customers have choices and a record number of them chose AT&T in the third quarter, significantly more than our competitors. Hard data from independent drive tests confirms AT&T has the nation's fastest mobile broadband network with our nearest competitor 20 percent slower on average nationwide and our largest competitor 60 percent slower on average nationwide. And, our dropped call rate is within 1/10 of a percent - the equivalent of just one call in a thousand - of the industry leader." AT&T is a communications holding company. The company, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, provides local and long-distance phone service, wireless and data communications, Internet access and messaging, IP-based and satellite television, security services, telecommunications equipment, and directory advertising and publishing. AT&T has reported $123.9 billion in sales over the past 12 months and is expected to report $126.1 billion in sales in the next fiscal year. On September 20, 2010, AT&T was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse Group (NYSE:CS). The stock is trading at $28.38, which is 0.56% lower than the upgrade price of $28.54. AT&T has a potential upside of 10% based on a current price of $28.38, and an average consensus analyst price target of $31.21. The carrier is currently below its 50-day moving average (MA) of $28.54 and should find support at its 200-day MA of $26.55. In the last five trading sessions, the 50-day MA has remained constant, while the 200-day MA has risen 0.28%. Write to Chip Brian at [email protected] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SmarTrend analyzes over 5,000 securities simultaneously throughout the trading day and provides its subscribers with trend change alerts in real time. To get a free trial of our trading calls and maximize your trading results, please visit http://www.TradeTheTrend.com Get exclusive, actionable insight into how the market is expected to trend prior to market open with our free morning newsletter. Sign up at: http://www.TradeTheTrend.com/signup |