TORONTO – Canadians are less likely to recommend and remain loyal to their current wireless service provider than they were last year, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Canadian Wireless Customer Satisfaction Study released Tuesday.
Although customer satisfaction with wireless service providers has remained stable between 2008 and 2009, recommendation and renewal intent have decreased by 5% and 13% respectively, year-over-year.
"The anticipation of new entrants into the Canadian wireless market has led consumers to develop more of a ‘wait and see’ mentality, making them less willing to commit to their current providers," said Lubo Li, senior director and telecom practice leader at J.D. Power and Associates, in a statement. "Also, the continuing evolution of new technologies has provided customers with more choices than ever before. As more applications and capabilities become available, customers are increasingly basing their purchase decisions on devices and their features, rather than on service providers."
The study also found that 32% of wireless customers in Canada own a smart phone, which is up from 25% in 2008. Overall, smart phone owners said they use their devices for personal purposes 70% of the time and for business reasons 30% of the time. The smart phone applications that wireless customers report downloading most often are social media applications (32%); games (32%); travel tools such as maps and weather services (29%); and business/professional programs (28%).
Among contract postpaid wireless service providers, Virgin Mobile ranked the highest, particularly in the customer service and service plan options factors. It is also took top spot in the prepaid wireless service providers for a fifth consecutive year. Sanyo ranked highest in customer satisfaction among traditional mobile phone brands, while Apple ranked highest in customer satisfaction among smart phone brands.
Now in its fifth year, the survey is based on responses from nearly 15,000 mobile phone users, and was fielded between September and October 2009.
