AT&T Offers Worst Mobile Customer Service -- Again

Here's another reason to hope that the AT&T - T-Mobile merger goes nowhere: Lousy customer service.

According to a survey of over 66,000 Consumer Reports online subscribers, AT&T customer service placed dead last among the "big four" mobile service providers. While T-Mobile got "significantly better" ratings, it still placed behind top-ranked Verizon and runner-up Sprint.

The real winners in the survey, however, turned out to be smaller regional providers. Many of these services got stellar customer-service ratings, although they come with significant drawbacks of their own.

“Our survey indicates that subscribers to prepaid and smaller standard-service providers are happiest overall with their cell-phone service,” said Paul Reynolds, electronics editor for Consumer Reports. “However, these carriers aren’t for everyone. Some are only regional, and prepaid carriers tend to offer few or no smart phones.The major carriers are still leading options for many consumers, and we found they ranged widely in how well they satisfied their customers.”

Here's the good news for AT&T, such as it is: iPhone subscribers can expect data speeds up to twice as fast as those using the Verizon or Sprint networks, according to another recent study.

So there's your choice. You can have a fast network or competent customer service. But you can't have both.

The full report is available to Consumer Reports subscribers here.