J. D. Power & Associates report wireless customer service on the rise
Added on 2007-07-26 14:15:00
by Mark Brezinski
 J. D. Power and Associates has just released their study on the quality of customer service for major wireless companies. It seems that customer service quality is on the increase. Only 28% of customers with service problems contacted their carrier, down from the 48% reported in the last study. Of those who did call, 81% stated their claims were addressed in a timely manner, a 6% increase over the past three years. J.D. deduced that call quality issues have improved, as well as overall customer service.
T-Mobile again topped the list for overall customer satisfaction, followed by AT&T, VzW, Alltel and Sprint in that order. The margins between each company were far from staggering, as T-Mobile and Sprint were only separated by 16 points. Astute readers will notice that Amp'd Mobile was left off this list. As you very well know, WirelessInfo.com is all about thorough testing, so we did our own survey to try and fill in J.D.'s oversight. Our results showed an odd dichotomy. Amp'd users were dissatisfied with their service being canceled on the 31st, but incredibly satisfied with the Amp'd "optional bill payment" policy*.
[via PR Newswire]
*This is obviously a joke; no one actually uses Amp'd.
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| Tags: J. D. Power and Associates, J D Power and Associates, J D Power, J. D. Power, Amp'd, Ampd, T-Mobil, TMobil, ATT, AT&T, Alltel, Verizon Wireless, customer service, rating |
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Ampd users can't move phones to Verizon or Sprint
Added on 2007-07-23 17:51:00
by Richard Baguley
 If you are an Amp'd customer, you're out of luck in more ways than one; despite what Amp'd says, it seems that you won't be able to move your cell phone to another network. We contacted both Sprint and Verizon, and they both told us that they won't be allowing users to use an Amp'd phone on their networks.
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Amp'd part tres: Verizon and Amp'd make a deal
Added on 2007-06-25 09:45:00
by Randall Bennett
Seems like Amp'd is one MVNO that just won't quit, as they've settled their dispute with Verizon. Verizon originally threatened to shut Amp'd off its network if they didn't pay up the $33 million in usage charges, but Amp'd filed a lawsuit in an attempt to force Verizon to keep letting them use Verizon's network.
Since Amp'd is assured network access, it puts the company in a position to obtain funding through its chapter 11 proceedings, despite already burning through $360 million in startup funding. The takeaway from the news? Despite its piling debt, pending bankruptcy and other woes, Amp'd can keep the lights on and those shyster subscribers can continue not paying their bills.
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Amp'd part deux: Half their subscribers didn't pay
Added on 2007-06-06 09:08:00
by Randall Bennett
We posted earlier about Amp'd biting the dust (or, more properly, restructuring before biting the dust) but an article in BusinessWeek gave some additional insight as to why the carrier could be staring at an early grave. Turns out almost half of their subscriber base skipped out on the bill, leaving the company a little bit "screwed." Out of their 175,000 subscribers, a staggering 80,000 subscribers, mostly on 18-month service contracts, failed to pay their bill.
The chapter 11 status will definitely give some investors pause for thought, as Virgin Mobile gets ready for an IPO on Wall St. BusinessWeek thinks they'll push back their IPO to fall, giving investors extra time to evaluate the MVNO scene. Of course, they've got 4.9 million subscribers plus the venture is 50% Virgin and 50% Sprint, but what about Helio? Will wireless users in the US actually care that the phones from Korea and SK Telecom are actually interesting? Sound off in the comments.
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Amp'd Mobile files For Bankruptcy
Added on 2007-06-04 01:23:00
by Tanya Palta
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Amp'd releases Moto Q
Added on 2007-04-12 06:03:00
by Emily Price
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 Amp'd Mobile has officially launched the Motorola Q Amp'd Edition. The Q has a Flash Lite frontend for using Amp'd 's entertainment services but otherwise is fairly similar to the Verizon and Sprint versions of the handset.
The Q is $199 with a required 18 month agreement and data service for that runs an additional $29.95 a month over the cost of an Amp'd calling plan.
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The Amp'ed Mobile Jet/Angel Phone: A Review
Added on 2007-03-12 12:55:00
by Brenda Keener
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 Kyocera's first 1X-EVDO phones, the Jet and Angel for Amp'd Mobile are gaining in popularity as they have been offered free as part of an Amp'ed package through several web resellers. A review of both phones shows that this is a pretty good deal, and these phones are far better than free phones offered by other carriers in the past. The light ivory color of the Ampd Angel is also a refreshing change from other popular colors and is easy to find in a crowded purse or briefcase.
Both phones have a slide form factor - the Angel slides easily with a flick of the thumb. For some strange reason, the Jet (the same phone only in black) seemed to need a shot of WD-40.
Both have a 262,000 color 1.9" TFT LCD display which looks great, and is quite impressive when viewing the Amp'd Live content. It's not quite a television set, but now that mobile content is truly being designed for small screens, it works quite well. Screen resolution is 176x220 pixels. This model works over the CDMA 800/1900MHz/AMPS networks, and offers up to 160 minutes talk time and 120 hours standby time. An extended power battery is available also.
The camera key on the side is quite handy, and saves having to navigate through menus when taking a photo with the included 640x 480 resolution VGA camera on the fly. It did take pressing and holding for a few seconds to get it to work. There is also a 2 second delay when using the music player button. A push-to-talk feature is quite nice, and works great with a family plan.
Both phones come with an expansion card slot and ship with an included 128MB MicroSD card for MP3 and photo storage. Supported music/sound formats include CMXV4.3,EVRC, Pure Voice, MIDI, MP3, WMA, and AAC.
These phones operate using the Qualcomm Brew platform, and use the MSM6500 CDMA chipset. Call quality is great with both, and we haven't had a single dropped or fuzzy call in two weeks of use. All-in-all, the Angel and Jet are great deals for free phones. We would like to see a better camera with faster access in future models, as well as a faster music access button. Less battery drain during music play would also be nice.
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Ampd Mobile Live: A Service Review
Added on 2007-03-09 13:47:00
by Brenda Keener
Using the Verizon EVDO network, youth-oriented Ampd Mobile launched it’s Ampd Live service last year in the US. Reports show that they had over 100K customers by the end of 2006, with revenues well over $100/user/month.
Ampd Live offers 3G cellular services, including broadcast live content and VOD (video-on-demand services. Partially funded by MTV – Ampd offers content targeted to the younger set, such as viral videos, movies such as Happy Feet and movie trailers, Comedy Central, a new animated series called Lil Hollywood, and live concerts and sporting events. We were pleased with the download times for content on Ampd Live – based on the Qualcomm Brew platform, it really didn’t take long before we were watching a viral video, or our favorite, the Paranormal News which featured a clip of Buzz Aldrin talking about how UFOs followed his spaceship during the moon landing flight. Services are also easy to navigate to using a very intuitive interface on the phone’s menu.
Rather than just adding network TV content, the team at Ampd appears to have taken to heart the market research that showed that cell phone video users don’t want to watch long programs on their phones, and prefer immediate “mobisodes” instead. Amped has lots of unique, short content on their Live service, including a show called the Iron Lunch Lady and Bush: Stinky or Sweet.
The ringtones downloadable from Ampd Live are mostly hip-hop or RAP, but there are some good sound effects like the siren from War of the Worlds or cartoon character voices. One thing about Ampd phones, the ringtones are LOUD even when set on the lowest setting. We think this is because their younger target audience have to be able to hear their phone ring above their iPods.
Overall, we think this is a great service – priced at a pay-as-you-go model that is sure to gain traction this year.
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