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Complaint data obtained by Consumers Union from the Federal Communications Commission show that Cingular and AT&T Wireless, which merged last year to form the nation’s largest wireless phone company, have the worst combined complaint record for 2004. AT&T Wireless alone has had the worst complaint record two years running.

The graph below shows total complaints per million customers for every wireless carrier that had more than 1 million customers at the end of 2004. It also breaks out complaints related to billing and service problems, two chronic sore points with consumers.

*Sources: Consumer Reports analysis of FCC data, companies’ filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The combined Cingular/AT&T Wireless, with 49 million customers at year’s end, had the worst complaint rate—288.9 per million. That’s nearly four times the rate for Verizon Wireless, the nation’s second-largest carrier with almost 44 million subscribers. One major factor behind AT&T Wireless' poor showing last year: complaints about problems with number portability, or moving a cell-phone number to another carrier. It was widely reported last year that AT&T Wireless customers had an especially difficult time moving numbers.

Smaller regional carriers, such as ALLTEL and U.S. Cellular, had some of the lowest complaint rates. But Cellular One, another regional company, had the second-worst rate for total complaints and for billing problems. ALLTEL has announced plans to buy Cellular One.

The FCC data track with the Consumer Reports Ratings of wireless carriers. Cingular and AT&T earned mediocre scores in the Ratings we published in our February 2005 report on cell-phone carriers; Verizon Wireless fared better. The Ratings were based on a fall 2004 survey of subscribers to ConsumerReports.org. The FCC accepts complaints but does not routinely publicize complaints by carrier. Consumers Union filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain them.

If you're considering a change of wireless carrier, you may want to look first to Verizon. It had the lowest number of complaints per customer among national carriers, and among all the carriers, relatively few complaints about service quality and billing.

If you are experiencing problems with your wireless provider learn more about what you can do by visiting Consumer Tips: How to Complain about Cell Phone Service.  You can also share your consumer story with HearUsNow.org.