Increasing the number of telecom competitors has historically red...

said. Research about customer satisfaction in telecom should take into account that not all consumers respond to poor service the same way, Mayo said. Some complain, some switch providers, and some “suffer in silence,” he said. The rise of the iPhone and other smartphones has created envy among users of more basic devices, said CTIA Research Vice President Robert Roche. People who get basic handsets at no extra charge with service contracts tend to be more dissatisfied with their phone’s features than customers who pay for basic phones, he said. Roche said a common complaint by smartphone owners relates to how quickly providers release new applications. Many carriers roll out apps slowly to reduce the risk of capacity crunches, he said. “It’s almost a ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ phenomenon.” Consumer complaints about iPhone exclusivity “seem to be a case of an embarrassment of riches,” Mayo said. “If the iPhone were less successful, we would have had less complaining about this.” AT&T’s exclusive for the device has prompted imitation by Verizon and other carriers “that has created a leapfrogging of innovation that winds up being a bit of a blessing,” he said. “The complaint process in that case may have less informative value about the need to take corrective action than it would be a compliment to the success of the marketplace.”