U-verse® Earns Top Spot in American Customer Satisfaction Index

AT&T’s U-verse^® was ranked 1st as per American Customer Satisfaction Index’s rankings of pay-TV services with a score of 70. U-verse^® retained the same score as in 2017, but since Verizon’s Fios^® slipped 3 points from last year, it was ranked 1st in the measure of customer satisfaction levels. Besides, Dish Network^® held on to its year-over-year score and was ranked 3rd in the index.

Although the satisfaction among customers for several pay-TV providers’ has slipped, AT&T’s IPTV service maintained its score and scaled to the top position. American Customer Satisfaction Index has commented that, “many aspects of the customer experience have deteriorated” for subscription-TV providers.

“Customer service representatives are perceived as less helpful and courteous (77), but the speed of transactions at service centers is unchanged (76),” ACSI report said. “Viewers say that TV signals are slightly less reliable (74) and service disruptions are more frequent (72). As the battle for content continues, viewers are increasingly disappointed with the range of channels and premium channels available (both 73). Call centers remain a low point for the industry and continue to decline (down 3% to 63).”

AT&T^® offers U-verse^® with options to bundle cheapest cable TV packages with internet and telephone plans. The subscribers of the IPTV service offers a lineup of bundled packages to choose from, with options to record multiple shows and access on-demand content. The Telco giant delivers the cable TV alternative to customers using a combination of fiber optic infrastructure and existing cable lines in the subscribers’ place.

Apart from that, American Customer Satisfaction Index also ranked cheapest cable TV alternatives or streaming services that provide over-the-top content to customers. Among video streaming services, Netflix, Sony’s PlayStation™ Vue, and Amazon^® Twitch shared the top position with a score of 78 each.

This was the first time the nationwide subscriber satisfaction measure added the rankings for streaming services. “Video streaming services are doing well by avoiding some of the most hated aspects of other telecom experiences,” noted ACSI in its report. “For most of the top-rated providers, there are no hidden fees and canceling is easy and painless.”

For instance, certain streaming services offer a free subscription for a particular period, and days prior to the completion of the trial offer, they notify the subscribers so that they can continue or cancel the subscription as per their requirement.