Is Cell Service Getting Worse? One Study Suggests That It Is

Is cell service getting worse? One study suggests that it is

(WJET/WFXP) — Cell service may be getting worse across the country according to a new J.D. Power study.

The study showed an increase in reported wireless network problems between the first and the second half of 2024. For the first half of 2024, problems nationally were reported at 9 problems per 100 phone uses, but in the second half, that number jumped to 11 problems per 100 uses. That represents a 22% increase less than one year, but several factors in the coming months and years will determine if this trend will continue.

These trends also come at a time when more than a third of Gen X and Gen Y use their phone more than eight hours every two days. Much of this time is spent streaming, gaming, or browsing, increasing the demand and stress on carriers.

“Streaming has become ubiquitous and is straining networks,” said Carl Lepper, senior director of technology, media and telecom at J.D. Power. “Network quality is a critical factor in the customer journey, specifically the second highest reason why they choose to leave their carrier and join another, behind price. As we have been experiencing this generational trend of increased usage, especially for streaming, gaming, and browsing, networks need to prioritize network quality.”

The study showcased the top-performing carriers across six regions: Mid-Atlantic, North Central, Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, and West.

Verizon Wireless leads two regions and is tied in another, having the least amount of problems in the Northest, Mid-Atlantic and West regions. Verizon and AT&T are both tied for the least amount of problems in the Southwest region. UScellular ranks the highest in the North Central region and T-Mobile ranks the highest in the Southeast Region.

But are these problems a sign of more trouble to come, or are there steps in place to avoid more issues in the future?

Laurent Therivel, the president and CEO of UScellular, said in his 2025 predictions that as Americans continue to use more and more data, more investment and more frequency spectrums are needed to help maintain the U.S.’s competitiveness on a global scale.

In 2023 alone, Americans used a total of 100 Trillion MB, or 100,000,000 Terabytes. That staggering figure is double what was used in 2021, and 33 times bigger than what was used in 2013.

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