Survey says wireless call quality is down

In other news, the sky is blue! Wireless call quality is getting worse, according to a Feb. 18 study by J.D. Power & Associates that notes call quality problems have increased considerably in 2010.

Out of 100 calls placed, 13 experienced some problems, up from 11 six months ago. In particular, the number of reported dropped calls has increased to six per 100 calls, up from four six months ago. The cause: Smartphone use is surging, putting strains on networks and resulting in static on lines and dropped calls.

via J.D. Power: Wireless Call Quality has Declined — BusinessWeek 

As consumers, these smart phone problems aren’t going to go away anytime soon. Carriers are offering consumers more incentives to switch to smart phones and the networks will continue to be overloaded further degrading the call quality on your mobile phone. For many consumers that are using their smart phones as the alternative to a landline, we wonder how long they’ll put up with the dropped calls and expensive smart phone contracts. When you’re fed up with your smart phone, look at the alternatives. There’s a smart phone for your home – Ooma. It doesn’t fit in your pocket. It doesn’t drop calls. It doesn’t nickel and dime you every month with costly bills.  It’ll be interesting to watch this space.