Prepaid Customer Service and Costs Continue to Improve

J.D. Power and Associates has good news for anyone considering the switch to a prepaid wireless plan: overall customer service for such providers has improved considerably over last year’s levels.

This has been a successful year for carriers like Virgin Mobile, AT&T GoPhone and T-Mobile To Go, which all boast above average ratings in customer service according to the 2007 U.S. Wireless Prepaid Customer Satisfaction Survey, released today. The study weighs factors like call quality, company image, cost of service, service plan options, and customer service to determine an overall rating for each prepaid cell phone provider.

Improvements in the “cost of service” category are seen industry-wide; this category saw the largest overall improvement in the customer service scoring index, pointing to what’s often cited as the selling point for prepaid plans. In fact, the J.D. Power survey discovered that the average prepaid user spends $38 a month, while traditional monthly customers average a $71 bill – this is tied directly to a difference in “minutes usedâ€?, which highlights the flexibility of prepaid plans.

Call quality also got a significant boost, ranking second among all elements on the “satisfaction� scale, indicating an improvement in network access and handset quality.

For the record, Virgin Mobile, which uses the Sprint cell phone network to handle its calls, topped the list of prepaid carriers, receiving high marks in cost of service, account management, initial activation, and service plan options.