Report: Call quality remains steady, Verizon slowly losing its lead

According to a report by J.D. Power and Associates, wireless call quality has remained virtually unchanged during the past 18 months, with only 15 percent of calls being reported as problematic in relation to voice quality, call connections, and voice notification failures.

However, the report found that the quality gap among major network carriers is closing as AT&T and Sprint customers have had fewer problems with call quality and Verizon and Alltel customers have reported more problems.

Verizon continues to lead the industry in call quality, although it experienced a one percent increase in calls not being connected. Call echoes, voice distortion, and voice message notification failure improved for AT&T customers, and Sprint improved problems with voice distortion. Alltel experienced significant increases in reported problems pertaining to call drops, calls not being connected, and voice notification failures.

Verizon won top honors in all U.S. regions except the North Central region, where U.S. Cellular bested the competition to receive J.D. Power and Associates' award for best call quality performance.

Elsewhere in the country, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Alltel fell behind Verizon, scoring at or below average in most regions, according to the report. Sprint did best in the West, where it received top honors for call quality.

AT&T scored its highest in the South West, and T-Mobile scored its best in the South East and South West, although the carriers only received an "about average" nod in those regions, according to the report. Alltel performed best in the South West region although it too only received an "about average" rating.