Independent Study Ranks Pacific Bell Mobile Services' Pure Digital Wireless Service #1 In Performance In San Diego
Pacific Bell Mobile Services - In Business Less Than Two Years - Beats Out Decade-Old Mobile Phone Companies In Network Call Performance And Quality
San Diego, California, August 20, 1998
A comprehensive study released this month by an independent analyst firm named Pacific Bell Mobile Services as the wireless phone service with the best call performance in San Diego. The company beat out Airtouch and GTE, companies that have offered mobile service for more than a dozen years. In fact, Airtouch Cellular, one of the earlier providers in San Diego, ranked last in "Good Call Performance."
The report, conducted by Emerald Bay, a San Jose-based research firm, ranked Pacific Bell Mobile Services number one for "Good Call Performance" in all four categories.
The study was conducted from April 14 through April 24, and consisted of nearly 9,000 hours during peak usage (7 a.m. to 7 p.m.) and 3,000 miles of testing for each of the services offered in San Diego. A "Good Call Performance" is defined as one that connects on the first attempt, holds through the conversation and has clear, intelligible voice quality in both directions throughout the conversation.
"Consumers want to be able to use their wireless phone where they live, work and play," said Steve Richardson, President, Pacific Bell Mobile Services, San Diego. "The Emerald Bay study shows that with Pacific Bell Mobile Services, subscribers will get the best quality more consistently than with any other service on the market. Plus, we have some of the most competitive rate plans in San Diego."
Trialed at the 1996 Republican National Convention in San Diego and launched in November 1996, the PCS service from Pacific Bell Mobile Services was the first pure digital offering in California.
Today, the company is the largest pure digital carrier in California and Nevada, and boasts usability of its service in more than 1,500 cities in North America through its GSM partners. In July, two wireless handset manufacturing powerhouses - Nokia and Ericsson - announced that GSM subscribers are growing at a rate of 4 million new customers each month worldwide, with a current subscriber base of 100 million and an estimated base of about a half billion customers in the next four years.
Pacific Bell Mobile Services offers value-base rates that start as low as $34.95 a month that include 600 minutes, and some calling plans as low as 5 cents a minute. Plus Caller ID, Call Waiting and Call Forwarding are offered at no extra charge. The company also doesn't charge roaming fees in California and Nevada, two of the busiest travel states in the country. In fact, San Diego residents travel more than anyone else does in the United States. A recent Scarborough study, cited in the 1998-1999 San Diego Union-Tribune Marketbook, ranks San Diegans as some of the most frequent travelers in the nation.
Pacific Bell Mobile Services provides leading-edge wireless communications in key markets throughout California and in Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada. It is a company of SBC Communications Inc., a global leader in the telecommunications industry, with nearly 34 million access lines and over 5.6 million wireless customers across the United States, as well as investments in telecommunications businesses in 10 countries. Under the Southwestern Bell, Pacific Bell, Nevada Bell and Cellular One brands, SBC, through its subsidiaries, offers a wide range of innovative services, including local and long-distance telephone service, wireless communications, paging, Internet access, and messaging, as well as telecommunications equipment, and directory advertising and publishing. SBC (www.sbc.com) has more than 118,000 employees and reported 1997 revenues of $25 billion. SBC's equity market value of $80 billion as of March 31, 1998 ranks it as one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world.