Background
This e-supplement provides information from two surveys: one is a nationwide survey of
consumers about their satisfaction with wireless phone service and problems they have experienced
with it in recent years, and the other is a survey of state utility commissions about their oversight
of this service. We surveyed a nationally representative, randomly selected sample of adult wireless
phone users 18 years of age or older who had cell phone service in 2008 to determine consumers’ satisfaction
with wireless phone service and any problems experienced. We conducted this survey of the American
public from February 23, 2009, through April 5, 2009. We completed 1,143 interviews, which included
calls made to all 50 states, with an overall response rate of 32 percent. Our sampling approach
included randomly contacting potential respondents using both landline and cell
phone telephone numbers. Using both types of telephone numbers provided us with comprehensive
coverage of adult cell phone users. We conducted an analysis of the final weighted estimates from
our survey to identify whether our results contain a significant level of bias because our
results inherently do not reflect the experiences of those who did not respond to our survey—i.e.,
a nonresponse bias analysis. Because we did not identify obvious levels of bias in the final
weighted estimates at the national level, we chose to include these estimates in this e-supplement.
We surveyed state utility commissions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to determine
their efforts to oversee services provided by wireless phone service carriers, including their
regulation of these services and efforts to process consumer complaints. We conducted this
survey from March 3, 2009, through April 1, 2009. Using a Web-based survey and subsequent follow-up
with individual states, we received responses from all 51 commissions.
The e-supplement includes (1) our analyses of responses to both surveys and (2) the questions asked in the two surveys. It does not include some results from both surveys. For the survey of consumer satisfaction, we omitted results with a margin of error +/- 9 percent or more and demographic data. For the state utility commission survey, we omitted results for questions to which we received inconsistent responses that we could not clarify through additional follow-up. Additionally, for both surveys, we excluded responses to open-ended narrative questions and categories with no responses. All results have been rounded to whole numbers. The consumer survey also includes instructions for the interviewer, such as “click one” and “check all that apply.”
We conducted our work in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.
A more detailed discussion of our scope and methodology and agency comments on the draft report are
contained in our report "Telecommunications: FCC Needs to Improve Oversight of Wireless Phone Service,"
GAO-10-34 (Washington, D.C.: Nov 10, 2009).
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