The January 2011 edition of Consumer Reports comes out with an extremely negative view of AT&T carrier performance, likely just in time for the release of the Verizon iPhone.  The Houston Chronicle cut out the carrier reviews and it is a painful one for AT&T.  AT&T failed miserably in each and every category, rating the worst in every area except texting in which it was second to worst.  That being said, only regional carrier US Cellular had any significant “Better” notations with most carriers ranking in the middle.

In response to the Consumer Reports survey, an AT&T spokesperson e-mailed the following statement: Two things jump out at me:

  1. The timing of this couldn’t be worse. Verizon is rumored to be launching the iPhone in January.
  2. Chicken or the Egg?  Is AT&T’s network so bad because it is the sole supplier of the data-hungry iPhone?  Or the flip side: How insane is it that the iPhone has had the kind of success it has had only being available on the nation’s worst network. Also: Consumer Reports, even though it can’t recommend the iPhone, rated it the best phone on AT&T’s network (tied with the Samsung Captivate).