Sprint is struggling.
A new survey from Consumer Reports shows that the third largest wireless carrier in the U.S. is considered to be the worst based on criterion like text messaging and 4G performance.
The source of this turmoil likely comes from the issues the company has encountered in updating its network according to CNET's Roger Cheng which may have caused customers to flee from the company in droves.
Dubbed Spark, this system is Sprint's answer for high speed LTE wireless access. (LTE is the fastest standard for wireless Internet right now.) When Sprint announced this new development, Cheng pointed out that the company was way behind its competitors who had already created systems like this.
Sprint Spark was going to offer customers the ability to access incredibly fast 4G LTE. A demo occurred earlier this month in New York City (one of the five cities selected before they roll it out to nationwide). Testers like GigaOM's Alex Nolan discovered that the connection speeds varied per device but had no qualms about the overall performance.
Between the limited rollout in along with the new information about the speeds, Sprint customers may have decided to finally walk away.
While Sprint sank below Verizon after ranking above it just last year, Verizon is now at the top. However, writers like Reuters Sinead Carew predict that T-Mobile's new customer policies could quickly launch it to the top of the fray next year.