Among the top-four nationwide carriers in the United States, AT&T has managed the lowest ratio of Better Business Bureau complaints to customers over the past three years. Earlier this month, the BBB published data collected between August 2008 and July 2011 for the eight biggest wireless carriers in the U.S. The firm then measured total complaints for each carrier against its approximate total subscriber count according to the CTIA as of July to determine each carrier’s “complaint ratio.” Read on for more.

Between August 2008 and this past July, MetroPCS had the lowest number of complaints filed with the BBB with just 997. The regional carrier’s 9 million subscribers gives it a minuscule complaint ratio of 0.011%, the best among all carriers covered in the report. AT&T found itself in second place overall with a complaint ratio of 0.016%. Just 15,178 complaints were filed against the carrier over the three-year period in question, and AT&T’s complaint ratio was the best among the four major U.S. carriers.

Verizon Wireless was the No. 2 major carrier and fourth overall according to the BBB with a complaint ratio of 0.020% (20,876 complaints), and Sprint followed in the sixth spot with 0.044% (22,300 complaints). T-Mobile racked up 26,387 complaints over the three-year span and found itself in dead last with a complaint ratio of 0.078%.

Interestingly, carriers’ BBB complaint ratios don’t appear to correlate closely with the perceived quality of customer service they provide. According to a recent poll by J.D. Power and Associates, Verizon Wireless has the best customer service in the country, having scored 770 out of a possible 1,000 points. T-Mobile was second with a score of 766, Sprint was third with 752 and AT&T was scored the worst among major U.S. carriers with 751 points.

AT&T on Thursday responded to a Better Business Bureau complaint alleging that the carrier is capping data speeds on new “4G” devices like the Motorola ATRIX 4G. The BBB grievance was part of a series of complaints, both public and private, pertaining to slower than expected upload speeds on devices like the ATRIX 4G and HTC’s Inspire 4G. AT&T responded to BGR’s request for comment earlier this week, but the carrier’s statement left some room for interpretation. Now, any vagueness has been eliminated, at least in the case of the ATRIX. “Be assured that AT&T has not ‘capped’ the upload speeds on the ATRIX,” an AT&T appeals manager stated in a letter to a customer. “The ATRIX is a HSUPA-capable device, and we currently are performing the testing and preparations necessary to ensure that, when we turn this feature on, you will continue to have a world class experience.” This confirmation that the ATRIX 4G will have HSUPA enabled in the future should help ease the tension among users who are currently experiencing slow upload speeds, though AT&T has not commented on why HSUPA was disabled to begin with. Hit the break for AT&T’s full response.

AT&T Mobility (AT&T) received the above-referenced customer complaint and appreciates the opportunity to respond. Specifically, Keith Geissler complains that the recently released Motorola Atrix does not offer speeds anywhere near what advertised speeds claim. He is requesting activation of 4G services and removal of the cap on the Motorola Atrix services.

Account research regarding this complaint shows that AT&T is focused on delivering a wide choice of solutions and the best possible Smartphone experience to our customers. Be assured that AT&T has not “capped” the upload speeds on the ATRIX. The ATRIX is a HSUPA-capable device, and we currently are performing the testing and preparations necessary to ensure that, when we turn this feature on, you will continue to have a world class experience.

We ask that you please keep in mind; software is only one of many factors that can affect speeds experienced. Factors such as location, time of day, network capacity and facilities, can have an impact as well. Again, in order to ensure the best possible customer experience services will become available once testing has been completed.

AT&T sincerely regrets any inconvenience this issue may have caused. Please feel free to contact me directly at [redacted] if you have any additional questions or concerns in this matter.

Name: Sheila Utech, Customer Appeals Manager, Executive Response

Thanks, Zack!

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AT&T was dragged over the coals yesterday following the revelation that Consumer Reports readers think AT&T is the worst carrier in the U.S. The bruised carrier issued a statement shortly after Consumer Reports’ survey made the rounds, but it was pretty obvious that it had more in store. Today, AT&T points out that according to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), its network is the best in the country — 0r, at least, its subscribers complain the least. In the 12-month period ending December 3rd, 2010, AT&T had the lowest number of complaints made to the BBB among the top four cellular carriers in the country. Verizon Wireless had 34% more complaints during that time frame, Sprint had 115% more complaints and T-Mobile had 207% more complaints. AT&T also says it has an A+ average rating nationally from the BBB, having received 107 A+ ratings, seven A ratings and one A- rating from local BBBs across the country. Hit the jump for the full press release.

AT&T Mobility Rated A+ Nationally On Average by Better Business Bureau

AT&T Mobility records fewest number of complaints, receives lowest complaint rate among peers over the last 12 months

Dallas, Texas, December 07, 2010

Over the past year, AT&T Mobility has recorded the fewest number of Better Business Bureau (BBB) complaints and received the lowest BBB complaint rate among the four largest national wireless carriers, contributing to an average national rating of A.[1]

For complaints closed within the last 12 months as of Dec. 3, 2010, AT&T Mobility’s nearest competitor had 32 percent more BBB complaints and its largest competitor had 62 percent more complaints. However, the best way to compare industry peers is by complaint rate, which is calculated by the number of closed complaints per wireless provider subscriber.[2] Using this method, AT&T Mobility’s largest competitor had a complaint rate 34 percent higher, and the complaint rate of its two other industry peers were two times and three times more, respectively.

Wireless customers in the U.S. file more core customer issue complaints related to carrier advertising and marketing, contract-early terminated, service related issues, and billing and rates with the various BBBs each year than they do with any other entity.[3]

Earlier this year, AT&T Mobility announced that it was the only company in America to achieve separate ‘A’ ratings and separate accreditations from every BBB in the U.S. on their report cards for ethical business practices and responsiveness to customers concerns. These rankings are based on BBB confidence that the business is operating in an open and trustworthy manner. Each business undergoes an evaluation in 17 categories including BBB accreditation, how well the company has responded to consumer concerns, the company’s complaint history with the BBB, and the truthfulness of its advertising claims.

¹ As of Dec. 3, 2010, AT&T was rated A+ by 100 local BBBs, A by 7 local BBBs and A- by 1 local BBBs.

² Rate determined by the aggregate number of closed complaints per company as listed on Dec. 3, 2010 on the 108 local BBB Web sites divided by the average quarterly total of reported retail postpaid/retail prepaid subscribers (which does not include connected device and wholesale customers) per company over the last four reported quarters.

³ In 2009, the BBB received 36,086 complaints while the FCC received 18,989 complaints relating to Carrier Advertising and Marketing, Contract-Early Termination, Service Related Issues, and Billing and Rates. The FCC also received 47,902 Telecommunication Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) complaints against wireless carriers which stem from unsolicited text messages and voice calls. Excluding these non-core customer issue complaints, there are roughly twice the number of wireless complaints filed with BBBs as opposed to the FCC.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

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Here’s a shocker for you: Canadians really don’t like the nation’s Big Three wireless companies. This “revelation” comes to us by way of the Better Business Bureau, which revealed how many complaints it received about each carrier during an interview with the CBC. According to the watchdog, Bell has the dubious honor of being the worst offender with 1,020 complaints dating back to 2009. During the same period, Telus and Rogers received the second and third most complaints with 751 and 685 respectively. All of the complaints have earned each company an “F” rating. Wind, the feisty upstart backed by Egypt’s Orascom which official launched last December, also managed to tick off enough customers in its short existence to receive a failing grade. Despite their all around failing grades, the BBB said that the carriers are pretty good about working with the BBB to resolve complaints, even if the outcome isn’t desirable. The most common complaints involved bills being higher than their advertised price and contract disputes.

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Sure it’s been announced and even previewed, but there’s nothing like having our very own copy to mess around with. (Someone should check if Zach and Michael are still breathing, though — they might have fainted). If there’s one thing I’ve learned about BlackBerry lovers, it’s that they are relentless and won’t give up. Having said that, it isn’t a complete surprise to see Research In Motion finally move towards a Mac solution. Hit the break for an awesome walkthrough with commentary!

After the application is installed this is the first screen you see. What’s even more awesome? There’s no restart required after installation.

Wait — saving the password in my keychain? So it will automatically connect to my password-protected BlackBerry without me entering my password every. single. time? Sweet marshmallow covered megapixels.

I named my BlackBerry Tour BlackBerry Tour. I think it gives it character…

What ruined an otherwise pleasurable syncing experience is the slow USB transfer speeds. This isn’t limited to just Desktop Manager as Media Sync suffers from the same issue, but it’s worth pointing out since this is probably the only area that isn’t zippy fast in DM.

Oddly, backups aren’t in the traditional BlackBerry .ipd format, they’re using a .bbb extension on the Mac. Whatever works, we suppose.

One interesting thing we have to share with y’all is that there doesn’t appear to be an option to load different operating systems manually. This is probably RIM’s way of “blocking” unofficial OSes, but it’s not really just blocking it, it’s disallowing anyone from installing a BlackBerry OS who doesn’t have an internet connection as they are downloaded directly from RIM.

This isn’t final software by any means, but to be honest, it looks pretty darn close. We’ve been going at it for over three days and have not come across any crashes, issues, or even quirks. Things just work and to be honest, Desktop Manager for Mac is probably a good 2-3x faster than it’s PC counterpart — possibly due to it not being so bloated — and we’ve already deleted our dedicated Virtual Machine in Fusion because this is so nice.

Maybe RIM should focus more on BlackBerry for Mac software. It’s cleaner, faster, less-bloated and generally more pleasurable to use than the horrid excuses they call software for the PC.