GoKawiilEdgar Cervantes / Android Authority
For decades, I grew up in a Verizon household. As I became an adult, I experimented with other carriers on the postpaid and prepaid side, but ultimately returned to Verizon a little over half a decade ago. In that time, I’ve rarely ever needed to deal with customer service as I tend to have above-average troubleshooting skills.
Recently, though, my wife did have the opportunity to put Verizon’s customer service to the test. Her phone had been regularly dropping its cellular connection out of the blue. While she eventually resolved the problem, she had to deal with several chatbots, long call times, and other issues before she actually got to a high-level rep who had the skills necessary to help address the problem.
While Verizon’s reputation for customer service has declined over the years, the bigger question is whether or not they are any worse than the rest of the big carriers. For the most part, the answer is no. The truth is that cellular customer service has eroded pretty much across the board over the last decade or two. Many factors have led to this change, including soaring network costs and inflation.
Which of the big carriers do you think has the best customer service? 5 votes Verizon 20 % ATT 20 % T-Mobile 40 % None of them have decent customer service anymore. 20 %
Customer service has largely degraded across the industry as a whole
Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
I remember using Verizon’s customer service from time to time when I was in my early 20s under our family’s plan (roughly two decades ago). While Verizon was always more expensive and a bit pushier with upselling customers, it was never all that hard to find someone who could resolve your issues without all the hoops required in 2026.
In the last few years, the company has significantly cut the number of customer service reps, largely pushed away from in-house customer service, and has increasingly adopted AI chatbots, as well as tools like its AI shopper system, which will essentially add items into your cart that it thinks you might like by default.
It's not just one carrier, pretty much every US carrier has seen a decline in customer service quality.
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