It’s no secret that most U.S. consumers see T-Mobile as being a carrier which offers less reliable, and less expansive coverage than AT&T and Verizon. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen comments on this blog about coverage just disappearing outside metro areas. And a survey by research firm, NPD, shows that perception of T-Mo’s network is still not strong.

In a survey of 2,500 wireless subscribers, T-Mobile came out with a perception score of just 2%. Tying with Sprint in 3rd place, behind Verizon (30%) and AT&T (10%).

The survey itself isn’t the most scientific, but it’s still a good indication of how the average consumer views other networks. How it works is simple. Customers on each network are asked which carrier offers the best coverage. 24% of AT&T customers, 37% of Sprint customers and 29% of T-Mobile customers picked Verizon, giving Big Red an average score of 30%.

As reported by Fierce Wireless:

According to NPD’s findings, around 52 percent of T-Mobile’s own customers think that T-Mobile has the nation’s best network coverage. But just 3 percent of AT&T customers think that T-Mobile offers the best network coverage. Around 3 percent of Sprint customers think that T-Mobile offers the nation’s best network coverage, and just 2 percent of Verizon Wireless customers think that T-Mobile has the best network coverage.

And this is clearly one of the reasons T-Mobile recently launched its Test Drive program. It’s no secret that T-Mo has been expanding and improving its coverage. LTE speeds are on the increase, VoLTE is going live in multiple locations, and 2G areas are being converted to 4G. And while we know that the network is improving every week, the average consumer won’t. And giving them 7-days free use of T-Mobile’s network with an iPhone 5s is a great way to prove it.

Source: FW