e quality from these competing providers, the marketplace clearly perceives a gap. This would seem to indicate that the best way to win the battle for quality is to be sure that you not only have good quality but that you spend much time and energy telling your customers that it is SO. The quality criteria used by most consumers fall into the following major categories. Coverage One of the most easily recognized quality criteria for the wireless customer is coverage. The bottom line is that if the wireless phone doesn't work in certain key locations the consumer will be upset and look for a new provider with the desired coverage. Coverage issues can be complex or simple depending on the physical terrain and the regulatory environment. In markets where inter-regional roaming is enforced (as in the case of the U.S. and AMPS regulations) it is difficult for a consumer to complain about lack of coverage since all handsets are dual band (AMPS and an alternative) and all carriers must provide for AMPS coverage. These consumers could, however, complain about the quality of service in particular areas. In other regulatory environments the density of tower placements and bandwidth is much more critical, and here consumers will develop clear preferences for carriers with the best coverage. In some markets, consumers actually attempt to ameliorate this problem by acquiring multiple handsets from multiple providers, guaranteeing that they have coverage at all times. eXcellence in Telecommunications The Telco Churn Handbook Call Quality Although the coverage that a customer can expect is fairly easy to determine, how a consumer views the call quality is a different matter entirely. Objective Call Quality Measures There are at least a few things that can be done to get an objective idea about call quality. First, monitor your own network (via Call Detail records) and see how many dropped calls there are. Second, monitor customer complaints about quality through the customer service organization. Third, have the network enginee