ting providers in the areas of customer service, network, call quality, and coverage often indicate that the former national monopoly provider supplies some of the worst wireless services in the marketplace. However, in most of those same markets, as unbelievable as it may seem, the wireless services provided by these former incumbents are ranked as of the highest quality by consumers participating in market research and focus groups. There are several theories as to why this could be happening. The Familiarity Factor One theory is that consumers are responding to a familiarity factor. This theory proposes that consumers are SO accustomed to the level of services provided by these incumbents that they automatically assume that it is the best they can expect to get and that anyone else must be doing less. The Might-Makes-Right Factor Market research has also shown that a large, well-financed, well- known brand name company by default will establish the benchmark for the lead in quality and service. There is in fact a built-in boost in customer perceptions for the incumbents. Quality Perception and the Advertising Advantage Some interesting market research data has indicated that it is not SO much the actual quality of what the company delivers that counts with consumers but the amount of advertising done to convince consumers that the quality is there. Recently completed market research in the U.S. long distance market has shown that AT&T, the longtime U.S. incumbent and arguably the company that initiated both the telephone and the wireless industry, has dropped down to second place in the minds of many U.S. consumers regarding quality and technological leadership issues. Chapter 4 Surprisingly, the Sprint Corporation, which runs major advertising campaigns, has been ranked either as a clear number one or as an even match for AT&T in many quality areas. Also unbelievable is how incredibly low the other providers are ranked. While objective research seems to indicate that there is very little difference between th