A recent call quality survey by Rebtel, the second largest mobile VoIP company after Skype (News - Alert), revealed that a clear call connection is very important to approximately 90 percent of mobile users, with 78 percent of users likely to switch carriers due to poor quality.

Rebtel (News - Alert) surveyed U.S. mobile users on their experiences with carriers, smartphone devices and communication apps. Approximately two out of five mobile users surveyed admitted to having experienced more than five dropped calls per month, representing about 128 million subscribers.

"The findings of our first call quality survey demonstrate mobile users have high expectations for a clear connection during calls, and with 40 percent of American mobile users experiencing multiple dropped calls each month, it's clear that carriers and handset manufacturers have a long way to go to provide the level of service that customers demand and expect," said Rebtel CEO Andreas Bernstrom.

The survey revealed that men are 90 percent more likely to use a mobile VoIP app as an alternative to their carrier’s regular calling service, men have a 20 percent higher response to being very likely to switch smartphones as a result of poor call quality, and women are 47 percent more likely than men to use a text messaging service as an alternative to their carrier’s regular calling service.

iPhone users ranked last in terms of their likelihood to switch carriers and smartphones due to poor call quality, with Android (News - Alert) users ranking highest at 86 percent.

The main reason people want that clear voice connection is the obvious one, with 46.9 percent of respondents saying that they wanted to hear their friends, family, or significant other better. The second largest pool of respondents was a very close 42.4 percent who said that their monthly bills were sufficiently high that they believed they had a right to a clear connection when they wanted it. The two remaining responses, that a clear connection was needed for work or for emergency use, paled in comparison, netting just 6.8 percent and 3.9 percent of responses, respectively.

iBasis (News - Alert) is a wireless telecommunications company that provides VoIP services. The company provides service to more than 170 wireless telecom carriers worldwide, including all of the best-in-class service providers in the U.S. iBasis works with EXFO (News - Alert) to guarantee VoIP service quality.

“Our goal is to consistently achieve the best, most cost-effective connectivity possible among our points of presence (PoPs) around the globe,” explained Paul Skelly, manager of network performance at iBasis.