According to a new survey by Consumer Reports, small telecom operators have more satisfied customers compared to the four biggest telecom service providers in the country.

Two smaller carriers, consumer Cellular and U. S. Cellular ranked highest on customer satisfaction while industry giant, AT&T finished last in the survey. Ironically, both of the small telecom operators reply on AT&T's network for providing services.

AT&T had finished last in the survey in the previous year as well. The carrier has several iPhone customers who unhappy with the services on the network. Many believed that the customer satisfaction numbers might improve for the network when other carriers would start offering Apple iPhone as dissatisfied users would have the option to move to other carriers. This was expected to take away the unhappy customers and free up some space allowing it to perform better.

However, the dissatisfaction with the network remains widespread among Apple users. Among the large service providers, Verizon and Sprint ranked best for customer service. The survey polled 66,000 cell phone customers to determine the level of satisfaction with the networks.

T-Mobile, which has behind Verizon and Sprint, received higher rates than AT&T. AT&T has earlier proposed to take over T-Mobile USA in a deal worth $39 billion, but the deal has ran into troubles with opposition from various sections including the regulatory opposition.