FRANKTOWN, Colo., Nov 11, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
Over the past eighteen months, user-paid directory assistance (DA) providers performed at levels that are almost as high as statistically possible. This makes the United States' DA service "the best of the best."

There are three components that drive the accuracy of DA: the automated front-end systems, the operators and the databases. According to the Fall, 2008 National Directory Assistance Performance Index^SM, an independent analysis published semi-annually by The Paisley Group, Ltd. (PGL), automated systems are performing at 98.7% accuracy, operators at 99.0% accuracy and databases at 95.7% accuracy. This results in 94.3% of all calls being handled accurately. The margin of error is +/- 2.6%.

Using a "mystery caller" approach, the Index tracks:

-- Customer Fulfillment^SM , the definitive directory assistance quality standard that, by measuring speech recognition and operator and database accuracy, evaluates how often DA callers receive a correct listing report;
-- Customer Care^SM, the success operators demonstrate in balancing customer advocacy, practice adherence and call-handling efficiency, and
-- "Passed Calls," the hallmark of directory assistance quality, combines Customer Fulfillment^SM and Customer Care^SM to measure how often DA users receive a correct report and are treated in a competent, courteous and professional manner.

For the first time, the Index tracks Free DA as a market segment; this will continue to be tracked in future Indexes.

ILEC Quality Stable

This Index measured AT&T, Qwest and Verizon in the ILEC segment. Verizon's overall Customer Fulfillment^SM was "Best in Class" for this segment at 93.7%. This included a database accuracy of 96.0% and an operator accuracy of 98.7%. Close on the heels of Verizon (and within the error of estimation) was Qwest with a database accuracy of 96.0% and operator accuracy of 98.3%.

Qwest was the clear leader in Customer Care^SM, up to 96.7% from 92.9% in the Spring of 2008.

In the critical area of Passed Calls, Qwest again came out on top among the ILECs with 90.7% Passed Calls, up from 86.0% in the Spring, 2008 Index. The segment average was 82.0%, up from 79.0% in the Spring. Qwest also met the rigorous standards required for calls to be considered lagniapped calls 16.3% of the time, the highest percentage in the industry. These are calls that are not only accurate but also are handled by operators who exceed every expectation in call-handling, courtesy and voice delivery - operators who connect with callers on a personal level.

Third Party DA Providers Continue to Lead in Passed Calls

The Customer Fulfillment^SM of Third Party providers averaged 95.0% with a margin of error 2.5%. They performed significantly better than the ILECs in the area of Customer Care^SM, averaging 95.3% to the ILECs' segment average of 87.3%. TELUS was the best in Customer Care^SM at 96.7%. kgbUSA and Verizon LiveSource tied at 94.7%.

The average percentage of Passed Calls for the Third Party segment was 90.7% compared to the ILEC average of 82.0%. TELUS was the leader in Passed Calls at 92.0%.

Wireless Carrier Segment Parallels Third Party Providers

The quality of wireless DA service is also very good. The Customer Fulfillment^SM scores were clustered in the 93.0% to 95.7% range with a margin of error of around 2.5%. Customer Care^SM averaged 95.7% for wireless carriers with Sprint PCS and T-Mobile neck and neck at 96.7% and 96.3% respectively. The margin of error is about 2.0%.

The average Passed Calls for the Wireless segment was 90.7% with T-Mobile leading with 91.3% Passed Calls. The margin of error is about 3.2%.