Wireless carriers taking longer to answer customer service calls

According to a J.D. Power & Associates study released Thursday, the average wait time customers endured before being connected to representatives at their wireless phone companies in early 2008 was 4.4 minutes, up 34% from the none-too-brief 3.3 minutes they waited in 2003. The study tracked wireless carrier customer care in three areas: calls to customer service, visits to a store and questions via the Internet. Nearly half of all wireless customers contacted customer service within the last year, according to the study, and 75% of these customers did so by phone.