Consumer Reports is out with its latest survey of cell phone service by its members, and AT&T is now ranked as the worst in the country, as well as the worst in Houston.

In the 2009 survey, AT&T was at the bottom of the list locally, but came in next-to-last nationally. This time, it brings up the rear nationwide, and in every city in which Consumer Reports surveyed its readership. The magazine even calls out AT&T’s shortcomings on its cover with a snarky blurb:

Plus

Best & worst providers

(Sorry, AT&T)

Verizon comes in first in most of the cities and in the national results among the four major carriers.

Nationally, AT&T scored a "Worse" rating – the dreaded full-black dot – in every survey category except for texting, in which it gets a half-black dot. It had a reader score of 60, compared to 82 for U.S. Cellular, which doesn’t serve Houston.

In last year’s survey, the city-by-city rankings were for voice only, with data showing up only in the national rankings. This year, city surveys also have reports on data quality, which includes e-mail, Web and apps usage.

In Houston, AT&T scores 61 points, compared to top-ranked Verizon with 77. AT&T has average scores in the No Service and Texting categories locally, but a next-to-worse in Dropped Calls and a worse in Data.

These results have got to sting for AT&T, which has spent billions of dollars in the last few years beefing up its network. As far as Consumer Reports’ readers go, they’re apparently seeing the company’s network get worse, not better.

In response to the Consumer Reports survey, an AT&T spokesperson e-mailed the following statement:

We take this seriously and we continually look for new ways to improve the customer experience. The fact is wireless customers have choices and a record number of them chose AT&T in the third quarter, significantly more than our competitors. Hard data from independent drive tests confirms AT&T has the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network with our nearest competitor 20 percent slower on average nationwide and our largest competitor 60 percent slower on average nationwide. And, our dropped call rate is within 1/10 of a percent – the equivalent of just one call in a thousand – of the industry leader.

The independent drive tests to which the statement refers include this recent one, conducted by Global Wireless Solutions.

The January issue also ranks smartphones and traditional cell phones, sorted by carrier. At the top of the list for smartphones:

• Apple’s iPhone 4 and Samsung’s Captivate tie for first place at AT&T with 76 points

• Motorola’s Droid X and Samsung’s Fascinate tie for tops at Verizon with 75 points

• Samsung’s Epic 4G for Sprint, with 76 points

• Samsung’s Vibrant for T-Mobile, 76 points

All but the iPhone 4 use Google’s Android operating system, and all of the Samsung phones that dominate the top rankings are part of that handset maker’s Galaxy S family.

The cellular carrier and handset stories are not yet up on the Consumer Reports website, but when it does appear, you’ll need a subscription see all the details online. I’m a subscriber to the print edition, and I received my copy Saturday.

Update: The original version of this entry included scans from the magazine of charts showing the national and Houston rankings for wireless carriers. They have been removed at Consumer Reports’ request.