Best home phone service? Winner isn’t a phone company
September 17th, 2009, 9:31 am · 12 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress
In this wacky world of telecom service, the highest ranked telephone service in the West isn’t a telephone company, according to the 2009 J.D. Power report on Residential Telephone Customer Satisfaction.
Cable TV provider Cox Communications took the lead in the West and East regions of the United States for having the most satisfied telephone customers. (The North and South regions also had TV companies offering phone service ranked at top.) It was the third year that traditional cable TV companies were at the top. (Click image below to enlarge)
This may sound like a coup, but don’t forget, last year’s TV service winners were the traditional phone companies, AT&T and Verizon. (Read earlier story: “What TV service has most satisfied customers? (Hint: Not cable)“)
Consumers are looking for alternatives to their long time TV or telephone provider. And in Orange County in the last few years, we’ve been getting that as Time Warner and Cox add phone service, and AT&T and Verizon add TV service. What the JD Power reports really show is that competition is improving service.
J.D’s latest report looked at local and long-distance home telephone service and considered five factors in this order:
- customer service
- performance and reliability
- cost of service
- billing
- offerings and promotions
In the West, Cox ranked the highest in every category, earning a score of 684 points out of a possible 700. That was 27 points above second-place winner Qwest. The average score in the West was 652.
But not everything was perfect. Hold times are still 8.8 minutes, which is better than last year’s 9.5 minutes.
Overall, the study said that telephone service has improved because more customers plan to recommend their service. Nearly 70 percent said they “probably will” or “definitely will” recommend their service provider, compared to 64 percent last year.
Orange County’s major telephone providers, Verizon and AT&T, ranked 3rd and fourth, respectively. Verizon scored 651 points, and AT&T 650.
Recent stories on Cox:
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Cox provides a phone service? I have their internet cable for my Vontage phone service .. did not know I don’t need both.
My tv service is DISH and I really like it.
I don’t see Vonage on the list. Did they not include pure VoIP providers? I use Cox broadband to “carry” my Vonage service.
Nope, no Vonage (I’m a customer too!). Let’s see if JD Powers will say why the snub…
We use ooma and love it! Kiss monthly fees goodbye.
AT&T has worse service and Dishnetwork is the best for programming and customer service.
Phone companies cost too much and offer too little. I went to a VIOP (ViaTalk) nearly three years ago when it was still fairly new to mainstream. $199 for two years($8.29/month) plus $2.45/month for e911. I get some 25+ features and this is 1 phone number with two lines – I can be on two separate calls on two different phones at the same time. When Cox asked why I was leaving it was COST, COST, COST! I was paying about $25/month with them with 4 added features. I also left Cox for Direct TV and when another cable provider comes available I’m leaving Cox for good – time to end the cable monopoly.
Well, Cox can tout JD Power all they want. Here’s what I know. My grandparents in their late 80s have the whole Cox bundle: Internet, DVR, and phone. A few weeks ago, the Internet and phone stopped working. Cox blamed it on the phone modem perhaps overheating. The day before yesterday, the phone went out again, all morning. Cox blamed it on network problems in the neighborhood, although when I checked with the across the street neighbor who has Cox phone, his phone was working fine. Fast forward to last night. They needed to call 911. Fortunately, the phone was working. Everyone is OK. Had that been when the phone was down, I don’t think everyone would have been OK. They both have cell phones, but aren’t totally comfortable with them yet. It could have been a real disaster
.
Oh, and a followup about Cox’s 5 star billing. Anyone else paperless in May without a Cox email address, because, you know, you have your own domain for email? How much of a hassle was that trying to be able to log into your account to pay your bill when they required a Cox address for “security”. I called customer service, who told me I could find my PIN on my printed bill. I was paperless, no printed bills in more than a year, and previous printed bills shredded and decomposing in a landfill. That whole thing was brain dead. I know several people who couldn’t access or pay their bills without calling customer service.
Cox has the highest satisfaction for telephone service? HA!
I have the Cox bundle, and my phone has been out for several hours now. Internet and TV work fine, though. Modem reset does no good. CS flowed a trouble ticket to someone who could look at their end and fix it from there. We’ll see.
Cox Communications has quite a scam going on. I moved to San Clemente and subscribed to AT&T for my landline service. The caller ID feature kept showing me as the former telephone subscriber’s name. When I contacted AT&T they told me the phone number was originally owned by Cox and that only Cox could “fix” the caller ID problem. Cox said that AT&T could do it themselves. The calls went back and forth until I finally gave in and switched my phone service to the Cox bundle. Low and behold, the caller ID problem was fixed immediately.
My next issue with Cox came up when I decided to get a local 949 area code phone number for my cell phone. I currently use T-Mobile who issued me a new local number with a 949 area code. The same thing is happening with caller ID feature. When I call anyone who has caller ID my name comes up as the previous phone users name. I called T-Mobile and they said only Cox can change the Caller Identification information as Cox is the company that owns that phone number. So, I called Cox and they said no, that once they release the number to another provider, they have no control over whose name is idenitfied when calls are made out.
I understand that Cox is planning to launch cell phone service in the near future. Could it be they will miraculously be able to correct the Caller ID problem once I agree to add my cell service to my Cox bundle?
Can you help me find a contact at Public Utilities Commission or point me in the right direction?
If I had another option I would not use Cox.
What? That’s crazy stuff! I’m meeting with Cox tomorrow. Let me ask what’s up!
Do not use COX. They have the worst customer service. They do not want to help you when you really have a problem. I had issues with my billing and they would do nothing about it. The supervisor said “You want me to cancel your service?” Thats there way of helping. Also I asked for someone from there corporate to help me and they never called me. I have even gone online and emailed there corporate to call me back and they have not yet. Within the next 2 hours my service is going back to ATT. Phone/Internet and as soon as sson I have a new TV service provider Cable will be cut off also. The problem is also that COX gives the city of Irvine a kickback and thats why Irvine will not allow ATT uverse to be installed in the city. City managers are supposed to look out of the residence of they city, but all there doing is helping themselves have there bank accounts filled with COX for reelection. I thought monopolies were illegal in the US. They have 100% control of what you watch on TV without getting satellite. IF ATT agreed to pay the city royalties am sure Irvine and they other cities that object would jump on the deal. Gadgetress you had written an article a few weeks ago about ATT uverse. Since your meeting with COX, ask them how much they pay the cities in kickbacks to have there service in the city as the ONLY ONE.