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J.D. Power and Associates Reports: Overall Customer Satisfaction with Residential Telephone Service Increases Considerably

Posted on: Wednesday, 16 September 2009, 08:00 CDT

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Customer satisfaction with residential telephone service has increased notably in 2009, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Residential Telephone Customer Satisfaction Study(SM) released today.

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Overall satisfaction averages 653 on a 1,000-point scale, an increase of 18 index points from 2008. Service providers continue to make incremental improvements to their service offerings in an ongoing effort to attract new customers and retain current customers. For instance, the time spent on hold to resolve a customer's most recent problem or issue averaged 8.8 minutes, down from 9.5 minutes in 2008. Despite improvements in service, the number of customers who left their provider increased to 10 percent from 9 percent in 2008.

"Competition in the industry is at an all-time high, as providers are offering a variety of technologies to vie for increasingly savvy customers," said Frank Perazzini, director of telecommunications at J.D. Power and Associates. "This has resulted in stronger product performance than in the recent past, which is supported by more efficient service -- making customers the big winners."

The study finds that improvements in residential telephone service have driven an increase in recommendation rates among customers. Nearly 70 percent of customers say they "probably will" or "definitely will" recommend their service provider, an increase from 64 percent in 2008.

The 2009 study marks the third consecutive year that traditional cable television providers have achieved the highest rankings in all regions included in the study.

The study measures customer satisfaction with both local and long distance telephone service in four regions throughout the United States. Five factors are examined in determining overall satisfaction. In order of importance, they are customer service; performance and reliability; cost of service; billing; and offerings and promotions.

Provider results by region are:

East Region: Cox Communications ranks highest in the region, performing particularly well in customer service and performance and reliability.

South Region: Bright House Networks ranks highest in the region and performs well across all five factors.

North Central Region: WideOpenWest (WOW!) ranks highest in the region, performing well across all five factors.

West Region: Cox Communications ranks highest in the region and performs well in performance and reliability; customer service; cost of service; and billing.

The 2009 Residential Telephone Customer Satisfaction Study is based on responses from more than 21,480 customers nationwide who receive their local and long distance telephone service from one provider. The study was fielded in January, April and July 2009.

Customer Satisfaction Index Ranking

East Region (Based on a 1,000-point scale) Provider Index Score JDPower.com Power Circle Ratings For Consumers Cox Communications 689 5 Optimum Voice (Cablevision) 688 5 Time Warner Cable 676 4 East Region Major Provider Average 654 3 Verizon 650 3 AT&T 644 3 Comcast 644 3 Frontier 636 2 Windstream 633 2 Embarq 632 2 South Region (Based on a 1,000-point scale) Provider Index Score JDPower.com Power Circle Ratings For Consumers Bright House Networks 719 5 Cox Communications 681 4 Verizon 669 3 Embarq 660 3 AT&T 656 3 South Region Major Provider Average 656 3 Time Warner Cable 647 3 Comcast 641 3 Windstream 640 2 CenturyTel 630 2 Charter 609 2 North Central Region (Based on a 1,000-point scale) Provider Index Score JDPower.com Power Circle Ratings For Consumers WOW! 743 5 Cincinnati Bell 700 4 TDS Telecom 693 4 AT&T 660 3 North Central Region Major Provider Average 653 3 Embarq 646 3 Comcast 636 3 Time Warner Cable 632 3 Verizon 632 3 CenturyTel 629 2 Windstream 622 2 Charter 617 2 West Region (Based on a 1,000-point scale) Provider Index Score JDPower.com Power Circle Ratings For Consumers Cox Communications 684 5 Qwest 657 3 West Region Major Provider Average 652 3 Verizon 651 3 AT&T 650 3 Embarq 650 3 Time Warner Cable 650 3 Comcast 648 3 CenturyTel 636 2 Frontier 627 2 Charter 621 2 Windstream 612 2

About J.D. Power and Associates

Headquartered in Westlake Village, Calif., J.D. Power and Associates is a global marketing information services company operating in key business sectors including market research, forecasting, performance improvement, Web intelligence and customer satisfaction. The company's quality and satisfaction measurements are based on responses from millions of consumers annually. For more information on car reviews and ratings, car insurance, health insurance, cell phone ratings, and more, please visit JDPower.com. J.D. Power and Associates is a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

About The McGraw-Hill Companies

Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP) is a leading global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in the financial services, education and business information markets through leading brands such as Standard & Poor's, McGraw-Hill Education, BusinessWeek and J.D. Power and Associates. The Corporation has more than 280 offices in 40 countries. Sales in 2008 were $6.4 billion. Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com.

J.D. Power and Associates Media Relations Contacts:

John Tews; Troy, Mich.; (248) 312-4119; media.relations@jdpa.com

Syvetril Perryman; Westlake Village, Calif.; (805) 418-8103; media.relations@jdpa.com

No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the information in this release without the express prior written consent of J.D. Power and Associates. www.jdpower.com/corporate

SOURCE J.D. Power and Associates

Source: PR Newswire

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