Thursday, 27 Octorber 2011

Verizon, Cox Communications and WideOpenWest topped a survey on customer service satisfaction released by J.D. Power and Associates Thursday.

Verizon was ranked as the top ISP in the East and the South, while Cox was No. 1 in the West region, and WOW was ranked as the top provider in the North Central region. Cox placed second in the East, and AT&T (NYSE: T) was third.

J.D. Power said Bright House Networks was the second best provider in terms of customer satisfaction in the South, and Cox ranked third. Insight Communications placed second in the North Central region, and AT&T took third place.

High-speed Internet users surveyed by J.D. Power said they get the Internet speed they expect to receive from their provider 69 percent of the time, and subscribers find their Internet speed is below expectations 14 percent of the time.

"With streaming video continuing to grow in popularity, supporting customer demand for bandwidth and download speeds presents many challenges for the industry," said J.D. Power director of telecommunications Frank Perazzini said in Thursday's announcement. "The importance of meeting these challenges is clear: customers are considerably more satisfied when their expectations are met or exceeded."

J.D. Power said its customer service rankings are based on five factors: performance and reliability; cost of service; billing; offerings and promotions; and customer service.