Cox Communications Inc. has received highest honors in J.D. Power and Associates’ 2008 Residential Regional Telephone Customer Satisfaction Study in the West.

It marks the sixth consecutive year that Cox’s residential telephone service has ranked highest in overall customer satisfaction in the West. J.D. Power and Associates’ study measures customer satisfaction with both local and long-distance telephone service among eight local telephone providers in the West.

“It is clear that consumers continue to be highly satisfied with the reliability, savings and convenience of Cox Digital Telephone, as demonstrated by receiving top honors for six consecutive years in the J.D. Power and Associates regional study on residential telephone satisfaction,” said Julie McGovern, general manager of Cox Santa Barbara. “Cox — and cable as a whole — is outperforming the big old telephone companies in satisfying customers. And we’ll continue to enhance the Cox experience.”

In the West, Cox received highest honors in overall satisfaction, scoring 23 points higher than the West average. Cox ranked highest on every factor comprising overall satisfaction, which includes performance and reliability, cost of service, customer service, billing and offerings and promotions.

“Over 10 years ago, we extended our commitment to customer service to consumers who were looking for an alternative provider to big, old telephone companies,” McGovern said. “This commitment is inherent at every single point of our organization. Our continuous success is the result of our dedicated employees who work everyday to demonstrate and earn the trust of consumers.”

Overall, cable companies dominated customer satisfaction rankings for the second year for local and long-distance telephone service. The study finds that overall satisfaction is higher among customers who bundle two or more services with one provider, compared with customers subscribing to phone service alone. Cox’s key philosophy that bundled services brings overall greater customer satisfaction by convenience and simplicity in receiving all telecommunication (local and long distance) and entertainment services from a single provider on a single bill.

Today, more than 2.5 million residential customers and more than 250,000 businesses enjoy Cox Digital Telephone.

Click here for full results of the study, conducted among 11,911 customers nationwide who receive local and long-distance service from one provider.

Jennifer Muench is community relations manager for Cox Communications.