"It is refreshing to travel to our markets and hear from happy customers left and right," says a Cox employee, who points us to this rather bubbly Business Week report that gives the company high marks. The piece notes that Cox ranks high in customer phone satisfaction and uses US-based call centers to offer support. What is Cox doing differently? Business Week explains:

"What is Cox's advantage? It uses one customer-care provider, with U.S.-based centers. Rather than pushing agents to hurry customers off the phone and causing multiple call-backs, Cox strives to handle issues in a single call and grades reps on how well they eliminate problems. To avoid confusion, field technicians tap into the same system used by call-center reps. Cox has even started a 'geek squad' to help customers with tech issues, whether they involve its gear or not."

Cox did lead all cable providers in the recent ACSI Customer Satisfaction Index, but that's not saying much considering cable is the lowest ranked industry. They did, however, fare much better as a phone provider in the same ranking, beating AT&T.

We should also note that in 2005 Cox sold their middle-America markets, which were poorly served and the source of ceaseless customer complaints.