Cox Communications Inc. and Qwest Communications topped the 2008 ranking among data providers to businesses according to J.D. Power & Associates.
Cox is the top provider to small and mid-sized businesses (defined as companies with two to 499 employees) and Qwest was the top provider for large enterprise businesses (those with 500 or more employees). In each category, Verizon was a close second, according to the ranking firm.
Each provider in the study, the 2008 Major Provider Business Telecommunications study, was judged on six criteria: performance and reliability; sales representatives and executives; billing; cost of services; offerings and promotions and customer services. The table ranked providers of cable modem, digital-subscriber line, T1, T3/DS3, Ethernet and frame relay services.
Cox scored high in five of six of the attributes (offerings and promotions was the lower-scoring category). Qwest also was a top scorer in five of six categories, including the top-ranked company for customer service.
The annual survey also indicated that more businesses are seeking bundled services. In 2007, 48% of businesses in the survey bought more than one telecommunications product from a provider; now that metric is at 50%, according to J.D. Power.
