Sunday, October 3, 2004

Cox Launches its Second VoIP Metro Market

Cox Communications launched its Digital Telephone service in Tulsa, Oklahoma -- its second market to use VoIP. Beginning later this month, Cox will further increase its telephone footprint by launching residential VoIP in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and in west Texas.



In December 2003, Cox launched residential VoIP service in Roanoke, Virginia. The company offers circuit-switched Digital Telephone service in 12 other markets.



Cox said that 58% of its phone customers subscribe to a three-product bundle of telephone, high-speed Internet and video services. However, broadband access is not a prerequisite to becoming a Cox Digital Telephone subscriber since Cox does not utilize the public Internet to deliver calls. Lastly, Cox Digital Telephone provides access to the Enhanced 911 system. The company noted that most broadband telephony providers are not integrated with E-911 networks, so critical address and location information is not delivered to the nearest Public Safety Answering Point. http://www.cox.com

  • Cox's VoIP architecture is PacketCable compliant and uses DOCSIS 1.1 CMTSs, media terminal adapters, media gateways and a softswitch. In the Roanoke market, Cox provides back-up powering of the in-home multimedia terminal adapter using an internal battery that supplies several hours of back-up service.


  • Cox Communications received the highest honor in the West in J.D. Power and Associates' 2004 Residential Local Telephone Customer Satisfaction Study for overall customer satisfaction. The local telephone service study rated overall customer satisfaction based on six factors: customer service, billing, performance and reliability, company image, cost of service and offerings and promotions.


  • Cox ended Q2 2004 with over 2.2 million high-speed Internet customers, representing year-over-year customer growth of 34%. During the quarter, the company added 66,265 Cox Digital Telephone customers, ending the period with over 1.1 million telephone customers, representing year-over-year customer growth of 35%.


  • Cox first launched telephony service in Orange County, California in 1997.