It was a clean sweep for cable operators in the latest residential telephone customer satisfaction survey by J.D. Power and Associates, with Cablevision, Bright House Networks, Cox Communications and WideOpenWest (WOW) ranked as the top regional providers.

The study measures customer satisfaction with both local and long-distance telephone service in four regions throughout the United States. Five factors are examined to determine overall satisfaction (in order of importance): performance and reliability, cost of service, billing, offerings and promotions, and customer service.

For the seventh consecutive year, Bright House Networks ranked highest in the South Region, with a score of 728 after performing well in all five factors. Verizon was second, with a score of 704, while Cox came in third at 695.

In the North Central Region, WOW notched its sixth consecutive win with a score of 732, followed by Cincinnati Bell (698) and AT&T (680).

Cox Communications was an early pioneer among cable operators when it comes to offering phone services, and that experience continued to pay off, as it was ranked first in the West Region for the 10th consecutive year, with a score of 704. Comcast (689) and Verizon (683) placed second and third, respectively, in the region.

“This makes 28 total awards for us since 1996 and we’ve won in all product categories (video, phone, Internet, and business),” Cox spokesman Todd Smith said. “Cox is celebrating 50 years as a company in 2012 and our focus on connecting our customers to the things and people they care about most while providing the best customer experience has not wavered. It is encouraging when third party research consistently validates this, but we also continue to speak directly with our customers and evolve our products to better meet their needs.”

In the East Region, Cablevision took first, with a score of 706, after performing well in cost of service, billing, and offerings and promotions. Verizon was second at 692.