Step 1 :Calculate the cost per minute by dividing the total cost by the total number of minutes: \(\frac{77}{959} = 0.0802928\) dollars per minute
Step 2 :Convert the cost per minute from dollars to cents by multiplying by 100: \(0.0802928 \times 100 = 8.02928\) cents per minute
Step 3 :Round the cost per minute to the nearest tenth of a cent: \(8.02928 \approx 8.0\) cents per minute
Step 4 :\(\boxed{8.0}\) cents per minute is the final cost for the phone service