I have Cox Cable services for TV, Internet, and Home Phone, and have for a long time. But for some time now all three services have been consistently spotty, with intermittent drops and degredations at unpredictable times, sometimes for 12 hours or more.

After some research it turns out Cox is a
monopoly in my area with a long history of subterfuge between my city and surrounding cities (combined with incompetent local governments) in order to avoid accountability and maintaining their captive markets. I also found the company has not kept up their infrastructure and maintenance to meet demand, and hence the problems, with many customers in my area having the same problems. I guess I can't blame them for avoiding competition and maintaining a monopoly, but damn they are a serious pain in the ass for someone who uses these services to make my living.

A typical service call goes like this:

Me: Hello. My (phone,internet,tv, or all three) is(are) down (again).
Cox: Well, for an extra $$ per month, we can upgrade you to premier support.
Me: No thanks, I don't need premier service, I only need the services I'm signed up for to work.
Cox: You mean you don't want to upgrade ? You'll get the best technical support available, and your problem could be solved.
Me: So, are you saying you can't fix my connection unless I pay you extra per month ?
Cox: No not at all.
Me: Then are you saying you will cancel my service if I don't pay extra per month ?
Cox: No of course not.
Me: Then why can't you fix my broken connection(s) ?
Cox: ... more bullshit etc.

Since I don't have alternatives in my area, are there any remaining options how I could obtain stable internet service ? There is no fiber in my area, and the company that has fiber is not interested in installing it in my area. I don't know if Satellite services are avail in my area, but I've heard that Satellite is not stable because of weather or whatnot, though I don't know if that's true. So, as long as I've been with this company for more than two decades, I'm ready to pull the plug. Unfortunately I can't find a new socket to plug into.

Have any of you guys solved this type of problem yourselves ? I'm at a loss, and I'd build my own mad scientist rigging stuff if I knew how, but I don't have those knowledge or skill sets.

They must all be the same. I have suddenlink & your post is spot on. Just change the names.

My last call the customer service rep got frustrated and told me to “get a new TV or sign up for you tube” in response to the picture freezing.

TV is 3 months old. I called the next day & got a mgr. she wanted to make amends by offering a month of free cable. No thanks, you tube works fine. Good luck!

I have COX Wifi and am pleased. TV with an amplified antenna.

While I have your attention: You do not want Viasat. Even if it's free, you do not want Viasat.

Cox Wifi ? What is that technology specifically ?

Having spent years dealing with cox personally at home and professionally, Ask how much they wanted to run fiber from the road to our warehouse 10 years ago, I'd never give cox another dime. I'd use anything from satellite to Hotspot .

I know this does not help you but if they are still pulling the same shit 10 years later I don't think you're gonna get what you seek from cox. Truly a POS company.

I wish I could get Cox.

The only internet provider out here was more interested in buying CNN instead of providing faster service for its customers.

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:
Cox Wifi ? What is that technology specifically ?

I found out what it is and it isn't in my area. It's a service in larger markets where Cox must compete for broadband dollars.

i've had cox for years, the last 2 years 500 down, 10 up, with panoramic combo hardwired + built in wi-fi.
2 wi-fi smart tv's/2 laptops/3 cell phones.

hbo/hbomax, peacock, showtime + basic.

home phone.

good service on all 3.

So what you’re saying is Cox sucks? I hate Xfinity, but thankfully, we don’t have the problems with them that you describe.

I've had Cox for over 16 years, but only because the alternative is Century Link, which is infinitely worse.

Having said that, I only use Cox for internet. I use Vonage for phone and DirecTV for TV.

You can lose the picture during a microburst, but not during a steady rain. I typically lose it for an hour or less once or twice a year, which is only an annoyance.

Vonage is connected to my internet, of course, but if the net is down, the phone calls get redirected to my cell phone so that's no big deal to me.

The internet itself goes down probably 3 or 4 times a year around here and it's typically around 2 hours or so. Not a huge deal, but annoying.

I may be in the minority, but I've had Cox internet since 2004, at 2 different apartments and then 2 different houses, and have never had a problem. Not a single hiccup that I can recall, other than an install miscommunication with the (non-Cox-employee) subcontractor during my latest hookup at my new house last year. But that's may not have been specifically Cox's problem, and it was corrected within a reasonable amount of time. The subcontractor thought it was just a "turn on connection" appointment, when it was actually a "run ground line to new house and turn on connection" appointment, which the first guy wasn't certified to do so had to reschedule for a different contractor on a different day.

In addition, they're consistently less expensive on comparable speed service than the other option for broadband internet in the area, except when it comes to specifically Gigabit speed service (which I don't need and am not willing to pay a bunch extra for anyway).

In fact, Cox just dropped my bill even more. The 1st year promotional pricing on internet service at my new house was set to run out at the end of July, and when I hopped into my online account to see what the new price was going to be in order to adjust my budget spreadsheet, they out of the blue offered me an even bigger discounted rate, with no end date on this new price. So now I'm paying $10 less than even the "new house promo" sale price for the same 150mbps internet service.

So while I've read a number of horror stories, Cox has been great to me for going on a couple decades.