 Review by BloodRoses 
UPDATED: 269 days ago
member for 5.3 years, 1618 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Fairfax,Fairfax City,VA
 $54 per month
 about 2 days
 "Okay Download"
 "Cost, Installer"
 "It works for now."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
Pre-Sales Information: All sales information was clearly stated on their website, I knew what I'd be paying and for what before I ordered the service. I ordered everything online without the need to call anybody, so I had no concerns if they received the correct services that I wanted or not, and I didn't have to speak with any Indians.
Install Co-ordination: I got the self install kit, with a planned pick-up date that gave Cox more than 2 weeks advance to turn me on from the apartment. To be fair, the maintenance closet is locked by key, and only management has it. I'd think they would have that information in their system for this apartment complex, however. I suppose I'm just annoyed I had to wait until the next business day for a truck to be rolled to my location. The guy that showed up and got the key from the office was very friendly, however, and was even still courteous after he had to leave and come back later for the office to open and give him the key. Very annoying for him I'm sure, as he has other customers to get to. I only half blame Cox here. The self install kit worked without a hitch.
Connection Reliability: Perfect reliability so far, but it's only been a few weeks. 
Tech Support: Rated this slightly above average, representative I spoke with to roll the truck was very nice, and the representative that I spoke with to provision my Motorola Surfboard SB5101 was very nice and even stayed on the line to be sure it sync'ed to the CMTS and pulled an IP. I did however have a huge fluctuation in speeds, and decided to call just to see if someone can take a look at it. My upload speeds weren't quite where they should have been, either. I ended up speaking to an Indian who was only interested in reading a script to get me online and nothing more. He was also in a rush to hang up on me. This seems ever typical anymore of everyone to outsource incompetent people, but it still doesn't make it acceptable by any means in my opinion. A few days later my connection began to stabilize, so I'm sure they were addressing the issue.
Services: From what I remember, all services are good. Sucks that newsgroups are capped to 1.5 Megabits, but that seems to also be the norm. these days. Again, doesn't make it perfectly acceptable. I still have my Giganews anyways. The "4" rating is from logging into my e-mail for the first time and finding spam. I'm not going to make any accusations here, but it's awfully suspicious.
Value for money: For the money it's okay overall... I think they could do with more upload certainly, but the download is okay. They at least make an effort to offer quality service, and I can respect that at least.
---
The Good
Good Latency: I had been used to Adelphia's latency from Norwich, which has a fiber run from Albany, NY, all the way out to Norwich. The latency in general was pretty bad overall. This is a typical West Coast ping to www.Google.com:
[12:12:46] Stephanie@Skadi ~: ping -c 10 www.google.com
PING www.l.google.com (216.239.37.99): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 216.239.37.99: icmp_seq=0 ttl=245 time=15.6 ms
64 bytes from 216.239.37.99: icmp_seq=1 ttl=245 time=15.8 ms
64 bytes from 216.239.37.99: icmp_seq=2 ttl=245 time=16.9 ms
64 bytes from 216.239.37.99: icmp_seq=3 ttl=245 time=13.8 ms
64 bytes from 216.239.37.99: icmp_seq=4 ttl=245 time=40.4 ms
64 bytes from 216.239.37.99: icmp_seq=5 ttl=245 time=31.6 ms
64 bytes from 216.239.37.99: icmp_seq=6 ttl=245 time=17.5 ms
64 bytes from 216.239.37.99: icmp_seq=7 ttl=245 time=16.9 ms
64 bytes from 216.239.37.99: icmp_seq=8 ttl=245 time=21.2 ms
64 bytes from 216.239.37.99: icmp_seq=9 ttl=245 time=17.8 ms
--- www.l.google.com ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 13.8/20.7/40.4 ms
and to Yahoo.com...
[12:14:17] Stephanie@Skadi ~: ping -c 10 www.yahoo.com
PING www.yahoo.akadns.net (216.109.118.66): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 216.109.118.66: icmp_seq=0 ttl=54 time=19.5 ms
64 bytes from 216.109.118.66: icmp_seq=1 ttl=54 time=16.6 ms
64 bytes from 216.109.118.66: icmp_seq=2 ttl=54 time=22.0 ms
64 bytes from 216.109.118.66: icmp_seq=3 ttl=54 time=16.8 ms
64 bytes from 216.109.118.66: icmp_seq=4 ttl=54 time=14.9 ms
64 bytes from 216.109.118.66: icmp_seq=5 ttl=54 time=12.7 ms
64 bytes from 216.109.118.66: icmp_seq=6 ttl=54 time=13.4 ms
64 bytes from 216.109.118.66: icmp_seq=7 ttl=54 time=12.4 ms
64 bytes from 216.109.118.66: icmp_seq=8 ttl=54 time=17.8 ms
64 bytes from 216.109.118.66: icmp_seq=9 ttl=54 time.2 ms
--- www.yahoo.akadns.net ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 12.4/16.6/22.0 ms
Not bad! Almost perfect, in fact! This is good news for me, because I tend to play a handful of online games.
Okay Download: I consider the download to be "okay", meaning that it is above what 10 megabit ethernet can provide. I would prefer a symmetric connection, but here is a speed test to the D.C. Speakeasy site.
Download Speed: 12562 kbps (1570.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 1306 kbps (163.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
This is during peak hours, as it gets later I tend to get "up to" 20,000kbps download, and around 1,600-1,700kbps upload.
The Bad
Cost: I'd sure like to pay more around 30$/month. I've always thought technology got cheaper over time, and 40$ used to be the norm. for broadband. If it is to truly reach mass appeal, I think cost is one of the major hurdles it must overcome. 54.95$ is a lot to pay, but again... I guess I'll continue paying it as long as my uploads remain decent and I don't have to hand money to those Verizon crooks. 
Installer: I already ranted about this, but the install coordination could've been a little more "perfect". I'm probably nitpicking here, I'll admit to this one.
Bottom Line: It works for now, it's convienent to pay Cox for TV and Internet. If I wasn't a satisfied mobile-only customer of Cingular's I'd gladly get VoIP as well.
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