 Review by Skeedatl 
UPDATED: a few hours ago
member for 213 days, 350 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Laguna Hills,Orange,CA
 $42 per month
 about 10 days
 "Very reliable, fair pricing, I'm paying less now than I was 10 years ago"
 "Occasional high latency"
 "Over 10 years of reliable service, speedy and a good price"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
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Flashback 1997
Pre-Sales: (5) I'm a very early residential broadband user having gotten Cox@Home back in 1997 when Cox first deployed with CDLP Cybersurfr Wave modems in Nellie Gail Ranch, Laguna Hills. The concept of "fast" internet was a foreign one given that no one back then really offered residential broadband. But my dial up service (Netcom) was $20/mo and still snail slow on K56Flex or X2 so I figured I would give it a try. The price for Cox was $44.95; $29.95 for service plus $15 for the proprietary CDLP modem. They also offered a modem buy option for $400. Their pricing and speed information was accurate and they called to confirm the app't the day before and again the day of.
Install: (5) I already had CATV so the install went smoothly. It took them about an hour to pull cable and set the then @Home static IP. Because it was @Home, they also installed their logoed Netscape browser (another dead company) and set their proxy server. Their proxy server cached popular pages locally which sped things up a bit. The install was also very neatly done.
Connection Reliability: (5) It's been 10 years of trouble free service in terms of downtime.
Tech Support: (5) (UPDATE) I've only called once in 10 years over trouble and that was a recent call about some slow downs. They escalated the problem and discovered a "bad tap". It was fixed in 2 days and now I'm seeing 12000/5000 in speed tests thanks to Powerboost.
Services: (4) @Home was great with 3000/300 service and their novel local caching of popular pages accessed via a proxy server. Since the demise of @Home Cox and slowly brought speed up to the 7000/512 I have now and about 12Mb/5Mb if you consider Powerboost. But tier options are very limited compared to competitors.
Value: (4) While Cox has stated monthly caps, I've blown through them a few times without receiving a nastygram so apparently they aren't enforcing these caps. The only time I received a nastygram from Cox was back in the @Home days, nearly 10 years ago. But aside from Verizon FiOS, Cox's offerings are average in terms of speeds and price. I'm pretty content and see them as a fair value. In terms of real price, my costs have actually gone down. When I started 10 years ago I paid $45 and now pay $42 for 2X the speed (although I did buy a modem on sale for $40).
Cox overall is a reliable provider here and in Orange County I would recommend them (unless you can get FiOS). But like all providers, my experience won't necessarily be yours and you should always try to find a close neighbor who has the service and ask them how it is. Even on the next block, the user experience can vary greatly.
---Equipment
Modem started as a Motorola Cybersurfr, then when Cox went DOCSIS I stopped renting and went with a Best Data. My current modem is an owned Motorola SB5120. Service was static in 1997 and 1998 but has been DHCP ever since.
Ahhhh, the dawn of residential broadband and the titanic Cybersurfr.
Attached images and files
Followup comments:  lowpowers78
join:2008-01-26
Meriden, CT | Wowsers!!! That thing is older than me, that's something you can bring to one of your antique roadshow conventions.  | |
| 
cableguy82
@cox.net
| a response the (above) really makes me feel warm inside.. i too started with @home cruzin at around 512kbps/128 and can say that the dropping of @home was probably the greatest thing that ever happened to this company. because in my area it seemed that in the process of upgrading we were required to change the wonderful static ip settings almost monthy...
then cox enterprizes took full affect:
-no more: leasing IP addresses, no more static ips,
-full dhcp is awesome.
-I run at premiere and find myself cruzing the speakeasy speed test at 24-25mbps on average. but i have noticed a marked difference when i am on the phone since the phone line for COX Phone runs through my awesome little EMTA Modem with the rest of my home network.
-oh and its 5.50 to rent a reciever, Cox no longer rents modems because as you said they now only cost like 50 bux. so if you are renting... STOP!
-latency? i cant say that i've noticed any real problems. I host servers up to 16 players for halo all the time, no problems and my machines play wow beautifully. your latency most likely a result of carrier noise in the return loop. i suspect the neighborhood you live in is part of an older system or at least you may be farther away from the SDC (or where eevr you Main tele. center is) than other people. if the problem gets worse call them. these problems can abound from ingress/egress, in an older and weathered drop to the house or perhaps a failing or backed up node for your neighborhood.
-The TV is great: full 1080 hd channels that actually have HD on all the time instead of during peak hours like satellite: only thing is lock up your DVR because aparently Motorolla cannot keep up with the demand for boxes and the service centers have them on backorder ;(
-our main competition in this area is verizon but i really dont know how they intend to stay with it being that we are adding like 15 new HD channels this spring and they cant afford to put their fiber in the gound much less train their people on how to do it without cutting under ground Cox lines (gooooooo verizon....) im reading that they are selling off a lot of their North east systems to put some money in the bank.
... who knows what the future holds... | |
| dirtwarrior
join:2008-03-21
moderated:
May 21st, @03:18PM
| VZ is way better then cox fiber destroys cox all day every day buddy, and you should pray for it ... instead of comparing it to garbage. LIKE COX | |
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fatmanskinny
Premium
join:2004-01-04
Atlanta, GA |  Re: VZ is way better then cox
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