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Decent service. Random system outages at least once a month, but if subscribed to SMS alerts, they notify relatively fast with status and ETA for fixing outages. (review was emailed in) lodged 57 days ago
Decent speed. Random outages at least once a month. If subscribed to SMS alerts, relatively fast notification on ETA of restoration of services. member for 64 days, driveby review (so far) lodged 64 days ago
My neighborhood has been wired for gigablast fiber internet for about 18 months but it has taken me this long to dip my toes in the fiber pool. I ordered service (online) the 2nd week of Feb but my official install wasn't until the 3rd of March. About 10 days prior to my install date, I got a call from a Cox technician saying he was pulling the fiber from the pedastal to the side of my house. This was done without anyone home or able to answer the door. On the install day, the tech came by around 8:15am to get it set up. After speaking with him, we decided it was best to install the ONT on the inside of the garage near the washer/dryer and use existing cat5e to wire from the ONT into the office where the provided router was installed (Netgear R6300v2). The total loop of Cat5e, which was previously installed by AT&T, is maybe 40-50 feet. He finished at around 10:30am after testing the line and deeming it working. I had to leave about 15 min prior to his finishing so I wasn't around to see for myself. He let himself out and closed the garage without issue. When I arrived home I promptly ran a few speedtests and was slightly disappointed with the results. It seemed like my download was capped at around 400mbps and about 500mbps up regardless of the server I chose. Something didn't seem to sit right with me and so I investigated further. Luckily, I had an Asus RT-AC68U on hand with the latest asus firmware which I plugged in and initally got no signal on the WAN port. I had to clone my desktop MAC address for the ONT to pick up the new router... but after it did, the first speedtest I saw was in the 900 range up and down. Latency is in the single digits as well. I've only had the service for 2 days but my router has shown no signs of any disconnects or loss of signal so far. The webpage displays a 1TB data cap for "Gigablast" tier internet but when I go to the data meter site, it gives me an error stating "The Data Usage Meter is not currently available for your account. Overage charges for data usage will not apply." which leads me to believe that for the time being, the data isn't capped (YAY!) Update 4-26-18: I updated my commercial Asus router to a Ubiquity Edgerouter PoE and Unifi AP Pro access points. The Edgerouter is vastly superior than the Asus was and can consistently get ~950/950 mbps on speedtest.net to nearby servers. Also, the service went down on 4-8-18 for about 2 hours around 1pm and was a neighborhood wide issue. Since the service was restored, I haven't had any other problems. Update 2-18-20: Cox has updated it's ToS to enforce the 1tb cap even on fiber accounts. This is a bummer to be sure but with no other good alternatives available, this will be the new normal. Unfortunate for sure. Update 8-20-20: Cox has so very graciously (::eyeroll::) increased its cap to 1.25tb. Also they've begun offering a 500/500mbps fiber package for $69 per month. Update 11-19-21: Cox was offering 24 months of unlimited data cap so I jumped on the offer. Symmetric fiber with no cap is back to what I originally had when I ordered 4 years ago. member for 22.6 years, 2438 visits, last login: a few hours ago updated 2.1 years ago
UPDATE 1/8/2021 Email has been rock solid for many years, wherever needed to be resolved in 2015 got fixed. I've also learned that new subscribers won't get email service. But so many have Gmail, etc., it's not likely to be a problem. I switched from Preferred 50/5 to Essential 150/10 at $60 just for the 5mb upload increase. When I need it, that lowly 10 is still double. Since the upgrade Cox have moved the rates and prices up, 180/10 and $84. I don't have hardware or support fees, using all my own modem, router, mesh. Last I looked, a year of Cox's rental fees would buy all these items, and better ones too. At least Cox's is better than most ISPs hardware. The internet speeds are always there when I run a test and ping times are acceptable, but jitter and lost packets are a problem - especially at peak load times, prime-time, when streaming service apps struggle with this issue. Some services are worse, but that their apps adaptability. Still, it's worth sharing and that over the last year this has been an increasing problem. Gaming over the internet is always annoyingly "laggy" because of the jitter and packet loss. I'm continuing my investigation in to this problem and I'll post an update. For anyone new, moving into the area and starting with an ISP, Cox just doesn't make sense any more. For comparison, FiOS is offering 200/200 for $40 for a few years. UPDATE 1/24/2015 Been on Cox Preferred internet plan for 12 years. The speed is now 50/5mbps. In tests I see a very steady 43mbps. The reliability of internet is great, outages are extremely rare... only two on the last 12 years. The speed and low latency makes for great streaming, Netflix HD (8.3mbps), VUDU HDX, Amazon HD never have an issue and should be capable of streaming 4K/UHD. The Preferred plan data cap has been dropped from 300Gb to 250Gb, though I rarely go much over 50% despite streaming 90% of my TV viewing. I can't say it's been all rosy with Cox e-mail service. That's been a roller coaster ride the last year, with outages, login problems, and e-mails delayed. It's flaky/patchy and I'm not happy with it - though it's never been a critical issue either. There's ongoing threads about these e-mail issues in the Cox HSI forum, but it's long past due being resolved by Cox. . . UPDATE 6/2/13 Been seeing Netflix Super HD on our devices and (after Neflix fixed some glitches) that has been working fine. Also, about that free McAfee software... I've dropped it for AVG after McAfee let bad virus in and I found four others after rebuilding my OS. . . UPDATE 4/11/13 Just received a price hike on the internet, an extra $4 / month. I'm still on Preferred listed as 15/2 (SpeedTest.net usually tests 17-20/3 over the last few years) and I've never had bandwidth issues, even streaming Vudu HDX. . . UPDATE 1/31/2011 Dropped all television from my plan today and keeping the internet service only. Why? Two reasons: (1.) Picture/Sound Quality - I was fed up with the picture and sound quality issues due to compression and distribution problems. Shows from streamed or by antenna have crisp and clear picture and sound quality. (2.) "57 channels and nothing on" Syndrome. Well, maybe 300 plus channels, but we watch a handful of shows a week. All but two are available OTA, the others are streamed online free or 99c an episode. So that I guess that takes me to a 3rd reason... (3) I'll be cutting $82 from my bill, a cost I don't need for my television viewing habits. No regrets. In fact, I'm excited to be seeing shows clean and clear again, for free. . . UPDATE 11/8/2010 A month after finally getting a real body (a tech with a face, name and cell#) assigned to the ongoing PQ issues... nothing has been improved. In four weeks only one frequency/channel has been addressed and so far without improvement. All other channels are still experiencing minor but annoying problems. As I now know how Cox address these issues, on a per channel/frequency basis, I am keeping a log of the channel/frequencies and PQ issues when they appear... six regular offenders and counting. l'll be a lot older and greyer before this is resolved at the rate Cox gets things done. My tech told me he escalated internally and suddenly things happened. That it had to get to that stage is a sad reflection on Cox field service/response in my area. Simply put, there appears to be a significant distribution problem in my neighborhood for HD DTV services from Cox. I expect I'll be switching to FiOS, or a combination of OTA/ClearQAM/IPtv in the next couple of months to get better PQ and save money to boot! The internet has never been to problematic, so I'll probably keep that. . . UPDATE 9/26/2010 It's been a few weeks since the last tech visit, so far ABC/NBC/Fox and major network stations are always fine but I am seeing infrequent snow/microblocks on every other channel at any time of the day or week. The Wed to Sat picture quality degrading is just as bad but non-network stations, BBC/SyFy/WDC are horrible. The way-out-wacky jitter seems to have gone too, better for my VOIP. I expect I'm seeing a band-aid solution to local newtork load/congestion. Or maybe the change is the neighbors migrating to fiber I've shaved my ratings back to reflect the current situation. . . UPDATE 9/15/2010 On the internet I am seeing the same performance now for months, and it is acceptable, with a few caveats. Occasionally the DNS goes offline, I'm getting outrageous jitter so it's affecting my VOIP. Worse still my DTV service is prone to breakups and freeze-ups on Wednesday through Saturday, 9am to midnight. The tech support has gotten very poor, a tech came out to my house said everything was perfect, but snipped off and remade every connection and then blamed the model of my STB. He said Cox didn't have any replacements but he'd get one for me when he could. So what... leaving me with unwatchable TV four days out of seven? Tech support on the phone will only reset by STB, and that does no good. The service I'm paying for has gone from, "Eh, but I can live with it." in December to, "I am so ready to switch to FIOS." in the last three months. . . UPDATE 3/26/2010 Seems like the spotty performance is gone, and I'm now bonding 3 channels. Whenever I test I'm usually seeing data rates about 11/3 (the plan is up to 12/5) so it's carrying Skype and VOIP without any problems. Calls to Cox... I still get some great phone staff on the phone, clear talking, helpful, great attitude, but the grouches are taking over 2:1, IME. Call wait times have been getting longer too. I have added digital cable TV to my plan 3 months ago. That review is still in progress... oh, so not smooth sailing. . . UPDATE 1/22/2010 In the new year I upgraded my modem to Surfboard 6120 and I'm seeing two channels bonded. Initially I saw snappier loading of web pages and large downloads are quicker. But,over the few weeks I have been seeing the up/downstream signal levels and SNRs drift about, sometimes close to acceptable limits. Sometimes I get nothing when a page should load and spotty performance. I am keeping an eye on this. . . UPDATE December 2009 Having called in to verify the costs, to compare to FiOS, for digital TV Cox offered same cost as I was at gateway, 2 tiers and a HD DVR. I snapped up that deal and took the plunge. So far the picture quality has varied wildly and the DVR performance is barely adequate. I'll post a full digtial television review when I'm done figuring it all out. . . ORIGINAL REVIEW Been a COX HSI customer for close to six years... I picked up a modem/service pack (a Motorola Surfboard and 50ft of co-axial cable) at Circuit City. I just hooked it up at home, phoned Cox to activate the service and I've been online almost non-stop since - we've only had two short outages! FYI - We're on our second Surfboard now, they do have a lifespan. The COX support people are friendly but the tech support is best when guided by a geek (me, in this case) who knows what needs to be fixed otherwise you'll be chasing down blind alleys, but all tech support has gone that way it seems. I think, when I started using COX HSI, the speeds were 5/2. COX always upgraded the speeds for consumers as the higher speeds became available. The currently cited speeds are up to 12/5 and that is what we usually see using Speedtest.net The McAfee VirusScan Suite that you can get free as COX HSI subscriber is worth about $50 in software and $20/yr in virus scan updates. I get the HSI bundled with the cable analog TV service from COX and the cost of the combination is begining to be be uncompetitive, at $103/mo. For a little more I can get Verizon Extreme HD and 50/20. member for 14.5 years, 250 visits, last login: 1 day ago updated 2.1 years ago
Currently using the Cox Bundle. Phone quality is excellent, TV picture quality is great with no pixelation encountered so far at any time of the day. Currently subscribed to Premier Internet tier and am getting very consistent up and download speeds at most times of the day. I have heard we have DOCSIS 3 service now, but need to save the green stamps to get a compliant modem so I can enjoy the new speeds, but currently using an Arris eMTA which is working very well for me.. Update! 3/30/11. Upgraded to the Cisco 2850 Gateway device so I would be DOCSIS 3.0 compliant (still running Premier) and it REALLY boosted my speeds. Last test on Speedtest.net was 62 Mb down / 5.5 Mb up. Recently got an HD TV and upgraded one receiver to HD (no DVR). Picture quality has been excellent. Highly recommended service! Update 10/5/12 No changes. Service still rock solid... Update 9/16/14 Currently using Ultimate Tier and no TV. Consistently pulling 170-180 Mb/sec on speedtest (i know, i know, boost...but still fun to watch). Streaming Netflix works perfectly with no lag as well as high throughput downloading content from Steam, Origin, etc. Highly recommended. Update 7/29/2017 Still on Ultimate Tier and no TV. Last speedtest was 377Mb down / 32 Mb up. Upgraded to a Arris Surfboard 6183 a couple of years ago. Other than the 1TB hard cap on data, still pretty satisfied with service. I have access to FTTH via the local phone company (Pinnacle Communications), but I would have to pay double what I am paying now, for half the speed I am getting now. So won't be switching anytime soon unless Cox starts doing some stupid stuff in regards to lowering the cap or crippling up the service in some way. Update 9/5/2019 Upgraded to Cox Gigablast (D3.1) in August 2019 as well as Cox Contour TV service. The Contour is very user friendly especially for my technophobe spouse who can record shows 2 at a time using DVR service. Video quality is excellent as well as consistent Internet speeds. Am encountering an issue where the main Contour 2 receiver is locking up occasionally (plenty of airflow and connections are tight). Will see if trading unit for another one will resolve that issue. Overall am very happy with current services. Local office personnel are very helpful and friendly. Update 7/2/2021 With my package deal going away, my cost of service with Cox including Gigablast, Contour, and Telephone (which I don't use), has increased to almost $260 a month (originally was around $200). I will be cancelling service with Cox and moving to Dish Network for TV ($80ish dollars a month for 2 years) and Dobson Fiber (previously Pinnacle Telecom) Gigabit FTTP Internet (1000/1000) for $150 a month (no caps). Had no issues with Cox service and as I have mentioned before, they were very helpful and the service is excellent. Would highly recommend their service if you happen to live in the Western Arkansas area. But after looking around on their website and experimenting with removing particular items from my service, my costs would have actually gone UP no matter what I removed or added. So I am going to try these other services and see how they fare. I had Dish years ago and had no issues with their service. That was back in the day where you could install the equipment yourself and could point the antenna using a utility that was on the receivers to get the strongest signal. I talked to a gentleman with Dish and he was very helpful getting our new service set up and threw in the better Hopper equipment than the website offers for no extra charge. So will see how it goes. I have been wanting to go to FTTP Gigabit for a long while. These new services will reduce our bill by $30 - $40ish dollars a month. Enough to keep the missus happy member for 21.8 years, 6568 visits, last login: 3 days ago updated 2.6 years ago
Professionally performed installation. Simple modem a little pricey. member for 22.6 years, 1674 visits, last login: 142 days ago updated 3 years ago
It cost me only 20 bucks more plus the $75 installation fee and I upgraded to the one gig speed with Cox. Installer was very experienced and a pleasure to deal with. He recommended the Netgear router and although mine is about a year old it worked well. I have high nd Lenovo workstations at my offices and speeds were pretty high (700+) most of the day. In the early morning I was able to get 940 which is pretty incredible. I depend upon high quality internet and Cox delivers. At my office location in Pennsylvania I am stuck with Comcast which is the world's worst company to deal. Gotomypc software works well. I link my New Jersey office which has FIOS with my Nevada office which has COX HSI. Fios is running 25 up and down. Cox is running 50 down and around 8 up. The cost of around $120 is about the same. Yes this is very expensive but when your livelihood (accounting business) depends upon it then you bite the bullet and pay for it. I cannot see much of a difference between the two although I prefer FIOS as the throughput seems faster on the Verizon network. I wish we has fiber to the curb but that is generally only available at the Las Vegas casinos. There has been virtually no downtime on Cox. Installation was fast and professional. In the long run it has helped the business since I am able to access large tax files without any problems. Videocam between the two offices is not perfect but acceptable. I am updating my review of Cox. For several reasons I upgraded to their Ultimate service. It is expensive but they are the only game in town offering 150 speed. Tech support is excellent. Installer was top notch. Reliability which is super important is there. Sure I have had to reboot the modem a few times but that is no big deal. I am waiting to see how fast Century Link will bring 1 gig speed over to Henderson,Nevada. Competition is good for everyone My office in NJ uses Verizon FIOS and here in Las Vegas we continue to use Cox Ultimate. We have been using a standard service like gotomypc.com. The quality and ping of the connection is excellent. Virtually no downtime with Cox. Once in a while I have to restart the modem but that is done when updating Windows products. No big deal. Essentially you get what you pay for. If you have to link offices you really need to at least 50 at both ends. Both Cox and FIOS are good companies and you get what you pay for. You are not going to get high speeds for $40 bucks a month. Running a business requires an expenditure for quality internet service and quality computers at both ends. You spend money to make money. member for 23.6 years, 1750 visits, last login: 42 days ago updated 3.1 years ago
I am receiving the Internet Preferred 150 package from COX. I am using my own cable modem and router. I have been with this provider for over 30 years. I am satisfied with the service rendered. If there is an outage, I call and receive a refund. I have never had a problem with their customer service or with their technical service. I would like to have the ability to try another provider for the sake of comparison but COX is the only wired provider available. member for 3.5 years, 2 visits, last login: 3.5 years ago lodged 3.5 years ago
The severe 17:1 download vs upload ratio can cause lag (because the upload allotment is so tiny); however, with a router's QOS feature, the problem is fixed and then the service works nicely. member for 3.8 years, 88 visits, last login: 1.9 years ago lodged 3.8 years ago
I've had Cox HSI for a little over a month, in addition to helping family members previously with their bills and Internet-related problems. Setup was simple, I opted for a Self-Install Kit with our own modem and router. Being in a crowded apartment setting, I opted for a DOCSIS 3.0 32 Channel modem as it would be capable of providing us the speeds if I opted for the next package, while also giving a more consistent connection in an environment with over 100+ apartments. The equipment I'm using is an Arris SB6190 (retired from my home, upgraded to DOCSIS 3.1), and the router is an Asus BlueCave. The only issue I had during setup was missing the 7-day deadline to actually hook up the equipment, it appears Cox will cancel your order unless you register a modem and it's online within 7 days of purchasing. The internet package is Cox Preferred 150, and every test I've run over Ethernet has given me 160-170 Mbps, with an upload of 12-13 Mbps. I pay $59.99 before tax for this package, which I feel is a bit high of a price considering the speeds, but at least it's not DSL. Power is consistently between -2 and +2, with most channels laying around 0 dBmV. For what it's worth, it has been a fairly easy process purchasing and setting up our equipment from Cox, and certainly better than some of the other ISPs I've dealt with. member for 8.2 years, 605 visits, last login: 1.8 years ago lodged 4.2 years ago |