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 Review by skeechan 
member for 1.3 years, 666 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 3 days ago
 Laguna Hills,Orange,CA
 $100 per month about 3 days "Fast, very low latency, reliable" "High price" "14 years of reliable service"
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I have had Cox HSI since the early @Home days, about late 1998 when Orange County, CA was one of the first markets to get cable HSI.
PRESALES: I saw an add in the newspaper for cable Internet and their new Digital Television and signed up.
ORDERING: The order was easy. The price then was $30/mo for service and $15 for the CDLP modem rental. The modem was a Motorola Cybersurfr and could be purchased for $400.
INSTALL: The install was 3 days later and two technicians came out. Back then there were techs who specialized in the modem installs and others for digital TV. Now all of the techs seem to do both. Even though my house has RG59, it was fine. They ran RG6 from the outlet to the modem. Since then I've had the modem moved to a different room and the tech ran a separate RG6 line directly from the J-box to the modem.
RELIABILITY: Over these 14 years the service has gone down but VERY rarely. I would call it extremely reliable. Latency has also been good over the years. To local speed test service in Los Angeles and San Diego I'm seeing less than 10ms, pretty darn good.
TECH SUPPORT: Tech support was never a problem. Issues that cropped up or calling in for tech support to update the MACID for a new modem install were always handled quickly.
SERVICES: The original service was provided by the now defunct @Home and was static IP 3000/256kbps, screaming fast in a day of dialup, 100X faster. Now offerings are typical for a cable provider, multiple tiers starting at around $25-$30 for 3Mb service going up to $100/mo for 50Mb service. Over the years the price has crept up a bit but so have speeds. Now triple bonding DOCSIS 3 provides 25000/2000kbps with "power boost" to about 70000/5000kbps with my plan at $65/mo. Cox has caps but they don't charge for overages and will likely send out a nastygram if you go over a bunch of times. I don't know of anyone who has had their service cancelled for abuse. I got an abuse letter once but it was 12 years ago during the @Home days. I've gone over my Cox caps tons of times and never got an abuse letter.
PRICE: Overall the price is pretty fair with the 25Mb tier going for $65/mo. There are cheaper services around. Cox has caps but as mentioned earlier, there are no overage fees, at least not currently.
VALUE: For all 14 years I think I've been getting good value from Cox for HSI and don't plan on changing unless they start charging for the overages or take substantial price increases without substantial speed increases.
RECOMMENDED: Like ALL services, your mileage will vary and just because service on my street is great doesn't mean service in say CT or AZ is great or even great in the next town. Talk to neighbors, read local reviews, browse the forums for posts about service in your area. Take Cox up on any cancelable promotions and avoid entering in any contracts until you have a chance to really try out the service.
Plan: Cox Ultimate 50/5 DOCSIS 3
Cap: 400GB/mo unenforced
Equipment: Customer owned Motorola SB6180
Bonding: 4 CH Down / 1 CH Up
UPDATE 23.5.2012: Cox has seen fit to "fix" the unlimited power boost people were getting here. Where just a few weeks ago I was seeing 70+Mb with power boost, now I hit the wall at around 32Mb, which isn't much faster than the 25Mb tier I'm paying for so I may as well not have power boost at all. Powerboost should be at least 2X whatever the tier speed is to make any difference, otherwise it isn't worth having. I'm not going to knock off any stars for this change since Cox always advertised PB being this speed, and never claimed I would get 50+Mb with PB but darn it these austerity measures!
UPDATE - Upgraded to 50/5 service, $100/mo. Same modem. Powerboost is about 60Mbps.
UPDATE - 20.12.2012 Cox changed bonding from 3/1 to 4/1
UPDATE - 21.5.2013 Dropping ratings for services and value since my market still hasn't been upgraded while others have been upgraded for several months but of course they still charge the same money.
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 Review by dlarkin_dc
member for 3.7 years, 130 visits, last login: 12 days ago
updated 12 days ago
- Alexandria,Fairfax,VA
- $54 per month
- "Internet speed close to rated, free McAfee Suite for 3 PCs."
- "Personable but ineffective tech support, poor DTV quality (dropped)"
- "Okay for Internet."
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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 20/3 over the last few years) and I've never had bandwidth issues, even streaming 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.
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 | |  Reviews
BackdatedInt, | |
| | Reviews:
 ·Cox HSI
 ·VOIPo
| Re: Reviews Yeah, at the rate I'm seeing neighbors switch to FiOS or dish, and with my own experience with what Cox can offer, in terms of product and service, I really don't think Cox care about the customer. Maybe they can't afford to address the hardware or tech problems to allow them to compete. Ironically, I get Cox junk mail 2 to 4 times a week... each one promising a brighter future if I sign-up to pay over the odds for a bunch services I don't need, and which Cox can't even compete on pricing, or quality.
--
Cox Preferred HSI 12/5~SB6120~FVS318G~WAP54G
Cox DTV SA8240HDC DVR w/SARA
VOIPo | |
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jgantes
join:2002-06-12
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA | Terrible, Horrendous HDTV Quality - Internet is solid So much compression and macroblocking it's absurd. Keeps getting worse too. I love that they offer 55mbps speeds now... uh... how about allocating some of that to HDTV.
DirecTV and DISH destroy the quality of COX. Might be switching soon. | |
| | | | Re: Terrible, Horrendous HDTV Quality - Internet is solid Yeah, the compression is not good, the lousy distribution in my neighborhood seems irreperable, and to cap it all off the tech support for digital TV is useless.
So I finally cut the television service altogether. | |
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Review by valuequest
member for 4.6 years, 61 visits, last login: 1 days ago
updated 13 days ago
- Chesapeake,Chesapeake City,VA
- $57 per month
- "reasonably reliable service"
- "pricing and business practices are questionable"
- "probably no particularly better or worse than alternatives"
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I have been subscribed to Cox HSI service since October 2002 (I originally wrote this review in May 2010).
Re: ordering and installation
> I had no particular reservations about the ordering and installation. I seem to recall about 5 days between ordering and having the techs come out to install. The techs actually worked for a company that Cox had contracted for field work. Actually I've seen just as many or more Cox contractors' trucks and people working around my area as I have seen Cox trucks and people.
Re: service
> Over the years I have had 7 or 8 times when I just could not get an IP address for hours. At one point in 2007 this lasted for several days and I called them to send a tech to troubleshoot. Since then I have noticed service outages once every 15 months or so but they are usually a few hours or less.
> July.2011: I called in to Technical Support because I wanted to change my modem out for another one that I had recently acquired. The tech support rep told me that the modem I wanted to provision was "in inventory" and that it would be easier for them if I had the modem's previous owner contact them. That first tech support rep apparently also did something which disabled my service so I ended up calling back a few hours later. The second tech support rep provisioned the modem that I had tried on the first call without any kind of fuss whatsoever.
Re: business practices
> In the spring of 2008 a Cox HSI rep called me (the one and only time that's ever happened) and said they would be discounting my service by $8 per month. I thought they had put my account into some kind of customer loyalty program. About a year later I discovered that the rep actually had booked my account for a "verbal contract" -- had I decided to cancel in the following year they would have surprised me with a termination fee. I asked them to provide me with the terms of the contract agreement BEFORE I renewed it. They said they would send that to me AFTER I agreed to it. This experience has left me wondering what they will try to pull next. Apparently Comcast has been doing the same thing with its customers.
FYI if you are considering Cox HSI service: at some point Cox decided to split their internet service into tiered service levels -- look carefully for your best value.
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Review by rulds
member for 1.8 years, 13 visits, last login: 21 days ago
updated 26 days ago
- San Marcos,San Diego,CA
- $190 per month
- (24 month contract)
- about 3 days
- "FAST! Superior then ATT U Verse at 5MBPS"
- "Whole home DVR reboots, constant drop outs."
- "Will put up with it until they fix but will not pay until then."
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Please do not take this as a rant. Cox is a wonderful company, the building was just just activated on the 22nd of April.
Tech told me our cable is to far is why we are having so much difficulty.
The came back out and put a drop amp and some Mocca's on the line which improved the signal just a tad.
Cox is scheduled to be back out here Today to do some improvements , we will be patient and wait.
So far I am happy with what they CAN provide me. Its awesome to have 35/12 service.
It's awesome to have decent TV.
They just got to fix the host box so we can finally not call them.
I will update...
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 Review by LazamairAMD
member for 12.2 years, 109 visits, last login: 37 days ago
lodged 49 days ago
- Catoosa,Rogers,OK
- $190 per month
- (6 month contract)
- about 5 days
- "Much better than AT&T DSL by far."
- "200GB/month data cap, extended lead time due to Digital Telephone."
- "If you need to choose between AT&T and Cox HSI, get Cox!"
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Got Cox HSI bundled with Phone and TV. Placed the initial order on Saturday, and was initially slated for a Sunday install (on Easter no less!), however, with the addition of Digital Telephone, the lead time was extended 3 days, mainly due to the porting of my existing number.
Installation was relatively painless. Received a Cisco DPQ3212 device for the Phone and HSI. New box needed installation on house for the digital telephone. Tech was very cooperative, and patient with issues with my wireless router. After install, nothing but speed.
12Mb/2Mb HSI line, with steady 16-20Mb downstream and 5-8Mb upstream. No complaints so far!
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 Review by UFO BOGIE 1
member for 5 years, 43 visits, last login: 50 days ago
updated 50 days ago
- Wichita,Sedgwick,KS
- $35 per month
- "Very Good Service, Very happy .."
- "None"
- "Going to stay with them ..!!!!"
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I had ATT. DSL, for about 4 years...., Just got tired of the run around. and the add ons, just time for a change. I had the 1.5 speed but the best thay could get me is 1.1 or 1.2 at the best.. So I went with Cox I've had it about 2 months so far,, so good.. I'm on the 7 mg speed now, but going to do the 3 months at $29.99, then go to the 1.5 speed at $26.99, I'm retired, can;t aford the good stuff,, plus I just do a little surfing and reading so that will work good for me. Will let ya know how it goes in a few months. Update 7/2/08...Very Happy with Cox.. Service has been very good... The 1.5 speed is alot faster than the 1.5 speed of the DSL that I had with ...ATT... Customer service has been real good & fast.. & get to talk to a real person faster too...... so I'm very happy with what I have.. Its 2/01/09 Been with Cox for awhile now.. very happy with the service.. I don't have any problems with them.. GOOD SERVICE..!!! Update 8/14/09... Still a Very good Service.. NO problems at all.. UpDate..8/14/11.. Well I left this area for 2 years. Went to the NW. part of Alabama, Had Comcast Service, it was a Bad...!! A lot of problems with the service, I am so glad to be back with COX.... BEST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK...!!!!!
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Review by TechnoNinj4
member for 53 days, 1 visits, last login: 52 days ago
lodged 53 days ago
- Oceanside,San Diego,CA
- $55 per month
- about 31 days
- "fast connection"
- "inconstant performance and stupid expensive"
- "I really wish there was a ISP in my area"
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Honestly I hate Cox, their duopoly with Time Warner here in Sand Diego is disgusting and I really wish someone offered better download and upload speeds for their price if not cheaper. I just recently upgraded my modem so I now have max speeds of 24 DL x 24 UL but its still leaves a lot to be desired, especially compared to services like Google Fiber or Verizon FiOS.
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Review by blakej06
member for 6.7 years, 374 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 53 days ago
- Westwego,Jefferson,LA
- $65 per month
- "While on Promotion Very Good Speeds For Price"
- "Not as fast as other markets for the same price (ultimate) tier"
- "better than uverse in my area,faster speeds for better price"
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i have had cox since about 2003 and they have increased speeds over the years , before docsis 3.0 there were congestion issues now generally i get my speed 50/5 about 98 % of the time.
uptime during hurricanes (up to a month of outages) are horrible but usually it is very reliable.
some of the other cox markets have 150/20 Mbps download/upload. when your in a market with competition you can get discounts and promotions eaisly. I do not have phone or cable service i prefer landline.
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 Review by quaker
member for 11.4 years, 2192 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 56 days ago
- Rocky River,Cuyahoga,OH
- $65 per month
- (24 month contract)
- about 1 days
- "Nice speed"
- "tv service needs to be ala carte"
- "great internet service"
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11/2/08
just moved into apt next to me all i got to say about moving the service it was painful. First off i told them to turn it on in new place on the 1st which did happen modem fired up and everything was fine. then i get home that night and find out that modem is not connect to internet, i get a install cox page loading up when opening browser ( which errored out so i have to call tech support to get it fixed). so i call tech support man oh man i wanted to kill the automated service worst ever. so i started going through the automated service its saying it can fix it so I'm like OK,start going through the step and come to find out all its doing is very basic stuff which doesn't help me in the first place. so i try to talk to agent press 0 and the automated service is like lets try one more thing keep pressing 0 finally gets me in line for an agent. First off i pay 90 bux a month not to talk to an automated service so give me a choice not throw me into it and say its going to fix my issue. finally get to an agent she told me it my modem still had my old cfg and modem didn't like that so she got the new cfg into the modem hang up and come to realize that i cant get over 50kb/s so i call up again try my best to skip over the automated service get to an agent and he tells me that he has to send a tech out cause of high ping and signal noise.
Ok you would think when they turn on the service for a customer they would test and make sure that the service is up to par on there end. why should moving a service be this difficult when it was working fine earlier in the day and now you tell me you have to come out to fix it. come on now take the extra steps!
also to added about the service routing is horrible box's that are at a datacenter in the US and have decent pings and can barely pull 150kb/s ( doesnt matter the time of day).
3/5/09
cox is getting better added the hd channels to tv cox service really enjoy that, just sucks that you cant just get that with out the sd package or have something like basic channels on sd and hdonly that would be really nice. they keep adding more more hd channels more the better i dont even watch sd channels any more. the internet part is yet to be said. well ask for help in forum and the tech had teh engineer call me and supposly there splitting the node so hopeful this fix the speed issues i have
3/22/09
noticed that me bill went up $45 for internet jeez and still havent split the node i dont know how they can justify that
6/2/09
they finally split the node much much better speeds. also had to cancel there hd service and downgrade to limited basic cause hd was way to expensive $60 for basic and hd. cox needs to work on there tv package most people i know just want hd only channel and not have to have 2 other packages that you dont need( basic,digital service). there customer service has been decent.
06/01/10
Been all quiet on on problem with my service. Speeds during peak times are kinda poor but i can deal with it. Price could be much cheaper... added basic cable service and there trying to push people over to the digital service which is way too expensive and free HD come on now its not free lol it included in the price. i pay around $100 for cable and internet.
11/01/2011
Moved my service and also replaced modem with a docsis 3 modem which is the best thing to have. The moving of service from the internet needs some work,but all in all everything is working and up to speed.
08/04/2012
Internet service is still great, i'm 4x4 on up/dn channel bonding.
»www.speedtest.net/result/2102024632.png
I called a while back to cancel my TV service because it was getting too expensive and was crappy TV programming ( repeats all the time and channels i never watch). When i was talking to the rep they told me about the Cox TV Economy, you don't get any of the sports channels or any of the tuner network channels (tbs,tnt, etc), or bravo ( which my wife wish we still had). Then i got the HD reciever and enjoy all the hd channels i'm able to get. Being that we mainly watch truTV, E!, and history channel most of the time it was a good fit plus reduce my cable bill. I went from $120 to $90.
3/29/2013
I have since remove all tv services in favor of netflix. Tv service we would never watch and the stuff we would was a repeat or just didn't feel like sitting through a crap load of commercials to see a 30 minute program. I also have upgraded my internet package to the next level Premier. So i now pay $65 for internet and $8 for netflix and get to watch what ever i want at any time i want.
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 Review by chip89
member for 323 days, 347 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 64 days ago
- Independence,Cuyahoga,OH
- $120 per month
- about 3 days
- "Speed , cost"
- "Good value for money , great service"
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I got the bundle with premier Internet (up to 24 Mbps ) and Cable Tv. It took three days between the order and the Install The tech did everything I asked He even Got me a couple free months of free Dvr service. Speeds have been increased many times From the speed I first got. I have had only one outage For a couple of hours in the time of a year. I pay 120 a month for this and cable tv. It is a very good value for my money.
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Update
Speed test after phone call
