Cox → Is this normal practice?

Note: I DID NOT REMOVE THE COVER... It's been like that for as long as I have lived in this apartment.

No, that is not normal. It is typically a bird's nest inside, but at least in my neck of the woods everything is covered and tidy. Field techs here do a really good job.

Being in an apartment complex you may have someone who is going outside and removing the cover for "free" access. But the lines running over a piece of concrete and then haphazardly into a crawlspace is not the way it should be done at all. Not to mention that the white coax is not going to be standard issue for them to use, it looks like a walmart rg59 special.

Putting the cover back on, using some conduit and tiding things up would do wonders. Who installed the inside wiring? Was it Cox? Builders? Landlord?

I honestly have no clue. This place is the ghetto, low income, trashy apartments and high crime.

little do they know theres locks inside that require a special tool to remove and if the locks accidently "fell off" the best the thief would get: broadcast basic

it's hard to tell from the picture but given the haphazard tagging and running of lines, it looks like some of your neighbors may have done a "self install"

at best, it is pretty poor workmanship on the part of what are likely several techs over time.

I would give Cox a call and tell them you believe the wiring is a hazard and request a tech come out to audit and repair.

At this point I'm not 100% sure that I am going to remain in this complex. This is my 3rd unit in this complex in less than a year and this unit has a possum that gets inside the walls and is trying to break into my apartment.

Mom had a similar mess in her back yard but a different cable company, she was getting ready to sell the place and wanted it to look as nice as possible. She called the cable company several times to get it cleaned up and they ignored her since she wasn't a customer. She started going out after dark with her little Crescent wrench and removing all the cables. After a couple late night truck rolls the cable company showed up with a new box and an improved attitude.

she could have been sued/arrested if someone died as a result of not being able to call 911

It shouldn't matter if it's the ghetto or a 5 million dollar home, that should be taken care of ASAP, if that was my yard, I'd be on their ass until that is taken care of. Let's not forget the critters who are out that might want to chew on the cables as well.

-Rob

I think it matters a little. There are definitely environmental and build qualities issues that can be tough. If nothing else a landlord or someone should get out there and clean stuff up and run valid conduit to each apartment. I would say this is 50-50 between responsibility of owner and who ever did the haphazard install. As for whether it's "normal", its hard to say. I would guess it's certainly not preferable but far from rare. Valid and invalid "self installs" over the decades with multiple owners, tenants and different providers can lead to a mess of a situation.

If this is somewhat responsibility of the landlord, that explains EVERYTHING. The management company for this complex is HORRIBLE. How horrible you might ask? I have a possum that is getting inside my walls (saw him through a small hole) and I haven't bothered even telling the office about it because they simply don't do anything, no point in even trying. I'd move, but it's the only place I can afford at the moment.

Might not be "standard issue" for Cox, but ... DirecTV used white RG-6 on the latest install at my mother's house. And I had a wad of both RG-58 and RG-59 (both black) at one home; with no cable service. I used the RG-58 for an early LAN (Novell Personal Netware 1.0 over MS DOS 6.22/MS Windows 3.1; 10Base2 Ethernet) and the RG-59 for the feed from the OTA Yagi.