coxengr
Premium,VIP
join:2002-03-09
Atlanta, GA
|  [VA] IMPORTANT - NOVA Toshiba partial outage
PLEASE NOTE - we have an outage on a subset of our Toshiba cable modems in Northern Virginia. While performing software upgrades (DOCSIS 1.1) some of our Toshiba PCX1100 modems went off-line and are not able to come back up. We are working on methods to try and bring these modems back online, but don't have any further info at this time. We have NOVA, Atlanta, and Toshiba personnel involved. If you are in Northern VA and you have a PCX1100 modem and it is not functioning, you are likely experiencing this problem. We appreciate your patience. [we have performed this identical upgrade to many other Toshiba modems in other cities, so we're trying to determine what was unique in the NOVA case.]
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caa100
join:2004-04-02
Annandale, VA |  Does it also affect PCX1100U?
Does this outage also affect Toshiba PCX1100U customers (with a "U" at the end of the model number)?
A technician was just here, and he was not sure. But I have been down since yesterday morning. |
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coxengr
Premium,VIP
join:2002-03-09
Atlanta, GA
| reply to coxengr
Re: [VA] IMPORTANT - NOVA Toshiba partial outage
Yes, it's my understanding that this also applies to PCX1100U's. (The "U" stands for USB).
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Fred Flintstone
@cox.net
 from:
ASG9 
| reply to coxengr
of course if you have one of those modems what possible good
does having it posted on this forum do ? |
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needforspeed59
Cruise Ship Just Passing Through
join:2001-05-02
Glendale, AZ |  reply to coxengr
Some floks have other alternatives to access this forum: Dial up or from work or school are examples. I'm glad to see this kind of info posted here.
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Of all the people I know... you're one of them. |
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afm1
join:2004-04-02
Centreville, VA
| reply to coxengr
I find your lack of professionalism and ethics in this matter appalling. Your customer service told me you all had no guaranteed uptime for residential customer. Fine, I have no issue with this. However your customer service agents flat out lied to me telling me this wasn't Cox's fault. When I told him you all pushed out a software upgrade and that's the reason for this, he denied it. Despite the fact that its the first thing you hear when calling custserv. Your website doesn't't even have outage notification on it. Whether you like to admit it or not, you are an ISP, and should probably start acting like one, and not treating cable modem customers like red-headed step children. Please consider the following recommendation for future network engineering:
1. Notify customers that you are performing an upgrade and an outage may occur.
2. Don’t do upgrades in the middle of the day.
3. Test the software before doing a national rollout.
4. Have a back-out plan.
27 hours and counting. |
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jjepstein
join:2004-04-02
Fairfax, VA
| reply to coxengr
IANAL, but I wonder if there's a class action lawsuit here against Cox for those of us who own our modems... they modified our property without our permission.
I'm also planning to contact the county regulatory folks and ask them to demand that Cox credit everyone who was without service (or everyone in the county, if they can't figure out who was without service). While it's not a lot of money on an individual basis, if they pay it for their entire customer base, it might be enough of an incentive to test things out (or at least have a rollback plan) in the future... |
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coxengr
Premium,VIP
join:2002-03-09
Atlanta, GA
| reply to afm1
-Almost certainly the CSR was uninformed - comprehensive info just got out to reps in the last few hours.
-Since modem upgrades are done off-hours (and I believe on idle modems only), we don't notify customers
-Extensive testing was performed. You may want to take a look at »[VA] Northern VA Outage
-The modems have back-out designed into the system (there are two banks of software; A & B. When a software download fails, the modem normally fails back to the other bank.)
-The problem is up on our website (pull down "Virginia"): »status.cox.net/ |
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GarbageFanncc
@cox.net
| reply to jjepstein
All the more reason, to filter out Cox, and only leave open the connections you need via their network.
Not to mention; "Call Cox and tell them; you want credit, until they FIXIT!"
Write down the days you were without service, and keep track.
Some programmer/s are in big trouble! Shouldn't they have tested it first? On all approved vendors, before setting the virus loose? Someone is in Big Trouble! |
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MMGambit
join:2003-07-16
Ropesville, TX
clubs:
| reply to jjepstein
Cox will likely give you credit for the time you were offline, but you will have to call in and ask for it. Their not going to give money away, you have to call in and ask for it. This is true with just about every company in the world, so don't go off blaming Cox for not giving away automatic credits.
Also right for the AUP of Cox service
»www.cox.com/policy/default.asp#computer
"Cox shall have the unrestricted right, but not the obligation, to install, update or upgrade the software in any equipment that Cox provides to You. Cox shall also have the unrestricted right, but not the obligation, and You hereby grant permission to Cox, to install, update or upgrade the software in any non-Cox provided equipment that You are using to receive or use the Services. " |
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afm1
join:2004-04-02
Centreville, VA
| reply to coxengr
I was in the middle of using my modem yesterday at 10:30ish am when it died.
-Idle only, and off hours obviously incorrect.
-Extensive testing...not extensive enough apparently. Looking at link now though.
I was told despite the fact that they have other modems to give out, they were unwilling to do so until the problem was found. Credits also wouldn't even be discussed until the problem was found. |
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netwrkr
join:2000-01-14
Sterling, VA
3 edits | -Since modem upgrades are done off-hours (and I believe on idle modems only), we don't notify customers
1. 1 - 2pm in the afternoon is not an 'off hour'.
2. I was actively using my cable modem when it died.
To date you have posted nothing but FUD. First you blame Toshiba for the outage, then you state things which are totally untrue.
How about you get your facts straight before posting next time? |
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caa100
join:2004-04-02
Annandale, VA
| reply to coxengr
Can we flash our own modems to fix them?
coxengr: Thanks for taking the time to keep this group informed, despite all the flaming you are taking.
If the problem resulted from attempts to update the PCX1100 modems, and they are not communicating, what hope is there that the problem can be fixed remotely?
Can customers update the modems themselves? I believe you mentioned the modems have the capability to "back out" an upgrade upgrade. Is there a utility we can use to do this ourselves? |
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cablemoose
join:2001-06-25
Martinsburg, WV
| reply to coxengr
Re: [VA] IMPORTANT - NOVA Toshiba partial outage
Coxengr,
I had a technican come out to my home on the evening of Tuesday March 30th. He apparently had been out earlier that same afternoon to test the signal levels outside and said things were fine. He was early to my appointment which I did not mind either. This is the point in which he loses all his professionalism.
He continues to tell me that before he came in he was just out reorganizing his truck (not enough to do? certainly you don't tell the customer this). He goes on to say how a truck role was totally not needed for this situation and that it "annoyed him" when Level 1 and 2 people from Cox had told me a problem existed with my modem (another thing you don't tell a customer.
I asked him if he had experienced my issues (slow and many times incomplete loading of webpages and timing out of my email connection) I personally was aware they had done some firmware upgrades a couple of different modems (Toshiba and Motorola) The service tech on the other hand was NOT aware of this and had heard "rumors" of a problem existing with the Toshiba's ONLY but knew nothing. Upon mentioning the fact that a DOCSIS 1.1 upgrade had been occuring he was "clueless" as to what it meant.(Hello???)
Although I can't speak for everyone here in the BBR Cox forum this is just another example of poor communication and untrained staff. What are Cox's hiring standards like?
Is there any person specifically I can write to that can communicate the need to improve customer service?
Thanks,
Lars |
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netwrkr
join:2000-01-14
Sterling, VA
| Lars,
If you figure out who to communicate with at Cox please do pass it along to the group. We really need to hold Cox's feet to the fire for this problem. Total lack of communication (even coxeng hasn't put out anything terribly useful) is typical of Cox.
If only I could get faster DSL from UU..... |
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caa100
join:2004-04-02
Annandale, VA
| reply to coxengr
A Helpful Cox Technician Fixed me.
I had two visits from Cox today.
I had an appointment for a Cox technician at my house this morning. He knew there was a problem with the Toshiba modems, but thought that included all Toshiba modems (not just ones that had been online during the upgrade.) Since all he had in his truck was Toshibas, he didn't replace mine.
Lucky for me, this afternoon, a different technician was at my neighbor's house. I went over to ask him what was going on. He told me that he could give me a "rental modem" that I could use at no charge until they get it all sorted out. When he was done with the neighbor, he came and set it up for me. Took him less than 5 minuts
This guy (the second guy) was very courteous and professional. Plus, he came to my house to fix me, even though I was not on his appointment list. |
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CoxSanDiego
VIP
join:2002-08-22
San Diego, CA
| reply to coxengr
Re: [VA] IMPORTANT - NOVA Toshiba partial outage
I have an update on the Toshiba PCX1100 and PCX1100U issue.
Unfortunately, we have been unable to determine a remote solution, and at this time we are advising customers to replace their modems. Customers who are experiencing this problem can come into one of our offices - located in Herndon, Kingstowne, or Fredericksburg - to pick up a free replacement modem. Cox will replace all modems, including those owned by customers. We are extending our hours tonight and all weekend in order to make this as convenient for customers as possible. Our Herndon and Kingstowne locations will be open tonight until 9PM, and Saturday and Sunday from 9AM - 9PM. Our Fredericksburg office will be open tonight until 7PM and Saturday and Sunday from 8AM - 5PM.
I apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused. We appreciate your patience and your business.
We will post here if there are any updates. |
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afm1
join:2004-04-02
Centreville, VA | Does everyone then have to call up and update the new mac addresses or will you all take care of that when we receive the new modems? |
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BA in NVA
@cox.net | reply to caa100
Re: Does it also affect PCX1100U?
FWIW, I have a PCX1100U in Annandale - working great!
BA |
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Qumahlin
Never Enough Time
Premium,MVM
join:2001-10-05
united state
| reply to GarbageFanncc
Re: [VA] IMPORTANT - NOVA Toshiba partial outage
said by GarbageFanncc:
All the more reason, to filter out Cox, and only leave open the connections you need via their network.
Just a FYI, you can't filter out the HFC side of the modem, the customer has absolutely no capability in doing so. And firmware updates go over the HFC side 
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Forum Posts:4100 |
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