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GoldenMustache's avatar
GoldenMustache
New Contributor
11 years ago

Youtube is terrible through my Cox service and you guys claim it isn't your fault

Ticket number:  1846469

I currently have the companies 150Mb service. The good news is that I'm definitely getting the speed I pay for on a site like speediest.net, the bad news is that when any device in my household (iPhone, iPad, macbook, roku, etc ) is trying to watch a video on youtube it's worst than a 14.4 modem. 

At first I thought it was my hardware, I bought the latestest Docsis 3.0 modem and bought a new 802.11ac router to make sure everything was up to date on my side but that didn't help. I took my router out of the equation and that didn't work either. Ultimately it led me to do some research online where I realized I wasn't the only one with this problem. 

With some feedback from others I've tried using google dns, open dns but neither one had an impact on how bad youtube.com is through my cox service. 

I was able to get around the problem by connecting with a vpn service as if I was connecting from Canada. Everything worked fine but ultimately this isn't a solution when there are guests at my home and connecting through vpn on a mobile device can be cumbersome. 

I then called Cox hoping to get some answers or suggestions from them. The first person I got on the phone was beyond empathetic, she sounded as mad as I was with the problem because she was well aware of it and seemed to even be suffering from the issue herself. She took down some notes and put me through someone in level 2. 

Things didn't go so well in Level 2, I though he would simply own up to it and tell me it would be escalated as this is a common complaint but he actually turned it on youtube.com making the argument that if you are getting the speeds you pay for through speed tests and every other site works fine "why are you calling us" youtube.com is the problem. 

I sided with this notion a little bit but it just doesn't make sense when youtube is trying to eliminate buffering all together why would it want to slow me down with a connection as fast as mine. 

If I connect with my phone or iPads LTE service videos load a million times faster and I'm easily at a tenth of the speed that my cox service is providing. 

I pay $110 to cox a month and I pay youtube nothing which I think it's natural to complain to cox but the rep did make me wonder if the problem was stemming from the site. 

I personally don't believe it's the site and something going on with my isp but it's to complex that I wouldn't be able to prove it either way. 

I just want Youtube.com to work.

The only solution would be to switch isps but centurylink is my only other option at 1.5Mb per second, they would have to pay me to use internet service that slow. 

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  • tvmaster's avatar
    tvmaster
    New Contributor
    11 years ago

    try this: log into Youtube via a different provider (if you have friends in a different cable area, or have DSL), OR try the FREE VPN account at a company like Tunnelbear.com (as one example)

    What you'll likely find is that Youtube HD streams are now perfect.  Cox seems to be doing something to slow down Youtube HD streams, but mainly during prime time hours.  Netflix, mysteriously, isn't affected at all, nor are any other HD streaming sites I have tried.

    It's very odd Cox would blame Youtube, as there's no evidence there are problems with Youtube's streams UNLESS you access them via Cox.

    something isn't right, and as paying customers, I don't believe Cox is being truthful with us.

    PS - Speedtest doesn't measure the problem we're having, so that was a stupid thing for the CSR to say, if not uninformed.

    A Linux engineer I know thinks they are packet-shaping so that Google pays them a fee for the traffic use.  Some believe Netflix has already made a deal with Cox, which would explain why Netflix has no problems streaming HD data.  That makes some sense, as lots of people/corporations want a piece of Google's deep-pockets.

  • GoldenMustache's avatar
    GoldenMustache
    New Contributor
    11 years ago

    I've used a VPN to work around the issue with success. It works when I connect from "outside" the US. Youtube now works flawlessly. 

    The problem is that now every site I go to on the web thinks I'm in Canada for example so I'm not getting the US site. This is easy for me but trying to explain this to my wife or setting up a vpn on an iPad or iPhone isn't that much fun. 

    Plus the vpn is going to slow me down some or connect me to servers which are farther away. it does fix youtube but it's still not a true solution. 

    If this isn't Cox slowing us down as the tech claimed on the phone, they have way more resources to get this resolved directly with youtube and should.

    Ultimately though my gut tells me cox is to blame and not youtube and they aren't going to do anything to fix it because this is being done on purpose. I'm scared netflix, amazon prime, iTunes, who knows what else will be next.

  • GoldenMustache's avatar
    GoldenMustache
    New Contributor
    11 years ago

    I pay $110 for the 150Mb service. I'm going to call up and go down to the 50Mb and save myself the $36 a month. I literally got thee 150 meg service for sites like youtube so that video streaming could be as seamless and possible. 

    It doesn't make sense to give these people any extra money even though I'd love too if it would work.