Mini Box HD and rollout questions

crickets?

I will give a crack at it. Didn't before because I was unsure of my answers. 

1. I believe only the locals will be in HD. 

2. Changing channels should be the same as you would with a cable box, with a guide. See page 9 of Mini box manual for a picture.

3. No official answer, but found this online here. ;

"A Cox spokesman said the privately owned MSO will then "move to some other markets in 2015." The company declined to disclose which of its markets would come next. But a good bet might be Phoenix, Las Vegas and Omaha, Neb., the three markets where Cox is initially rolling out gigabit broadband service to compete with similar gigabit rollouts by CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE: CTL)."

1. All Starter and Essential channels' HD channel will reportedly be available. [BTW, there are about 100 channels in Essential. It includes the Starter channels.]

2. From what I understand, the mini-box IPG will have a HD auto-tune feature.

3. Hopefully, never.

Thanks to Health Edge and Domino for their responses. I certainly hope that Domino is correct on #1 and that the channels will indeed be HD. If true, maybe the mini box will be a positive step, even at $2/month.

Recently I added a Cox tuning adapter and a Samsung Smart Media Player GX-SM530CF with CableCARD to an extra TV and now enjoy all the Premier HD channels, including HBO and Showtime for an extra $2/month. I would use that configuration on 2 other TVs in the house except for the ridiculous bulkiness of the TA, so the alternative of mini boxes doesn't sound bad to me if Starter and Essential channels were actually HD.

I sure wish a Cox rep would provide more "official" answers, however. Who knows, maybe a minor miracle happens.

I recently ordered and received 3 mini boxes (only one free for a year dispite indications otherwise), set them up and activated them myself.  I was distressed to see a one time "Activation Fee" of $30.00 on my next cable bill.  I went back through all of the mailers I had received concerning this mandatory change in my service and looked at the Cox website and found NOTHING (even in the fine print) about an activation charge.  In fact, when I rodered the boxes by phone, no one said anything about an activation fee.  I called Cox and was told by the representative in billing the "they" had to activate it on their end so "they" charged a fee.  When I asked why Cox did not disclose this fee to its customers, she had no answer.  I for one am getting tired of these types of charges mysteriously appearing on my bill.

BarbC, 

The purpose of the Cox TV Support Forum is to allow customers to discuss technical topics related to residential Cox Cable Television services with other customers. If you need help with billing or other account specific issues, or would like to submit a channel request, please reach us on Twitter at @CoxHelp, visit us on Facebook, or at cox.help@cox.com.

Let me look at this for you. If you choose to email us please include your account information and a link or reference to this forum post. 

When I saw that ColleenD (Cox rep) has replied in this thread, I thought that a minor miracle HAD occurred. Sadly, after reading her reply, it was not to be. Just the cut-and-paste billing admonition instead!

Why do Cox reps usually avoid providing useful information? Why not just answer the 3 simple questions about the mini box?

Probably because the details of the Mini channel line-up have not yet been decided.

I am betting that the Mini line-up will include many or most of the Essential HD channels, or at least the Economy Pak line-up.
Currently there are about 20 HD channels in the Essential Pak that are delivered via SDV (Switched Digital Video), including MSNBCHD and for some markets CNNHD, so those HD channels would need to taken off SDV and moved to Linear channels to be displayed by the Mini, As I do not believe the Mini supports SDV delivery.

But, it is also very common for Cox Reps here to never answer a question directly.