New Contributor
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6 Messages
Mini Box Scam?!
I want to see if I understand this correctly. We have one television that has always just had the cable run into it directly. It had it's limitations, but my Father was always happy with the channels he could get. We pay Cox Cable a ton of money monthly for cable and the high tiered internet speed.
Today we hooked up the mini box as we were advised we MUST do this as you were going all digital. Now we find that there are HUGE gaps in channels. Channels my Father used to watch without having to pay anything extra, or have a special little box. Channels like discovery...channel 35. In fact, the channel gap goes from 24 to something like 68! I noticed on another thread that seems to be closed for addition questions or comments, that the answer was that the mini box only has basic channels included.
So, let me just see if I get this. We were OK to watch all these channels before, without special equipment. You force us to "upgrade" to a mini box in your guise of "going all digital" and make it seem like it's a great improvement for us. In doing so, you take away most of the channels my Father enjoy watching, and are now holding us hostage to rent ANOTHER (we have two already) larger box, that will probably cost us ANOTHER $10 a month or more to rent. Does that sound about right?
When will enough be enough, Cox Cable? We have been customers continuously for as long as I can remember....likely close to 40 years. Is it not enough that we pay through the nose for your "special" packages....ones we COULD get through a direct connection before, and now we can't so you can just milk us for MORE money? You love to promote that you offer HD channels for free....but we can't actually get them on each TV unless we rent a box. So yeah...sure...it's true...technically. We're not paying for the HD channels. We're paying to rent the box. The box which we MUST have to watch the HD channels.....and we need one for each TV in the house.
I ask again....when is enough going to be enough? When you finally nickle and dime us into leaving for whichever other options are out there, that we CAN afford? I'm not just blowing smoke here....cause we are approaching that line very quickly.
I'm simply at a point of disbelief over this, if I'm right that you are forcing us to get a mini box which makes the channel selection WORSE, in order to force us to get yet ANOTHER bigger box in our house...just to get the same channels we got before you decided to "improve" our experience by going all digital.
Tecknowhelp
Valued Contributor II
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2.8K Messages
Was this a request for assistance? If so, what area are you in and what cable package do you subscribe to? It is quite possible you are not getting all the channels because of a technical problem. Some channels haven't made the transfer to the new system yet, but those should still be available without the box.
I wish more people would search the forum for related threads before posting. There are 3 threads on mini boxes on the first page alone. Maybe make a mini box stickie?
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ChrisL
Former Moderator
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7.1K Messages
The mini-box should be capable of receiving all of the channels in the Starter and Essential packages as listed in http://www.cox.com/channels if you're subscribed to both of those packages. If you are indeed subscribed and not receiving them all on the mini-box we may need to look at your account and troubleshoot further. You can email us at cox.help@cox.com for further assistance.
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Domino
Valued Contributor III
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2.8K Messages
cdpayne: What channel package do you have? It sounds to me like you have the "Economy" pack. Not good for using the mini-box.
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cdpayne
New Contributor
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6 Messages
We have had the same packages for a lot of years. I am in the San Diego market, and on the HD DVR in my room, I get pretty much everything but the premium channels. That includes everything up to 1136, then skips the premium channels, kicks in again at 1300 with everything up to 1448, then 1651, 1671, and 1672....then a few in the 1700's and the music cannels.
That is not the economy package.
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cdpayne
New Contributor
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6 Messages
I called customer service, and it was the box. I had already rebooted, run a scan, and did the channel scan...but whatever they did to reboot it from their end, combined with another channel scan, solved the problem.
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DustinP
Moderator
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1.1K Messages
Thanks for the update. I'm glad to hear you have the channels coming through the Mini Box.
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PapaE
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2 Messages
I just had a CHAT session on line with Cox and was told the mini box will NOT receive all of the channels that my other 2 Cox boxes receive... Examples are 1002 thru 1300s... I get on other boxes but mini box will not receive them... And cox rep said that is all you get with the cheaper, per month, mini box. Would not have bothered me except this is not included in all of the Cox " get your mini box propaganda"
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ChrisL
Former Moderator
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7.1K Messages
Yes that is correct. The mini-boxes are intended only for customers wishing to maintain TV service on sets that previously were not using any equipment. These are not meant to replace previous traditional digital boxes.
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David_Chenoweth
New Contributor
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7 Messages
Cox Communications took the opportunity to victimize me with the "Cox Communications Mini Box Scam" today. Although I have never used more than 23% of the hard drive storage in the HD-DVR I was renting from Cox, the hard drive failed anyway. So, I thought I would save everyone sometime and drive to the "Solutions Store" and swap the bad HD-DVR for a working HD-DVR. The 'Solutions Store' CSR flatly declared that the Mini Box was required if I wanted to watch TV. He stated this three times in patterned responses to my objections over having to use both a Mini Box and a HD-DVR to watch TV. He then refused to exchange the HD-DVR unless I also accepted possession of a new all digital Mini Box. He then attempted to refuse to do business with me at all. I would not allow the CSR to close the business disagreement by refusing to do business and allowed him to finish the scenario of his sales presentation. He sweetened the bait and switch by silently exchanging the HD-DVR with a Cox Record 6 HD-DVR therefore silently increasing my monthly bill by $8.00. I will not debate the facts of this true story. You are welcome to draw your own conclusions, (no pun intended).....d
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starb104
New Contributor
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5 Messages
Chris---My current wall connected set receieves HD broadcast from local channels (1003 to 1010) in my area. I have one set with HD receiver and "Advanced tv" service. With the mini box now on the other wall sets---will I no longer get HD broadcast of local channels?
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Ed_Head
Contributor II
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100 Messages
As far as I'm concerned, the minibox is FANTASTIC! I now can view many HD channels, rather than 6 or 7. Many more watchable channels are available than before. CSPAN channels and other non-HD channels can be zoomed and retain the zoom after the minibox is turned off. The remote is simple and well designed and the LAST button retains the previous channel after the minibox is turned off. You can change channels without entering 1000 before the channel number (31 vs. 1031) And, best of all, when you change the channels, the change is immediate - no more delay.
I have had a lot of issues with Cox in the past and probably will have some in the future BUT this is a great deal for $3/month. I thought I would never say it but thank you Cox!
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wees41
Contributor II
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699 Messages
if you remember the person who helped you call your store email that the person is giving false info.
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Don318
New Contributor
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106 Messages
starb104, you will get local channels in HD and many others also with mini-box. Also you will only have to enter 3 to get 1003 HD or 10 to get 1010 HD, no longer punching four digits.
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