My experience over 13.5 years with Cox

I really don't know where to start so I will just start by saying that my recent experience with cox has not been a good one. After 13 and a half years of being a loyal customer I have never really had any issues that couldn't be resolved over the phone until now.

I have the preferred plan with cox because that is what I was moved to when all the new plans came out. I should be getting 25 mb/s down but I am sorely lacking in that department at the moment.

Firstly I will say that Speedtest.net is not the beat all end all for testing throughput on an internet connection. They have optimized every route to every server they have listed in their database so that it shows the best possible result. When I can test a server in Atlanta (closest to me) and get just about the same speed (give or take 2 or 3 mb/s) to a server in Redding California, red flags go up. I literally tested about 20 different servers around the US on speedtest.net and it only varied by about 5 mb/s on every one.

Now to my issue. I use to use a Docsis 2.0 modem for about 4 or 5 years and was getting about 2.5 mb/s downloads to any website or service I ever connected to (When I say download I mean downloading files sometimes very large files because I play games). Some were slower but I usually peaked at about 2.5. I recently bought  a Docsis 3.0 modem thinking that might be what is causing my connection to slow to a crawl when I download.

I hooked up the new modem and called cox to change the mac and tried it out. I got 3.4 mb/s. An entire 1 mb/s (rounding up) faster than the docsis 2.0 modem. I called cox and they sent out a tech to check my lines. He fixed some stuff out on the pole and gave me a new splitter at the house because he said I was in the red. He came back inside and immediately went to speedtest.net and told me I was fine. I stopped him and showed him my issue and he was baffled. I went to 2 separate services (steam and origin) and 2 other websites starting and stopping downloads one at time on each one. Each one I showed him peaked at 3.4 mb/s and fluctuated between 3.3 and 3.4. We then connected the modem directly to the computer with the same results. He then connected a modem that he got from his truck and it went up by about .5 mb/s to about 3.9. He then called cox and, for troubleshooting purposes, had my account bumped up to the premiere. It then went up to about 8 mb/s with his modem still hooked up. He still couldn't believe it. He called to have my service taken back to the preferred (This is another story all together because it ended up screwing up my account and I had to call about 4 times to finally get it fixed).

After all of his troubleshooting he then told me this was beyond him and said he would get someone from cox to call me and remote to my computer to see if it is my computer that is causing the issue. I have tested my computer to infinity and beyond since then and still have yet to find a problem. I am still waiting for that phone call but it has only been 2 days so I am not worried about that right now.

I had a friend tonight check his download speeds by downloading a fairly large file, about 4 gigs in size. He is on the premiere and got between 8 to 10 mb/s when he is suppose to be getting 50.

A couple of things that bother me.

1. If this isn't throttling then how is it that my connection peaks at around 3.4 and stays there and never fluctuates more than about .3 mb/s and never goes above 3.4.

2. If this isn't throttling then how is it that when I was bumped up to premiere I got twice the mb/s more than with the preferred? Seems odd that my rate doubled almost exactly when the preferred is 25 mb/s and premiere 50 mb/s.

Now I realize that I will not get exactly 25 mb/s because cox cannot control anything outside of their servers but I should be getting about half of that at the very least if cox doesn't throttle.