High latency during online gaming.

I'm in southern california. 

Run some trace routes using PingPlotter which you can google to download for free. Its likely over saturated network use in your area which can only be fixed by them upgrading your node or putting in a split node.  

ok i'm downloading it right now. If its really just heavy traffic then there's nothing I can do? 

Well it means they over sold service and bandwidth in your neighborhood. Cox operates a lot like the Airline industry does now. They oversell what their pipeline can handle with the assumption that not everyone is going to be using the service at the same time. Like airlines over selling seats assuming not everyone is going to show up for every flight. Technically they should not sell you a product their hardware and pipeline cant handle just because everyone is using at it a single moment in time. They can upgrade the node or split the node to fix it. 

I'm having the exact same issue in Arizona.. what can we do about this? Switch ISPs??

I have made a screenshot with what i'm seeing 

photos.app.goo.gl/eALkPGnh4P4bA6tw5

That's almost identical to what I get on my end.... This is terrible! Please call 1-866-645-9421 and express to them your frustration and need for a fix! I call almost every day and am doing what I can to get results, Cox needs to fix this... Been a customer for 17 years now

What do you tell them? What can we do about this? I've contacted them and it seems like they don't care.

That's exactly my problem... I feel like COX has no incentive to do anything about this, a lot of people only have one option for their ISP. I would switch if I could.

Exactly why no one is in a rush to fix anything lol. Where else you gonna go?

https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us

There is no incentive, they have no competition why should they provide quality service or infrastructure? It's easy money for them. Start funnelling your complaints to the FCC, it's the only way we're going to get COX on the radar.