rayneman's profile

New Contributor III

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12 Messages

Sunday, February 21st, 2021

Closed

Will Additional Pods Help?

Long story short, I upgraded my internet service from the 300 Mbps service to Giga service. The actual speeds I’m getting are one issue but my real problem is coverage, which is next to nothing once I leave the room where my router was installed (by Cox, originally). 

Previously, with my 300 service the coverage was pretty good, and I also utilized a hard wired extender in the basement where my office is located, and my work machines all got a great signal and great speeds. 

Now, beyond the room where the router is located the speeds are either (really) 18-90 Mbps or in the basement either no coverage or intermittent connection and speeds which are completely unusable for what I do, let alone any “normal” browsing and streaming. 

Cox sold me a WiFi “Pod” device for $120 which is supposed to replace my extender.  This thing seemingly does nothing to help, and the only place where I can get it to actually connect and be online is in the living room where the router is.  Hence I can see why it does nothing  but it won’t go online anywhere else.  Before I go ahead and buy more of these infernal pod things, will that help?  If I say get two more and put one in our kitchen and another on the basement will they connect in a line and help with coverage?  

Or even better, can I buy an extender of some sort and simply plug it into the existing coax cable which is already installed in my basement where my old extender was?  I understand the one I had, which was rented from Cox will not work with the Giga service but maybe another kind will? Or are these pods the only solution ?  

My house is NOT huge, so these coverage issues are puzzling  

thanks!

Contributor

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93 Messages

5 years ago

There’s a lot to unpack here... is your modem configured for both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz wireless networks? Do both networks use the same network name (SSID)?

Honored Contributor III

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5.7K Messages

5 years ago

I'll presume you have a Panoramic combo DOCSIS/router.

If you don't need Pano, I'd purchase your own equipment.  At least if the wireless coverage doesn't improve, you could return to using MoCA in the basement.

New Contributor III

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12 Messages

Yes, I have what should be the newest Cox DOCSIS 3.1 modem/router device.  

A buddy who is "in IT" also suggested that I buy a Google Mesh device that I'd attach to my current modem/router but "disable" the Cox unit's WiFi and then use the Google router and pod devices. 

I did finally get the Cox Pod to go online yesterday in our kitchen, and directly one floor above my basement office but its doing nearly nothing to provide a usable signal there, which is where I need it the most.

I guess speeds diminish with each subsequent pod, so I see this as a huge issue if I try to add more, as I'm only getting 300-400Mbps from my gigabit service when I'm 10 feet away from the router as it is.  Maybe running ethernet cable is the ultimate solution, as I am hearing that I'll never get gigabit speeds over WiFi.

This is all rather ironic and unfortunate I had a perfectly good setup with my  (now unavailable) 300Mbps service and the hard-wired extender which provided consistent 300+ Mbps speeds in my office.  I feel like I've been sold swamp land by Cox, as in the end I am now getting a far, far reduced TV package and terrible internet coverage for more $$$.  

My city only has Cox or AT&T, and on my street the only AT&T is Uverse, which we had and which drove us to Cox in the first place.  

Honored Contributor III

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5.7K Messages

The question is...do you need the Panoramic?  If you're to disable it, why rent it?

New Contributor III

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12 Messages

Good question, and I am not really sure of the answer.  I simply have a 2400-2500 square foot home with 3 floors and nothing really out-of-the-ordinary going on.  

Honored Contributor III

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5.7K Messages

as I am hearing that I'll never get gigabit speeds over WiFi

Gigabit is not a speed.  Gigabit is a size.  Compared to a lesser data plan, Gigabit would be a bigger "pipe."

For example, if I have 10 Mbps plan and you have a 1 Gbps plan, both our data are traveling at the speed-of-light.  However, since you'd have a bigger pipe, you'd get more data traveling at the speed-of-light.  If widermouthopen sent us both a 125 MB email, you'd receive it in 1 second and I'd receive it in 10 seconds. If Wider sent a 1.25 MB email, we'd receive it at the same time.  A bigger plan is just a bigger pipe.

New Contributor III

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12 Messages

I guess I meant the 940 Mbps speed that I am paying for, whatever it’s called. 

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