COX - 100% Unreliable

DEFINITION: Reliable - your TV channels are viewable without artifacts, interruptions, outages.

1. Every hour of the day I can find at least one channel that is "unavailable".  That is, the banner with the channel identifier and program info shows, but the picture is black (well, not really - it appears to be an NTSC analog "black" setup of 7.5 IRE), and there is no audio.  COX admits of no outages during these "blackouts" which, a few years ago only lasted a few hours, but now go on for days at a time.  Tonight it is HBO HD that died at 00:42.
2. Every night between 21:15 and 21:30, PBS goes into "freeze frame" mode, audio drops out, and the frame may advance for a few seconds every 3 - 5 minutes with no audio until almost 22:00.
3. When 2. above occurs, the same thing is usually happening on at least 4 other channels randomly distributed across those for which I am being billed.
4. Internet slows to a sub-DSL data rates every night between 18:30 and 22:30, and often all uplink and downlink channels "disconnect" requiring me to power down the cable modem, wait at least 10 minutes to re-power the modem in order to reconnect to the Internet.  (Thank God I never bought into COX for phone service - imagine being without RELIABLE phone service in an emergency situation...)
5. During a 2011 remodel I replaced all the cable wiring with the latest CAT cable.  I added a powered drop-amp since the contractor discovered the signal from the utility pole to the house was "marginal at best" even after changing out the "who in their right mind would use" splitter COX installed at the outside wall for 3 in-house outlets with the aforementioned drop-amp.
6. I've put 75-ohm terminator on the one outlet to which no devices are attached.  (I have two COX cable boxes / TVs and one cable modem attached to cable outlets.)
7. The poor signal level problem was originally reported in the late 1990s (after 10 - 12 years of "putting up" with it).  COX sent a tech who refused to check the signal level at the outside wall, insisting I didn't know how to properly hook up my system (at the time I was operating a video post production facility and knew more about video signal technology than the tech).  He proceeded to redo ALL the connections in my home theater cabinet in a way that NONE of the video connections worked other than the direct wiring of the cable to the TV. 
8. Subsequent complaints and requests for service to CHECK / MONITOR SIGNAL LEVELS / QOS AT THE UTILITY POLE were met with the requirement for me to agree to pay $85 per hour BEFORE THE TECHNICIAN WOULD BE ALLOWED TO 'INVESTIGATE' THE PROBLEM, AND HE WOULD START INSIDE MY HOME, WITH MY WIRING SETUP.
9. Others who have had similar problems, reported / complained about them online, including in this forum, have been taken "offline" by COX "support techinicians" trained in how to piss off, wear out, and frustrate customers until they simply give up asking for support.

Here is how that "support" typically goes:

• COX makes you try to do their job (the one you pay them for every month) by running through all the stupid canned "FAQ" solutions: disconnect, reconnect, power the box down / up, reset the receiver, change the cable from the outlet to the box, change the cable from the box to the TV etc. etc etc.
• If that doesn't tire you out and make  you go away, then they offer to send a tech out for a minimu $xxx plus $yyy per hour to figure out the problem.  (Yeah, they are hoping you'll pay for all that advertising they do about their oh so reliable service.  Neighbors with DirecTV laugh at me - they have had NONE of these problems.)
• If you agree to pay, the tech comes, spends tons of time inside your house (to pad the bill), rewires your home theater system, changes a "wall to receiver / TV" cable or two, watches the COX channel for 5 minutes, and says the problem is solved, never having put a signal strenght / QOS monitor on the line coming into your house.  He / she leaves, you get a fat bill, but nothing changes.

This is the type of service you get when CORPOCRACY replaces DEMOCRACY, when CORPORATIONS get rid of consumer / citizen PROTECTIONS (they call it "deregulation") then get local agencies to grant them MONOPOLIES for TV / INTERNET service delivery.

Don't believe the onslaught of COX advertising with their cute little robots.  They don't give a ** about the quality of signal or service delivered to you, the customer as long as they can maintain their monopoly, keep upping your bill by 10%-13% per year, and keep you from getting what you THINK you are paying for - RELIABLE SERVICE.