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PPPMMM's avatar
PPPMMM
New Contributor

What speed should I be getting for my Premier Plan?

I have never gotten close to the Premier Plan upper limit of 150 Mbps. Up until now I have assumed that there were outside influences keeping me from getting close to the upper end. But today, I disconnected the wi-fi router and connected just my laptop by CAT6 cable to the modem and I am best case getting 96 Mbps. This is only 64% of the upper limit. Here are some key factors:

1. The connection I tested is very clean. Several years ago I paid Cox to come out and replace all my coax cables with your high grade coax with compression connections, non crimp. There is one union at the Cox box, no splitters or amps, and a very short dedicated run of Cox made up cable to my modem.

2. My cable modem is a Motorola Surfboard SB6141 that meets the DOCSIS 3.0 standard with a rated download speed of 343 Mbps. It has been very solid and just to make sure today I went on your website and reset it. After reset the performance is the same, no improvement in speed.

3. I have had issues over the years with my cable service in which some of my high def upper channels would pixelate and then stop. In every case it was an issue with the cable and connections from the street and Cox main terminal box, or further upstream, not my house cable or connections.  I knew the upper channel issues weren't right but never questioned download speed as it wasn't a significant factor then. I was using a lot less data back then and was paying less for a lower tiered internet plan.

So my question is what I should be reasonably expecting for a plan that states "up to 150 Mbps" and I am only getting 64% of that? What else could be reducing the download speed? I have considered buying the 300 Mbps plan but I certainly would want to get better results than 64% of the rating.

Also, when will the high speed fiber optics (Gigablast) get to my neighborhood and what will the price plans be for this? I am near the cross streets of 71st Avenue and Thunderbird Road, in Peoria. Your website just tells me it won't be happening now. I am looking forward to getting away from buried coax and much better download speeds.

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  • chris_c21's avatar
    chris_c21
    Contributor III

    Based on that 96 Mbps wired, it sounds like your laptop doesn't have a gigabit ethernet...  A regular 10/100 NIC card will max out at about 95 Mbps.

  • POOR_INTERNET_Q's avatar
    POOR_INTERNET_Q
    New Contributor

    Hello PPPMMM, I feel your pain and I share your disappointment! I just sent a complaint to the Cox online “customer support” site which details the problems I am having with my internet service. I have the “Preferred Plan” and I am being charged more than $100.00 for just internet and telephone service even though my internet speeds throughout the year of 2016 have been consistently 50% lower than the speed that I am paying for. As a matter of fact, a technician came to my home last month and got the internet speed up to 46Mbps and two days after he left I noticed a movie that I was streaming was consistently buffering. I did a speed test after three weeks and the speed decreased to 35Mbps now my speeds won’t go over 27Mbps!!!

    I hope that Cox will finally give me the constant high speed that I have been paying for and make this year a great year!

    Good luck to you.

  • ChrisL's avatar
    ChrisL
    Former Moderator
    @PPPMMM

    I checked from here and it does appear the device you have connected to the modem is only capable of 100Mbps. I'd try connecting a gigabit capable device directly to the modem and testing your speeds again.

  • ChrisL's avatar
    ChrisL
    Former Moderator
    @POOR INTERNET QUALITY

    I did take a look at your connection as well and all seems good up to the modem itself. Are you seeing speed problems with wired connection as well? Also, do you have a separate router connected to the gateway modem?

  • PPPMMM's avatar
    PPPMMM
    New Contributor

    Thanks Chris for the quick response. Fifteen minutes after I sent my message I realized the same thing ( I wasn't sure what my laptop ethernet card was, since a relatively new laptop.) I looked up the settings and sure enough, it is a 100 Mbps card. I verified my desktop was using a 1000 Mbps card and connected to it. The speeds are much faster and once I actually got 147 Mbps. It is good to hear that you looked at the connection from your end and found everything working optimally.

    I am making some upgrades, including a new router, hence the questions in the first place. Any guess at all as to when your Gigablast fiber optics will reach 71st Avenue and Cactus/Thunderbird Road? A year, two years, or longer? This will help me to know how much I should spend on upgrades now. If I am going to be changing all of this in a short period of time for Fiber speed equipment then I will limit my spending on the interim stuff.

  • Becky's avatar
    Becky
    Moderator
    Hi PPPMMM,

    We don't have any way to guesstimate when Gigablast will be available in your area, unfortunately. Since Internet technology changes and advances so quickly, it sounds like upgrading now might be a good fit for your needs.