Forum Discussion

bsdb0x's avatar
bsdb0x
New Contributor
2 months ago

Bad DHCP assignments and no help from online tech support, over a week offline.

Service: StraightUP Internet 100Mb Internet
Location: Tucson, AZ

Long Post:
Cable Internet working perfectly fine no issues for months, then...

The issue all started when the monthly EZPay re-bill happened and my cc card was declined. The card was declined because I had a new card issued by my bank (long story). I then proceeded to login to the portal to update my card, I get greeted with "Credit/Debt card use is disabled" and to contact support. In the meantime the Cox internet was disabled as I assumed it would be when billing fails.

I connect with support and they were able to give me a Bank payment form to re-up my account. Everything eventually posts and my account is now current and everything looks great in the portal. All of the self help checks clear, modem reports fine...etc, etc

The problem: Every time the modem calls for an IP address with DHCP on the cable side all it ever gets is the IP 172.16.254.139/27, this is the IP it received when the service was disconnected for non-payment.

This IP is a reserved range and not valid on the Internet, which in turn makes the service useless, unless I only want to ping to Cox equipment!

I get on to live support chat and get run through the usual "reset/reboot" script, but they basically ignored my full description of the issue. No luck and they claim "Neighborhood outage" and send a tech to my neighborhood. Tech comes out and  "Fixed cable issue" and left a note on my door. Get home...still the same IP is issued and on the portal everything "Looks Good". 

Now mind you for MONTHS there was ZERO issues with my modem until it was suspended for payment, so I know the hardware/cabling is good, nothing has changed on my end, not even a configuration change. All of the signal levels look great and even support said things look perfect.

Day 2, I continue with support....the same ignoring the IP issues and claims everything is perfect on their end...etc Day 3, I try to escalate to a more knowledgeable tech...no dice, get put into the same script and told to wait while they investigate the issue....2 HOURS in chat and the agent that was "investigating" disappears and new agent comes on and runs the same "reset/reboot" script, then claims its an issue in my cables and wants a tech to come out....I refuse and disconnect.

...and here I am, all current on the account and only have a non-routable address that gets me nowhere. Plus I still cannot update my CC Card as apparently it's all still disabled.

Fortunately, I have dual-homed redundant connections and my CenturyLink DSL is working great, BUT I want my Cox service back for the better speed!

Could someone over at Cox just go and flip my account from suspended to active in DHCP and let me get on with it!!

-EC

  • LatoyaJ's avatar
    LatoyaJ
    2 months ago

    Hi bsdb0x, for help with account specific issues, please feel free to email us at cox.help@cox.com. Thank you!

    Cox Support Forums Moderator

     

  • LatoyaJ's avatar
    LatoyaJ
    Moderator
    2 months ago

    Hi bsdb0x, for help with account specific issues, please feel free to email us at cox.help@cox.com. Thank you!

    Cox Support Forums Moderator

     

  • WiderMouthOpen's avatar
    WiderMouthOpen
    Esteemed Contributor II
    2 months ago

    Your modem is either not provisioned or needs to be reprovisioned. Provisioning is the assignment of service to the modem's MAC address in Cox's system. Basically they just have to remove the "D" (for data) next to the modem in the database, wait a minuet, then add it back on. This should send a signal to the modem to reboot and download the correct configuration file on the modem to restore service.

    I suggest either emailing Cox or if easier, call them and ask for Customer Advocacy Group(CAG) AKA Tier 2.

  • Darkatt's avatar
    Darkatt
    Honored Contributor
    2 months ago

    Your modem is in what is known as AUP. It has to be reprovisioned by Cox to go back online. It's normally don't automatically by the system, but now and then it has to be don't manually. WMO listed the proper procedure but you will need to contact Cox tech support to get it to happen. 

    • WiderMouthOpen's avatar
      WiderMouthOpen
      Esteemed Contributor II
      2 months ago

      Isn't the acceptable use policy(AUP) config file reserved to people who have broken copyright by downloading something illegal or something else related to the AUP? I think the code when the modem isn't provisioned has something to do with a code that has "self" in it, because it locks you in the self install system. Forgot the exact code though.

      As for why it might have happened, I have seen it caused by several things. First, some kind of conflict that caused the provisioning code not to go through when they reactivated service. Other times, there can be some kind of contract issue that forces them to create a new account and they haven't moved the modem to the new account. Or something went wrong with the transfer. Other times, they just put the service on occurrence 2 while the modem is in occurrence 1, or visa versa. This is called a bucketing issue. I only mention these terms so you can give them to the CAG rep so you are both on the same page.

      • bsdb0x's avatar
        bsdb0x
        New Contributor
        2 months ago

        Emailed the cox.help address and they fixed it right up.

        The modem was stuck in the "walled garden" from the suspension. Everything is back online now, took less than 30min after emailing. Still don't get why the "Chat Support" can't handle something like this...