Cannot access account while traveling outside the US

In one of the dumbest implementations of a “security” feature meant “to protect your account” Cox does not allow you to log into your account via their web page or their mobile app while you are outside the country unless you call them to generate a ticket that permits you to login based on your IP address.  It took me over 40 minutes to have two different Cox people figure this out, and explain that it could take up to two weeks to have someone work the trouble ticket and have the issue resolved.  At $2.00/minute while roaming (because Cox does not have a toll free number you can use while outside the US), I figured I would write this up to save others the hassle, frustration and expense.  This is so incredibly stupid; let me count the ways:

• When you login from outside the US, you get an error message that states, “An invalid user ID or password was entered. Please try again.”  Instead of having someone waste their valuable time re-entering their user ID and password to the point that their account gets locked, then going through the process of resetting their user ID and/or password, just put an appropriate error message that states, “you are not able to log in from outside the US, please use the following free number to contact our customer care center…”  Better yet, allow the user to at least log in and then present them a message stating they are not able to see or perform certain tasks while outside the country, but if they answer some security questions, access will be provided.  Now, I’ve changed my password twice, needlessly, and I can’t go back and change it to my previous password because another genius “security” feature is that you can’t re-use a previous password.
• To resolve the out of the country login issue, the rep said they would need to create a ticket that could take up to two weeks to get worked, and offered no way to escalate or provide immediate access. Within two weeks, you will likely be back in the US.  So if you travel, plan ahead and submit your request two weeks before you leave.  But wait, it gets worse…just wait until you read #3.
• The super intelligent rep that works for an internet company said that in order for Cox to grant me access to my account while outside the US, I would have to provide them with the IP address I will use when accessing my account. So, you not only have to plan two weeks before you leave the US, but you also have to call every airport, airport lounge, hotel, mall, friend, cellular provider and internet provider that you will encounter on your trip, get all of their possible IP addresses that they may assign you while traveling and provide those to Cox in order to open up those IPs in case you want to access your account.  I’m not sure if the person who designed this “security feature” understands how the internet and IP addresses work.