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brittrice09's avatar
brittrice09
New Contributor II
4 years ago

Potential Class Action - Phoenix/North Phoenix Arizona Internet Instability

I'm just curious, if anyone has been having a terrible time with gaming/video streaming with their internet in the North Phoenix area.

I'm pretty confident this is an infrastructure issue in my neighborhood specifically, but i'm genuinely curious if others have been having similar experiences. 

Here's my story. 

I lived in Tempe AZ, and in North Phoenix in my last two homes. Both had FTTH (Fiber to the home). 

My most recent location, was Tempe.

While I had FTTH Gigablast, I had no issues what so ever. 

I recently purchased a home in North Phoenix near 19th Ave and Union Hills and this is the disaster i've experienced. 

When I moved, I transferred my service. I was told that my service would be exactly the same, and that I would have no issues. I was also told my plan wouldn't change at all. During this process, no one mentioned that on Docsis 3.1, upload speeds would be capped to 35mbps. Not only that, but I lost my unlimited bandwidth that I was grandfathered into because I "changed hardware", and moved from FTTH, to Docsis 3.1. Because of that, my bill was $10 more, I lost out on unlimited bandwidth, AND, my upload was capped. I argued that, because of that, my plan is infact changing, and this is no longer the gigablast I had. I spoke with many technicians, many people in sales, and many people in retention. All told me "Well, it's the same gigablast service, so your plan isn't changing."

Since then, i've had constant issues. It's been consistent packet loss all throughout the day. It's completely intermittent, however, it's often. It's literally all throughout the day. It ranges from 1%-15%. Hard ping spikes, latency variations, etc. This has been happening non stop since January. 

I've had probably 4-5 technicians come out, as well as multiple lvl2 (or lvl3) techs come out that drive the bucket trucks. 

So far, i've tried buying multiple cable modems, i've tried multiple routers, i've tried using Cox's "Panoramic Wifi" combo modem/router. I've updated all my cabling to new Cat 6 cabling. Nothing worked, same issue. I've had the line that runs to the junction, to my home, replaced. ga

I've had multiple higher level technicians explain there was an issue with the upload node. I see bucket trucks out here in my neighborhood often. The last technician I spoke with explained that they've fixed the issue. However, I JUST spoke to the retention department who explain so far this month we've had 7 outage incidents that she can pull up. This retention expert also game be "Elite Gamer" for free, JUST to try and to test with. As the last tech who told me i'm basically screwed until FTTH told me I should try that. I told him "If my internet was working correctly, you wouldn't need to try to upsell me something I know for a FACT wouldn't make a difference". Well, I tried the "Elite Gamer" thing today, and immediately started experiencing the same issues, and Elite Gamer shows within that yes..infact i'm experiencing problems.

The most recent technician that I had come out (who I think was lvl2 and he came out with a guy in a bucket truck), told me that, unfortunately Cox wont do anything about it unless you're seeing constant 20% packet loss, or until they start running FTTH in my neighborhood. Mind you, my neighborhood is down the street from one of the previous neighborhoods I lived in with FTTH. Cox not doing anything until there's 20% packet loss is crazy to me, as at that point you basically don't have a functioning service. And ontop of that, there are NO resources, no one i've been able to contact, about plans for FTTH in my neighborhood. I can't even get information about if any other issues have been reported in my neighborhood, or if the technicians have plans on replacing the failing infrastructure. Apparently, only the technicians with the bucket trucks have that information. And the last one I spoke with basically said "Yea we fixed it, so now there's nothing we can do until there's FTTH in your area"

At this point, I don't know what to do. I'm paying for an incredibly shotty service that no one within Cox seems to care to fix. Is there any representitive who can help me here with resources to contact to speak about bringing FTTH to our area, what that process looks like, if it goes through city counsil, or is it purely Cox's decision with timelines, etc. Or, any local legal experts that have skin in this game specifically dealing with ISP's and poor service? Any other local north Phoenix residents experiencing this same issue? 

This has to be the WORST experience i've had with any ISP ever, and i've had FiOS and Century Link.

  • AlisoCanyon's avatar
    AlisoCanyon
    New Contributor II

    The only way you can get COX attention is to file an FCC complaint, but you should keep a time and date log of every issue and your contact with COX.  Our neighborhood filed about four different complaints and a special service rep was assigned within a couple of day.  The problem in our neighborhood for over 12 months and still not fixed nor committed to be fixed by COX is an overly conjected node.  The only fix is for for cox to invest and install the necessary infrastructure to split the node.  

    We continue to have numerous outages and congestion, buffering, poor performance and excessively less than the advertised download speeds.  

    • brittrice09's avatar
      brittrice09
      New Contributor II

      I'm now in the process of doing this, gathering as much data as possible before filing, and also in the process of contacting a couple local legal people to see if there is any further action I can take. 

  • @Brittrice09, I recommend sending us an email with a link to this thread to cox.help@cox.com and we will look into this ongoing service issue on your behalf. -Allan, Cox Support Forums Moderator.
    • brittrice09's avatar
      brittrice09
      New Contributor II

      Doubt this is going to help me at all, as i've dealt with technicians and engineers many times, but done.

      • Allan's avatar
        Allan
        Moderator
        @Brittice09, I appreciate you sending the requested email and we will be responding back to you as soon as we can. Thanks. -Allan, Cox Support Forums Moderator.
  • brittrice09's avatar
    brittrice09
    New Contributor II

    I'm getting WORSE results using Elite Gamer. More spikes, than if I was just using "regular internet" (whatever that means). And also, in the Elite Gamer UI, it shows 0 loss, but it shows AMPLE loss on the "regular internet", which I still feel very clearly. Even though it says "while boosting" or whatever, 0% loss. I'm running trace routes, all showing loss and constant spikes/jitter.

    Moral of the story? Elite Gamer wont fix bad infrastucture. Which, of course I already knew that.

  • brittrice09's avatar
    brittrice09
    New Contributor II

    Bumping this. 

    Since posting this, i've worked with the social media team to once again get a technician out. The social media team asked for ping tests and trace routes using multiple programs (WinMTRs and PingPlotter). I did that, showing them loss/latency spikes as well as failed jumps generally 1st/2nd. I also showed them a bunch of pictures using the Cox "Elite Gamer" software, showing spikes, loss, and completely unstable latency. 

    They sent one technician, who explained they don't really see anything at all, supposedly the line from the box to my home was ok, and from the box on my home to the room it's leading to is ok. The modem is also apparently ok. He explained though, JUST INCASE, he's going to have a higher level engineer come to "certify" the nodes (or something along those lines). The next technician came out and immediately starting checking things. Once finished, he explained that he was able to see packet loss on the downstream node as well as failed transmits (I think that's what he called them). And also, explained there was also some instability on the upstream node, but the night crew was going to have to take care of that. He explained he "made some changes" to the downstream node, and I should see a noticeable difference. 

    My internet was working beautifully for about 6 hours. Then, the problems came back that same night, same issue. Checking through "Elite Gamer" while trying to play something, I saw constant spikes, unstable latency, and random loss. This was while being "activated" in Elite Gamer, or not. It doesn't matter. 

    TLDR; Internet, of course, is still not fixed.

  • brittrice09's avatar
    brittrice09
    New Contributor II
    Bumping this thread so others can follow along. 


    So the technician that came out, wasn't able to find or see anything as usual. He installed a "Mocha filter" on my line and advised that it could help, however, it didn't. I even played some games in the early AM to show him, and he agreed that there was an issue. He advised to reach out to the business department to see if I can get fiber installed through a business line. I did that, but they explained that Cox is unable to do that as I live in a residential area and that what the tech told me was totally wrong. So, as usual, the third-party technician wasn't able to get anything done, lied to me about the business line (doesn't know the product), and attempted to try to blame my hardware, which I responded with, no, because i've already bought another modem to try, and used Cox's modem to try, and while using both i've had the same problem. I was referred to the business sales rep that I spoke with to contact the residential sales line and to explain to them my problem.
    I then reached out to residential sales and explained to them how i've had constant issues since moving into this home, she looked over my account and saw that i've had constant problems, and wanted to open a ticket, however wasn't able to access the forums as it's something that should be handled by tier-2 support. I was escalated on the phone to tier-2 support, and someone helped me there by opening a ticket for me (Req#: CUI11613788), and explained that a field engineer would be reaching out to me within 7 days, and it's apparently the team that handles fiber installs in residential neighborhoods so they can update me with project information with when fiber might be coming to my neighborhood, and so I can talk to them about potentially streamlining the request, or, them potentially fixing the node, or doing SOMETHING. 

    I'm unsure why it needs to take 7 days for someone to contact me. The tier-2 tech was unable to give me the information of the department that is apparently going to call me, unsure if this person was being honest or if anything is going to happen in regards to me getting a call, or even IF I get a call, if Cox will do anything to actually resolve this issue. The tech that came out to my house yesterday explained how other techs love to say they did something because it counts as credits for their work to show the job finished, so a lot of times they just lie to get a completed job. He also kept scanning my line saying he's showing no loss (while only running, i'm assuming, a ping test to a cox preferred server or address for around 30 seconds or less. Not too sure how this will show anything with an unstable connection that has intermittent issues).

    My issue is ongoing, the internet was extremely bad last night and the night before. I'm now tracking all instances of problematic internet as I prepare to file FCC complaints with neighbors and continue to  look into a potential lawsuit, as my service is incredibly unstable and Cox is seemingly unable to, or unwilling to, get this issue resolved. 
  • NWH's avatar
    NWH
    New Contributor

    We live in North Phoenix near Bell and Cave Creek Roads and for over two weeks now have had constant dropped internet, in addition to slow and incomplete loading pages on our computers when we are connected. Cox keeps telling us our signal is fine and nothing is wrong. This is the first time we have had ongoing internet outages for this long, and it doesn't seem that Cox is doing anything about it. Just keeps saying our signal is fine. We are so frustrated! 

    • JonathanJ's avatar
      JonathanJ
      Former Moderator
      @NWH

      Are you experiencing this on a wired or wireless connection? Also what speeds are you currently getting wired directly to the modem and wireless?

      Jonathan J
      Cox Moderator
      • NWH's avatar
        NWH
        New Contributor

        A Cox tech came out and said our modem is fine. We have a modem router combo and connect our computers wirelessly. 2.5 for mine and 5 for my husband. We also have a smart tv and cannot watch a movie on Amazon Prime without the internet cutting out every 5 minutes. 

    • adminITGUY59's avatar
      adminITGUY59
      New Contributor

      I live on 51st and Tbird at Indigo Creek Apts and have the same exact issue and besides the fact that the Panoramic gateway router is nothing more than a 1980's office desk bobble for unwanted sharing from unknown piggybrokebac👨🏻ollers! But they installed FTTH here last month but nobody knows what to do next so they told me to call the tech helpline and explain to them. 👨🏻‍💻

  • brittrice09's avatar
    brittrice09
    New Contributor II

    Update:

    Internet is still not fixed. Still working with Cox over e-mail. I've also been collecting screenshots daily of packet loss and hard spikes. Reached out recently to get an update of the ticket number I was given, and was told there were no updates, but to check back for updates, so i'm doing so today. It's been about a full week since last dealing with them. 


    @adminITGUY59
    nwh

    Thanks for your input. You both sound very close to me, and it sounds like you're having similar issues. Have there been any updates in your cases? I'm gearing up and gathering data to submit an FCC complaint, and would love to reach out to both of you directly if possible through here to collect information so I can send to them, IF you'd like to be involved of course. 

    I'm beyond frustrated with paying as much as I do for a service that is completely unstable. 

    • NWH's avatar
      NWH
      New Contributor

      My husband and I are 74 and not as tech savvy as many of you. However, we have now gone three weeks with constant interrupted internet service. We are beyond frustrated! Cox has said everything is fine with our signal. But despite showing a strong signal, our internet is constantly being dropped.

      • Allan's avatar
        Allan
        Moderator
        @NWH, I know that intermittent internet drops have to be frustrating and we do want to help fix this for you. Please send us an email with your full name, address, and a brief description of this issue to cox.help@cox.com. -Allan, Cox Forums moderator.
  • brittrice09's avatar
    brittrice09
    New Contributor II

    Update:

    It's been over a week and still no update on the ticket that I have open with Cox. Filed an FCC complaint against Cox, and now the FCC is facilitating conversation between me and the Cox. 

    Internet still not fixed.

    • Allan's avatar
      Allan
      Moderator
      @Britrice09, I recommend sending us an email with your full name, address, and a link to this thread to cox.help@cox.com. -Allan, Cox Support Forums Moderator.
    • kmack's avatar
      kmack
      New Contributor

      Hey Brittrice09,

      I found your thread here after repeated frustrations with cox over the last year that I no longer have any faith they will address without more serious efforts.

      My wife and I are located in deer valley @ 7th ave & bell and have both been working exclusively from home since the pandemic started; We have been intimately privy to the gradual degradation of our service, despite claimed upgrades and additional fees we now pay.

      The symptoms are very much like yours when they happen -- robotic/murkey/cutting out voices in VOIP applications such as Microsoft Teams, Discord, etc -- webpages stalling in the middle of or before loading -- losing connection to meetings -- erratic player movement and massive ping spikes in online first person shooters (overwatch, etc). All this while connected directly to the modem to rule out any of my own hardware. Have tried other modems.

      This is all very clear in pingplotter when captured at the time it is happening and generally coincides with high traffic times such as early morning and evening.

      I work in tech and would be happy to capture any data you might need that would help your case. 

    • Legacy's avatar
      Legacy
      New Contributor

      Same literal story here.  I work with Team Liquid and depend on my service being stable for streams.  Really embarrassing. Paying more gigablast and receiving slower speeds with inconsistent reliability

      • JonathanJ's avatar
        JonathanJ
        Former Moderator
        @Legacy

        I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused. What speeds are you getting and are you hardwired or wireless?

        Jonathan J
        Cox Moderator