Forum Discussion

thesixcarrs's avatar
thesixcarrs
New Contributor II
4 years ago

What will it take to get decent internet?

Cox has an absolute monopoly in my area (Chesapeake, Virginia) on cable internet.  The next best thing is Verizon with DSL, and there's absolutely no fiber optic here, of course.

We've had Cox for several years, with absolute *constant* issues.  Scummy practices like giving us free upgrades that made our internet worse, I've watched our internet go from unlimited to capped at 1TB on the same payment plan, and absolutely terrible customer service.

The latest of my complaints is that due to how extremely turbulent the service in my area is from Cox, I had to upgrade to Gigabit internet.  I livestream and work from home, so I need solid internet 24/7.

Despite the upgrade, for months now, Cox will just drop off for hours at a time (upstream measured in Kbps), days at a time, whatever it wants.  There's no pattern, it's not a specific time of day, it's not a certain weather condition.  I had a technician come out and say that there was a problem at the pole, which is extremely vague and was not specified any further.

He said that there would be people coming to fix it in the coming days, no one came in my observation.

Their customer service is so absolutely terrible that every time my internet cuts out I'd rather suffer through it and get no work done until its over, rather than talk to them.  It takes literal hours to even get to the point in conversation where they send someone out.  Every time I initiate a new conversation they tell me to test my modem, test this, test that.  Everything has been tested. A dozen times.

Do I file an FCC complaint? Are there things that can be tested and done on my end that aren't super blatantly obvious?  I'm looking for a permanent solution to my terribly turbulent internet.

I noticed some of the people responding here seemed to actually know what they're talking about, as opposed to customer service.  Hope so.

15 Replies

  • thesixcarrs's avatar
    thesixcarrs
    New Contributor II

    Any help with this? Any suggestions? I am not getting, and have never gotten, what I am paying for.  Any ideas that take less effort than moving out of a Cox area are appreciated.

  • Bruce's avatar
    Bruce
    Honored Contributor III

    Could you upload a copy of the logs from your modem?  You may have to use the Click-to-Join link at the bottom to subscribe.  I know...the Click-to-Join makes no sense but, well, this is Cox.

    • thesixcarrs's avatar
      thesixcarrs
      New Contributor II

      I'm sorry, I have absolutely no idea how to do that.  We got roped into using one of Cox's Panoramic routers with the promise of a solution, so it has very little in the way of user control.
      It didn't help, of course.

      • Bruce's avatar
        Bruce
        Honored Contributor III

        Sorry, I don't know how to save a log file as an image either because I've never done it.  Perhaps another Panoramic user could explain.

    • Marek's avatar
      Marek
      New Contributor

      I feel your pain. My problem with Gigablast is I only get 80 MB down but my Up is very stable of 35 which is max for this plan. I am at a loss too. Good luck.

      • LisaH's avatar
        LisaH
        Moderator
        Hi Marek. The modem gets provisioned when it is activated and the modem log you sent looks good. Are you wired or wirelessly connected? It is possible that the device you are using is limited as it may only have a 100 Mbps network card in it. To verify your speed, please hard wire a computer that has a 1gig network card to the router and run a speed test to see what your speed is and then bypass the router, disconnect the Ethernet cable and the power cord to the modem, give it 30 seconds and then plug the power cord to the modem back in to reset it. Once the first 4 lights go solid, connect the Ethernet cable from the computer directly to the modem and run another speed test and compare them. They should be similar. To get further assistance, please reach out to us on Twitter at @CoxHelp via DM, visit us on Facebook via private message, or email us at cox.help@cox.com. Provide us the name on the account with the complete service address with a link to this thread so we can get started. - Lisa, Cox Support Forums Moderator
    • Talba's avatar
      Talba
      New Contributor

      Get rid of it, if you have other options, run!

      • Bruce's avatar
        Bruce
        Honored Contributor III

        Get rid of Cox or Panoramic?

    • BenS1's avatar
      BenS1
      Former Moderator
      @Arimal, Hi, what kind of issues are you having?
      Ben S.
      Cox Support Forums Moderator
  • thesixcarrs's avatar
    thesixcarrs
    New Contributor II

    With contacting cox countless times, I was hoping this forum would prove helpful.  Clearly not.  I'm just going to file an FCC complaint and if that doesn't work cancel Cox.  I'm getting bad internet, I'll just downgrade to bad internet at an appropriate price.
    Surprised I stuck with them this long, honestly.

    • SharonL's avatar
      SharonL
      Former Moderator
      Hello,
       
      I am sorry you are unhappy with your services. I would love to help you get this problem resolved. This appears as if you may need someone to investigate your account personally. We would be able to assist you with this. Please reach us on Twitter at @CoxHelp, visit us on Facebook, or email us at cox.help@cox.com. Provide us the name on the account with the complete service address with a link to this thread so we can get started. Thank you.
       
      Sharon
      Cox Support Forum Moderator