Cox Degrades Signals and Prohibits Cable Box Resets
As soon as Cox went from analog to digital the degradation of reception has steadily gotten worse while they continue to up prices by 8 - 12% per year - supposedly "upgrading" their "infrastructure". SYMPTOMS: Black screen, no audio with a displayable info bar. This went from occasional on one channel to this year multiple channels every night for hours at a time. MPEG macro-blocking with audio drop out. Again initially once in a while, now multiple channels for hours at a time EVERY night. Typically it is 5 sec of audio and video, followed by 30 seconds of macro blocking or picture freeze and no audio repeated for hours on end. Tune to a channel, get 20 - 30 seconds of black before they re-route you to a non-HD channel which takes another 10 seconds to display. The instantaneous freeze with no audio that can only be corrected by switching channels. The usual fix - going to your online account to reset your cable box - still appears in the account. For the past several months they would not allow it after reporting the network was working fine. You select to reset and it denies you saying there IS a network outage they will fix in 12 hours. This past week they simply report "There was a problem and we could not reset your cable box. Try again later" but it NEVER works. I believe they have actually disabled this capability of your account and just won't tell consumers they have done it. Charge you for services they deny you access to. I am being charged for HBO Max, something that should come from my HBO subscription through COX but I can't access it unless I pony up an additional $29 a month for a DVR box. My smart TV would support it through network / internet connection, but I would have to pay HBO directly for it because they say,unlike the old HBO Go I must get it through COX if I want to get it as part of my subscription. They regularly take the entire cable sometimes including internet service offline for hours at a time for "upgrades" which make no changes to the crappy signal quality, bogged down internet connections and glitchiness. Yes, this "improved service" is why our cable bill doubled in 5 years. COX - say it out loud - its all in the name!
DVR not working; cnF9 error
My DVR box (Cisco 8742HDC) stopped working around 1230 PM. I checked the cables (use a splitter with my panoramic wifi modem) and tried to reset it from the COX website, but received the "unable to reset receiver, try again in a few minutes" message. I tried again about ten minutes later, no change. I unplugged the power source from the box, waited two minutes then plugged it back in. It cycled through to the "Welcome to COX" screen but never actually made it to the program guide. After trying this a third time, my areahad a thunderstormwhich caused apower outage for about an hour. Once it returned, the box went through the usual boot up process, but now is frozen with the "Welcome to COX. We're loading the Interactive Program Guide" screen and the front of the box reads the "cnF9" error code(or config as I have seen in other posts). It has been like this for the past2 hours and still has not returned. Every once in a while the "Please wait" blue dots that form a circle will move, as if to show progress. I have had this box about four months after having the previousmodel for four years. That box "died" after having a similar issue where it would not record and then it froze on the DVR recordings screen. I lost all my recordings that time and am mentally prepared to lose the recordings on this DVR again. Is it time for another box?
starting to feel like cox stinks
on week 4 of same old mess & it is now a daily occurrence.. ps: to be told that there are no outages, equipment looks fine ** when you can't turn on the TV and watch morning news. NOTHING in the house has changed.. long time cox customer but lately it stinks.. WEEK ONE: started having random outages - both contour and internet.. "service tech" on the phone worked with us, got it working, then 2 days later the same thing . "service tech" on phone sold us the upgrade to panoramic wifi and new modem/router - saying our personally owned modem/router was the problem ($25+ a month more) WEEK 2: router arrived, installed and then 2 days later woke to the same problem.. the internet seem to reset itself but thecontour box Froze. Wouldn't recognize the control.. screen telling us to get the remote closer to the box..etc.. Following on line advice, unplugged contour box.. took over 30 minutes but it reset and we could move forward. BUT it deleted the DVRrecordings from the night before. This routine became the daily norm. I am an expert at pairing and unpairing the remote, refreshing, restarting box.. WEEK 3: This morning, happened again only this time it took over an hour to reset.. was on the chat-line with a tech for almost 2 hours. They logged into our account a managed to reset the system. Happened the next morning. Appointment set for Tech visit to house. While waiting for the Tech, the mess continued. days later, Tech came, twiddled with the wires, refreshed box, scratched his head..Reported that the Main Junction box in the common area is severely damaged, Replaces our crimped cable & put in a work order. The next day - it happen again - was told the contour box must be bad - so drove across town to get another.. got it set up - worked... until the next morning. Appointment set for another tech. next available -- next week - as it wasn't deemed an emergency WEEK 3: AGAIN.. At this point nothing we do or the phone Tech fixes it.. we start watching YouTube shows on the TV.. Confirmed with Live Tech on phone, the main junction box has been fixed... confirmed and sent pictures showing their "line service techs" LIED. At this point, I'm pissed off angry crying on phone. We are still 2 days away from the service visit.. Lady on phone sets a "set up" appointment for the next day. Tech comes, pushes a few buttons on the remote and is able to activate the box.. He still has NO IDEA why this is a daily thing.. Gives me a "secret code to bypass the pairing unpairing fails. WEEK 3- Part 2.. Next tech visit.. the only schedule last week.. we are back to watching YouTube.. Guy comes in with actual equipment.. takes readings from the Main Junction box - still damaged, into the house, to the TV and box. Replaces the box outside on our house, replaces the splitter, runs new cable from new box to inside house. Refresh -- still won't activate.. used "secret code", gets everything working.. refreshes box doesn't work.. uses secret code again .. out on phone with another tech when it finally comes up.. He leaves us extra remotes, and implies that the outages and signal loss may be due to a damaged line in the ground from the damaged junction box. WEEK 4: AGAIN - first thing in the morning - gone again.. use code given us by the tech and get Contour box re-reactivate, but DVR is empty again. Next morning -- SAME THING.. As it is Sunday - will be on the phone first thing in the morning AGAIN... Ready to pull everything out and go with Verizon.. brand new modem/router, brand new contour box, brand new splitter, brand new box on the wall outside.. SAME SH1TTY PROBLEM.