Daily Short Outages
I've been having issues for the last few months where my Cox internet connection will just drop without warning for 1-2 minutes. It's especially frustrating when it's during a work Zoom call or an online gaming session. My cable modem was old, so I replaced it with a brand new Netgear CM2000, but that did not solve the problem. My router is a relatively new Netgear Orbi system. Before I replace that, I thought I'd post here to see if anyone might have any suggestions. I've checked the cable modem log files, and every time the connection goes out, I see this message: Priority: (Critical (3)) Description: Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - T3 time-out; Is it possible that it's an issue with Cox?
Cox does not provide the services we pay for.
And they appear to banking on there being nothing we can do about it. The so-called support portion of the website is an utterly useless and deliberately includes infinite link loops. Even the "chat with our AI assistant Oliver" thing is a fake link. Not even a dead or nonfunctional link, but a FAKE LINK. Like, the thing that looks like a link ISN'T EVEN ACTUALLY A LINK. I'm paying for 200Mbps download service and all weekend the norm has been more like 2Mbps. 20% packet loss when pinging freaking www.google.com or www.amazon.com. That's beyond unsatisfactory. And this "forum" appears to be the only venue even remotely associated with Cox that allows me to say I noticed that Cox isn't keeping its promises. I guess what I'm trying to say, Cox Inc, is that I've noticed that you aren't providing the service I'm paying you for. If it's your problem, fix it, if it isn't, please share information about your troubleshooting and diagnosis. Your soon-to-be-former-customer, -TomInternet Has Been Out for Days, Yet Cox Tells Me I'm the Problem
I'd like to find out if anyone else has had an experience with Cox as terrible as my recent experience in Oklahoma City, OK: My home internet has been out for 3 or 4 days now. It started when our modem suddenly stopped getting any signal from Cox. The modem has power and has shown zero issues up to this point. I thought maybe it was that particular coaxial connection, so I tried hooking the modem up in other rooms around the house that that have a connection available. Same issue: modem powers on, but no connection to Cox. I then got on the Cox website to verify that my modems MAC and Serial Numbers were correct, as well as to try and reset my modem from my online account settings. Still no improvement. So, I decided to chat with a Cox support agent. The FIRST agent I talked to looked into all kinds of things and ended up telling me that I needed a new modem (which, of course they immediately started trying to sell me one of theirs). I said no thanks, went to the store, and bought a new modem. The new modem is the exact same brand and model (Netgear CM500) as the previous modem I'd been using for years with Cox, so I know for a fact it is compatible. I get home, I hookup the new modem, but still no connection to Cox. I try to activate the modem according to both the manufacturers instructions and the instructions on the Cox website, but I can't finish it myself because, of course, Cox can't establish a connection to the modem! So, I decide to chat with a Cox support agent AGAIN. The SECOND agent has me provide the MAC and Serial Number of the new modem so that they can activate it on my account for me. I provide them all of this information, and they tell me that they have activated the modem on their end, but that they still can't establish a connection to the new modem. Then, all of a sudden, the chat session ends before I can get anything else from them. Big help that was, Cox! Once again, I reach out to a Cox support agent. I tell the THIRD agent everything that's happened up to this point, about the sudden disconnection on my old modem, going out and buying a new modem, going through the headache of getting the new modem activated, and getting disconnected from the previous agent. This agent wants all the MAC and Serial Number information again so they can make sure the modem is activated. I provide all the information to them, they tell me the modem is activated "on their end", and that I need to reset the modem (unplug it, wait 10 seconds, plug back in). Then they tell me to "wait a while", I'm assuming so that Cox can try to connect to the modem. After about 10 or 15 minutes of waiting, and still no connection, this agent tells me that it's a problem with my modem. UM, EXCUSE ME? You mean, this brand new modem that the FIRST agent told me to go buy for absolutely no reason? Not likely. At this point I told the third agent that I'd like a technician to come out to my house and check the Cox lines outside because the only remaining possibility is that there's an issue with their equipment. The third agent then told me that they can't send a technician to my house because they're not allowed to touch equipment that's not provided by Cox (in reference to the modem). I tell them that's fine, because I'm not asking them to touch my modem, I want them to check up on their own equipment! The agent then goes back to insisting that the issue is with my brand new equipment. Well, of course it is, because Cox is just infallible, right?! At this point, I'm ready to drop Cox all together. I've never had such a poor customer service experience in my life. I worked in customer service for a number of years, and it never once occurred to me to tell a customer "it's not us, it's you" if I hadn't already exhausted every possibility on our end first. It's a shame too, because this is really the first issue I've ever had with Cox. At this point, the hot spot on my T-Mobile phone is providing a more reliable connection for my home than Cox seems able to. In the meantime, I've talked with co-workers who live in nearby cities who've told me that their Cox service has been out for the exact same amount of time, with the exact same symptoms (modem suddenly receives no signal), who've been told the exact same thing by customer service agents (go buy a new modem), then been treated the exact same way after the recommendation doesn't work ("it's not us, it's you"). Is anyone else starting to see a pattern here?
Downstream channels won't all lock
In the last month I've had the problem where downstream channels 2-10 (out of 16) won't lock. Nothing has changed in the inside wiring and I made sure everything was still connected tight. No storms or anything else to mess up the wire from the pole. I've noticed the locked channels are all around 381 MHz, while the channels that don't lock are around 800 MHz. The modem is a Motorola 7550. Re-setting/unplugging the modem doesn't help. I used the Customer Service chat and they re-set the modem and said it looked fine on their end. Any ideas why it would suddenly be doing this?
