Review by amungus 
UPDATED: 1 year ago
member for 3.6 years, 290 visits, last login: 1 days ago
 Manhattan,Riley,KS
 Contract price not specified.
 "fastest available in area"
 "recent troubles with consistency"
 "usually very good"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I've had Cox internet since 2002. When I first signed up, I was on the 3Mbps "preferred" package and would get 4.4Mbps most times. Since the upgrade to 4Mbps, I got 4 down, and 512kbps up, which was good.
At that address, they were great. Not only was the service good, their support was awesome. Any problems were solved quickly and by friendly people.
One day a line was snagged by a passing truck, and they had people out there fixing it that very same day, and double checking every point on the road. Techs were always friendly and took pride in their work, and for good reason.
At my new address, I signed back up with them, on the standard "preferred" service again. Things went smoothly, and speeds were consistent.
After about a month, I had to go to the "basic" 256kbps up/down for financial reasons. It worked, barely. I suffered through it, and was still able to surf web pages fairly well.
Recently, I opted for the "premier" package because of a promo offer for 3 months at $40.
I have yet to see 9/1 speeds. Upload has been mostly consistent, at 1 Mbps, but download speeds have been nothing short of horrible. Sometimes, in the early morning hours, I can see 5Mbps, but this is NOT what I am supposed to get.
After numerous calls, and troubleshooting, the issue is still unresolved in my area. The last tech mentioned that my modem might be bad, so I might try a new one. We'll see. From the forum talk, I gather that something bigger is to blame, so I can't say that the local folks are really at fault here yet.
Speaking of the modem, I went with one that they wanted to loan me. Instead they offered a very nice option that I did not know about at the time.
Monthly payments on it. For 4 months, I paid it off about $14 at a time. This was very nice since I didn't want to drive down to a local store and plunk down however much all at once.
Since these troubles, I must say I'm slightly disappointed at the level of service though. Phone techs have been good and bad, but none of this is their fault, and really they can't do a whole lot other than dispatch a tech. Sure they tested my signals etc. but were rather unhelpful the last time I called...
The service tech who tested everything was about my age; young adult. Very knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful. He informed me that there was nothing really wrong on my end, and that there wasn't much he could really do.
If the speeds return to 'normal' I'll be a happy camper, but for now, I'd rather have a reliable 4Mbps than this flaky "premier" service which has been horrible.
Download speeds in the evening hours have varied from 2.5Mbps down, to 512kbps down. Very inconsistent to say the least.
Still a good isp for the area, and the people are great. At this point, my patience is running thin, so I may yet consider DSL even though I'd rather not have to get a phone service with that. Either way, as long as the service is consistent, it really is unbeatable around here, so if you go with them, and they're sailing along smoothly, you should be just fine.
UPDATE - 2-27-06
The premier rocks. Finally got the 9/1 package, and can sometimes get 11Mbps!!! My internet goes to '11'!!! Still a lot slower at nights on occasion, but that's because there are tons of college students in my area, and that's just how cable works sometimes. Hey, no complaints here after things got updated. It has become more consistent, and that's all that matters right now.
UPDATE - 12-1-06
Back to "preferred" service for the past several months. Speeds have been very consistent, and I've only had a couple of very short outages that never really affected me. Upload is 512Kbps, Download is now 6Mbps as per a recent upgrade. I've seen speeds nearing 7Mbps at times, but it's usually more consistently around what they advertise at 6Mbps, which is plenty fast for me. The bump for me is reason enough to stay on the preferred instead of spending any more money on "premium" services, though the premium is pretty fast!
Overall, Cox is still doing pretty good w/their internet service around here, and the speed increase is a nice bonus. As long as it's consistent, I'm happy.
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UPDATE 7-2-07
Well I've been "upgraded" to whatever the latest speeds are now 6-7Mbps I think, and things are going well for the most part.
No recent disconnects or REALLY bad speed drops like before. Things have just been, well, stable for the most part.
Every once in awhile I do a speed test, and have got some incredible "boost" speeds of up to 22Mbps! ..Granted, those don't last very long, but sustained download speeds have been up to 1.5Mega BYTES per sec! ...Avg. is more like anything from 800KB/sec to 1.2MB/sec.
They must've changed some things at their office, because things have been mostly stable.
Only weirdness is that my IP address has changed a couple times, once it was to some address that was in/near Louisiana if I recall...
Still a fair deal around here as long as you can get a stable link. DSL is nowhere close to their speeds though it is usually a bit more reliable in the long run.
Followup comments:  Kindred1369
join:2002-10-30
| what was the trouble issue? WHAT THINGS GOT UPDATED? HOW MUCH DO YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR 9.1/1MEG?
I HAVE COX IN MY AREA AS WELL I'M CURRENTLY GETTING 4M/512K UP; GOOD SPEEDS BUT I'D LIKE THE UPSTREAM HIGHER FOR GAMING PURPOSES; NO REAL ISSUES COUPLE OUTAGES HERE AND THERE WHICH TAKES OUT TV/PHONE/INTERNET; SUCKS FOR 911 ISSUES IF THEY OCCURS BUT OUTAGES DON’T LAST LONGER THAN 4 HOURS | |
| sormerod
join:2004-01-10
Wichita, KS
| Can I borrow your tech? Boy I sure would like to know what they fixed to make your speeds better. I've been fighting the same speed issues you were here in Wichita for about a week now. Still no resolve, still seeing download speeds of the 1.5Mbps variety. Yuck!!! Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Sean | |
| LDThornton
join:2005-06-13
El Dorado, KS
| Cox service in El Dorado, Kansas I get disconnected 2 or 3 times a day. Called tech line and they want to blame my equipment which works perfectly. I now have a perfectly good modem in the closet that they told me to replace 4 years ago. I did the "double your speed free for 3 months" deal last year and my speeds dropped horribly. You can't trust them at all. I called them yesterday and asked if they were having problems in my area and the tech said "nothing wide-spread". How is that helping me with my problem? About an hour later there was a repair man walking around my apartment building checking the cabling out. I asked him if there was a problem and he indicated that there wasn't..... I told him I was having problems and he didn't even offer to check it out for me. In El Dorado the Cox service is practically non-existant. | |
| 
Guest
@cox.net
| Cox Internet Service Cox Communication's internet service is the absolute worst service I've ever had. It is riddled with service brown-outs that ruin the 'online experience' they promise to improve. Their customer serivce is pathetic, their techs as informed as a long-lost castaway, and their pipeline as swift as a ninety year old quad-amputee. Avoid them at all costs. | |
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