For years, a number of the larger cable-based Internet providers have placed WiFi hotspots around the country for their customers to use when not in the comfort of their own home, but you had to find a hotspot operated by your ISP. Today, five of those companies — Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Cablevision, and Cox Communications — have announced that their customers will all soon be able to all use the same hotspots. But will people use them — and will this actually make some of the problems worse? More »
Right now, the average monthly cable bill — not including any bundled phone or internet services — is around $86. But industry analysts say the non-stop slap fights between cable companies and content providers is only going to send that price soaring in the years to come. More »
In an apparent effort to woo new customers who only want the most basic of cable service and retain some current subscribers who are thinking of cutting the cable cord, Cox Communications has become the latest cable provider to jump on the low-price bandwagon, rolling out its $35/month TV Economy offering. More »
It's understandable for a company to end a free service for customers when it's little-used. But even if that was the case when Cox Communications decided to stop offering free personal Web hosting for its Internet service customers next month, it might have been helpful for them to give a heads up to their technical support employees. Or maybe that was just the person reader John happened to reach when he called about the transition. More »
How well you'll be able to stream season two of Breaking Bad on Netflix may depend largely on which company you're paying to provide internet service to your home. Netflix has just released the results of its own study on network performance and the results may not surprise you. More »
Andy is a Cox Cable customer, and an HBO subscriber. When the channel lineup shifted recently, he couldn't find HBO in high definition. The information wasn't online, and the channel wasn't in a logical place. Figuring that someone at Cox must know the answer, he hopped on customer service chat to ask a helpful customer service representative. The rep had him check to see whether the standard definition HBO channels had magically switched to high definition in the five minutes since he had last checked, then demanded Andy's account number, name, address, account PIN, and the last four digits of his Social Security number. To obtain information that used to be on the company's public website. More »
This news item, spotted on the Orange County Register's police blotter, is brief but intriguing: a man in Mission Viejo, Calif. was so distraught that his cable had been shut off that he did the only logical thing: threatened to kill himself. The person he spoke to at Cox Cable, in turn, called the police to report a potential suicide at the man's address. More »
Andy's Cox Cable DVR/cable box received an upgrade last night. What exciting new features would his television receive? As it turns out, the upgrade included an impressive new feature: a big old advertising block on the bottom of the channel guide screen that wasn't there before. More »
John's wife used Cox's online customer service chat to negotiate a better deal on their cable service. Usually, this is an effective tactic. Twenty minutes after concluding the chat and signing up, she received a phone call from Cox—canceling the appointment to upgrade service and rescinding the deal. "Technology only goes so far. We are all only human," the representative told her. Which proves, at least, that the Internet representatives aren't robots. So that's something. More »
This morning, BillShrink delivered a karate chop to the cable cabal with a new service, currently in beta, that shows you how to get the best cable/tv/satellite/dish package for the best price. More »
It would be so easy to make jokes about Tiger Woods' club and balls being seen in 3D. But it's not gonna happen. Regardless, in spite of the fact that about 4.2 people have purchased 3D TVs — and that golf is probably the least interesting sport to televise, let alone in 3D, cable companies are lining up to broadcast the Masters golf tournament in its three-dimensional glory. More »
Christopher writes about a promotion from Cox that sounded pretty great. The cable company and ISP offered a free Playstation 3 slim to customers who either signed up for a new account or upgraded to faster broadband. The problem with such a great offer? People tend to tell their friends. And those friends tend to call Cox to see if they can get in on the deal, too. More »
How much bandwidth does the average consumer need? Well, according to the totally unbiased folks at America's major Internet service providers, more than they're probably using now. According to Time Warner, Grandma needs Roadrunner with PowerBoost in order for you to send her photos. And AT&T thinks you need at least 3 mpbs to use Facebook. What? More »
—>Christopher and his wife, Melanie, moved to New Orleans and started up Cox phone service, lured in by a yearlong long distance service that made their bill cheaper than it would have been had they opted for the basic phone plan. More »
—>Tamera accidentally paid her $134.61 Cox Cable bill twice, but instead of refunding or acknowledging the overpayment, Cox thought it would be fun to send Tamera an extra bill for $269. If she's lucky, Cox says they'll consider waiving their late fee. More »
—>It's pretty hard for Cox Cable to change the name on your account, as Keith and his wife (the original account owner) discovered recently. First they have to disconnect your service, then reconnect it under the new name—and that probably requires all sorts of paperwork and labor. Probably hours of work! Probably someone has to drive out to somewhere and manually do something!!! That's clearly why they hit Keith with a $20 Digital Activation Fee and a $20 Video Activation Fee. More »
—>Cox told reader Don that they would waive a $55 service fee they hadn't previously disclosed, but then changed their mind without telling him. Now Cox is telling Don that if he pays the $55, they'll return it to him as a credit next month. Yeah, sure they will. Should Don trust them? More »
—>Mr. Nguyen knows that you can get a cheaper cable bill just by asking, and he did just that. What he did not ask for was to be signed up for a contract plan because of this discount, and he especially would have preferred to be told this before he received a big nasty warning. His letter, inside. More »
—>Cox apparently doesn't understand that they need permission before billing for extras like sports and movie tiers. The cable provider surprised reader Adrienne with a $130 bill for a triple-play package that was supposed to cost $100 per month, including all taxes and fees. When Adrienne called to complain, Cox straightened out the situation by tacking on yet another unrequested charge, this time for Starz. More »
—>Lots of companies are pushing deals for their bundled internet, tv and phone plans, but which are best? Consumer Reports surveyed its readers and here's how they ranked the service providers: More »
The official list of bidders for the 700 mhz spectrum is out. Google Airwaves, LLC joins Verizon, Cox and AT&T in the ultimate spectrum battle. Get your popcorn ready. [Ars Technica] More »
—>You know, the cynic in us says that the answer to the question "Which ISPs Are Spying On You?" is "all of them," but Wired actually bothered to ask the 8 largest ISPs about their data retention policies. The sad part? Only 4 responded. More »
IN DEMAND also offered to make the Extra Innings subscription package available to other cable companies across the United States, MLB said. These operators also would be required to carry the MLB Channel once launched. More »
—>Cox has outsourced their 411 service to the Philippines, a frustrated San Diego consumer complains. "Bear" finds the operator's accents difficult to understand and claims they, "don't understand the intricacies of the English language." More »
—>Is this the first major salvo in the net neutrality wars? Silicon Valley Watcher reports Cox is blocking access by some of its users to Craigslist. More »
