 Review by nixen 
UPDATED: 52 days ago
member for 6.2 years, 3139 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Alexandria,Fairfax,VA
 $45 per month
 about 5 days
 "Service has been basically stable and speedy. The price-point has been better than my prior DSL solution *and* I have more speed"
 "Post sale customer service was utterly attrocious"
 "I'm hoping like hell that I never need technical support because these guys are a bunch of unprofessional clown-shoes"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
While the pre-sale was decent, everything after that was nightmarish.
The install was a self-install kit. Had to go to the local cable office to pick the kit up. The local cable office is an experience akin to the DMV. Once at home, the install kit was sort of incomplete. It comes with an automated setup kit (that turns out to not actually be necessary unless you plan to use their pointless @cox.net email), however, it prompts you for a username and password that they don't bother to include with your self-install kit.
My prior HSI solution was a DSL connection gatewayed to my home network through a multi-homed Solaris/ipfilter firewall. Prior to ordering the service, I'd spoken to a technician to verify that their service was just a basic Ethernet/DHCP provisioning, since my Solaris/ipfilter system was more than capable of front-ending such a connection. However, when I connected the modem to my gateway, things did not go smoothly.
So, I attempted to work with their technical support service via e-mail. I wanted a list of SOHO routers that were known to work with their offering. Their first response was to reply back that I could install their MacAffee crapware if I had security needs. I pointed out that I didn't have Windows systems nor was I interested in a software solution, I was interested in SOHO device, would they please send me a list? Their second reply was to point out that they only support Windows and Mac. I had already indicated in my emails that I was cognizant of that, thus my interest in a list of SOHO devices. So, I sent a third email reiterating my awareness of what was and wasn't supported and my desire for a list of SOHO devices. Their fourth email response was to ask me to speak to a representative via chat to help resolve my problems.
So, in an effort to resolve the problems and end the email stupidity, I initiated a chat session. The ever helpful "Maria's" first response, was the unhelpful "we don't support UNIX, we only support PC ad MAC, is there anything else I can help with" (well, gee, sweetheart, I could have sworn that Mac was UNIX), I informed her that I was aware of that but that I was trying to find someone who could suggest a SOHO device to work with the Cox modem. Unfortunately, she chose that moment to terminate the connection.
Nice to know that their technical support department doesn't listen, likes to waste your time and is rude to boot. Oh well, hopefully FIOS or some other alternative will present itself.
Followup comments:  
jchambers28
join:2007-05-12
Alma, AR | cox i have cox here in Arkansas there support is horrid and radicalise it seems like they don't want to help a customer out on anything. | |
|  |
nixen
Rockin' the Boxen
Premium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA
 ·Cox HSI
 ·Speakeasy
| Re: cox said by jchambers28 :i have cox here in Arkansas there support is horrid and radicalise it seems like they don't want to help a customer out on anything. Yeah... I don't really expect all that much from support people, especially when I'm running a unique configuration. However, I do expect them to at least: A) not intentionally waste my time; and B) not "hang up" on me in the middle of a call that they asked me to make. I mean, how hard is it to answer the question, "do you have a list of known-to-work SOHO routers? If so, could I have a copy of that list?"
Oh well...
--
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. -- Bertrand Russell | |
| geowil
join:2008-04-20
Laveen, AZ
·Qwest.net
·Cox HSI
| i agree, CS is usually horrible i dunno bout soho. but here is the list of what they do support.
»support.cox.com/sdccommon/asp/co···e87bd537
for the love of god, dont use the chat service. they lvl 1's on there are like lvl 0's lmao, and the lvl 2's are like lvl 1's.
in short LC service sucks, best to stick with the phone. | |
| |
nixen
Rockin' the Boxen
Premium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA
·Cox HSI
·Speakeasy
| Re: i agree, CS is usually horrible said by geowil :i dunno bout soho. but here is the list of what they do support. » support.cox.com/sdccommon/asp/co···e87bd537for the love of god, dont use the chat service. they lvl 1's on there are like lvl 0's lmao, and the lvl 2's are like lvl 1's. in short LC service sucks, best to stick with the phone. Yeah, those are the actual cable MODEMs - what plugs into the coax cable - if you don't want to get one from Cox. I was looking for a gateway device (router/firewall) to sit between the MODEM that comes with the self-install kit and the switch that the rest of my house plugs into (i.e., my XBox360, my NAS, my printers, my media center, computers). I was a little disappointed that they wouldn't/couldn't furnish me with a list like that. I mean, I can't be the only subscriber with a home network to protect.
--
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. -- Bertrand Russell | |
| | | geowil
join:2008-04-20
Laveen, AZ | Re: i agree, CS is usually horrible AH, in other words a router.
any router will work.
i just installed a netgear yesterday to replace my old pos.
as long as the modem is something they support, you can use w/e router you want wireless or otherwise. | |
| | | |
nixen
Rockin' the Boxen
Premium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA
·Cox HSI
·Speakeasy
| Re: i agree, CS is usually horrible said by geowil :AH, in other words a router. any router will work. i just installed a netgear yesterday to replace my old pos. as long as the modem is something they support, you can use w/e router you want wireless or otherwise. Yeah, I just wanted someone to own up to that, somewhere.
Ultimately, what it appeared to come down to was that, having run through the "FastConnect 2.0" software with my laptop, I had confused the upstream DHCP server (guessing, here). Such that, when I put my router on the line, their DHCP server was slow to provision the link.
My routing device was "impatient" (and apparently "leaky"), such that it ended up snaking DHCP information from the interior DHCP server and applying it to the exterior interface. Fortunately, I was consoled in via it's management port and could see this. I was able to hard-down the interior NIC and re-DHCP the exterior NIC. Once it was able to wait long enough for the initial grab, subsequent reboots of the router set everything up correctly (the exterior DHCP was subsequently nearly instantaneous rather than taking the nearly three minutes for the first successful DHCP).
It was fun and their tech support people were of no help. Granted, I could have avoided it all if I'd have used something like a Linksys to begin with. However, I'd been using the firewall system for YEARS with my DSL link and didn't see any reason to just change when, supposedly, "any router would just work".
--
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. -- Bertrand Russell | |
| lloydhudson
join:2002-09-07
Tucson, AZ
| COX Support While Cox support (Tucson) is not at the same levels it was in 1996 I still have pretty good luck with them. Tech just left here in the last few minutes. Seemed knowledgeable and suggested a few tweaks (not Cox related) and left direct contact number for recall. service call initiated yesterday, so no I did not get same day but did get early AM next day. He also initiated work order to get drop changed out. Drop was changed when I moved in, so less than 5 years. I still miss Northwood (I think that was their name) DSL from 1995 or 1997 but something that good and inexpensive cannot survive LOL | |
| |
nixen
Rockin' the Boxen
Premium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA
·Cox HSI
·Speakeasy
| Re: COX Support said by lloydhudson :While Cox support (Tucson) is not at the same levels it was in 1996 I still have pretty good luck with them. Tech just left here in the last few minutes. Seemed knowledgeable and suggested a few tweaks (not Cox related) and left direct contact number for recall. service call initiated yesterday, so no I did not get same day but did get early AM next day. He also initiated work order to get drop changed out. Drop was changed when I moved in, so less than 5 years. I still miss Northwood (I think that was their name) DSL from 1995 or 1997 but something that good and inexpensive cannot survive LOL Yeah, I used to have SpeakEasy DSL. Part of why I had them was their service. Unfortunately, that service came at a price. The price stayed, but the service that came at the price eventually waned.
--
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. -- Bertrand Russell | |
| crazymerlin
join:2006-10-12
Queen Creek, AZ
| Cox CS is a joke! We have been with Cox for years now and honestly, our 11 year old boy is more tech savvy than their CS.
However, if you get a chance talk to their engineers. Those guys do not BS you, always give you their card and say to call them direct if you have issues, and generally laugh when you mention the crap CS you get.
Go engineers! | |
| | | | | crazymerlin
join:2006-10-12
Queen Creek, AZ
| Re: Cox CS is a joke! OK, I know that COX CS are bad but they aren't the worst. I called GoDaddy one day to ask why a server I had hosted with them was being so slow...their reply:
"Well if it was fine yesterday, then maybe its just the internet."
Like the internet is some lazy beast that has a bad day every now and then! | |
| | | |
| Forums » comments on review of Cox HSI |
|
(62)
(56)
(47)