Almost exactly 2 years ago Cox did some maintenance outside and when they
put things back together, they put the wrong limiter clip in my external
cable box. I had for years had the 500 Mbps service and they knocked me
back to my previous service of 300 Mbps.

I spoke to many tech-support people in the days since. The first one
insisted I had to restart my computer. I told her I didn’t have a computer.
I was on an iPhone. She told me I had to restart the iPhone. I told her
that the text chat we were on would be gone. She insisted my phone would
come back on and the chat would light right up. I knew she was crazy, but I also realized there was no further point in talking to her. I did make her
give me case numbers and references so I could start over with the new guy, which she did.

So after I restarted the phone and she was gone, I got a new guy and gave
him the numbers and he refused to do anything with it and we started over.
He said I had to buy all new equipment and that you have to replace your equipment every two years And that you have to buy it from the Cox store.
May I point out that he was lying? Anyway, he refused to send anybody out without charging me $75 even though I pay $10 a month to get free service calls.

Since I was getting the 300 speed, I tried to get him to knock me back down
to the 300 service I was actually getting and he adamantly refused and said
you can’t ever go back.

So I didn’t bother any further with him. And in the weeks and months that followed called several times and always hit the barrier where they won’t send somebody out without charging me $75. A couple of times they got them
to agree to a free service call but then I immediately got an email that
said if I didn’t cancel it, they were going to charge me $75.

Two weeks ago, they knocked out my service on and off for most of a week
for planned maintenance.

Every night between 4 and 6 AM the DVR reboots to get a program guide
update. This is supposed to take five minutes. Since the recent planned maintenance, the reboot time takes longer every day. Right now I am at something like 17 hours of it trying to reboot and trying software reboots
that simply tell you to unplug it instead and I’ve unplugged it a dozen
times ranging from a few seconds to a half an hour. The poor thing just
keeps trying to reboot.

So barring a miracle, it’s dead, Jim.

Since Cox dumped our email service a year or two ago the brand really
doesn’t matter so much to me anymore. And every possible avenue results in
me losing the DVR and all the accrued programming so I see no point in
keeping the service. Also, with a new DVR, they insist on sending out an installer who will spend four hours measuring the signal in every room in
my house and putting in repeaters. Said repeaters require you not only
renting them monthly but paying a usage fee as well. This ain’t gonna
happen.

So my first step will be to try T-Mobile wireless home Internet. I’ve
heard nothing but good things about it (until quite recently where people
are saying that it’s going out and slowing down a lot as they get overextended for the current infrastructure). My big problem is figuring
out all the stuff I have connected and what my new set up will be. The
T-Mobile modem needs to be in a window and things connected to it
wirelessly. So I guess I need a router that will connect to it wirelessly
that I can plug the hardwire equipment into and hopefully let the Wi-Fi equipment go straight to the modem.

Buckle your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.





--
The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2025-07-23 04:09:44 +0000, anim8rfsk said:
<snip>

So my first step will be to try T-Mobile wireless home Internet. I’ve heard nothing but good things about it (until quite recently where people
are saying that it’s going out and slowing down a lot as they get overextended for the current infrastructure). My big problem is figuring
out all the stuff I have connected and what my new set up will be. The T-Mobile modem needs to be in a window and things connected to it
wirelessly. So I guess I need a router that will connect to it wirelessly that I can plug the hardwire equipment into and hopefully let the Wi-Fi equipment go straight to the modem.

Since I'm not in America, I don't know about T-mobile in particular,
but we have been using a home mobile phone internet connection for a
few years now. First with Vodafone NZ when I had to replace my dead
computer and could no longer use the dial-up modem, and then switched
to Spark (previously Telecom NZ) when the copper line service was
stopped for for our home phone.

Both were using their supplied modem-routers and they worked / work
fine. The modem-router sits on a low cabinet beside my work desk
roughly in the middle of the house the house. It is near to a window
(about 2-3 metres away), but not actually in the window nor direct line
of sight to the window because of the desk. The modem-router is facing
away from an internal wall, on the other side of which is the house's
main entrance hallway. My Mac is plugged into the modem-router via
ethernet and the iPad connects wirelessly. Our home phone line is via a
main base cordless phone plugged into the modem-router and there is
another cordless phone in the kitchen that wirelessly connects to that
base phone. Someone else has a Samsung mobile phone that also connects wirelessly to the modem-router for internet when at home. The two
wireless devices and the two cordless home phones work fine from any
room in the house or in the garden. (Being a suburban area, I can see
many other wirelss networks in use in other surrounding houses, plus no
doubt there are some hidden ones like ours.)

T-mobile has three different modem-routers on their website, but they
all have two ethernet ports on the back, so you should be able to plug
in any devices that you want to have a wired connection. You would only
need a separate router / switch / hub box if you've got more than two
wired devices. All three modem-routers do have a USB port too, so you
might be able to use a USB hub and some USB-Ethernet adaptors to
connect more wired devices, although the USB ports on modem-routers
usually aren't designed for that usage. <https://www.t-mobile.com/support/home-internet/t-mobile-gateway?INTNAV=tNav%3ASupport%3AWiFiGatewayDevice#gateway>

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tue, 22 Jul 2025 21:09:44 -0700, anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net>
wrote:

Almost exactly 2 years ago Cox did some maintenance outside and when they
put things back together, they put the wrong limiter clip in my external >cable box. I had for years had the 500 Mbps service and they knocked me
back to my previous service of 300 Mbps.

I spoke to many tech-support people in the days since. The first one
insisted I had to restart my computer. I told her I didn’t have a computer. >I was on an iPhone. She told me I had to restart the iPhone. I told her
that the text chat we were on would be gone. She insisted my phone would
come back on and the chat would light right up. I knew she was crazy, but I >also realized there was no further point in talking to her. I did make her >give me case numbers and references so I could start over with the new guy, >which she did.

I had one try to get me to do that once. I refused since I knew it
would disconnect us and got her to pass me off to someone with some
common sense.

So after I restarted the phone and she was gone, I got a new guy and gave
him the numbers and he refused to do anything with it and we started over.
He said I had to buy all new equipment and that you have to replace your >equipment every two years And that you have to buy it from the Cox store.
May I point out that he was lying? Anyway, he refused to send anybody out >without charging me $75 even though I pay $10 a month to get free service >calls.

Sounds like he was either an idiot or was trying to get you to spend
money you don't need. Unless you were using your own personal modem
there's nothing to buy as whether the company provides free equipment
or has you pay a monthly free, the equipment as in the cable modem is
owned by the cable company. So there's nothing for you to buy. Also
where did he come up with this two year term? Is this all some way to
paid his bonus (assuming the purchase would get assigned to him) ?

Since I was getting the 300 speed, I tried to get him to knock me back down >to the 300 service I was actually getting and he adamantly refused and said >you can’t ever go back.

That's clearly not right. So long as it is a service level they are
offering everyone it's available to everyone, even you.

So I didn’t bother any further with him. And in the weeks and months that >followed called several times and always hit the barrier where they won’t >send somebody out without charging me $75. A couple of times they got them
to agree to a free service call but then I immediately got an email that
said if I didn’t cancel it, they were going to charge me $75.

I guess Cox is truly hurting for money. I had Comcast try to pull that
on me but when I insisted they dropped the fee as the problems I
reported where always outside the home (even though they always
insisted on starting inside.)

Two weeks ago, they knocked out my service on and off for most of a week
for planned maintenance.

Every night between 4 and 6 AM the DVR reboots to get a program guide
update. This is supposed to take five minutes. Since the recent planned >maintenance, the reboot time takes longer every day. Right now I am at >something like 17 hours of it trying to reboot and trying software reboots >that simply tell you to unplug it instead and I’ve unplugged it a dozen >times ranging from a few seconds to a half an hour. The poor thing just
keeps trying to reboot.

That should be more than enough to get a free service call to check
out and likely replace the DVR. Though that would also likely mean
losing what ever you have recorded on there unless it is in the cloud.

So barring a miracle, it’s dead, Jim.

Since Cox dumped our email service a year or two ago the brand really >doesn’t matter so much to me anymore. And every possible avenue results in >me losing the DVR and all the accrued programming so I see no point in >keeping the service. Also, with a new DVR, they insist on sending out an >installer who will spend four hours measuring the signal in every room in
my house and putting in repeaters. Said repeaters require you not only >renting them monthly but paying a usage fee as well. This ain’t gonna >happen.

They may want to do that but it should only matter if you want the
repeaters. I've only ever used the single TV in my living room so
spending time testing out any other room would be a waste of mine and
their time as I'm not putting their equipment in any other room.

So my first step will be to try T-Mobile wireless home Internet. I’ve >heard nothing but good things about it (until quite recently where people
are saying that it’s going out and slowing down a lot as they get >overextended for the current infrastructure).

Yeah, I've heard about the slowdowns that can happen during prime time
hours but otherwise it seems like a decent offering.

My big problem is figuring
out all the stuff I have connected and what my new set up will be. The >T-Mobile modem needs to be in a window and things connected to it
wirelessly. So I guess I need a router that will connect to it wirelessly >that I can plug the hardwire equipment into and hopefully let the Wi-Fi >equipment go straight to the modem.

Buckle your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Best of luck to you.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2025-07-23 04:09:44 +0000, anim8rfsk said:

Since Cox dumped our email service a year or two ago the brand really doesn’t matter so much to me anymore. And every possible avenue results in me losing the DVR and all the accrued programming so I see no point in keeping the service.

I could never get my head around DVR's and recording a lot of TV
programming that you may or may not be interested in viewing at some
point in the distant future. I would guess the majority of people who
do that never get around to watching most of what's recorded.

My cable provider offers a "CatchUp TV" feature that they say saves all
the channels they offer (unless a channel doesn't allow it for whatever contractual reasons) on their end for 4 or 5 days. I use that quite a
bit so I can watch TV on my schedule when it's more convenient, but
rarely for something more than two days old (kind of a PITB to scroll
back farther than that anyway).

Almost exactly 2 years ago Cox did some maintenance outside and when they
put things back together, they put the wrong limiter clip in my external cable box. I had for years had the 500 Mbps service and they knocked me
back to my previous service of 300 Mbps.

Ever since my provider upgraded me (forcefully, I was one of the last
holdouts) to fiber about a year ago I've been coasting along at
635/download, 436/upload.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2025-07-23 12:09 AM, anim8rfsk wrote:

Almost exactly 2 years ago Cox did some maintenance outside and when they
put things back together, they put the wrong limiter clip in my external cable box. I had for years had the 500 Mbps service and they knocked me
back to my previous service of 300 Mbps.

I spoke to many tech-support people in the days since. The first one
insisted I had to restart my computer. I told her I didn’t have a computer. I was on an iPhone. She told me I had to restart the iPhone. I told her
that the text chat we were on would be gone. She insisted my phone would
come back on and the chat would light right up. I knew she was crazy, but I also realized there was no further point in talking to her. I did make her give me case numbers and references so I could start over with the new guy, which she did.

So after I restarted the phone and she was gone, I got a new guy and gave
him the numbers and he refused to do anything with it and we started over.
He said I had to buy all new equipment and that you have to replace your equipment every two years And that you have to buy it from the Cox store.
May I point out that he was lying? Anyway, he refused to send anybody out without charging me $75 even though I pay $10 a month to get free service calls.

Since I was getting the 300 speed, I tried to get him to knock me back down to the 300 service I was actually getting and he adamantly refused and said you can’t ever go back.

So I didn’t bother any further with him. And in the weeks and months that followed called several times and always hit the barrier where they won’t send somebody out without charging me $75. A couple of times they got them
to agree to a free service call but then I immediately got an email that
said if I didn’t cancel it, they were going to charge me $75.

Two weeks ago, they knocked out my service on and off for most of a week
for planned maintenance.

Every night between 4 and 6 AM the DVR reboots to get a program guide
update. This is supposed to take five minutes. Since the recent planned maintenance, the reboot time takes longer every day. Right now I am at something like 17 hours of it trying to reboot and trying software reboots that simply tell you to unplug it instead and I’ve unplugged it a dozen times ranging from a few seconds to a half an hour. The poor thing just
keeps trying to reboot.

So barring a miracle, it’s dead, Jim.

Since Cox dumped our email service a year or two ago the brand really doesn’t matter so much to me anymore. And every possible avenue results in me losing the DVR and all the accrued programming so I see no point in keeping the service. Also, with a new DVR, they insist on sending out an installer who will spend four hours measuring the signal in every room in
my house and putting in repeaters. Said repeaters require you not only renting them monthly but paying a usage fee as well. This ain’t gonna happen.

So my first step will be to try T-Mobile wireless home Internet. I’ve heard nothing but good things about it (until quite recently where people
are saying that it’s going out and slowing down a lot as they get overextended for the current infrastructure). My big problem is figuring
out all the stuff I have connected and what my new set up will be. The T-Mobile modem needs to be in a window and things connected to it
wirelessly. So I guess I need a router that will connect to it wirelessly that I can plug the hardwire equipment into and hopefully let the Wi-Fi equipment go straight to the modem.

Buckle your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

That is some seriously awful customer service! Is StarLink an option for
you? I know it gives internet access so presumably it also makes
streaming available but I'm not sure if that would give you the channels
you want.


--
Rhino

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Jul 22, 2025 at 9:09:44 PM PDT, "anim8rfsk" <anim8rfsk@cox.net> wrote:

So after I restarted the phone and she was gone, I got a new guy and gave
him the numbers and he refused to do anything with it and we started over.
He said I had to buy all new equipment and that you have to replace your equipment every two years And that you have to buy it from the Cox store.
May I point out that he was lying? Anyway, he refused to send anybody out without charging me $75 even though I pay $10 a month to get free service calls.

Ask for the money back you've paid for the free service calls-- since that obviously doesn't actually get you free service calls-- and use that to pay
for the tech to come out.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

super70s <super70s@super70s.invalid> wrote:

On 2025-07-23 04:09:44 +0000, anim8rfsk said:

Since Cox dumped our email service a year or two ago the brand really
doesn’t matter so much to me anymore. And every possible avenue results in >> me losing the DVR and all the accrued programming so I see no point in
keeping the service.

I could never get my head around DVR's and recording a lot of TV
programming that you may or may not be interested in viewing at some
point in the distant future. I would guess the majority of people who
do that never get around to watching most of what's recorded.

I’m still working on the backlog from the months I spent in the hospital
last year.

My cable provider offers a "CatchUp TV" feature that they say saves all
the channels they offer (unless a channel doesn't allow it for whatever contractual reasons) on their end for 4 or 5 days. I use that quite a
bit so I can watch TV on my schedule when it's more convenient, but
rarely for something more than two days old (kind of a PITB to scroll
back farther than that anyway).

Interesting. Nothing like that here.

Decades ago in London, you could get a 30 day DVR that recorded literally everything for the last 30 days (it helped that the BBC only had a couple
of channels). But you had to buy the hardware and it was thousands of
dollars so it turned out to be very popular.

Almost exactly 2 years ago Cox did some maintenance outside and when they
put things back together, they put the wrong limiter clip in my external
cable box. I had for years had the 500 Mbps service and they knocked me
back to my previous service of 300 Mbps.

Ever since my provider upgraded me (forcefully, I was one of the last holdouts) to fiber about a year ago I've been coasting along at
635/download, 436/upload.

I was getting 500/10 (Cox limits your upload for the stated purpose of
making sure you don’t host porn on their system). When they put the wrong clip on, it took me down to <299 (it never ever ever crosses the 300 mark).



They ran the freaking fiber through my front yard (illegally as there’s a narrow band of easement that follows the sidewalk, but they cut corners literally by going diagonally through my yard) and yet in the years since
they did that they never offered me the service.



--
The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

On Jul 22, 2025 at 9:09:44 PM PDT, "anim8rfsk" <anim8rfsk@cox.net> wrote:

So after I restarted the phone and she was gone, I got a new guy and gave
him the numbers and he refused to do anything with it and we started over. >> He said I had to buy all new equipment and that you have to replace your
equipment every two years And that you have to buy it from the Cox store.
May I point out that he was lying? Anyway, he refused to send anybody out
without charging me $75 even though I pay $10 a month to get free service
calls.

Ask for the money back you've paid for the free service calls-- since that obviously doesn't actually get you free service calls-- and use that to pay for the tech to come out.

I’ve canceled all the service calls when they tried to get me to accept the $75 fee.



--
The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2025-07-23 08:51:22 +0000, super70s said:

On 2025-07-23 04:09:44 +0000, anim8rfsk said:

Since Cox dumped our email service a year or two ago the brand really
doesn’t matter so much to me anymore. And every possible avenue results in >> me losing the DVR and all the accrued programming so I see no point in
keeping the service.

I could never get my head around DVR's and recording a lot of TV
programming that you may or may not be interested in viewing at some
point in the distant future. I would guess the majority of people who
do that never get around to watching most of what's recorded.

We use the Sky TV box via satelitte dish to record shows to watch them
when we want to, using the series link to record each new episode
(other than when Sky stuffs up their data entry!). It also means we can fast-forward through the advert breaks. We watch every show recorded
and then delete them ... even if some new shows are only watched for
the first 5-10 minutes before being deleted as rubbish. It is very rare
for the box's capacity to ever get below 20% free space, usually it is
in the 70%-80% range.

We only ever use internet streaming (via the iPad or computer) in the
extremely rare times the recorder failed to record something or missed
the ending.

My cable provider offers a "CatchUp TV" feature that they say saves all
the channels they offer (unless a channel doesn't allow it for whatever contractual reasons) on their end for 4 or 5 days. I use that quite a
bit so I can watch TV on my schedule when it's more convenient, but
rarely for something more than two days old (kind of a PITB to scroll
back farther than that anyway).

Almost exactly 2 years ago Cox did some maintenance outside and when they
put things back together, they put the wrong limiter clip in my external
cable box. I had for years had the 500 Mbps service and they knocked me
back to my previous service of 300 Mbps.

Ever since my provider upgraded me (forcefully, I was one of the last holdouts) to fiber about a year ago I've been coasting along at
635/download, 436/upload.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)