So I just got off the phone with Cox Communications, I am in Oklahoma and I am on the 150mbs plan which they no longer offer. I have this plan for 59.99 per month and they quoted me the 100mbs plan for the same price of 59.99 per month with a 2 yr price lock on it they also quoted me the 300mbs plan for 69.99 per month for 2 yr price lock. Would you stay at the 59.99 price and loose 50mb or would you go with the 300mb plan for 10.00 more for 2 yrs locked at that price?

Neither... I terminated my COX account yesterday and I'm now tethering my laptop and my TV through my iPhone.... Made no sense to be paying for internet twice. Especially when COX service was poor in my area to begin with.

Neither... I terminated my COX account yesterday and I'm now tethering my laptop and my TV through my iPhone.... Made no sense to be paying for internet twice. Especially when COX service was poor in my area to begin with.

That wont work as work from home over a VPN and need a pretty robust connection for doing uploads to our server at work and downloads from the server.

My situation. I would go with the $59.99 price lock. Thanks for posting this. I am paying 79.99 for less mb, so I need to make a phone call to find out why.

i'd consider myself a pretty heavy internet user and 50mbps has been plenty for me... i'd go with the $60 option.

Do whatever gets a price lock. Otherwise they will jack it up like crazy. I think the 100 plan is good enough for most people.

Just depends on what you do. If you have three devices all streaming TV/movies/youtube throughout the house I'd definitely go with the 300 mbps. Otherwise if you're a standard user and don't do crazy things like stream HD movies, 100 mbps should be perfectly fine.

Just depends on what you do. If you have three devices all streaming TV/movies/youtube throughout the house I'd definitely go with the 300 mbps. Otherwise if you're a standard user and don't do crazy things like stream HD movies, 100 mbps should be perfectly fine.

150mps is plenty to stream many devices at once. We do at that speed and browse the internet on other devices all the time. For example

"For HD-quality playback, Netflix recommends 5 megabits per second, and for Ultra HD (4K) quality, it recommends 25 megabits per second. Note that these are the minimums for one stream."

Just extrapolate from there and you'll see 150mbps is plenty.

I have ATT's gigabit. I upgraded from Cox's 150 mbps... I do plenty of online gaming and streaming. Truth be told, the extra 850mbps didn't really make any measurable difference in anything. Except for when I go to Speedtest, I get a higher number.

So I just got off the phone with Cox Communications, I am in Oklahoma and I am on the 150mbs plan which they no longer offer. I have this plan for 59.99 per month and they quoted me the 100mbs plan for the same price of 59.99 per month with a 2 yr price lock on it they also quoted me the 300mbs plan for 69.99 per month for 2 yr price lock. Would you stay at the 59.99 price and loose 50mb or would you go with the 300mb plan for 10.00 more for 2 yrs locked at that price?

They sure didn't offer this to me a couple months back. They wanted to go from 59.99 for the 150 to 84.99. Told me if I didn't like it I had two choices, accept it and whine about it or accept it and STFU. If they had offered the $59.99, even for 100, I would have been fine, I never upgraded my modem to go above that anyway.

Soooooooo hoping OEC builds out the fiber in Mustang.

Dropped Cox completely and now am on AT&T Fiber at $40 per month I think on the 50mbps plan - see no difference in what I had with Cox, except bill is about half as much as it was -- now have HULU, Prime, and NetFlix paying about $100 month total including AT&T-- used to have Cox second-tier cable and internet and paid $189 per month

Dropped Cox completely and now am on AT&T Fiber at $40 per month I think on the 50mbps plan - see no difference in what I had with Cox, except bill is about half as much as it was -- now have HULU, Prime, and NetFlix paying about $100 month total including AT&T-- used to have Cox second-tier cable and internet and paid $189 per month

At $40/month for 50Mbps, there is nothing I am more sure of than that is not fiber. It's AT&T U-Verse, although I am equally sure AT&T told you it was fiber.

At $40/month for 50Mbps, there is nothing I am more sure of than that is not fiber. It's AT&T U-Verse, although I am equally sure AT&T told you it was fiber.


It is Fiber, AT&T has many different speed tiers over their Fiber network

14731

https://www.att.net/speedtiers

One of the battery-not-included kind of notices you have to consider when making this kind of change isn't just how *you* use the connection, but what's the typical number of *simultaneous* streams you may have to support. If you've got just one or two people each streaming a 4K movie, that's two ~25mbps streams or ~50 mbps *sustained* total, but if you have a house with a couple of kids and they're playing a game that relies on streaming, that number can sneak up on you very readily. Lastly, as the number of point-to-point appliances increases, so does their relatively incremental capacity use as well, eg thermostats that pull down weather reports, refrigerators that take pictures of shelves, Google Home and Alexa devices. Also, to achieve the highest data rates available through most cable ISP's requires you have DOCSIS 3.0 or 3.1 modem that supports what they call multi-channel bonding. If you upgrade the back-end speed but don't have the hardware to support it on your side, you're throwing money away. And I always suggest that people buy their own modems rather than rent them from Cox or whomever.

A factor that will make streaming speeds or capacities somewhat less of an issue in the months to come is the encoding mechanism used for video, particularly to support 4K streams. A new standard is making the rounds that will allow streaming capacities presently just not possible with current encoding formats. This will affect not merely cable outlets, but over-the-air stations as well - the trick is that the new standard will almost certainly rely on hardware decoding, meaning your playback devices must have the actual decoding hardware built in - a software-only option probably won't be satisfactory because it will just be too slow. That means new hardware for everyone is likely on tap over the next few years as streaming sources adopt the new standard.

The other part of that is your in-house WiFi. You can have a four-million megazip Internet connection, but if your WiFi constrains it to, say, 5mbps, the extra capacity is extraneous. And one of the most infuriating Cox ads is the one for their "blanket" or "panoramic" wifi - that's some really annoying Cox advertising nonsense for wifi with repeaters....

We are building a new house, and while I didn’t spring for paying builder markups for network cable I did install conduit in every room to make it easy enough for me to run my own Cat6 wiring after we move in.

We are building a new house, and while I didn’t spring for paying builder markups for network cable I did install conduit in every room to make it easy enough for me to run my own Cat6 wiring after we move in.

If you don't mind doing that after the fact, power to ya, but man, if those walls are exposed now, I'd darned sure evaluate the hassle factor of putting it in after the fact, even with conduit. Just my $0.02. Crawling around in my attic isn't a fun proposition, and I've already put one foot through the floor in so doing....

I am paying $94/month for 300 MBPS with Cox. It's this high because all my other stuff is with ATT. Saw they had a promo for 12 months for $69.99/month. I queued up the live chat online and the said it was only as an introductory offer for new users, which wasn't stated anywhere in the terms and conditions. Looks like I might be heading to the cox store after work.

Moving to OKC in a week and haven't done much research on internet providers in the area yet. Are Cox and AT&T the main/best providers in the area? I'll be in the Linwood neighborhood and was looking for the best bang for my buck for internet in terms of speed.

So I just got off the phone with Cox Communications, I am in Oklahoma and I am on the 150mbs plan which they no longer offer. I have this plan for 59.99 per month and they quoted me the 100mbs plan for the same price of 59.99 per month with a 2 yr price lock on it they also quoted me the 300mbs plan for 69.99 per month for 2 yr price lock. Would you stay at the 59.99 price and loose 50mb or would you go with the 300mb plan for 10.00 more for 2 yrs locked at that price?

Does 2yr price lock mean a 2yr contract? Where you cannot leave without penalty?

Moving to OKC in a week and haven't done much research on internet providers in the area yet. Are Cox and AT&T the main/best providers in the area? I'll be in the Linwood neighborhood and was looking for the best bang for my buck for internet in terms of speed.

May not be best bang for buck, as much as duopoly for buck. I currently have AT&T, and I pay 90 for 1 gbps up/down. I've seen it for 80 t hough. I got it when it just came out.

Moving to OKC in a week and haven't done much research on internet providers in the area yet. Are Cox and AT&T the main/best providers in the area? I'll be in the Linwood neighborhood and was looking for the best bang for my buck for internet in terms of speed.

Best? More accurate to say only. There are some fringe offerings, none really acceptable.

Well I resigned with Cox Communications again for another 2 yrs of internet only for 59.99. I have gotten it at this price for 4 yrs already. Only thing is I had to drop down to the Preferred 100mbps speed to get it at that price as they no longer offer the Premier speed of 150mbps so yeah i am paying the same for less speed but when I did a speed test on the new speed I was getting around 130 down load speed so I don't think I will notice any difference. I could have gotten the next speed up which was 300mbps for 69.99 per month but I couldnt justify spending an extra 10.00 a month for speed I really do not need and this keeps my budget for internet the same. Hopefully in 2 yrs there will be more internet provider competition out there and I can get a better deal from COX or go elsewhere.

Well I resigned with Cox Communications again for another 2 yrs of internet only for 59.99. I have gotten it at this price for 4 yrs already. Only thing is I had to drop down to the Preferred 100mbps speed to get it at that price as they no longer offer the Premier speed of 150mbps so yeah i am paying the same for less speed but when I did a speed test on the new speed I was getting around 130 down load speed so I don't think I will notice any difference. I could have gotten the next speed up which was 300mbps for 69.99 per month but I couldnt justify spending an extra 10.00 a month for speed I really do not need and this keeps my budget for internet the same. Hopefully in 2 yrs there will be more internet provider competition out there and I can get a better deal from COX or go elsewhere.

Did you go in store or call? I tried to renegotiate my 300mbps down from $95/month I am paying to the $69/mo and they said it was only for new customers.

Did you go in store or call? I tried to renegotiate my 300mbps down from $95/month I am paying to the $69/mo and they said it was only for new customers.

I dealt with the retention dept made 3 separate calls about this 2 on 1 day and 1 yesterday different rep each time. I had no issues and it was relatively painless. I asked each retention rep several tims if the 59.99 price was for 2 yrs and they said yes. The only offers they could make for me were the preferred 100 plan or the Ultimate 300mbps plan as they no longer sell the Premier plan. I logged into my account online 15 minutes later and say I was now on the new plan of Preferred 100

Update. Went to cox store and talked to a live sales associate. Gave me new promo deal for 12 months for Cox Ultimate 300 for $74.99/month like it was no big deal. I am going to the store for all my "threatening to leave" situations from now on.

I've had the ultimate for about 2 months now at $69.99.

I've had the ultimate for about 2 months now at $69.99.

Just realized you said they told you this price was for new customers.

Just noticed another rate increase in this month's bill. 50Mb went from 79.99 to 83.99. It was 74.99 18 months ago. Almost a 15% increase.

I wish we had some alternatives. (ie, google)

Just noticed another rate increase in this month's bill. 50Mb went from 79.99 to 83.99. It was 74.99 18 months ago. Almost a 15% increase.

I wish we had some alternatives. (ie, google)

Yep. The more people move away from cable they will just charge out the ass for internet. OEC can't come soon enough to Norman.

I also hate that my "other options" to paying higher for Cox, is to downgrade my package or switch over to AT&T, which is currently at $80 for the same internet... So much for competition! Why are cable providers allowed to operate this way? Most of the metro only gets one or the other and the areas that get both only get AT&T or Cox. Is there really no incentive for another competitor to enter the market? How does it work in other metro areas?

Just noticed another rate increase in this month's bill. 50Mb went from 79.99 to 83.99. It was 74.99 18 months ago. Almost a 15% increase.

I wish we had some alternatives. (ie, google)

Google Fiber is not coming to OKC. It's dead.

Google Fiber is not coming to OKC. It's dead.

on pause while they re-evaluate their plan for expansion isn't dead... it's just not happening in the near or mid future

on pause while they re-evaluate their plan for expansion isn't dead... it's just not happening in the near or mid future

I agree that Google Fiber is dead -- because of technology advances. 5G Internet will become the home Internet provider of the future. There are 4 companies that have purchased bandwidth that will enable them to offer 5G service which will be faster and cheaper than the Gigabit service that Cox now provides people willing to pay. AT&T, Verizon, a combo of T-Mobile and Sprint, and Dish Network are building their 5G services to cover the nation. They will not have Cox's 1 terrabyte limits and hopefully will offer unlimited Internet service for around $50 per month. Cox, of course, will lower its price and provide unlimited streaming at no additional cost to match its new competition.

I had to drop Netflix and switch streaming service providers to Sling TV which has a way to control the bandwidth your straming services utilize (in Sling's settings) so I didn't exceed Cox's 1 terrabyte limit. Cox will give you 1.5 terrabytes of streaming downloads for an extra $30/month or for $50/month extra you can have unlimited streaming. I just didn't want to pay the extra expense every month.

While I agree 5G is the future, I don't agree that it's the nail in the coffin to fiber some think, and AT&T is already doing an excellent job of attempting to ruin the reputation, for some reason. I mean, it's not a shock from the company that sells DSL connections and tells people it's fiber, but it's confusing. There are pros and cons with each technology, and while one of the cons of fiber is getting it deployed, that's actually one of the cons with wireless as well (5G is going to need a looooooooot of access points). Add to that SOMETHING is going to be connected to a neighborhood access point, and let's be honest, it's going to be fiber. These two technologies go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Here's a story about how Google Fiber has failed in Louisville:

From CNET: https://www.cnet.com/news/google-fibers-secret-weapon-in-its-gigabit-comeback-has-failed/

Google Fiber's secret weapon in its gigabit comeback has failed (https://www.cnet.com/news/google-fibers-secret-weapon-in-its-gigabit-comeback-has-failed/)
An experimental process for more cheaply and quickly rolling out speedy fiber internet didn't pan out, forcing Google Fiber to pull out of Louisville.

BY
JASON HINER
FEBRUARY 7, 2019 10:00 AM PST

Google's (https://www.cnet.com/google/) trick to more rapidly and cheaply deploy its super-speedy Google Fiber (https://www.cnet.com/tags/google-fiber/)project has hit a wall, complicating the company's broader attempt to get its gigabit service back on track across the nation.

The internet titan had pinned its hopes on an experiment called "shallow trenching," which enabled it to deploy gigabit internet in Louisville in just five months (https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-google-fiber-launched-in-louisville-in-just-5-months/) and drastically outpace rival AT&T Fiber. But a Google Fiber spokesperson said problems with the process will force Google Fiber to cease operations in Louisville (https://fiber.googleblog.com/2019/02/louisville_7.html). Google is informing customers Thursday that their service will end on April 15.

It's a massive setback for Google Fiber, which "paused (https://www.cnet.com/news/google-fiber-pause-rollout-october-2016/)" operations in October 2016 but rolled out in Louisville and San Antonio in 2017 as part of a quiet Google Fiber 2.0 (https://www.techrepublic.com/article/google-fiber-2-0-targets-the-city-where-it-will-stage-its-comeback-as-at-t-fiber-prepares-to-go/) comeback, using cutting-edge techniques to control costs and outflank traditional telecom companies. The service was supposed to be a speedier, less costly alternative to your standard cable or phone provider, but Google encountered the same problem as everyone else: the insane costs of laying down physical fiber lines.

In the other 10 metropolitan areas where Google Fiber is still operating -- Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; Huntsville, Alabama; Kansas City, Missouri; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; Orange County, California; Salt Lake City/Provo, Utah; and San Antonio -- it'll continue to put more fiber in the ground and sign up new customers. A Google Fiber spokesperson also told CNET that it'll learn from the failure in Louisville and improve its deployments in other cities.

The Google Fiber team cited the experimental construction methods used in Louisville as the reason behind the failure. That deployment technique, called "nanotrenching," enabled Google Fiber to deploy fiber at greater speed and lower cost.

The construction crews for Google Fiber in Louisville were digging trenches only two inches deep on the edges of roads, laying the fiber cables and then filling in the trench with a rubbery liquid that would solidify when it dried.

Within several months, though, some of the fiber cables started popping out of the trenches (https://www.wdrb.com/news/google-fiber-announces-plan-to-fix-exposed-fiber-lines-in/article_fbc678c3-66ef-5d5b-860c-2156bc2f0f0c.html) and were lying exposed in the streets. In other cities, such as San Antonio, Google Fiber has switched to "microtrenching," which uses a similar technique but goes at least six inches deep. The Google Fiber rollout will proceed in San Antonio.

It should be noted that AT&T (https://www.cnet.com/tags/att/) has been using various forms of shallow trenching since 2009 and hasn't seen similar issues. Google Fiber's build quality and customer service also got called into question when a number of Kansas City customers lost service for over a week (https://www.kansascity.com/news/business/technology/article225546970.html) during a January snowstorm.
The Google Fiber team indicated that it didn't have any plans to continue operations in Louisville, because it would have to rebuild its entire Louisville network from scratch to bring it up to the same standard of service of its other gigabit cities.

In notifying its Louisville customers of the shutdown, Google FIber is also letting them know they won't be billed for the final two months of service. That could be of little consolation to consumers who were thrilled to get the upgrade to an internet connection that features both upload and download speeds that can reach up to 1 gigabit per second -- far faster and more consistent than the cable and DSL connections most users will have to go back to.

AT&T Fiber operates in some of the same neighborhoods where Google Fiber deployed in Louisville, so it may provide a comparable alternative for some customers. An AT&T spokesperson confirmed that AT&T Fiber will continue to expand its network in Louisville. AT&T also noted that in late 2018 Louisville was one of the first 12 cities where it deployed its 5G network with mobile hotspots (https://www.cnet.com/news/at-ts-5g-network-is-live-if-you-live-in-the-right-city/), which can rival some of the lower-speed fiber connections.

When Google Fiber goes into a city, it usually spurs competition from other internet providers (https://hbr.org/2018/09/why-google-fiber-is-high-speed-internets-most-successful-failure) to increase their connection speeds and provide better customer service. That's been the case in Louisville, where AT&T and Spectrum have stepped up and offered their own forms of gigabit service, though AT&T charges more for its version and Spectrum's service features much lower upload speeds.

With nanotrenching off the table for Google Fiber, it's going to have to play the long game more like a traditional telecom provider. Companies like AT&T take a much slower, more measured approach in rolling out new networks, and AT&T thinks of fiber as an investment with a 100-year return.

Just noticed another rate increase in this month's bill. 50Mb went from 79.99 to 83.99. It was 74.99 18 months ago. Almost a 15% increase.

I wish we had some alternatives. (ie, google)

WOW that seems really high! I pay $73.49 for "Ultimate Internet Service" 300 Mbps. I have to call regularly to fight price increases.

During a power outage though we realized that we could probably survive off just the hot spot from our smart pone. We lost COX internet for a week and used my Sprint Hot Spot the entire week and it worked just fine for general internet usage and Netflix/Hulu streaming. Not so great at uploading/downloading large file or online gaming. But, if your needs are only occasionally and basic, some of you might look into just using your mobile hot spot. I have relatives that use mobile hot spots exclusively at their large home.