Cutting the COX Cable cord.....

[stile99]

I don't remember where, but I read where there was a recent case that ruled in favor of the consumer, in regards to having to lease the cable boxes. Cox is appealing. If the appeal gets turned down (which I hope and pray it does), there will be a major class action suit I am sure, and then perhaps we will have a better option.

If I recall correctly, a judge already overturned that decision saying that there was no proof that this was a burden to consumers. I guess buying her was cheaper for Cox than paying the customers they ripped off.

http://legalnewsline.com/stories/510...communications

"In her decision, Cauthron found that even though Cox required its customers to rent a set-top box to receive premium cable, the plaintiffs failed to provide sufficient evidence that the arrangement led to substantial foreclosure and injury. "

[shawnw]

My initial reaction to this was not so much that it was better than other options out there YET, but the mere fact that Google was throwing its full weight into this space (by full weight I mean leveraging the very valuable YouTube brand [note recent articles about ONE BILLION hours of YouTube videos watched daily]) means it will likely continually improve and eventually be as good if not better than other efforts in this space.

[Thomas Vu]

6 separate accounts and dvr also helps I think I saw the comparisons somewhere and I'm too lazy to look for them

[barrettd]

I believe the comparably priced package from PS Vue has better selection of channels.

[SoonerDave]

Looks promising. But, i agree with the article - missing critical channels. Also, COX seems to realize that (for now) most of us need their Internet service. So, as long as they can offer a good package of basic channels for the same or less than these 3rd party subscriptions, they know they'll keep many of their customers. I already pay less than $35/month for the TV portion of my bill and I get more channels.

Hopefully YouTube will offer a better lineup in the near future.

You have a TIVO Dvr with Cox, do you not? If so, do you need a cable card to make it work (I'm assuming you do), and can it serve as a DLNA/uPnP server? Does it allow you to discontinue the explicit "DVR service" from Cox proper?

Thanks

[BBatesokc]

You have a TIVO Dvr with Cox, do you not? If so, do you need a cable card to make it work (I'm assuming you do), and can it serve as a DLNA/uPnP server? Does it allow you to discontinue the explicit "DVR service" from Cox proper?

Thanks

I don't pay for DVR service (the big box) because of my Tivo. Yes, it requires a card (which tends to have to be replaced at least twice a year). My Tivo can already stream to the other TV's in my house, but, since they 'gave' me a mini box, I'm using it in one room for now.

[SoonerDave]

I don't pay for DVR service (the big box) because of my Tivo. Yes, it requires a card (which tends to have to be replaced at least twice a year). My Tivo can already stream to the other TV's in my house, but, since they 'gave' me a mini box, I'm using it in one room for now.

Do you have to pay a monthly service fee to Tivo? How does the Tivo handle the streaming?

I went my first round with Cox on getting some sort of bill relief after seeing a one-year jump of about $40 and got a particularly condescending little twerp on the other end who treated me mostly like an idiot and explained what getting a discount means. I realized I wasn't getting anywhere with her and hung up. I'm noticing a pattern that the first time you call to gripe about your bill, you get the "You're a Jerk" treatment, but if you call back the second time they're more amenable to some sort of a discount. I think this time I'm going to ask for retention when I get online.

[BBatesokc]

Do you have to pay a monthly service fee to Tivo? How does the Tivo handle the streaming?

I went my first round with Cox on getting some sort of bill relief after seeing a one-year jump of about $40 and got a particularly condescending little twerp on the other end who treated me mostly like an idiot and explained what getting a discount means. I realized I wasn't getting anywhere with her and hung up. I'm noticing a pattern that the first time you call to gripe about your bill, you get the "You're a Jerk" treatment, but if you call back the second time they're more amenable to some sort of a discount. I think this time I'm going to ask for retention when I get online.

I bought my Tivo a couple of years ago during a Black Friday special. Bought a refurbished Tivo with lifetime subscription for just a few hundred dollars. Already had it blow up once and they replaced it very cheaply and transferred the lifetime subscription to the replacement unit. I much prefer Tivo to Cox. It's most comparable to their Contour service. If I remember correctly I have 6 tuners in my Tivo.

As for streaming to other TV's - you have to connect a Tivo Mini box to each TV. About the size of the Cox mini box, but more features. I bought a couple refurbished very cheap and another on Craigslist. Now I can watch everything in every room and share my recorded movies.

With Cox, each customer retention rep. has their own discretion. So, when they tell you "this is the best deal you can get" - that's not necessarily true. They all have their own budget to draw from for customer retention. Giving you less of a deal means a bigger bonus for them.

I called when my rates went up (again) and got the price down. I called two weeks later and got them down even further. I'm now less than $90 for cable TV and 150MB Internet which is within my comfort level.

[BLJR]

Guys, I worked on the business side of Cox for about 9 years. You have to do what BBates said.... call and haggle with them. They sure as heck aren't going to call you to tell you they can save you $. You have to pick up the phone and call them. If you haven't talked to them in over a year, you are probably spending too much. I am a silent partner in a communications business here in OKC. We don't do residential negotiation, but last week we fought for a business entity here in OKC. We did the haggling and negotiating for them. THey were spending about $1,000 a month, now they will be about $650 for the same services. They did have to renew their agreement to get the better rates, but over 3 years we saved them over $12,000. They wouldn't have known any better. Cox tried the Jedi mind trick to give them faster speed for the same price...then they tried to just lower the bill about $100. If anyone has a business and wants their communications analyzed to see if they can save $, send me a private message.

[OkiePoke]

I'm about to go to just internet.

I have the options of ATT & Cox. I prefer ATT due to Cox having a lot of extra fees that I remember them adding.

My only concern with not having cable is I will be missing Thunder games. How does everyone watch them? It costs a lot to get FSSW included.

[barrettd]

I'm about to go to just internet.

I have the options of ATT & Cox. I prefer ATT due to Cox having a lot of extra fees that I remember them adding.

My only concern with not having cable is I will be missing Thunder games. How does everyone watch them? It costs a lot to get FSSW included.

I don't know that you can watch them without at least a streaming service. For example. my PS Vue service has Fox Sports, and while they don't yet have Fox Sports OK, you can use your PSVue credentials to log into the Fox Sports GO app and watch Thunder games.

[BBatesokc]

I'm about to go to just internet.

I have the options of ATT & Cox. I prefer ATT due to Cox having a lot of extra fees that I remember them adding.

My only concern with not having cable is I will be missing Thunder games. How does everyone watch them? It costs a lot to get FSSW included.

Probably will come down to price vs. speed between the two. COX will provide you much faster Internet (but you have to keep testing your connection yourself and complaining when it isn't what you're paying for). However, many people don't need the faster connection if all you're doing is surfing the net and occasionally streaming TV.

[SoonerDave]

Guys, I worked on the business side of Cox for about 9 years. You have to do what BBates said.... call and haggle with them. They sure as heck aren't going to call you to tell you they can save you $. You have to pick up the phone and call them. If you haven't talked to them in over a year, you are probably spending too much. I am a silent partner in a communications business here in OKC. We don't do residential negotiation, but last week we fought for a business entity here in OKC. We did the haggling and negotiating for them. THey were spending about $1,000 a month, now they will be about $650 for the same services. They did have to renew their agreement to get the better rates, but over 3 years we saved them over $12,000. They wouldn't have known any better. Cox tried the Jedi mind trick to give them faster speed for the same price...then they tried to just lower the bill about $100. If anyone has a business and wants their communications analyzed to see if they can save $, send me a private message.

Yeah I started this year's phone haggling with them and it went nowhere. I've found a competing offer from DirectTV that I'll use as my weapon of choice, and in fact, it's a $75/month package that gives me 4-room whole-house DVR and all the channels we watch regularly, and right now I'm paying over $150/month for the TV side of Cox...

[BLJR]

Yeah I started this year's phone haggling with them and it went nowhere. I've found a competing offer from DirectTV that I'll use as my weapon of choice, and in fact, it's a $75/month package that gives me 4-room whole-house DVR and all the channels we watch regularly, and right now I'm paying over $150/month for the TV side of Cox...

I can also tell you that you may try a couple of times. It is truly wild west in regards to whom you talk to, and their recordkeeping and notes aren't very well. So if you call in today and get nowhere, chances are that tomorrowwhen you call they won't see "soonerdave called in yesterday".

[Relentless85]

I recently tried to just go with internet from cox, the person I talked to at cox was going to charge me almost $100 per month just for internet after the modem rental and wifi router fees. Also they kept telling me that I was going to have a data cap. I asked if I could install the equipment my self, they told me that since I have not been a customer with cox in over 2 years, they had to charge me a large installation fee for a tech to come "inspect" the coax cable and install the equipment.

I am with Directv and at&t internet right now. I don't like having to call every 2 years or earlier to get better rates. When I had cox before, we just had 1 HD dvr and 15 meg internet and the bill was 150+.

[sooner88]

I've had someone at Cox give me their personal line once in the number of years I have had them. Like mentioned above, if you don't talk to the same person it doesn't seem like they have any info about your problem, etc. When I set up my cable at my apt a couple years ago, it took them 2 plus weeks to get it activated. I spent countless hours on the phone (mainly on hold) and they tried to tell me that there wasn't a problem and if they sent someone out they would have to charge me a fee... for something that ultimately ended up being their fault. I have never dealt with worse customer service and would not be using them if I had another option. Currently I only have internet, and that is still $80/month.

[SoonerDave]

I recently tried to just go with internet from cox, the person I talked to at cox was going to charge me almost $100 per month just for internet after the modem rental and wifi router fees. Also they kept telling me that I was going to have a data cap. I asked if I could install the equipment my self, they told me that since I have not been a customer with cox in over 2 years, they had to charge me a large installation fee for a tech to come "inspect" the coax cable and install the equipment.

I am with Directv and at&t internet right now. I don't like having to call every 2 years or earlier to get better rates. When I had cox before, we just had 1 HD dvr and 15 meg internet and the bill was 150+.

All their installation amounts to is ensuring there's no filter between the coax and the cablemodem. If you had TV they'd split and put a filter on the TV side, but the data side has to be unfiltered. Renting the modem is a loser proposition - you can buy one from BestBuy or several online retailers and do a self-install where all you do is call a phone number, provide them the MAC address of the modem, and they provision it online for you.

The caps aren't bad. I have the 150mpbs level and a 1TB cap, and I've never come *close* to it at all - and we're a family of four with lots of 'net surfing and some streaming - although we don't really do much "binge watching" as some do.

I gripe about the TV price, but I've been satisfied with the Cox Internet. Others mileage may vary, but its been OK for me.

[SoonerDave]

I've had someone at Cox give me their personal line once in the number of years I have had them. Like mentioned above, if you don't talk to the same person it doesn't seem like they have any info about your problem, etc. When I set up my cable at my apt a couple years ago, it took them 2 plus weeks to get it activated. I spent countless hours on the phone (mainly on hold) and they tried to tell me that there wasn't a problem and if they sent someone out they would have to charge me a fee... for something that ultimately ended up being their fault. I have never dealt with worse customer service and would not be using them if I had another option. Currently I only have internet, and that is still $80/month.

Yeah to clear a customer support call as quickly as possible they'll try as hard as they can to shunt responsibility to you and threaten a "truck roll", and if they decided the problem wasn't theirs you get a fee. I'm hoping I've not been blackballed from any good rates because I fought with them over their use of DRM on ALL their channels, which has the effect of forcing me to buy/rent their equipment for DVR service...we'll see.

[SoonerDave]

Okay, did my battle with Cox; not as good as I'd hoped but they knocked $25/month off and added HBO, and moved me to the 300mpbs Internet tier. I've got 30 days to decide if I want to keep it. I still might do the DirectTV offer, because NFL Sunday TIcket is included and that alone might be worth it LOL

[BLJR]

SoonerDave, its takes some time and logistics, but you can cancel service in one person's name, while activating service in a different persons name. They don't like it, but there's really nothing they can do about it. I know a few people that have done this becuase sometimes (again, depends on who you talk to and how the planets are aligned) they tell an existing customer that they can't get the same promo or rates as a new customer. Just a way of retaining as much revenue as they can, and since they are the only coax show in town!!! Our neighborhood just got Uverse, and everyone loves the consistency and speed, along with the price. I am still on Cox employee rates, and will lay low until they come calling.....

[SoonerDave]

SoonerDave, its takes some time and logistics, but you can cancel service in one person's name, while activating service in a different persons name. They don't like it, but there's really nothing they can do about it. I know a few people that have done this becuase sometimes (again, depends on who you talk to and how the planets are aligned) they tell an existing customer that they can't get the same promo or rates as a new customer. Just a way of retaining as much revenue as they can, and since they are the only coax show in town!!! Our neighborhood just got Uverse, and everyone loves the consistency and speed, along with the price. I am still on Cox employee rates, and will lay low until they come calling.....

Good info BLJR! My son is actually hoping I'lll still cancel the Cox TV part and go DirectTV because of NFL Sunday Ticket. He'd be able to see the Baltimore Ravens games that they rarely, if ever, play in the OKC market

[JohnH_in_OKC]

I'm about to go to just internet.

I have the options of ATT & Cox. I prefer ATT due to Cox having a lot of extra fees that I remember them adding.

My only concern with not having cable is I will be missing Thunder games. How does everyone watch them? It costs a lot to get FSSW included.

Fox Sports Go has every Thunder game that is shown on Fox Sports Oklahoma as well as a bevy of sports programming that features OU and OSU teams for people living in Oklahoma. Playstation Vue's $35.00 package includes access to Fox Sports Go but it is accessed outside of the normal PS Vue channel selection. I have an Amazon Fire TV box and I use Amazon Fire TV's Fox Sports Go app to get any game that Fox Sports Oklahoma or Fox Sports Oklahoma Plus (2nd channel) schedules & additionally Fox Sports Go offers about 5 or more choices of programs most of the time.

Right now (7:15 pm Friday 3-3-17) I have 10 choices including The Thunder at the Suns, UFC 1 on 1, Women's College Basketball - Big 12 Tournament: TCU vs. Texas Tech, College Softball - Evansville at Oklahoma, College Baseball - LSU vs. TCU, Inside Villanova Basketball, This Week in Mizzou Basketball, Washington at UCLA men's basketball game (replay), FC Augsburg vs. RB Leipzig soccer (replay), FS West Prep Zone - Bishop Montgomery vs. Huntington High School. Cox only provided 2 Fox Sports Oklahoma choices.

About once a month Fox Sports Go downgrades my Fox Sports Oklahoma channels selection to one or 2 channels of which neither one ever shows Fox Sports Oklahoma programs. I have to sign out of the app & then sign back in to restore my full channel selection. I imagine it does this for security purposes.

Fox Sports Oklahoma is not limited to Playstation Vue. I have a Roku account which is accessed from another bedroom in my house at no additional cost. Apple TV, the Sony Playstation, your computer, your iOS or Android phone, and Chromecast are other devices that offer Playstation Vue and Fox Sports Go. For Chromecast, your computer & your phone, I believe you have to first register your new Playstation Vue account with another device (such as an Amazon Fire Box or Roku box) before you can access the Playstation Vue offerings, probably for billing security).

Beside Playstation Vue, if you subscribe to Direct TV Now, Sling TV, Apple TV, or YouTube TV (coming soon) you should also have the ability to access Fox Sports Go with Thunder, OU and OSU games - if you live in Oklahoma. You just have to pick the right package for your streaming device that includes access to Fox Sports Go.

Here's a link to 2017 streaming services: Best Movie & TV Streaming Services 2017

[JohnH_in_OKC]

One more note on Cox or AT&T U-Verse, you can also download Fox Sports Go & have access to all of its Thunder, OU & OSU programming. Normally, though, you'll find the programs on Cox Channel 37 or Channel 68 (mirrored on Channels 722 and 715). Cox programming just costs a lot more & I'm very satisfied with the Playstation Vue channel selection and value.

[Celebrator]

Alright, all of this has my head swimming. Those of you who have looked into this, what should my family do? We watch the legacy networks via the local affiliates, ESPN, OETA, HGTV, Fox News, CNN, and Fox Sports Oklahoma (for Thunder coverage) and that's really about it. Truly. And we are paying SO MUCH to Cox for these handful of channels. What's our best bet? Anybody have a service that includes these channels that isn't too expensive and is reliable? Thanks in advance.

[FighttheGoodFight]

Alright, all of this has my head swimming. Those of you who have looked into this, what should my family do? We watch the legacy networks via the local affiliates, ESPN, OETA, HGTV, Fox News, CNN, and Fox Sports Oklahoma (for Thunder coverage) and that's really about it. Truly. And we are paying SO MUCH to Cox for these handful of channels. What's our best bet? Anybody have a service that includes these channels that isn't too expensive and is reliable? Thanks in advance.

What is your total cox bill?

Either way you will need internet and probably a decent speed package: ~$60 a month

Then you need the base package of an online TV network: PS VUE Core Slim has all the channels you want at $34.99 a month

You then need something to watch them on so you will have a one time fee of getting a FireTV, Apple TV or Android TV.

So about $94.99 a month. So just try to get Cox under that price with a bundle?