AT&T Internet vs. Cox Cable Internet

[Okraveg]

Hello OKC people! Love this site. I'm a casual reader of the site but slowly but surely becoming a daily reader/participant. Moved here 3 years ago after living the last 14 years in Texas. While I do like Texas and it has a lot to offer obviously, can't to you enough how much we love OKC! It has a ton going for it now and hope it continues well into the future. Sorry, didn't mean to ramble, just wanted to say hello to whoever helps me out.

Now, I've got AT&T internet but not getting good connections. Always below 5 Mbps download speeds and lose my connection literally a few times a day it seems. When I'm not traveling, I work from home and router is right behind me. When something on the computer isn't working, I can usually look and see the red lights on the router. Which does at least reconnect quickly usually.

Looking at switching to Cox Cable internet. Prices seem at least comparable although that really isn't a factor (company pays for it).

I know several friends who are also considering making a change and it seems like the majority of them have AT&T.

Thought? and thanks for the help!

[kevinpate]

I had Cox for many many years, going back to before it was COX. I left in 2009 for ATT U-verse with internet. I'm quite happy with that choice where I sit, but I do know some folk who do continue to swear by Cox for their net and telly connection.

[SoonerDave]

I almost think I'd rather go back to dialup before I'd give a dollar of my income to ATT.

I've had Cox Internet service since it was originally sold under the AtHome name 13 years ago, and I've been more than satisfied with their service. Our service rarely goes down, infrequently enough such that when it does go down, its a big deal...

Not saying Cox is perfect or without room for improvement, but for my $$ I'm not hesitant at all to recommend them to anyone else.

[Larry OKC]

My dad has AT&T and it is just about as bad as dialup...pages take MINUTES to load etc. I have had Cox (bundled with my phone and cable) and haven't had any complaints with it the 3 years or so I have had it.

[OKCisOK4me]

I have basic U-verse internet for $24.95 a month and it streams movies via wifi to my ps3 just fine. I've never had a problem...

[WilliamTell]

Weird. I have a very strong dislike for cox because of their exponential price increases. I've had 1 meg internet speed for years and within the last 4-5 years my price has increased from 15.99 to now 29.99 a month. Each time they have increased it i've called to complain and each time they give me some b.s. excuse about upgrades to their system, improved system performance, higher speeds now available...each time i cite, i have 1meg speed, thats all i want so why am i paying a higher price so you can sell faster internet to someone else? But i will say service is pretty dependable.

I had uverse internet while we lived in edmond and it worked great and was cheaper, unfortunately where we live now cox is the only choice. The way things are going and since we are light internet users, i may explore some cell phone /tethering or option before long.

[sooner88]

We had Cox for a long time, bundled with cable and internet. For the price, U-Verse is much better. Currently, we pay $100 for the medium speed internet, 3 cable boxes and every movie channel. (The movie channels are free for the first 3 months, and then need to be upgraded for around $15).. Also, if you recommend a friend, you get a $100 credit.

[RadicalModerate]

Have been with Cox Comm for over a decade. On the whole, very satisfied. Almost never a service interruption, and when--on a rare occassion that this happens--they have it back up in next to no time. Pricey? I suppose. But not outrageous. Expecially if you take advantage of one of the "loyalty" packages (that take the place of initial come-ons for new subscribers after you've been with them for awhile).

[yukong]

We have Cox. Have been with them ever since moving back here in '99. My wife works from home and has to have good internet connection as she does medical transcription. She is online all day. We have the Premier package. With the bundle discounts it costs us 40+ per month. But then, I usually get 30+ mbps downloads and 5-10 mbps uploads. And that is on my ipad. It is blazing fast. We can stream movies in 3-4 rooms of our house and still have very good speeds for computers. And as said above, it is almost never down. Looked at moving to UVerse, but the internet did not seem near as reliable and my wife cannot afford to change.

[WilliamTell]

For tv about 3 years ago we switched to dish, best choice ever. I would highly recommend it if you want to save alot on your tv package.

[SoonerDave]

For tv about 3 years ago we switched to dish, best choice ever. I would highly recommend it if you want to save alot on your tv package.

I dunno about that.

A few years ago, I was willing to entertain possibly shifting to a satellite package.

So I set out to put together a price comparison that gave me as close to the service I have right now from the other two providers, compared to my Cox service. The problem is that *no one* likes to disclose their "regular", non-promotional prices. I kept getting TONS of feedback for "Well, we can beat that ,we can offer you four billion channels for $9.99/month..." and when I ask "what's the rate after the teaser expires?" And they mysteriously can't come up with it.

When I did manage to put together a few packages that provided what I would have wanted, the real, post-promotion price wasn't so different from what I have now, and that doesn't even bring Internet service into play..and I've had feedback on Satellite-based Internet experiences that range from the nightmarish to the infuriating.

Ultimately, when adding in the hassle-factor, content, real cost, it just ultimately never made sense to switch. I know some have even "cut the cord" entirely, but I still like Cox for Internet, and the "battery not included" notice in most of those cases is that cord-cutters who turn to streaming and other on-demand services often acknowledge that station "X" or channel "Y" just isn't available. I really don't want to spend that much time figuring out which place has what channel through what site. Just not worth the hassle factor.

So, good, bad, or indifferent, I think Cox and I are probably hooked up for the long haul. Even in the extreme is that I see nothing that would lead me to drop them as my high-bandwidth ISP, even if I bailed on them for phone and TV services.

[LaceyNewman]

I have had Cox for about 10 years and although I've had many problems with their customer service, as long as nothing goes wrong and I don't move, I'm happy. Enjoy 20 Mbps download and usually around 12-15 up speed and I for one have not had a rate increase ever, unless it was so small I haven't noticed. It's been nearly $50 a month forever and I have almost never had an outage in that time.
Now when I signed up I bought my cable modem because that's what they did at the time, you either bought it outright or bought it in payments over your first year. Well when I moved earlier this year they confiscated my modem which worked perfectly fine and charged me for a new one. I could not believe that they would steal the modem I paid for which works fine and force me to buy a new one. I tried everything with the customer service people and just ended up eating the 80 bucks. That sucked. They also alleged at one point that we did not turn in our cable box after we quit cable tv and tried to charge us, but luckily I had kept the receipt from when we turned it in. The moral of the story: Get Cox for the awesome speeds and uninterrupted service. Keep all paperwork and receipts and look at every bill to make sure you aren't being charged something unexpected, they are monsters on the customer service side.

[WilliamTell]

I dunno about that.

Its your bill.

We've never paid more than 34.99 for 3 years, have HD, all the regular channels, local, and dual room dvr, etc. After my two years ended i just said i wanted to cancel it so they offered to continue me at that rate for another two years. If not it would of went to 50 some odd dollars and last time i checked cox was already 56 a month. Two cents.

[Bunty]

DSL is yesterday's big thing. I don't know why people should still get it unless there is no other good choice.

[bchris02]

DSL is yesterday's big thing. I don't know why people should still get it unless there is no other good choice.

Agree. DSL may still have a price advantage but after you add in all the taxes and government mandated fees it equals out to about the same. Cable is much faster and there is no way DSL can compete with today's DOCSIS 2.0 and 3.0 technology being used in cable modems. There are many areas though that don't have cable access so DSL is the only option. DSL is still way better than dial-up.

[RadicalModerate]

For tv about 3 years ago we switched to dish, best choice ever. I would highly recommend it if you want to save alot on your tv package.

But you can't watch "Breaking Bad" or "Hell on Wheels" on Dish. And that is a high price to pay. =)

[SoonerDave]

Its your bill.

We've never paid more than 34.99 for 3 years, have HD, all the regular channels, local, and dual room dvr, etc. After my two years ended i just said i wanted to cancel it so they offered to continue me at that rate for another two years. If not it would of went to 50 some odd dollars and last time i checked cox was already 56 a month. Two cents.

Well, as I mentioned before, its hard to get an apples-to-apples comparison because I have Cox for TV, Internet, and phone, and getting all services affords a discount. I can't just say "here's my TV cost," unless you just apportion (arbitrarily) one-third of the package discount to each service, I guess. So, even if I switched to Dish or Direct or (whomever) with a comparable package, I'd have to add to that cost the loss of the package discount.

I will say I have toyed with the idea of dropping land-line phone service and going strictly cell, but the traditional curmudgeon in me whose had the same phone number for 21 years and likes the idea of a more direct 911 service probably won't let me do it

[kevinpate]

talk time with our daughter is the sole reason we still have a land line. Where they are in WY there are times both cell and skype just do not cooperate well but the land lines do fine. So, we have one.

[BoulderSooner]

talk time with our daughter is the sole reason we still have a land line. Where they are in WY there are times both cell and skype just do not cooperate well but the land lines do fine. So, we have one.

what does where they live have to do with you having a land line??

[Larry OKC]

am guessing but spotty cell phone reception/service in Wyoming?

[RadicalModerate]

Portable and Dependable.

Even in Wyoming.

.-- .... .- - / -.. --- . ... / .- -. -.-- / --- ..-. / - .... .. ... / .... .- ...- . / - --- / -.. --- / .-- .. - .... / -.-- --- ..- .-. / .... .- ...- .. -. --. / .- / .-.. .- -. -.. .-.. .. -. . ..--..

Oh. Wait. I meant to post a picture of my old ATT Dial Up Connection.

[kevinpate]

what does where they live have to do with you having a land line??

It makes my two fav girls happy. There was probably a whole lot more to their planned sales pitch, but they had me at hello as it were so it dinna go that far.

[zookeeper]

I think people are confused about the old DSL and the new VDSL with AT&T uVerse. uVerse is fiber optic and lots faster than the old DSL, which they do still offer, but it's slow.

I like Cox except for the maze of bundles, tiers, gateways, paks and the nickle and diming with digital receivers and more. It takes forever to figure out what you want. AT&T uVerse has three plans. We switched to AT&T a year ago and are very pleased. Fast internet, more channels for less price on TV and a lot less complicated and trickery with introductory deals.