time to ditch DSL?

[Gourmondo]

I am soliciting opinions about Cox cable modem service. I have used Bellsouth/ATT DSL since the earliest days, but have had mounting connectivity issues in the past several months, particularly in evenings and weekends. I'm only three blocks from an ATT substation. The last suggestion from tech support was that I should sequentially reboot my modem, router and computer every time I long on, which is ridiculous. The other issue is that I am only getting half the advertised download speed I'm paying for. Tech support's answer was "Well, you have better than the average subscriber speed so you really don't have a problem". Excuse me? Then I guess they're OK with me just sending in 50% of the service fee, too? My experience with Cox for cable TV hasn't been stellar either so I am not thrilled with the prospect of changing, but it's hard to imagine the experience being any worse.

[Low-N-Slow]

I was also a BS DSL subscriber from day one, having had ISDN prior to that. I am much further from my central office than you, and typically got 1.2Mbps on an advertised 1.5Mbps connection. When BS offered me 3Mbps speed a few years ago for only $5 more, I took it, but was never able to get better than 1.8. That's when I started considering Cox. The old saw that cablemodem performance suffers when there a a bunch of subscribers are on your same node did not prove to be true for me-- never has, that I have observed-- and I think it may have been something more of a problem in the past, before Cox upgraded infrastructure. I'm happy with it, in that I'm getting speeds 8 or more times what I used to with DSL for not a lot more $. I can also count service outages on one hand in the 3 years I've had it. The only issue I ever had with speeds was in the beginning, and it turned out to be the fault of my old router.

Having said all that, before making a change you may want to go by an AT&T store and take a look at the U-Verse service they're rolling out. As I understand it, they're bringing fiber optic to the neighborhood, but not quite as far as to the curb. I think it might give Cox cable a run for the money.

[flyinbayou]

I've never had problems with the speed of my Cox modem. I have the bundle (internet, phone, tv) and will tell you I have had static problems with the phone. I've also gone through about 5 DVRs in the past 5 years. I complained and they rented me the latest version of the available DVRs about a year ago and have had no problem since.
A friend of mine called COX to question a charge and then got into with them. He dropped the U-verse word and was re-routed to a manager that cut his charges and basically made him a deal he couldn't refuse so he wouldn't drop Cox.
I like the fact that U-verse seems to be solid competition against Cox and am curious to see how this plays out.

[bdavid]

If you have access to ATT Uverse, go for it. We switched a year ago and have been very happy - not to mention saving a lot of money by having phone, TV and internet. I'm very pleased with all of it, especially the internet speed. The TV package includes the DVRs, and HD service - considerably cheaper than the satellite people and cable (at least cable on the northshore).

[Gourmondo]

Thanks for the tips, I'll check out the U-verse availability and mull over my options.

[Alex]

I keep DSL for one reason and one reason only. Reliability. Cable is much faster but COX's customer service and response times suck. I had cable internet for a while, but every time it would go down, usually at the same time as their TV service, it would take an act of congress to get it back up. I do not think my DSL was down at all during Katrina except while the power was out. I know of two people who were up on generator power, had no dial tone on their phone, and still had DSL service. My neighbor had the COX bundle and was without phone, internet or TV service for three weeks. I was only without TV, because I spread my services out between Cox for TV, Bell South for phone, and xFone for DSL.

When I lived in Bucktown my cable and TV service was down for six days because COX inadvertently disconnected it and their technicians kept missing their appointments. When I moved to Metairie a neighbor upgraded to COX phone service and once again this resulted in me having 4 days of downtime. Since I work in the IT field and frequently have to remote into work machines this was flat out unacceptable. It was at this time I called COX and canceled my cable modem service.

My mother owns a triplex and almost every time a tenant moves in or out their is a disruption in her TV and/or internet service. COX gives her the runaround for a day or two before dispatching a technician to come fix it.

Cable internet is great and is getting really fast! COX is the problem. If you do not have to rely on your internet for financial reasons and/or have an internet phone or an air card for backup, then I say go with cable internet.

I was also having issues with xFone DSL for a few weeks. I would have DSL service, but was having trouble pulling up web pages. After some trouble shooting I realized the problem was DNS resolution, so I changed my static DNS in my wireless router to Google's public DNS servers and have not had a problem since. I would recommend everyone change their DNS servers to Google since it speeds up name resolution considerably.

My DSL is slow, and uploading any large files takes forever, but it is nice knowing that if someone in the vicinity of my house moves, changes their service or if the wind blows I do not lose my internet service.

ETA:

AT&T is in the process of upgrading infrastructure in my neighborhood. I am not sure if Uverse is available yet for me, but I do intend to check it out after the recommendations on this thread.

[Titchou]

U Verse is the way to go if it's available. Am ditching my DirecTV as soon as it gets to my area. Everyone I know on it loves it...much cheaper and much better service, speed, etc. The capability they plan to add later is wonderful as well.

[LauraMc]

I was about ready to ditch DirecTV and ATT for U-verse until my neighbor got it. They must have been at his house off and on for a month. Not sure what the problem was but right now the difference isn't enough for me to train hubby on a new remote. DirecTV's remote nearly caused a riot in my house. After the promotion period, it looks like it costs $10 less a month than what I have but then my alarm company will charge $10 more for monitoring. Something to do with the phone line.

[Gourmondo]

I am told U-verse is unavailable for me at this point, so I am inclined to roll the dice on Cox. I am aware of all the horror stories, but actually their cable connection is very reliable for me, much more so than the ATT Internet. If the U-verse option becomes available later, I'll take a look at it. I'd rather not have to change anything. Hell, I still have a landline phone. Creature of habit - ATT loves this I'm sure.

We've had Cox for TV and Internet at our place in Florida for years and it is pretty reliable there, but we don't use the Internet there as intensively as at home.

[bdavid]

When you convert your phone to Uverse, by the way, it becomes VOIP (or however you say that). We had no trouble with our alarm system, and there was no extra charge.