Cox has made it extremely difficult or impossible for some customers to keep up with their current internet speeds, despite the promise that it will not force users on slower upload plans.
As we wrote two weeks ago, Cox announced on March 3 with 300 Mbps download and 30 Mbps upload speeds that they will be switched to a plan with 500 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload on March 3. A Cox spokesman told Ars at the time that customers could stay on the plan. with 30 Mbps upload, as long as it upgrades to a DOCSIS 3.1 modem. However, in Cox’s emails to its customers, this option is not mentioned, and customers who have called Cox customer service have since been vaguely told that they cannot stay according to their current plans.
Several Cox users from California emailed Ars about the issue after reading our article, all with similar experiences.
“I just got off the phone with a Cox tech representative and she said my current Ultimate Classic plan (300/30) was disappearing, whether I upgraded to a DOCSIS 3.1 modem or not,” he said. customer named Dam and living in Aliso Viejo, California, Ars said last week Thursday. ‘When the time comes in March, my new plan will be the new Ultimate 500/10. I told her about your article and she said it’s not what she sees in her system or hears from her senior teachers. ‘
We contacted Cox last week about the issue and a Cox spokesman admitted that the company did not make sure sellers know that customers are allowed to stay according to the 300 / 30Mbps plan.
“There are clearly some gaps we need to address to avoid this confusion,” Cox told Ars on Monday. “We are training our frontline teams to ensure that they are constantly communicating the options available to affected customers, including staying on their current 300/30 plan as long as they upgrade their modem. . “
As before, customers will automatically switch from the 300 / 30Mbps plan to the 500 / 10Mbps level, unless they contact customer service and insist on keeping their plan. The change in download and upload speed will occur regardless of whether customers have an upgraded modem, but customers who stick with an older modem may not get the full download speed of 500 Mbps. Cox, which has about 5.3 million Internet customers in 19 states, says the changes are related to a network upgrade.
Cox’s Customer Service Screwdriver
The evidence (including Cox’s emails to customers and statements from Cox sellers to customers) makes it appear that Cox did not intend to keep customers up to 30 Mbps until the company criticized and media exposure two weeks ago. got. This will explain why customer service representatives told customers that they should give up the 300/30 Mbps plan and why Cox is now telling employees about the option.
However, a Cox spokesman told Ars that the company ‘always’ intended to keep customers up to the 30 Mbps upload speed. If true, the company has completely noticed its messages to customers and the change to its customer service systems.
Cox describes the solution now being implemented as a ‘retraining’ in a statement to Ars yesterday:
Our leading care agents were originally trained at the end of January before the first customer communication in early February. Based on feedback from a few customers, including those you shared, we’re going back to training to make sure ALL customers get consistent and accurate information. To that end, we are working on a refresher course that will last for all our frontline employees by the end of this week.
As we retrain our employees, we make sure they communicate the available options to affected customers, including staying on their existing Ultimate Classic plan (300/30) as long as they upgrade their modem. Sticking to this plan has always been an available option, although it has not been as clearly communicated as it could have been. We want to make sure customers clearly understand their options when they need more upload speeds.
The 500 / 10Mbps plan is a direct replacement for the 300 / 30Mbps plan in terms of price and its place within Cox’s speed levels. It costs $ 80 a month for the first year and $ 100 after the promotion period expires. Since the 300 / 30Mbps plan is discontinued, the “Gigablast” plan with 940Mbps download speed and 35Mbps upload speed is the only option with upload speeds higher than 10Mbps. The plan usually costs $ 100 during the promo period and then $ 120, but some customers offered a promotional rate of $ 92.50. Cox charges $ 12 per month for a combined modem and router, but customers can use their own equipment to avoid the rent.
Cox’s email informing users of upcoming download speed changes says customers who want upload speeds of more than 10 Mbps ‘can call to find out more about equipment and our speed plans’, but does not mention the option to stay at the same 300/30 Mbps. plan. Customers who have received this email and those who contact Cox before resolving any customer service issues may still mistakenly believe that it is not an option to fulfill their plan. The upload speed will be automatically reduced to 10 Mbps when the change takes effect next week. We asked Cox if he would contact all of these customers again to make it clear that they can slow down the upload speed, and we will update this article if we get an answer.
Cox apparently struggled to provide advertised upload speeds during the pandemic. In June 2020, we wrote about how Cox had warned some customers about ‘excessive’ upload usage and how the company had reduced its Gigablast plan upload speeds from 35 Mbps to 10 Mbps in some entire neighborhoods where its network was experiencing problems.