Cox Cable Bundle Package Review

About a year ago I switched from Cox cable, phone, and Internet and went with Qwest for my Internet, Dish Network for my cable stations, and Magic Jack for my phone service. When I had the Cox bundle package I was paying over $160 a month. By comparison, I’ve slashed my bill down to $62 a month.


Leaving Cox had a lot more to do with it than just the price, their service was well below the industry standards as well. The Internet would go down several times a day—once I counted 20 times! And it was super slow, especially from 3pm – 10pm.

Their On-Demand service where you’re supposed to be able to watch videos, movies, and cable shows “on demand” rarely worked. It was also time consuming to get through all of the menus just to find something worth watching. Many of the shows are small clips of only a few minutes and once it’s over it takes you all the way back to the beginning menu and you have to go through several headings and subheadings before getting back to the place you want to be.

If you try to get through to customer service, have a snack ready because you’ll be waiting a long time. Several times I was on hold for up to fifteen minutes, and sometimes the connection would fail then I’d get cut off and have to call back and start all over again.

The bill was always a surprise too. Even though I had a special bundled package where I was supposed to get a pretty good deal, they had so many extra fees that I paid at least $15 more than the quoted price. They also do a hard sell on getting you to add a protection plan at $5 more a month. If anything goes wrong inside your home, they’ll come out and fix it—for a fee, but supposedly less than what you would pay if you didn’t have their protection plan. If you tell them you don’t want the protection plan they amp up their sell in almost a bullying way. In all the years I’ve had cable services I’ve not once had a problem inside the home, it was always on the outside with their wiring. They cover that for free.

I got over 200 cable channels and a ton of radio station type channels that I didn’t need, want, or listen to. Out of the 200+ channels, I probably watched a tiny handful of the most popular ones—Investigation Discovery, Discovery Health, Tru TV, etc. If you love shopping channels and infomercials then you’re in for a real treat with Cox since they have more than you could ever hope for.

I’m not the only one with a negative experience when it comes to Cox Communications; all of my friends who have it hate it too. But, they get you trapped in a two-year contract, so you’re stuck with them for awhile or you pay a heavy fine to leave.

Beware of their advertised specials too since this is how they woo new customers. They offer great deals for three months and then you’re hit hard and heavy with the real bill. They also seem to raise their prices at least once or twice a year as well.

I suggest staying away from Cox and going with multiple companies as I do, or going with another Internet/cable/phone provider. Seriously, I’d rather take my laptop to a hot-spot at McDonald’s, use my cell and have no TV than ever go with Cox again.

Rating: 1