And so we’ve been upgraded March 23, 2013
Posted by truthspew in Uncategorized.Tags: Cox, net, Telephone, TV
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So I had posted about Cox and how I got a better deal by signing up for the raft versus a la carte on services. It’s still too expensive – but marginally better.
The new cable modem and telecom side has battery backup – for the phone service only. Part of 5-9 reliability for telephone service and E-911 uses, lasts up to 8 hours. Funny enough it’s a 2,600mAh battery – my cell phone also has a 2,600mAh battery in it and lasts about 15 hours between charges.
Net speed is a little zippier. Phone service works fine though I don’t know how to set up voicemail, etc. There’s no guide included. I bet you just dial you own number and it will prompt me to setup. Have to try that.
TV is much more interesting. The box only supports 1080i but if I have to take that I will. Plus it’s feeding the TV via HDMI now. Which means I have component ports open. Hmm. And the new Guide on the Cisco boxes is much nicer than the Rovi guide on the older cable box.
So it works.
So now Cox decides to get a little competitive? March 20, 2013
Posted by truthspew in Uncategorized.Tags: Competition, Cox, Pseudo Competition, Verizon
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So I check my mail today and there’s a mail piece from Cox – $89.99 a month for Advanced TV, phone and 18mpbs net. Hmm. Well I like my 30mbps net connection.
So I recently noted my bill for just tv and data went up to $162.99 a month. Ut si!
So here’s what I got when I called:
For about $20 less per month I get phone service which I’ll probably not use anyhow. I also get Advance TV and a new cable box with an upgraded guide service and six months of Starz or some such for free. And the net service – because I opted for the telephone service they’ll replace my ancient SB5100 with a DOCSIS 3.0 modem. My net speed will rise to 45mpbs.
I suppose they got beat enough by Verizon Fios enough that they had to do something. But here in the U.S. we did it all wrong. We should have made the broadband providers such as Cox and now Verizon common carriers. That way everyone could share the coax or fiber, like they do in France. And then we wouldn’t get so screwed.
For example – what I detail above? In France you can get the triple play for $40 a month.
The Great Blizzard of 2013 February 10, 2013
Posted by truthspew in Uncategorized.Tags: Blizzard of 2013, Cox, National Grid, Providence, Verizon
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So as you might be aware, we had ourselves a little blizzard here in the northeast. 2 to 3 feet of snow, 50 and 60 MPH winds, power outages, heating outages.
For example, our power ceased functioning at 7PM on Friday. We spent most of Saturday in a cold house but then our friends power came on so we’re staying with them.
And here we are three days out and no electric power. This means I’m going to rip National Grid a new one.
For example here’s something to ponder. I know Verizon’s copper and fiber are up and running, so too Cox’s coax network. So explain to me how National Grid’s service is SO fragile yet the other services are up and running.
And then you have the nitwits saying it’d cost $400 Billion to bury all the wire in the U.S. So do it! Leave Verizon and Cox on the pole and bury every last bit of the electrical infrastructure. I mean, what’s on the poles now is over a hundred year old technology. It’s time we modernize.
Highways are all clear down to pavement and they’re still touching up here and there on I-95. Local roads are atrocious for example one street near where I live still has two foot deep snow on it, the street I live on has just a narrow little band plowed on it. It needs to be fixed – my city Councilor Bryan Principe is being proactive – there are bucket loaders and plows going around the area now cleaning up.
And BTW, I I get just a little money I have a mission in life – to break National Grid into a million little pieces. And while I’m at it, I want to put shots across the bow of Verizon and Cox too. It’s good to have a mission.
TV: Something I noticed January 11, 2013
Posted by truthspew in Cox, television.Tags: Cox, Cox Advanced TV, Cox Communications, Hulu, Net Video, Netflix, television, The Outer Limits
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So I had thought I might drop the Cox video service some time ago. But what kept me from doing so was that Keyron likes it for background noise.
But I noticed something the past few days. The TV has remained OFF. Net video has finally replaced the television.
If this continues on I may well tell Cox to shove their so called Advanced TV service at $90 per month straight up Hershey Highway!
I’ll pay the $60 a month for the net service because to me that has more utility than a television service. I can for example, post to my blog, chat on IRC, get nntp news feeds, RSS feeds, YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, etc. It’s funny – I was lamenting that Netflix only had The Twilight Zone when my favorite was the Outer Limits, the 1960′s version. And I note Hulu has the whole series, both the 1960′s and 1990′s versions.
Woops, update. The TV just got turned on damn it.
Cox email servers still down December 16, 2012
Posted by truthspew in Uncategorized.Tags: Cox, Email, POP3, SMTP
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This is unacceptable. I do note that Cox proxies your web connection because I keep getting the little pop-in in my browser telling me that they’re down.
That’s nice and all but fix your fucking mail servers. I tried to telnet to pop.east.cox.net and used the POP3 commands – I cannot get past sending the password to the server.
I do know that Cox uses InterMail – a product I have had exposure to and hated from the outset. When it comes to mail servers, you cannot beat Qmail Toaster. Its really simple to set up, scale, and the mailboxes are just text files so it’s easy to snip out offending crap using a text editor.
At this point I have to wonder why Cox even provides email service anymore. Most of my email now comes via Gmail anyhow. But I still have my Cox accounts checking and it’s annoying as hell to have Thunderbird keep complaining that it can’t connect.
That this happened on a weekend is telling though. They probably did a software patch and blew up their mail servers. And on the weekend there’s nobody there.
Let’s hope they get it fixed tomorrow.
Cox incoming email down December 15, 2012
Posted by truthspew in Uncategorized.Tags: computer, Cox, Internet, technology
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So last night I noted Thunderbird kept telling me it couldn’t connect to Cox’s email server. Now I run a spam filter so I telneted to the spam filter and it responded. But then I tried initiating a POP3 session from the command line to Cox’s smtp.east.cox.net. That failed spectacularly.
So now I know Cox proxies all web connection because I occasionally get a web pop-up stating they know about the issue and are working to resolve it.
I can give them a hint, ditch InterMail and go with Qmail.
Carriers just don’t get it July 26, 2012
Posted by truthspew in Uncategorized.Tags: Android, Cox, Google, Online Video, ProvConnex, Verizon, Watch Instantly
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I’m talking about Cox and Verizon in this one.
Last night I attended MoDev-RI (And upon reflection I believe it should be MobDev) and we had a hellish time getting Google’s Android SDK up to snuff on the computers there, and then to further irk us, those with the HTC Thunderbolt had issues. And to top it off, I found out that the Sparkfun Electric Sheep I won won’t work with my Samsung SCH-R910! I think Google really needs to get the act together – and get tighter control on what vendors and carriers can do to the Android distro on the phones.
For example, I had the Samsung SCH-R910 Indulge, Keyron has the LG Optimus. Both Android phones – but completely different UI’s. Maybe I’m fussy here but Microsoft and Apple didn’t get where they are by putting an OS out there and letting OEM’s and cellular providers muck with the user interface. A prime example, on my phone you swipe left/right. On Keyron’s it’s up/down. Bad move Google.
But this brings me to the point of this post. I note both Cox and Verizon offer watch instantly apps for IOS, but nothing for Android. Yet Android is moving up there. In fact if last nights group was any indication I saw but one iPhone yet the computers were majority MacBooks.
This not having it for Android has come up in the past. When the City of Providence rolled out the ProvConnex app it was only for IOS. I raised a small stink and suddenly there’s an Android version. Not to say that you can try to register for ProvConnex and get your credentials, only for the Android app to say it can’t log you in. Ut si!
It’s that human propensity to go for just good enough. I understand why Google let OEM’s and carriers fuck with Android, but it’s not going to serve them well. And Cox and Verizon both need to get their shit together and offer an Android watch instantly app too.
Because for the prices Cox and Verizon charge, just good enough isn’t going to fly.
Something I noted April 10, 2012
Posted by truthspew in Uncategorized.Tags: Advanced TV, Cox, Cox Communications, Price gougig
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That my post about Cox and their ever rising video prices is being hit by A LOT of Cox subscribers.
Good – I hope I starve Cox of some revenue. Maybe then they’ll get the hint.
Put it this way, 49 hits for that post yesterday. Overall that post has been hit 350 which represents a revenue drop of about $28,000 dollars a month, or $336,000 a year.
And I’m pretty sure the post is starting to resonate. Good, Cox should know better than to piss off bloggers.
Seriously – they’ve made some pretty ludicrous claims that power costs have gone up, etc. But I pay for electricity too and overall the rate has stayed the same for years now.
Sure, the carriage charges get ridiculous but I shouldn’t have to pay or Cox’s poorly managed video service choices. For example, I could give two shits about all the sports channels in the lineup. But I get them anyhow because you cannot avoid it.
But that will change soon. I ordered the Roku device.
Franken throws down regarding Net Neutrality! August 23, 2010
Posted by truthspew in internet, net neutrality.Tags: corporations, corruption, Cox, National Grid, net neutrality
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If you’ve been reading for some time you know I’m a supporter of net neutrality and the FCC’s move to put the ISP’s into the common carrier column. It makes sense since in addition to data, video and telecom services run over the net. That makes them common carriers.
If you don’t understand net neutrality I’ll do a what-if for you.
What if Cox decided tomorrow to seriously degrade port 5060 TCP and UDP traffic. That’s the port used by SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) to setup VoIP calls? To me that would be a big no-no but Cox has a vested interest because they too offer phone service, overpriced phone service at that.
Or it could be Comcast blocking BitTorrent traffic, or any number of egregious behaviors by ISP’s who sold us UNLIMITED connections and are now trying to renege on the deal.
Franken really rips em’ though.
He begins with his usual deadpan:
“I believe that net neutrality is the First Amendment issue of our time, unless it’s freedom of religion, which, until last week, I thought we had kind of worked out.”
That last part in reference to the mosque they want to build NEAR the WTC disaster site.
But my absolute favorite part, which you must read even if you don’t read the source article:
“The FCC would publish an annual report on the effect of these additional services,” the proposal recommends, “and immediately report if it finds at any time that these services threaten the meaningful availability of broadband Internet access services.”
Franken had choice words for this plan, none of them good.
Google and Verizon’s scheme empowers the FCC to, “get this—’publish a report’,” he dryly commented, while his audience laughed again.
“But there’s an even bigger issue here. It’s that when government will not act, corporations will. And unlike government agencies, which have a legal responsibility to protect American consumers, the only thing corporations care about, the only thing that they have a legal duty to promote, is their bottom line.”
“We can’t let companies write the rules that they’re supposed to follow,” Franken added, “because if that happens those rules are going to be written only to protect corporations.”
So true. We cannot trust a corporation to police its own activities. It’s sort of like the two foxes and the chicken discussing what to have for dinner tonight.
Look at the past abuses of corporations. I was speaking with a co-worker today and she and I both expressed the same level of outrage about the dominant energy distributor/provider here in RI, National Grid.
For natural gas they use a ‘therm’ factor which is cubic feet times something. In other words this translates to a “Because we can” fee.
Once you de-regulate, be it energy, net services, phone services, etc. you can see what happens.
So regulate the net. It’s about damned time that we got a regulation for net neutrality.
Cox raising rates in RI June 20, 2008
Posted by truthspew in Uncategorized.Tags: Cox, Rates, Rhode Island
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This is interesting. Cox is crying that energy costs are forcing it to raise rates for video service in RI.
A 6.6% increase on basic expanded cable to $48.99 a month, and hiking the prices on all premium services like digital cable, subscription channels etc.
This is interesting since Cox is now more expensive than Verizon’s FiOS package if you get all your services from Cox (video, net, phone). I only get net service and they’re not hiking those rates, nor are they hiking phone rates.
But here’s an idea for Cox. How about investing in green technologies? For example all those cable amplifiers etc. are on telephone poles. Wouldn’t be too hard to use solar technology to power those during the daylight hours. You could even setup batteries so they could go through part of the night. Make it an intelligent network, e.g. if there’s nobody using the service then shut the amps down, make them on-demand devices.
As far as the vehicle fleet, how about looking at electric vehicles or hybridized electric vehicles.
There are a number of things that in the short run would cost them more but in the long run reduce their dependence on those energy suppliers like National Grid, et al.
