[EA]

Originally Posted by timothyaw

EA that's really weird. Do you leave the pc's on all the time? I know pc's can get malware and therefore become part of a botnet. Which is used in DOS (Denial of Service) attacks around the globe.

I would definitely check your anti-virus to make sure it's up to date etc. Although Linux is not immune to malware etc, that's what I use and it's a much better experience anyway.

Your experience is definitely irregular, as you say your internet habits haven't changed. Use a packet sniffer to see what's going on on your internet connection.

I build computers. I have a pretty good understanding of how all that works. My pc is squeaky clean. My wife shuts hers off at night. Mine stays on but gets disconnected to the internet when I go to bed.
(My gpu is fubar and I don't want to buy another one right now. If I turn my pc off I have to go back and reset my gpu and it's not worth the hassle.)

[mitchmiller9]

After complaining about the problem for about 8 days straight via COX's online chat (where the conversation typically died due to my service dropping), I got a rep that stated that the problem was likely interference from my neighbors (even though I'm not using WIFI).

Two days later COX rolled out two additional DNS servers (now 5) and the problem is now fixed. Service is still noticeably slower during the day, but at least I have service. I'm not sure if they may have done something else besides adding the DNS servers.

[DoggieMatic]

If you're pretty sure that your complaint is not an "operator error" issue, you can try complaining to the FCC:
https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us

For cable TV related complaints:
Cable TV Complaints (note that CenturyLink is listed under their old Centurytel name).

From prior experience in another state, despite cable TV/broadband internet complaints being common, very few people take the time to actually file a complaint with the local/state/federal regulatory agencies, so if you *do* file a complaint and articulate the issue well, documenting your numerous failed attempts to get the company to remedy the situation, the company getting your complaint from an agency that regulates will result in special attention being paid to you to resolve that & any future complaints. In my case, I was contacted directly by a Comcast manager-type who gave me her direct contact info for any future problem I had.

While they might blow-off individual complaints being forwarded from the regulatory agencies just like they do when we complain directly (but understand from their perspective, they do get a lot of complaints from morons too...), if the regulatory agencies start getting bombarded with legit complaints, they will put some heat on the service providers to fix the problem. Also, if we consumers follow-up with the regulatory agencies to let them know that the matter they forwarded-on to the service provider was ignored, that *may* cause the regulatory agency to feel obligated to take punitive action to remind the service provider that the agency has power.