QWest + Cox = hassle (Gilbert, Prescott: job, services, business)

[Pauley]

We had QWest high-speed internet installed a few days ago.
Worked great until Cox installed our phone. (We want to save money
so we are splitting our service providers). The internet stopped connecting.
Of course, each company blames the other. So -- anyone have this problem?
I wonder if I could fix this myself.

Pauley
Gilbert

[silverbear]

There are many good reasons to split service between Cox and Qwest, but I never thought saving money was one of them. In fact, it seems like both companies offer the best deals if you consolidate all services -- video, internet, and phone -- with just one of them. If either company provided consistently excellent service, I would consolidate, but right now neither is worthy of receiving all my telecommunications business.

My guess is that the Cox installation disconnected you from the Qwest phone lines, knocking out your DSL service. I think it's more common for customers to have the opposite set-up: Cox for Internet and Qwest for phone.

[AksarbeN]

If your service worked when Qwest installed the DSL and you then later have Cox come an install phone service, you best have Cox return and correct the wiring that they disconnected. I have heard of this type of problem many times in the past. Cox wanted to connect your telephone to their service and by doing so removed the wiring that provided your Qwest DSL. Call Cox and have them correct this problem, if they can’t or won’t ask them to cancel your service all together. Cox will do a good job of providing video but they’re not that talented in the phone business. Good bad or not Qwest has been in the Telephone business for over 100+ years. Cox knows how to do video and has little telephone service. What they did to you is simple, they (Cox) took the inside telephone wiring and put their service on it, not knowing that Qwest already had that in use for your DSL.

Cox can fix it, or remove their service and you can have Qwest give you a telephone service as well as the DSL.

[Andre5140]

I will be moving out there soon and was wondering who I should get for cable TV and cable internet. Not familiar with either of htese comapnies.

I'm looking for cable internet and "Upgrade Basic" cable service. That is what we call it here. I currently get like 65 channels and that is about what I want out there. No fancy movie channels or anything like that.

Your thoughts on pricing, channel selction, and customer service would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks much.

[aj661]

Originally Posted by Andre5140

I will be moving out there soon and was wondering who I should get for cable TV and cable internet. Not familiar with either of htese comapnies.

I'm looking for cable internet and "Upgrade Basic" cable service. That is what we call it here. I currently get like 65 channels and that is about what I want out there. No fancy movie channels or anything like that.

Your thoughts on pricing, channel selction, and customer service would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks much.

We finally went with Cox for everything. I think what we have is called "expanded" basic. The one down side about the phone I hadn't considered when we switched to Cox was when the power goes out. With Qwest, we still had the phone, but with Cox everything went down. It's not a big deal though because 1) the power almost never goes out anymore and 2) we have cell phones in addition to the land line. We haven't had a single problem with cable internet in the 1.5 years we've had it.

[HX_Guy]

Another option is Vonage.

We have Cox for cable and internet but went with Vonage for the phone service. If you are going just for basic, then I think it is pretty much the same...but if you need additional lines, fax line, etc...then vonage is a much better deal. We pay around $45 a month for:

1 phone line with free nationwide long distance
1 fax line with unlimited incoming + 100 minutes outgoing
1 888 number

Plus of coure there is call waiting, caller id, call forwarding...all of those features. You also get your voicemails emailed to you if you like and can listen to them online.

[silverbear]

Originally Posted by aj661

We finally went with Cox for everything. I think what we have is called "expanded" basic. The one down side about the phone I hadn't considered when we switched to Cox was when the power goes out. With Qwest, we still had the phone, but with Cox everything went down. It's not a big deal though because 1) the power almost never goes out anymore and 2) we have cell phones in addition to the land line. We haven't had a single problem with cable internet in the 1.5 years we've had it.

One thing to keep in mind is that if you have an alarm system with monitoring service, the system will not be able to call in to report an alarm if the power is out and your phone service is power-dependent. This is an unlikey scenario, but something to keep in mind.

[Gretchen B]

I'm up here in the Prescott area, but I was wondering about experiences others have had (and cost) of going with Qwest DSL for high-speed internet. I currently pay $46.00 for cable internet with CableOne (our cable provider up here). I've got a LD pkg with Qwest that's .05/min to max of $25/mo. (I like that - having unlimited LD for $25 or less). TV is basic cable at $42.50 (CableOne). I'm thinking maybe Qwest might be cheaper for internet and then maybe get Dish or Direct for the TV? It just seems that $90+/mo to CableOne for Internet and basic cable is alot!

[kawgpz550]

Originally Posted by Gretchen B

I'm up here in the Prescott area, but I was wondering about experiences others have had (and cost) of going with Qwest DSL for high-speed internet. I currently pay $46.00 for cable internet with CableOne (our cable provider up here). I've got a LD pkg with Qwest that's .05/min to max of $25/mo. (I like that - having unlimited LD for $25 or less). TV is basic cable at $42.50 (CableOne). I'm thinking maybe Qwest might be cheaper for internet and then maybe get Dish or Direct for the TV? It just seems that $90+/mo to CableOne for Internet and basic cable is alot!

I don't know if they have anything going on with your service providers or not, however, here in Bullhead, Dish Network has something going with our local phone company. I haven't done this yet, (not sure if I can as we have a 2 year contract with our phone company because we have business service) but through our local phone company you can get Dish Network, phone with unlimited long distance and DSL or $99 month. Of course this doesn't include movie channels etc, but Dish has a great variety of channels. We have been with them for about 10+ years now and it is GREAT!

[rambrush]

I had great service with intouchdsl.net they took good care of me. No problems