Cox or Fios? (Centreville, Fairfax: live, vs., best deal)

[sequon]

Thanks for sharing your story, FCNova. Your story is good enough to give me some flashbacks of bad memory that I had with them. Sneaky billings. Charging what I didn't order and claiming that I did order it...when I asked them to prove it, they told ME to prove I didn't order it. WTF. Totally unfit people for customer service. Those people should be removed from the phone desk. I'm not just talking about one or two bad Verizon employees. Almost everyone I talked to so far was not only unhelpful but also showing some kind of bad attitude or trying to argue with me. What is the point of arguing?

One example---(edited out)

Similar thing--(edited out)

Hey, Verizon, have you heard of "Customer service 101?"

Do I still recommend FIOS to people?

Yes, I want people to experience both the superior technology AND horrible customer service they offer. I hope, if more people complain about it, they will improve.

[qtbrye]

I've had Cox since forever for both Internet & TV, then just Internet (cut the "cord"). Aside from outages due to either a broken modem (yes, this does happen) or to their line going into the house (which they fixed the next morning), everything has been fine *knock on wood*. I've never gotten an unknown charge, except for incremental price increase of the plans after the 2-years lock in period expires. Customer service has always been great when I call with a technical question, etc.

The only thing that I hated about Cox is their persistent calls to ask if I want TV again--it took at least 6 requests to the caller to put me on the "no calls list" before they finally stopped.

YMMV of course.

[merlinflex]

As long you are ok with Verizon FIOS throttling your internet speeds for Netflix and Amazon On Demand...in which case, you can just throttle your payments.

[Jon_In_NOVA]

I just cancelled Comcast after 8 years using their 20mb internet and phone. The reason being is their 52% price increase. Of course I am not in a contract and If I was I would be paying the same amount. For ~$10 cheaper I can have 5mb faster with FIOS and same calling plan with Verizon.

Comcast did not seem to care to loose me as a customer. I even called and spoke with two retention reps trying see if they could keep my bill somewhat static. As I didn't mind pay a few dollars more but ~$30 more a month for the same service is a deal killer for me.

[vademo]

If you have, definitely get Verizon FIOS!!! COX is horrible and their internet speed is such a big disappointment in NOVA. Your internet speed usually goes down based on others' internet usage. I have been waiting for Verizon FIOS almost 2 years and hopefully they will install it to our condo during the winter. None of them have good customer service but at least FIOS has a better speed and less problem. If you cancel your account, YES Verizon is such a pain in the a.. but I prefer them over COX any day.

[Bhai]

Cox is abysmal. They might be ok ("might", being the operative word here) while you have them for regular service, but watch out if you need to change your service or something, as they'll cut you while smiling. They LIED to my face (or over the phone, to be technically correct) more than 5 times with one amount, to retain me as a customer when I moved, & then in the very 1st bill they basically charged me double that amount! I had confirmed the monthly billing amount with various customer service reps, supervisors, Level 2 reps, et al since I had to keep calling them to get services installed at my new location (another nightmare, though am not going into that here), & asked them to confirm that the amount included all charges, fees & taxes & ALL of them confirmed this amount. And now, surprise!, they can't find anything on my account for this.

Lying, cheating, being insultingly rude...these guys are like Tony Soprano's crew, with worse clothes.

[GeneralTurgidson]

Really? Pay for cable? That is so last-decade.

[Jon_In_NOVA]

Originally Posted by GeneralTurgidson

Really? Pay for cable? That is so last-decade.

I see you just joined, if not trolling (highly suspect to me) please elaborate or S-T-F-U.

[finalmove]

Originally Posted by kfos

Thanks! So it seems to be mixed.... I've heard Verizon adds random charges to the bill and their customer service is horrendous with long hold times?

I will have my own modem and router... does wireless work great with either of these 2 companies?

Fios. Customer service was lacking many years ago. It's very good now, so don't listen to those you've heard from.
I've need help only a couple of times in the past 7-years and my calls were answered by courteous people.
Fios is the future; don't settle for second best!

[paulbunyan]

Originally Posted by kfos

Thanks! So it seems to be mixed.... I've heard Verizon adds random charges to the bill and their customer service is horrendous with long hold times?

I will have my own modem and router... does wireless work great with either of these 2 companies?

Verizon prints their bill and it DOES NOT HAVE A BREAKDOWN OF THE MONTHLY CHARGES. All they give you is the total and expect you to pay it lol. They also bill you a month in advance.

They do it this way so if you have a question about their bill you have to call them. And we all know their cust service is the worst around...

But the FIOS service is leaps and bounds better than COX. I had them both side by side a while back to compare. FIOS is more stable but COX is cheaper