Mad at Cox (for rent, landlord, title)

[Potential_Landlord]

Originally Posted by PhxBarb

Happs: Try asking for a Retention Specialist, usually the guy who tries to get you not to cancel. It worked for a while for me, then it didn't. So I switched to CL. That was cheap for a while, now it isn't. In addition, the bill from CL is so complicated and was never the same every month. So I just have internet now. We will see when the bill comes if I change that too. So sick of these rip offs.

I also feel like being between a rock and a hard place with both companies, Cox or CL. So I asked my siblings in Germany what they pay for internet. Turns out they pay around EUR25 (~$28) for the equivalent of the Cox Preferred package at 50mbps down and 5mbps up load (not dedicated; same as here). I officially feel gauged by these companies now!!! Not liking it one little bit

[pbenjamin]

Originally Posted by Potential_Landlord

Does CL come in through the telephone line? Do they issue their own modems or can you buy them yourself? From there can you reuse the same wifi router as for your cable?

Can't tell you about the modem, but they do use the phone line and a router is a router, doesn't matter how the internet connection gets there.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by Potential_Landlord

Does CL come in through the telephone line? Do they issue their own modems or can you buy them yourself? From there can you reuse the same wifi router as for your cable?

I'm so sick and tired of Cox gouging it's going to decrease my life expectancy. We paid $144 for just basic cable plus Starz & HBO and internet. Now we're down to internet but it's still $70+. If the $30 from CL are good I'll move over there in a heartbeat.

P.S. Thanks goodness Starz now comes streaming with Amazon Prime for $9. My wife is addicted to the Outlander series and has to have it.

They provide a combo modem/router for 99 bucks or a monthly fee. It's a good router but it's only 2.4GHz. I use my own router with their's set for transparent bridging if you follow. to get 5GHz. Works well. You might be able to find a dual band router that works with their DSL too, but be careful as it is more variable than cable. The best route is just to use your own router along with theirs. Their techies will help you set it up for transparent mode and give you the password and settings you need for your router. Your router has to support PPPoE. I used a TP-Link WDR3500 and can vouch that that one works. I have CL's 40 Meg service (though it connects and runs at 50)

[adriver]

I had cox a few years ago, and it was horrible; cut out often, horrible customer service, price increases. I was happy to be done with them. I recently moved into a new apt in Glendale, and was called not 20 minutes after I signed the paperwork to move in (office lady must be getting some kind of kickback, probably how they do most of 'em); The cox representative asked me what services I was going to need, and tried to get all my information before telling me anything about costs. After telling him I did not want to use cox, he told me cox was the only company that serviced these apartments. I was upset, and told him I would have to call him back. As soon as I went outside, there was a Centurylink employee hooking up another customer not 100 feet away. I asked, and of course they serviced here. I signed up for the 1 yr contract, 3 yr locked price of there fastest service for this area at 40mbs. $64.00 with a -$34.05 discount for a 1 yr contract bringing it to $29.95, (not sure if that will rise after 1 yr). There was a $20 internet installation charge, (whatever they hooked up outside, its incredibly simple to plug in to the wall and your computer), and a $10 modem lease. (I will buy a modem and return this before next months bill. Theres a $2 "internet cost recovery fee".. ??? and $1 for taxes.. So far I'm extremely happy with centurylink.

[adriver]

Originally Posted by Potential_Landlord

Does CL come in through the telephone line? Do they issue their own modems or can you buy them yourself? From there can you reuse the same wifi router as for your cable?

I'm so sick and tired of Cox gouging it's going to decrease my life expectancy. We paid $144 for just basic cable plus Starz & HBO and internet. Now we're down to internet but it's still $70+. If the $30 from CL are good I'll move over there in a heartbeat.

P.S. Thanks goodness Starz now comes streaming with Amazon Prime for $9. My wife is addicted to the Outlander series and has to have it.

centurylink comes in through the phone. its a modem/wifi router combo ZyXel C1100Z is the one I am leasing. $10 a month or I'm pretty sure it was $100 to buy. You can buy your own, that's the next step for me.

Compatibility Table Q | Modems

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

They provide a combo modem/router for 99 bucks or a monthly fee. It's a good router but it's only 2.4GHz. I use my own router with their's set for transparent bridging if you follow. to get 5GHz. Works well. You might be able to find a dual band router that works with their DSL too, but be careful as it is more variable than cable. The best route is just to use your own router along with theirs. Their techies will help you set it up for transparent mode and give you the password and settings you need for your router. Your router has to support PPPoE. I used a TP-Link WDR3500 and can vouch that that one works. I have CL's 40 Meg service (though it connects and runs at 50)

That's more technical than I understand. Is it easy? what can I search or read about to get faster?

[Potential_Landlord]

Originally Posted by adriver

centurylink comes in through the phone. its a modem/wifi router combo ZyXel C1100Z is the one I am leasing. $10 a month or I'm pretty sure it was $100 to buy. You can buy your own, that's the next step for me.

Compatibility Table Q | Modems



That's more technical than I understand. Is it easy? what can I search or read about to get faster?

I think as long as you use a dual band router that uses both the 2.4 and 5.0 gHz spectrum you are doing what you can. This is what I plan to do:
a) get the same deal as you
b) buy my own modem
c) re-use my current Linksys EA 4500 router for wifi

I'll do this over the next few days and will report on how it (not) worked.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by adriver

centurylink comes in through the phone. its a modem/wifi router combo ZyXel C1100Z is the one I am leasing. $10 a month or I'm pretty sure it was $100 to buy. You can buy your own, that's the next step for me.

Compatibility Table Q | Modems



That's more technical than I understand. Is it easy? what can I search or read about to get faster?

Google for transparent bridge mode ZyXel C1100Z. It is just a setting that you do in the admin setup. Once you do this, you configure your router (that you have to buy separate) to use PPPoE (point to point protocol over Ethernet). You need a username and password that you enter into your router to login to Century Link which they will give you if you ask. Basically what happens is you use the ZyXel only to connect to Century Link DSL. The wireless stuff in the house is handled by your own router instead of the built-in one in the ZyXel. It is very easy to do, but then again if this stuff is all Greek to you it can be confusing. CL tech will help you set it up, I believe.

The reason you do this is to get a 5GHz wireless network in your house. (note: it has nothing to do with the bandwidth you are getting on the internet. It is the frequency that your wireless is using) The advantage to 5Ghz is that there is far less interference on it than the regular 2.4Ghz, so theoretically speed is better. The disadvantage is that 5Ghz is very limited distance wise. It barely goes through one wall much less from a back room of the house to a router in a closet or something. Another potential disadvantage is not everything supports 5Ghz. Printers, for example, are almost all 2.4. But if you have a line of sight and a compatible device it works very well. To give you an example, my typical speedtests with 2.4 are 36 megs and 47 megs with 5.

The slower speed above is perfectly acceptable for Netflix and other streaming. You don't need to go wasting your money for 5Ghz without some performance issue. My reason for doing this is that my security cameras broadcast on 2.4Ghz and there was constant interference with them. I finally gave up,though, and just went with wired cameras.

[adriver]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Google for transparent bridge mode ZyXel C1100Z. It is just a setting that you do in the admin setup. Once you do this, you configure your router (that you have to buy separate) to use PPPoE (point to point protocol over Ethernet). You need a username and password that you enter into your router to login to Century Link which they will give you if you ask. Basically what happens is you use the ZyXel only to connect to Century Link DSL. The wireless stuff in the house is handled by your own router instead of the built-in one in the ZyXel. It is very easy to do, but then again if this stuff is all Greek to you it can be confusing. CL tech will help you set it up, I believe.

The reason you do this is to get a 5GHz wireless network in your house. (note: it has nothing to do with the bandwidth you are getting on the internet. It is the frequency that your wireless is using) The advantage to 5Ghz is that there is far less interference on it than the regular 2.4Ghz, so theoretically speed is better. The disadvantage is that 5Ghz is very limited distance wise. It barely goes through one wall much less from a back room of the house to a router in a closet or something. Another potential disadvantage is not everything supports 5Ghz. Printers, for example, are almost all 2.4. But if you have a line of sight and a compatible device it works very well. To give you an example, my typical speedtests with 2.4 are 36 megs and 47 megs with 5.

The slower speed above is perfectly acceptable for Netflix and other streaming. You don't need to go wasting your money for 5Ghz without some performance issue. My reason for doing this is that my security cameras broadcast on 2.4Ghz and there was constant interference with them. I finally gave up,though, and just went with wired cameras.

Ok, thank you for the info. My computer, smart tv, and usually me and my phone are all in the same big living room with the modem/router I have now. I will be getting a 2nd router here shortly then, and update when done.

[elcajones]

Originally Posted by adriver

Ok, thank you for the info. My computer, smart tv, and usually me and my phone are all in the same big living room with the modem/router I have now. I will be getting a 2nd router here shortly then, and update when done.

Just get a range extender man....

[kell490]

I just upgraded to 300 meg needed a new cable modem the guy showed up and I sprinted down to Target to pickup a new modem turned out my docsis 3 modem didn't have enough channels. Cox charges $100 a month it's worth every cent. I have had no outages in months I had the tech replace all my cable from the demarc to my cable modem. My old coax had fallen apart from the UV on my flat roof. I can't wait for cox to offer 1 GBIT they already offer it in some areas. I cut the cord as far as pay TV last year best money saver I ever did dug out the old roof top TV antenna and never looked back. I never use their service for anything I just do it myself, but I guess it helps that I'm a network administrator for 15 years. Never tired CLINK we have so many problems with them at work I guess I never wanted to deal with them at home.