You can add me to the list of individuals that has given up on Cox as a service provider. We had (until today) cable TV (high definition, DVR), high speed internet and telephone with Cox. Last December the TV started tiling, little squares that gave the picture a jerky look, the audio was also affected. A Cox technician, possibly the only person at Cox that actually knows what they are doing, diagnosed the problem as "an issue outside the house". He ran a cable directly from the Cox main box outside (happens to be in my yard) to my cable box and determined that the problem was in the Cox system external to my house. This started a series of events dealing with Cox that can only be described as a total comedy. I would call them, explain that the problem hadn't been fixed and they'd send out a technician that would swap the DVR (I've had maybe 5-7 boxes). I kept telling them the first tech was certain the problem wasn't in my house. Didn't matter, they replaced wiring in my house until my house was rewired (OK, I have an old house and this was OK by me, can't hurt to have new wire). Each tech that arrived had no clue about what had happened before. I started a ground zero with each new tech. Finally I got good enough to spot the techs that didn't have a clue and I was able to throw them out in the first 5 minutes of their visit saving me time and energy. I ended up throwing out 3 techs. There was no communication system such that the techs could use to help each other out. More than once I had an error message on my TV "Signal Interrupted ID1 (2148". I figured this would be helpful to someone as it clearly was an error message from the Cox system trying desperately to tell someone something had gone bad. I called customer support explained the error message and asked that this be passed along to the tech side as this error message would mean something to someone; the next day I'd get a call trying to setup a time for Cox to come out I'd ask did you see the error I reported they always responded NO, and they didn't have a clue what the error message was.

I was so patient with Cox, as I kept getting the message that they were close to a fix. This went on until April 16 when the cable was so bad I was not able to watch the final 2 games of the NBA season. With Post season starting soon, I called DirectTV and they'll be out to install tomorrow.

I got a $155 credit having spent about $355 on just the cable TV since Dec. I wasn't too happy so I told the billing guy I wanted to talk to his supervisor, I explained the series of problems and started a rant on Cox (I didn't raise my voice or speak harshly I just explained my situation). As soon as she determined that I had DirectTV coming out for an install, she hung up. Fine. I was on auto pay, switched to normal pay. Will continue with high speed connection until I find a replacement and telephone until I find a replacement, and will not pay the Cox bill until it reaches $200; then I'll start paying again. For some people this may not be an option as they can process paperwork to impact my credit; but I am older, own my home and pay cash for everything so it'll take a lot to reduce my 850+ score. Besides, I'd love a fight with Cox billing; as I'm retired this might even spice up my life some.

I'll be back to tell you about my experience with DirectTV.