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Cox Joins Comcast in Bumping Cable Speeds

By BetaNews Staff, BetaNews

June 14, 2007, 3:13 PM

Cox Communications has begun rolling out faster versions of its cable Internet service to compete with increased speeds from Comcast and Verizon's FiOS, as well as a cheaper plan to fend off low-cost DSL. Cox customers will now see up to 15Mbps download speeds.

The higher throughput is due to the addition of PowerBoost technology, as well as Cox utilizing its "local hybrid fiber network," the company said. Preferred plan customers will see 9Mbps speeds, while the Premier plan tops out at 15Mbps. A new "Economy" plan offers 768kbps downstream speeds and 256kbps upstream, which is on par with many DSL offerings. Cox did not disclose pricing, as it will vary depending on the market.

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By horsecharles

edited Jun 15, 2007 - 12:44 AM

Funny thing is that cable co's have the technology / ability to do 100mbps... Cablevision stated they would only upgrade their equipment to max. be able to do half of that; but even then they weren't planning on offering anywhere near that lesser maximum...that they just couldn't see what people would need so much bandwidth for.

Score: 0

By thefalcon2k5

posted Jun 14, 2007 - 8:48 PM

I have Comcast high speed and my internet tops at 12 Mbps downloads because of my package. But, my uploads top out at 2 Mbps.

Score: 0

By Anastasia2007

posted Jun 14, 2007 - 8:04 PM

My problem is that Verizon Fios has reasonable prices.. unless you want 30 mbps down. I would switch if this was normal.

5 - 39.99
15 - 49.99 - Cox tops out at (about the same price)
30 - 179.95!!!??!?? What kind of crazy math is this?

Score: 0

By mjm01010101

posted Jun 16, 2007 - 10:32 PM

Called price premium. What is so strange about it?

Or did you really think it costs *that* much more to make a Lexus/Mercedes/Infinity/Luxury Brand?

It doesn't. They reap massive profits off the brand, but they don't have the quantity sold that the less expensive brands have.

Score: 0

By CarLox

posted Jun 14, 2007 - 7:41 PM

FIOS

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By guru_v

posted Jun 14, 2007 - 6:59 PM

The comment on speed has been covered already. I do think it is odd the company won't set a firm price on the service...depending on where you live, there are levels of being bent over.

Score: 0

By ogman

posted Jun 15, 2007 - 9:06 AM

Very true. Where I live, I actually got bumped DOWN by comcrap. And they made three HBO channels disappear. I canceled HBO.

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By NULLedge

posted Jun 14, 2007 - 5:51 PM

yes, but can they keep pace with comcasts excessive outages and poor level of customer care? my favorite part about my 6 month abusive relationship with comcast was calling them and having them insist that it was my fault that the cable was out. this happened no less than 5 times in 6 months and i had at least 3 weeks of combined downtime with their awesomely fast service.

no i dont have spyware. no i dont have viruses. no im not filesharing. no im not hosting a porn site from my computers. look man, i just have 1 laptop, its a macbook, and all i do is surf news sites and check my email. fix the damn internet...

so now im a DSL customer. EOS

Score: 0

By Spotella

edited Jul 6, 2007 - 9:45 AM

Oh Yeah...Comcast outages. If the predict an electrical storm within 50 miles of my home Comcast goes out. It doesn't matter if the storm ever developes, Comcast goes out just for the hell of it! There customer service (if that's waht you call it), is absolutly useless. If you call to find out why you can't get on they just say, "I don't know, why don't you try again in an hour or 2".

Score: 0

By g33z

posted Jun 14, 2007 - 9:37 PM

That sounds like Time Warner, anytime theres a problem, it's always the customers fault. I would love to have 12Mbps at a reasonable rate. I pay $45 a month for a dinky 5Mbps/256kbps. Oh sure for $25 more a month I can get 8Mbps/512kbps, but why do I want to pay $25 more a month for an additional 3Mbps? Just wish FIOS would get here, but this area of New York we will be about last.

Score: 0

By ogman

posted Jun 15, 2007 - 1:16 PM

"it's always the customers fault."

That's the new business standard and if you don't accept and comply with it, you are a "bad" customer.

Score: 0

By siryak

posted Jun 15, 2007 - 11:42 AM

Try dealing with Wildblue satellite internet. They wont help you if you have a router!

Score: 0

By horsecharles

posted Jun 15, 2007 - 12:29 AM

I saw an add where they claim they're in the process of doubling present speeds...

Score: 0

By mgruber

posted Jun 15, 2007 - 5:07 PM

Yeah they are doubling speeds and charging more for it. I have 5 now and when I was complaining that my Internet was out they asked if I wanted to bump it up to 10 for an additional 10 per month. I nearly fell down laughing. The line was out yet they wanted me to pay more for additional bandwidth.

By the way, I am still down. It has been a week and they cannot get their act together. Four different technicians on four different days and it still wont work. Thank god my neighbor has his wireless open.

Score: 0

By g33z

posted Jun 15, 2007 - 6:28 PM

Well at least its only $10 more for 10Mbps, I gotta pay $25 more for an additional 3Mbps.

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By xtrustx

posted Jun 14, 2007 - 3:44 PM

15Mbps down - but what about upstream? When are they going to get it? They need to boost upstream to 1Mbps to start - *that* would be useful.

Score: 0

By wincement

edited Jun 14, 2007 - 6:56 PM

The previous Premier Plan gave you 12MBps down and 1MBps up, so my guess is that it will either be the same or more now.

You got your wish.

Score: 0

By skags442

posted Jun 14, 2007 - 5:26 PM

i have charter 10 mbps down with 1 mbps up

i would rather they make upstreem bigger on their slower connection speeds rather then just having a big download speed...

id like to see a 5mbps down with atleast 1mbps up. it would be nice

Score: 0

By dougggg

posted Jun 14, 2007 - 5:23 PM

I agree with xtrustx. Personally I would rather have a 3mbps synchronous connection than 15mbps downstream with a measly upstream. Upload speed is very important, and not just for those who are into illegal file-sharing. If I want to email a 10mb file to someone immediately, I don't want to have to wait an hour for it to leave my outbox. I have also noticed that some sites actually load faster with a 3mbps synchronous connection than with a 5mbps downstream speed coupled with a measly 128kbps or 256kbps upstream.

Score: 0

By saint.alpha

posted Jun 15, 2007 - 10:54 AM

Gaming also needs a decent upload. The 256k that some providers give doesn't really cut it with many. Some require at least a 512k line, and I can only see that requirement going up..

Score: 0

By siryak

posted Jun 15, 2007 - 11:43 AM

Well it depends on if your hosting or not. But if you're hosting I agree you could use more than 256k.

Score: 0

By WeezulDK

posted Jun 15, 2007 - 4:56 PM

Don't forget services like VOIP and video conferencing, as well as the gaming and file sharing...

Even getting game updates through WoW are based on peer to peer and that limits how fast you can download too, because your upload is so tiny.

I would rather see 5 down and 1 up than 8down and 512k up any day of the week...

Score: 0

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