Calling BS on Cox Cable
January 6th, 2008
Cox Cable’s website has a nice section explaining the myths about satellite TV. After deciding to switch off DirecTV this week and switch over the Cox’s “Everything” package to save $40 a month off my DTV bill, and after only a few hours deciding to cancel the Cox service I felt I needed to debunk all of Cox’s debunking. Read on for a complete description of all of the BS I went through with Cox and their “cheaper” package.
Overview
I know we pay too much for TV service, if you have satellite or digital cable, you pay too much as well, but what can you do but suck it up and pay for it. We started with Cox digital cable, switch to DirecTV because of the dual-tuner Tivo ability that wasn’t offered on any other service at the time. Now, in a quest to save money I began researching my options.
Cox Satellite Myths
Cox cable’s website has a list of the top 10 satellite TV myths and claims they are all false. Let’s examine each “myth” one by one and see what a great value Cox digital cable service is.
Myth #1: “You get more channels with satellite TV than with digital cable.”
Cox offers up to 260 channels, Dish Network offers up to 280 - Confirmed
Myth #2: “Satellite TV offers a better HD channel lineup.”
Dish Network offers significantly more HD channels than Cox with more coming - Confirmed
Myth #3: “Satellite TV offers more for the sports fan.”
DirecTV blows away Cox in terms of sports channels - Confirmed
Myth #4: “Satellite TV is less expensive than cable.”
After MUCH research, to get comparable packages, DirecTV and Cox are within a few bucks of each other and Dish Network is about $30 cheaper - Confirmed
Myth #5: “I can get video-on-demand service with satellite TV.”
Ok, well, this one is a technicality. You cannot get TRUE on-demand with satellite TV although their PPV shows start so often it’s pretty darned close. Is it true on-demand, no. Cox is technically correct on this point.
Myth #6: “Cable companies raise prices more than satellite TV companies.”
In the past four years my cable bill has gone up and so has my DirecTV bill. Did it go up more often? No, did it go up less often? No. They raise prices about the same. Moot point.
Myth #7: “Satellite beats cable on reliability and picture quality.”
In four years of having regular cable and DirecTV, I have never had a problem with DirecTV and picture quality is perfect. In the same amount of time I have had basic cable go out twice. So in MY experience, yes, satellite had better reliability. - Confirmed.
Myth #8: “You can get local weather on the 24-hour weather channel with satellite TV.”
Huh? The Weather Channel is national and I get local channels. I routinely check on satellite for local weather and Cox is saying you can’t find out about local weather. I can’t figure out what the hell they are talking about. - Confirmed
Myth #9: “It’s easy to install a satellite dish and all of the related equipment.”
Both DirecTV and Dish Network send out knowledgeable installers that hook everything up for you. From that point it is not more difficult to hook up than a cable system. So yes, it is easy to install a dish and related equipment. - Confirmed
Myth #10: “Satellite TV is a one-stop shop for entertainment and communications services.”
There simply isn’t the technology available for satellite to offer all of the services of cable. With Cox cable you can get high speed internet access and digital telephone service. You simply cannot get these services from satellite. - Busted
So out of 10 myths that Cox is trying to dispel, they blow it on 7 out of 10. Their attempt to steer people away from satellite is totally unfounded based on their arguments.
Cox Tried to “Save Me Money”
I explained to the helpful salesperson EXACTLY what I wanted, what channels we watch, how many TV’s, what premium channels, etc, etc. He put together a package that would save me about $25 a month over my DirecTV bill. This made me happy. I ran to the local Cox store, grabbed my new DVR’s and ran home to hook it up.
After going through and setting up season passes for all of our favorite shows (and I have to point out that their DVR interface leaves a LOT to be desired here) and not being able to find HBO or Showtime, I called into tech support. To my surprise, I got ahold of someone at 10pm who said she just needed to refresh the receivers. After a few minutes the systems came back to life and HBO and Showtime were now available in all of their digital glory. But wait….crap…it totally reset the systems and whipped out all of our settings. We start re-programming the system and now all the other “normal” channels from our “everything” package are now missing. No Discovery, No BIO, No FOOD, No Science, No Lifetime, etc etc etc…so I now call Cox cable back and explain this to them. I am now informed that it is going to cost me another $30 a month to get all those channels back I just had moments before because I “wasn’t supposed to get them”. So now, to get what I was getting on DirecTV is now going to cost me MORE than it DirecTV was charging.
Dish Network to the rescue
A friend and I actually went through this whole process together this weekend and both decided that Dish Network was actually the better deal. At close to $40 less than my DirecTV bill with more features than I had before, this is certainly a good decision. Their prices are the best, their packages are complete, there are very few options so you get what you expect to get, they can install within 1 - 2 business days (in our area), and their DVR is one of the best available.
Summary
Cox is full of crap. Plain and simple. They are losing ground to the satellite providers and are spreading FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) and lies about how their service is better for you. Because of this I will even be switching my phone lines away from Cox as well for their bad business practices and how they handled this whole issue. Unfortunately I can’t beat their high-speed internet service so I am stuck with them for that for the foreseeable future but for TV service, they simply are not on the same level as either Dish Network or DirecTV.
When you say you thought you would save $40 I thought wow, I wouldn’t pay $40 *total* for any kind of tv. How much is that crap anyway? I call BS on all forms of pay tv. sat, cable, phone (that’s a good one I don’t understand *at all*), yada.
I gave up the sat tv when they tried to raise my basic above $25/month. That was my limit so for a couple of years I’ve not had any tv except when I feel like pulling out the rabbit ears for some good local public broadcasting and that is rare. I could say I’m saving $25 or I could say I’m saving $100 or whatever price you’re paying. I call BS on this post
Comment by Vikinsson — February 1, 2008 @ 3:54 pm
Are you for real. I’ve heard of people living sheltered lives, but Holy crap! You haven’t watched anything but public tv for a couple of years. Not only do I found that hard to believe, I find it insane!
As for the post, I found it very informative. I’ve been back and forth myself with tv, phone and internet providers. Things always look good for the first month or two. Then once the new wears off and your locked into a contract, Woops, my bad! That’s gonna cost you more if you want to keep that service. Like you said, they have us right where they want us!
To our very strange individual who thinks $25.01 is just too much, I bet the gas prices are really getting to you. Are you walking now? How about a cell phone? Electricity? But I do see you obviously have internet! Is it dialup? Or are you using your neighbors signal? Wow man, you are my hero! Mr. Good Cents himself!
C’ya
Comment by RobertC — May 20, 2008 @ 3:15 pm