Many customers credit Cox cable internet for being fast and reliable—but pricing and customer service could be better.
An Honest Cox Internet Review, According to Customers

Cox Internet is a worthy pick for many customers. If you sign up, you get a variety of plan options and gigabit capabilities. Cox also offers free self-installation, which is a small perk that a lot of its cable competitors don’t offer. And it appears to be building up its fiber-internet infrastructure, with symmetrical speeds and multi-gigabit capabilities now part of Cox’s menu of customer options.
“Overall, I'd say the service is pretty good and dependable,” said M. J. Stevens, a Cox customer of 15 years who lives in San Diego, California.
Although Cox's prices skew higher for the speeds you get and you don't get unlimited data (unless you pay extra or bundle services for it), you can still get value out of the service, especially if you sign up with a Cox deal.
I did extensive research and interviewed 17 current and former Cox customers to put together this review. My findings suggest that, while Cox has its ups and downs, it's more than adequate for most households.
Guide to this Cox Internet review:
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Our breakdown of Cox internet features
What’s the skinny on Cox Internet? Here’s the Reviews.org take.
3.8/5.0
Cox is one of the five fastest providers. Looking at results from our speed test over the past year, Cox delivers average downloads of 243Mbps, ranking Cox faster than major competitors. Cox also gets a respectable average upload speed of 43Mbps, which is faster than many cable providers.
At its peak, Cox delivers up to 2Gbps download speeds 110Mbps upload speeds with its "Go Beyond Fast" plan. This is fast for a cable provider, but in reality, most people will find the 300Mbps works just fine for day-to-day needs like streaming, working from home, or scrolling through social media.
As for reliability, customers who spoke with Reviews.org gave a mixed picture. Many found Cox reliable, but some mentioned frequent outage issues. “The download and upload speeds varied wildly,” said software developer Aaron LaBounty, a former Cox customer in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Cable internet is subject to interference, so it's not surprising that some Cox customers experience fluctuating speeds.
3.3/5.0
Unless you get a bundle, Cox isn't the most affordable. However, it's always a good idea to check Cox's deals and plans, in case you can snag special offer.
You can get faster speeds for a lower price from cable competitors—although the faster speeds you get from Cox, the better value your price is. And while you don’t have to fork over cash for a self-installation kit, you do have to deal with fees for renting a router and overage charges if you exceed your monthly data cap.
Opting for unlimited data costs an extra $49.99 a month. That’s simply not worth the price unless you’re a content creator or have a big family with lots of data users.
Cox offers some service bundle options that can reduce your monthly bills. The best bundle option is combining Cox Internet with a Cox Mobile, the company’s prepaid phone brand. A Cox Mobile phone plan costs between $15 and $45 a month, which is super affordable for a cellular carrier. Combining that with Cox Internet gives you access to free unlimited data (that's $600 in yearly savings if you're interested in the unlimited data feature).
Other Cox bundles let you combine your internet service with Cox TV, landline phone, or home security system—but the savings varies. M. J. Stevens, a customer in San Diego, pays for a bundle that combines Cox internet with a landline phone line and cable TV package. "But actually, if I ordered them separately, it would only be about five bucks more,” he said.
Read our guide for tips on how to lower your Cox internet bill.
4/5.0
Customer satisfaction surveys show that Cox gets mostly average scores compared to other internet providers. For example, Cox scored just two points below the average score in a 2023 report from the American Customer Satisfaction Index.
A lot of customers Reviews.org spoke to aren't happy with Cox. That could be in part because it’s a cable provider—and those companies tend to get a bad rap among internet customers for offering inconsistent service.
"The customer service representatives are a very mixed bag," lamented Audrey, a social worker in Louisiana. She told Reviews.org that she experiences frequent outages but finds Cox isn’t proactive in informing her that her service is down. Instead, she ends up informing Cox instead. "Every time there is an outage, I call it in, and shortly after, our app is updated to 'there's an outage/event in your area.'"
How long it takes to get a real human on the phone: Approx. 1 minute.
I had no trouble at all getting a customer service agent to help me on the phone. However, current and former Cox customers say reaching someone is often difficult due to lengthy wait times and delays.
How the chat service is: Not useful.
Cox's chatbot has a name (Oliver), and let's just say Oliver could use an upgrade. Unless you're ready to sign up for Cox services or have a basic question, he isn’t able to provide direct information in a timely fashion. Oliver can route you to a human sales agent over chat, but responses are slow, and the agent won’t answer any questions unless you provide an address and other identifying information.
Overall quality: 3.7/5.0
Cox is relatively reliable with surprisingly fast speeds. It's not the best value unless you bundle certain services, and it also needs some customer service improvement. But it’s well worth signing up for a Cox internet plan if you can’t get fiber in your area and you need faster and more reliable speeds than 5G home internet.
See all Cox Plans and Deals
Cox Internet vs. the competition
In terms of speed or price, Cox can't compare to fiber providers like Google Fiber and AT&T—the cable company simply can’t deliver the symmetrical internet speeds typical of a fiber-optic connection, which give users a huge boost for things like video calls, livestreams, and virtual reality. Many fiber providers offer faster speeds for around the same price, or even less.
Cox also doesn’t quite keep up with other major cable internet providers. The company doesn’t have as wide a reach as cable giant Spectrum, and this provider offers competitive promotional rates that might make a Cox customer rep sweat.
That said, Cox keeps pace with 5G providers like Verizon and T-Mobile. The instability of a 5G fixed wireless connection means it can’t match Cox for bandwidth and reliability, but they are affordable and have set prices.
Cox at a glance
Other internet providers
We interviewed real customers and here's what we found
To get a full picture of the Cox experience, I talked to Cox customers around the country (including quite a few from Tulsa—as the Tulsa subreddit was very responsive to my questions). Folks told me:
- They’re satisfied or mostly satisfied with Cox as a provider
- They enjoy the easy set-up
- The internet plan prices are on the more expensive side
- Technicians left cabling where they worked without cleaning it up
- Customer service can be difficult to communicate with

Isaac Chandler, an e-sports lounge manager who lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, isn't in love with his Cox service. He feels the price is inflated for what he’s getting, and he’s experienced frequent-enough slowdowns and outages that he doesn’t find the service super reliable. But he’s still largely positive about the internet service.
"It's pretty easy to set up and doesn’t require any weird cabling,” he said. He’s also had positive experiences with customer service reps: “They solve my problems pretty quickly.”
But Chandler isn’t alone in thinking Cox internet is costly. Longtime customer M. J. Stevens also comments the service is too expensive for its value. "But I still do it because I get everything I need with a minimum of fuss and bother," he explained.
Many also think the customer service could improve.
Paul, a systems administrator in Tulsa, said his Cox internet service went down last summer due to a haboob, a type of extreme dust storm that regularly sweeps across Oklahoma in June and July. Technicians came by to repair the lines, but the work was piecemeal as they left behind a messy scene of downed coaxial cabling.
"We still have obvious Cox lines down in our neighborhood,” Paul told me. “They didn't actually replace the cable so much as [string] new cable, and they left the old cable lines just dangling off poles onto the ground where they dropped."
Lindsey Scotney, who owns a hospitality staffing company in Tulsa, recounts having a difficult time recently with a customer service agent. She had an unlimited data plan and called because she suspected that her speeds were still being throttled, and he kept interrupting her as she tried to get answers.
“He hung up on me intentionally after telling me I was being abusive,” Scotney recalled. “I literally did not raise my voice at all and in a very calm voice just asked him to please let me finish what I was saying.”
Need to contact Cox?
You can reach support through several different methods:
- Call +1-800-234-3993
- Chat with Oliver, the Cox virtual assistant
- Download the Cox app
Our fact-based research process centers around interviews with internet customers from across the country, helping us understand how internet services hold up against diverse needs and challenges.
To put together this review, we talked with 17 current and former Cox internet customers. We let their experiences guide our research and shape our conclusions. We looked closely at the fine print surrounding Cox’s plans, speeds, and prices, and we also looked into Cox’s efforts to build up its fiber infrastructure to provide a “fiber to the home” connection for customers.
For all our internet reviews, we give a rating based on three main criteria—speed and reliability, dollar value, and customer experience. We then average the ratings to make an overall score. For a deeper look at our review process, see our breakdown on how we test internet providers.
Does Cox offer fiber internet?
Cox calls its internet service "fiber-powered," suggesting there's fiber in the cable network infrastructure but not in the connections running directly to residences (a connection known as “fiber to the home” or FTTH).
But it seems that Cox has been moving closer towards FTTH capability, with recent maps from the Federal Communications Commission showing that Cox has fiber infrastructure set up widely across its nationwide network footprint. The provider has been offering gigabit and multi-gigabit internet plans—something that’s usually only available through fiber internet. The fastest plan reaches download speeds of 2,000Mbps.
A spokesperson didn’t respond to our requests for comment, but other experts clarified that Cox’s fiber infrastructure isn’t the same as what you get from a provider like AT&T or Verizon: The National Advertising Division (NAD) recently recommended—in a claim filed on behalf of AT&T—that Cox tone down the “powered by fiber” claims, noting that Cox’s network delivers a fiber-optic connection to area nodes. The company uses coaxial cable with a traditional copper conductor to connect the “last mile” into peoples’ homes.
The company also offers proper fiber-to-the-home service, but the telecom media outlet Light Reading reported that Cox’s FTTH footprint is limited, rolled out “on a more limited and targeted basis.”
It’s unclear how many of Cox’s customers can actually get a fiber connection to the home, but even customers on a cable connection can expect respectable speeds from Cox. Recent advances in technical standards (including DOCSIS 4.0 and Wi-Fi 6e) are enabling cable companies to offer multi-gigabit plan options and symmetrical speeds.
Ready to sign up for Cox Internet?
Although some customers have their misgivings, Cox is worth trying out if you can’t get a more competitively-priced fiber provider to your home and you need fast, reliable Wi-Fi to handle all your streaming, gaming, and video calling needs. We make sure to stay up to date with all the latest info from Cox, so you might even snag a discounted deal below:
Cox internet FAQ
It’s worth getting Cox for reliable internet and fast speeds. The provider uses a “fiber-powered” connection that works by having a fiber that runs all the way to a central hub outside of your neighborhood, which is then connected to a coax cable to your home. This isn’t the same as a 100% fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network, so it still has traits of a cable connection like lower upload speeds. This does mean that Cox is able to deliver up to 1 Gig download speeds.
Cox internet is legit. Cox internet is the largest private broadband company in America, with networks in over 30 states for nearly seven million homes and businesses.
Fiber providers are better than Cox, which offers a “fiber-powered” network that is still essentially a cable connection. Some fiber providers that rank higher than Cox at Reviews.org include Google Fiber, Verizon Fios and AT&T.
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