Cox Internet Review: Prices, Plans, & Packages

The quick and dirty on Cox internet: Cox internet service seems to be perfectly happy being average. It uses cable internet technology, so it has some advantage over DSL internet service, but most everything else about Cox inspires little more than a shoulder shrug. The monthly service price is higher than competing internet service providers (ISPs), and it landed a ho-hum score for customer satisfaction. But the biggest downside to Cox internet is speed.

Its speed pales in comparison to other cable internet providers like Comcast XFINITY, Time Warner Cable (now branded as Spectrum), and Optimum. If you’re okay with just-about-average internet and don’t want to bother with contracts, look no further. If you want something better, check out the Best Cable Internet.

Cox Internet prices and plans

Every time we review internet service, we always check the price tag first.

^{*Pricing varies by location.}

The price for internet service is usually the biggest concern for customers, and why wouldn’t it be? It’s money. We love internet and can’t live without it, but we never want to pay more than it’s worth. Paying $30 per month for 5 Mbps download speed, which is where Cox’s internet service starts, doesn’t get us excited. Maybe it’s because we know what else is out there.

Cox’s lowest-priced plan, the Internet Starter, faces some serious competition. Comcast XFINITY’s lowest-priced plan, the Performance Starter, starts at $20 per month in most areas, and it doubles the download speed of Cox’s Internet Starter (10 Mbps vs. 5 Mbps). Double the download speed for $10 less a month? That sounds like a good deal to us. To give Cox some credit though, it has more plans to choose from than other ISPs we’ve reviewed (ahem, Charter Spectrum), but more doesn’t always mean better.

Cox Internet pricing and contract options

Internet pricing and contract options aren’t so straightforward with Cox, so we suggest familiarizing yourself with the ins and outs.

Cox’s starting price for monthly service can vary depending on where you live. For us, the actual price for internet service started at $44.99 per month, which is $15 a month more than what we saw advertised. Location-based price shenanigans are something we’ve seen from every ISP, so we can’t exactly take points away from Cox for following the norm (even if we don’t like it).

With other ISPs, pricing can also change depending on whether you enter a contract or not, but luckily, Cox service doesn’t deal in long-term contracts. That’s good because it means there’s no early termination fee (ETF) hanging over your head if you decide to cancel early. This may be especially appealing to apartment dwellers or people on the move. However, other ISPs will take some dollars off the monthly service price if you’re willing to sign on the dotted line and commit to a year or two of internet service. With Cox, that’s not an option, so the price you get is the price you get (unless you decide to add TV service and make it a bundle, which will typically get you lower pricing per service).

Recommendations

If you’re getting internet service just for yourself, we’d recommend Cox’s Internet Essential plan. The $40-per-month price tag for 15 Mbps download speed isn’t going to set the internet world on fire, but it gets the job done. With 15 Mbps speed, it will take about 20 minutes to download a two-hour movie in high definition (HD).¹ It should also keep you from experiencing any buffering when relaxing and watching Netflix. However, we want to emphasize the “should” in that because if you have a bunch of internet-connected devices running (smartphone, tablet, computer, etc.), it’s going to take longer than 20 minutes to download that movie, and Netflix may start to buffer.

If you have other people or multiple internet-connected devices, we recommend going with the Internet Preferred plan. It’s $60 per month for 50 Mbps, which is more than three times the speed of the Internet Starter. We wouldn’t recommend using this plan with more than three people, but otherwise you should be fine to have two people watching Netflix with a third browsing the web. It’s by no means a heavy-duty internet plan, but you can get that from Cox’s Internet Ultimate plan ($89.99 per month for 300 Mbps).

Cox service fees

Cox could be clearer about what fees you’ll have to deal with. For example, when we were ordering Cox internet service, we noticed a “one-time charge” of $20. It wasn’t immediately clear what it was for, so we looked around and found it was listed as a “self-installment and shipment fee.” We assumed it was because we ordered a modem from Cox, but when we put in another order without a modem, we still had to deal with the $20 fee. Not a cool move—though compared to Comcast’s and Time Warner Cable’s fees, Cox’s $20 fee isn’t so bad.

Despite the one-time fee we got stuck with, you won’t have to deal with other service fees. Like we said, Cox deals in no-contract service, which is not the norm for ISPs. We like not being trapped by an ISP because once you enter a contract service, you’ll have an early termination fee (ETF) to deal with if you try to escape, and getting hit with one of those can cost you hundreds of dollars.

Cox equipments charges

Compared to other ISPs, Cox has pretty much the same equipment fees. If you’re without a Wi-Fi modem, Cox will rent you one for $9.99 per month, which is par for the course when it comes to rental pricing. You can also buy the same Wi-Fi modem from Cox for $179. We couldn’t find details on the exact make and model offered, but it’s listed as a DOCSIS 3.0 Wi-Fi modem, which is to say it’s a modem and wireless router.

We’ve never come across an ISP-provided modem that knocked our socks off, so we think it’s best to get your own. If buying your own modem seems daunting, don’t get hung up on the tech jargon.

One of the best-selling modems on Amazon happens to be one we also highly recommend—the ARRIS Surfboard. It’s $50 less than Cox’s modem, and it’s compatible with most ISPs, which means you can use it if you decide to leave Cox for another ISP. If you already have a modem, you can check if it’s compatible with Cox service here.

Cox Internet speed

Cox’s actual speed vs. advertised speed

Here comes some bad news: compared to its two biggest competitors, Comcast XFINITY and Time Warner Cable (Spectrum), Cox’s download speeds are underwhelming. We use the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) annual measuring broadband report to get some hard numbers on how ISPs are performing. As it turns out, Cox isn’t delivering the download speeds it advertises.

The FCC measured tens of thousands of internet users and found that the actual download speed for Cox was measured at 75%.² That means people paying for 50 Mbps were experiencing download speeds closer to 37.5 Mbps. To be fair, the FCC data represents what 80% of internet users experience 80% of the time (something the FCC calls 80/80 speed).³ Chances are you could be in the minority of users who don’t experience slower download speeds, but the inverse rule applies as well, and you could experience even slower speeds.

Other cable internet providers perform better than Cox when it comes to speed. For example, the actual speed for XFINITY was measured at 99%, and Time Warner Cable was 100%.⁴ Those numbers make Cox look not so hot. However, compared to DSL internet providers (AT&T, Centurylink, etc.), Cox doesn’t look as bad. For example, AT&T’s DSL service came in at an actual download speed of 45%⁵, so if it’s a choice between Cox and AT&T DSL, hands down we’d go with Cox.

Cox data caps

What about Cox’s data limit?

If you’re an internet junky, you’ll want to be aware of Cox’s data limit. Every Cox internet plan has a 1 TB (1,024 GB) monthly data limit. If you’re not sure how much data that is, it’s helpful to know that 1 TB is equal to watching about 400 hours of HD TV or movies. Needless to say, that’s a lot of screen time.

If you consider yourself just an average internet user—you casually surf the web and watch an hour or two of streaming video each day—there’s no way you’ll hit that 1 TB data limit. Still, if you’re sharing internet with two roommates who happen to be shut-ins and never turn Netflix off, you’ll want to check in on how much data your place is using.

Customer satisfaction

Cox’s customer satisfaction has improved since last year, but it still needs some work. We checked the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), which surveys tens of thousands of customers, and found that Cox lands right in the middle—it scored 63 out of 100.⁶ The average ISP score is 64, and the year previous, Cox scored a 58.

To score 63 out of 100 may seem like nothing to brag about, but it’s better than Comcast XFINITY, which received a score of 59. Cox’s other major competitor, Time Warner Cable (Spectrum), fared better with score of 66. You’ll notice no ISP is hitting it out of the ballpark when it comes to customer satisfaction, and it’s most likely because ISPs keep bungling customer service.

How to handle Cox customer service

If you’re ordering service from Cox for the first time, there’s a chance your experience may not be so bad. Ours wasn’t—the customer service representative was nice and surprisingly helpful. Still, we had to ask plenty of questions to make sure we were getting what we wanted.

We highly recommend that you ask and repeat questions, take notes (including the name of the representative, time of the phone call, billing date, etc.), and request an email with all the service details. It’s a bit of a bummer, but the responsibility falls more on the customer when it comes to making sure you get everything you want from your internet service.

Overall recommendation

Cox’s so-so internet service doesn’t make our first choice

We’d take Cox’s cable internet service over DSL competitors (AT&T, Centurylink, etc.), but it’s just not as good as its two biggest cable-internet competitors: Comcast and Time Warner Cable (Spectrum). We want the speed we pay for, and we also know that Comcast and TWC have lower monthly pricing.

But if you can’t get Comcast or Time Warner Cable (Spectrum) where you live, then give Cox a try. Its no-contract service is a huge plus, so you can always cancel if you’re not happy.

Have questions? Ask us.

Got questions about Cox’s internet service that we didn’t answer? Let us know in the comments section below.

Have a complaint? If you want your complaint to be heard, tell the FCC at its Consumer Complaint Center.

Sources

1. Cox, High Speed Internet
2. Federal Communications Commission, Measuring Broadband in America Report
3. Federal Communications Commission, Measuring Broadband in America Report
4. Federal Communications Commission, Measuring Broadband in America Report
5. Federal Communications Commission, Measuring Broadband in America Report
6. American Customer Satisfaction Index, Telecommunications Report