Cox Internet Plans features and prices

 Cox Home Internet plans are among the most competitive in the market with a wide range of options to choose from.

Cox provides cable internet which can offer higher speeds than those from DSL, Satellite or fixed wireless. This is a great alternative to those who can’t get access to fiber internet services like Verizon's FiOS or at&t fiber. The only slight disadvantage of Cable internet over fiber is their very low upload speeds as compared to fiber which can deliver a symmetric connection with the same upload and download speeds. 

Cox Gigablast which is the best of Cox home internet speeds can achieve up to 940 Mbps download speeds but sadly can only deliver up to 35Mbps upload speeds. This makes cable internet very unsuitable for online activities that require high upload speeds like online conferencing.

Availability.

Cox provides a number of services including internet, phone, tv and smart home security solutions in 18 states and Washington DC. The states are Arkansas, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Virginia.  If you live in any of these states then you could consider Cox internet services for your home or business.

 Pros and cons.

Like any other Internet Service Provider, Cox has a number of pros and cons and you should be aware of all of these right from the start in order to make an informed decision about your internet needs.

Cox internet pros include:

• Faster equipment deliver and Installation.
• You get to choose between professional and Self installation.
• Some plans allow you to use your own Compatible equipment if you don’t want to rent.
• Very competitive plans with easy to understand terms of use.
• You can opt for self installation in order to avoid the professional installation fee.
• No throttling.

Cons.

• Apart from unlimited plans, all coz internet plans come with a 1.25 TB monthly data allowance. You will pay overage charges if you exceed this.
• Their plans are slightly expensive compared with those from a number of it’s competitors.

Cox Internet plans.

Cox gives you a wide range of home internet plans to choose from including stand-alone internet plans, combo plans as well as an option to go for unlimited plans. There's also one prepay option and low cost internet plans as well.

Some plans allow you an option to sign term contracts or not, with another choice to go for professional or self installation. You can also decide to rent Cox equipment or use your own equipment so long as it is compatible. We will look at these in detail much later but first:

Cox Home internet plans.

1. Starter 25.             $29.99/Month.

This is the cheapest Cox plan that can deliver up to 25Mps download speeds and up to 3Mbps upload speeds.

The plan costs $29.99 per month with a term contract or $39.99 without a contract for the first one year. Thereafter you will be charged $44.99 per month.

There’s also a $12/Month equipment rental fee but you can choose to use your own Compatible equipment.

The plan is ideal for up to 3 devices for light web surfing, email as well as social networking.

2. Essential 50  $39.99/Month.

Essential 50 has speeds of up to 50Mbps download and up to 3Mbps upload.

This plan will cost you $39.99 for the first year with a term contract or $59.99 per month without a contract. Thereafter it will cost $65.99 per month.

These speeds can connect up to 5 devices and good for moderate web surfing, email & social networking.

 3. Preferred 150.   $59.99/Month.

Preferred 150 can achieve download speeds of up to 150 Mbps and upload speeds up to 10Mbps.

The plan costs $59.99 per month for the first year with a term contract and $69.99 without. Thereafter you will be charged $83.99 per month.

Thi plan can connect up to 7 devices ideal for working from home and gaming.

4. Ultimate 500.             $79.99/Month.

This plan can gives download speeds of up to 500Mps and upload speeds of up to 10Mbps.

It costs $79.99 per month for the first year with a term contract or $89.99 per month without a contract. Thereafter you will be charged $99.99 per month.

With such speeds you can connect up to 9 devices and is ideal for moderate 4k streaming, multi-player gaming, working from home and virtual learning.

 5. Gigablast.   $99.99/Month.

This is the fastest Cox internet plan which can deliver download speeds of up to 940 Mbps and download speeds of up to 35Mbps.

The plan costs $ 99.99 per month with a contract and $109.99 without for the first year. Thereafter you will be charged $119.99 per Month.

The plan allows you connect up to 9+ devices and is ideal for 8k video streaming, multi-player gaming, work from home and virtual learning.

Please note that all the above plans come with a 1.25 TB monthly data allowance. According to Cox, 1.25 TB of data per month is more than enough for your daily home internet needs. These data can allow you to:

1. Stream 10 hours of HD Video and music for 7+ hours every day.
2. Play online multi-player games for 3 hours every day.
3. Video chat for 8 hours everyday
4. Browse and check your emails for 9 hours every day.

But what happens if you exceed your data Cap?

If this is your first time exceeding your data limit, Cox will be gentle and give you a one-time courtesy credit that covers any overage charges for that billing monthly circle. For the next overage you will be charged $10 per every 50GB exceeded till a maximum $100 monthly limit.

You will be automatically notified via text message and/or email hen you pass certain thresholds of data usage during your usage. You can also check and keep track of your monthly data using the usage meter in your Cox account.

Since Cox doesn’t throttle internet when you reach your data allowance threshold, you could easily find yourself paying more monthly data bills if you don’t keep a good track of your data usage.

You can choose to rent the Cox Panoramic WiFi Gateway for $12 per month or use your own compatible equipment. 

The Panoramic Wi-Fi Gateway is a modem and router in one that delivers reliable secure Wi-Fi coverage in your home. It comes with advanced security feature that delivers personalized security for all your connected devices.

It also comes with Elite Gamer which reduces gaming lag by automatically finding the fastest path to your PC game server.

You will also get the latest software and the option to upgrade your equipment every three years in order to keep your WiFi at it’s best.

You can also set wifi rules, connect, pause or disconnect devices as well as track your WiFi usage and users on the panoramic WiFi app.

These are just some of the features which you will otherwise not enjoy if you choose to use your own equipment.

All plans except the Starter plan come with Security Suite powered by McAfee and gives you access to over 3 million Cox Wi-Fi Hotspots.

If you look at the above plans critically you will realize that you will pay from between $10 and $20 per month for the first year if you choose to go without a term contract. This means it will most likely make sense to sign a term contract especially if you’re planning to stick with this ISP for a while.

Another noticeable feature here is that the monthly charge will rise steeply after the first year from $10 for Gigaplast up to $26 per month for Essential 50 and $24 for Preffered 150.

This is a huge price hike and will most likely turn many off, therefore you need to make very critical decisions before you first sign up.

In case you opt in for a one year term contract you may cancel within 30 days of the start of your agreement to avoid an early termination fee (ETF).

After that you will be charged an ETF of up to USD 120.

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Cox Unlimited Internet plans.

Another option to avoid monthly overage charges is to opt for unlimited data plans, but you will have to pay much higher compared to normal data plans.

The unlimited Stater plan will cost you $79.99 per month with a 2 year contract and $116.99 after. The Essential 50 will be $89.99 per month with a two year contract and $137.99 per month after. The Preferred 150 unlimited costs $109.99 per month with a 2 year contract and $155.99 after while the Ultimate 500 costs $129.99 per month and $172.99 after. On it’s part the Gigablast unlimited will cost you $149.99 per month with a 2 year contract and $196.99 thereafter.

All Cox Unlimited plans come with a term contract and a panoramic WiFi router as well as Cox Complete care.

The Cox Complete Care is a 24/7 expert tech support that provides support for Virus and malware removal, PC clean up, troubleshooting, operating system updates, Software Installation & Configuration as well as Network setup, configuration and security.

Also Read: How to carry out an Effective email marketing campaign.

Cox Bundles Services.

Cox also provides you with an option to bundle your internet needs with tv and smart home solutions. You can choose between three bundles options which are:

Bundle plan 1.

This plan costs $76.99 per month for the first year with a one year term contract and  $102.99 per month after.
It has the following features:
Internet essential 50 with up to 50Mbps download speeds and up to 3Mbps upload speeds.
Security Suite powered by McAfee.
Panoramic WiFi Gateway for USD 12/Month.
Contour stream player USD 5/Month.
Homelife automation for USD 20/Month.

Bundle 2. 
If you go for this Cox bundled plan you will have to part with $121.99 per month for the first 12 months with a term contract and $147.99 thereafter.
This plan comes with:
Internet essential 50.
Panoramic WiFi Gateway.
Contour TV starter with 75+ channels.
Homelife automation.

Bundle 3. 
This bundles plan charges $181.99 per month for the first 12 months with a term contract and $205.99 after.
The plan comes with:
Internet preferred 150.
Panoramic WiFi Gateway.
Contour TV prefered with 140+ channels.
Homelife automation.

How Good is Cox Customer Satisfaction?

Customer Satisfaction is usually one of the key features to consider when picking an ISP provider, for you will not want to spend hours on the line waiting for a technical issue to be address or to get simple answers and explanations on your monthly bill.

Thankfully there are a number of customer satisfaction tracking bodies with their annual statistics helping millions of Americans make informed decisions when making purchases.

Cox Communications has a fairly average customer satisfaction score, and according to the 2020 J.D. Power's US Residential Internet Service Provider Satisfaction Cox ranked 4th in East, South and West regions respectively ranking a spot above Spectrum in both East and South.

On a 1000-point scale, Cox Scored 713 points in East, 734 in South and 721 in West respectively.

Also according to American Customer Satisfaction Index 2021 Cox also ranked fourth with a score of 63 points up from 61 the previous year. It ranked behind the leaders at&t and Verizon who scored 71 points and Xfinity who scored 67 points. Cox ranked above other Internet Service providers including Spectrum and CenturyLink.

How fast is Cox Internet?

Well, this is a question that is usually area dependent, based on a number of factors including the internet plans available in your area and largely by the type of internet connection you are using, with fiber outperforming other types followed by DSL, cable and lastly fixed wireless.

Surprisingly enough, Cox performed really well according to the second quarter statistics from Ookla, a speed testing website. As per it's Q2 2021 speed statistics, Cox ranked second with a Speed Score of 167.90 behind Verizon which topped with a score of 170.22. Xfinity ranked third with 154.69, Spectrum fourth with 137.46, at&t fifth with 124.54 and CenturyLink sixth with a 57.97 score.

Cox also ranked second in latency with a 11ms latency behind Verizon with a 8ms latency. Xfinity came third, Spectrum fourth, CenturyLink fifth and at&t sixth.

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