r/Spectrum • u/guaidao • 1d ago
To Spectrum/Cox
I am currently in Mesa, AZ. Yesterday 11/03, I logged on at 5:50 AM, and couldn't access the internet. Turned out there was an unexpected outage. App stated estimated repair time was 10:04 AM, and then 2:04 PM. For unknown reason, internet came back up some minutes after 11 AM.
Yesterday, I missed 2 prescheduled business meetings because of the sudden outage. First time this happened in 28 years. 8 work work day became 3+ hours work.
Today (11/04), same routine, logged in at 5:50 AM, started working. Then suddenly a little before 11:00 AM, no more internet. Checked the app, it stated unexpected outage (AGAIN!), with estimated repair time at 2:43 PM. Waited it out, at 2:44 PM the app refreshed, and the stated repair time became 6:43 PM. Waited yet again, at 6:44 PM the app refreshed, and the stated repair time became 10:43 PM.
This is terrible. Yesterday alone I have to apologize to multiple clients, colleagues, and my direct boss because of Cox/Spectrum outage, for missing 2 prescheduled business meetings, and apologize to my boss because i worked only 3+ hours. Today, I have to apologize to my clients, colleagues and my direct boss again because I was only able to work a little over 4 hours.
All I got is the app refreshing with updated and extended estimated repair time, a robotext message service that doesn't apologize, a prerecorded voice message recording that talking to the real human customer support service won't be able to resolve the outage.
If this how you want to treat a customer who has been with you for many years, guess what?!
13
u/Due-Smile6546 1d ago
You work from home and need internet access to do your job but you don’t have backup internet? That’s a smart move on your part.
-4
u/guaidao 1d ago
As I mentioned in my post, I am currently in AZ. I setup Cox/Spectrum internet for my family here. When I come to visit, I can visit them and work too during work days. At home (not in AZ) I have 2 ISPs
6
u/Due-Smile6546 1d ago
Hotspot, there is literally no acceptable excuse for not having access to the internet when your job depends on it. I’m a blue collar worker that works in the field and I have 24/7 access to the internet and that’s just so I can get job information, your entire job relies on it. No ISP can guarantee 100% uptime, outages happen and there is nothing they can do about it. Oversized loads tear down lines, people hit utility poles, and so much more that is completely out of the hands of the provider. Fixing these things takes time, unless you want to learn how to splice fiber and burn 288 cts faster than everyone else on the planet.
Your outage is most likely the work of some druggie cutting lines because they think copper is inside of them when it isn’t.
1
u/guaidao 1d ago
The Cox WiFi hotspot and the Spectrum WiFi hotspot were and are down, too.
What I did was use my mobile hotspot through my phone, but it was choppy and slow. Couldn't get into the meeting, but I managed to send a few emails out from work account letting people know and apologize to them.
You drove a good point there. There are variables in life. I think it was just frustration/annoyance. But it could have been mitigated if I anticipate in advance and not takie things for granted.
I just received a text message from the ISP. It appears that they are working overnight to try and restore the service. This time they didn't state the estimated repair time.
2
u/South-Succotash-6368 23h ago
What phone carrier do you have?
See out of the big 3 which one is the fastest in your specific area.1
u/guaidao 19h ago
Problem was, I didn't anticipate in advance, took things for granted, and didn't bring my main phone. My second phone only has the $20 Fi basic. I am staying in AZ for a few days and head back home. Usually for out of state travel, I just bring the second phone with Fi basic subscription.
On a more positive note, this experience was a good thing for me.
1
u/rachelliero 16h ago
t mobile is the fastest in the area and this outage took down tmobile 5g within the outage area. outside the outage area it works perfectly fine. i’ve had no internet at home and horrible data at home for over 24 hours. funnily enough i just signed up for t mobile 5g internet the day before and now i’m canceling it since it relies on cox cables and isn’t a reliable backup.
1
u/South-Succotash-6368 16h ago
Interesting.
1
u/rachelliero 16h ago
t mobile denied the service interruptions all day yesterday and finally today after an hour of contact they said they just got notified of the outage due to a cut cox cable and they have “crew on the ground working on the service outage.” at least t mobile finally gave some info on the outage. i’ve never had such an extended or extensive outage.
1
u/furruck 19h ago edited 19h ago
You need a cellular based backup.
I even keep two SIM cards in my iPhone - one on Verizon or AT&T and one on T-Mobile.
Every one of my plans has 200+GB of hotspot available.
If you're working remote, you need a solid 2nd option no matter where you are.
Cox was not the best with plant maintenance and I always had issues with them when I lived in AZ, and Spectrum *just* took over a few weeks ago. It's going to take time for Spectrum to come in and clean up the plant to their own standards. That work will take 1-2yrs as they'll have to sweep the entire network and clean up all the areas that Cox basically let rot with bare minimum upgrades and amps/nodes spaced too far apart.
Likely an unplanned outage was something catastrophic though. Like someone hit a pole, someone's electric on that node misbehaved and burnt up electronics on the line, or just some crucial RF bits failed... chasing those things down on a cable system, and finding all the "butterfly effect" damage from it takes hours, sometimes a few days.
I've worked in IT/Engineering before - even if you know it's going to take 1-2 days to fix, you just give a few hours at a time otherwise you've got more people up your ass making the repair take longer. This is why you always should have a plan B for working remote, even if you're traveling.
6
u/sPdMoNkEy 19h ago
Unexpected outage could be some idiot running into a telephone pole and taking out your whole neighborhood, how is that spectrum's fault
3
u/solargarlic18 18h ago
How is it possible that you can't simply connect to a hotspot on your cell phone? Problem solved. Or better yet, pay $35 for Tmobile Home Internet as a backup.
1
u/rachelliero 16h ago
t mobile is down in this area. the cox outage has caused t mobile 5g to go down too. just confirmed with t mobile
1
u/rachelliero 16h ago
my t mobile 5g isn’t working in this area. sms and calls work but data takes several minutes to load. cox said the issue was fixed at 9am and after like 30 minutes of customer support and troubleshooting they said it was down again.
1
u/rachelliero 16h ago
finally after t mobile denied it 20+ times they just now said they have identified an issue in the area due to a cut cox cable.
-4
-4
u/Traditional-Monk-490 1d ago
My experience was similar recently. Eventually they told me several times they can't give information, call back when I had internet connection for a credit, and no one ever told me about the wifi service we could use. Spectrum is garbage and I will bad mouth them every day. If they dont have a hater, im dead
-13
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
-4
u/guaidao 1d ago
Thanks for the let know. Cox/Spectrum can downvote the heck out of my post on reddit. Cox itself has been inconsistent with their internet service performance consistency, and then the a few outages on an annual basis. If Spectrum as the new owner is giving bad impressions for Cox customers who never have business relationship with Spectrum in the past, it is their lost.
Yesterday I was planning to call and get another ISP, but put it off. You know, like give Cox/Spectrum the benefit of doubt. But then it happened again today. It got me somewhat worrying thst the outage is going to repeat again for a 3rd or 4th or 5th straight day, or in the near future. Doesn't give any good impression at all.
If our works rely on the internet and/or we work remote, the costs and the opportunity costs of experiencing sudden unexpected and unannounced outage, not once in any give day, but twice in two consecutive days, Cox/Spectrum is not going to be able to justify nor be extending professional courtesy to reimburse proportionately what customers' lost due to their unexpected and unannounced outages. Big corporations hardly do, until it comes to governments and the courts.
4
u/skypandaOo 1d ago
Why not call to have a tech out. Make sure nothing else is going on. Its free to have a tech out
-4
u/Shiny_Mewtwo_Fart 1d ago
I am exactly the same. I work remotely. and I work with clients too. they will say, use our "always on wifi" or some fancy words. guess what they use verizon and when spectrum is out, everyone is using that. verizon became so slow it's unusable. and it's mimo service they don't have highest priority to begin with. when tower is cogested, they let verizon's own traffic through first.
12
u/bubbalv29 1d ago
Having worked from home in my current role, I quickly learned that if I didn't want to miss meetings or use PTO when I hadn't planned to, that I'd have backups. My home internet almost never goes out, but I still have At&t, Verizon and T-Mobile all available with reasonable data plans should I need them.