Cox picks Orange County to launch mobile phone service
December 8th, 2009, 12:00 pm · 34 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress
If you hate your cell phone service, a new player is coming to Orange County: Cox Cable.
The cable TV provider has been working on wireless service for a while but today it announced that Orange County residents will be one of the first three areas nationwide to get the service.
Very few details are available. Because of competitive reasons, Cox said it is unable to reveal pricing, launch date or types of phones that will be offered. While some local customers are getting the chance to play with mobile service as part of a test group, the full service will launch in 2010 to residents. Cox plans to offer the service to business users in the future.
“Right now, if Cox customers in Orange County are interested in Cox Wireless service they shouldn’t renew their wireless contract because it won’t be long before Cox introduces a better wireless experience in Orange County,” said Lana Ong, a spokesperson with Cox in Orange County.
Previously, the company said it plans to use Sprint’s mobile network to launch the first products. The company is also working on its own 3G wireless and 4G wireless networks. For the next generation of mobile service, or 4G, Cox has joined the Long Term Evolution crowd, which is also the technology of choice for AT&T and Verizon Wireless. See last year’s story on this, at “Cox Cable adding… mobile phone service?“
In a statement, Cox’s local senior vice president and general manager Duffy Leone said, “We’ve had great opportunity to re-think what has been commonly accepted in the wireless marketplace today. We know that there is a better way to experience wireless and enrich your lives along the way. We’re excited to let consumers know that they will soon have a better choice for wireless service.”
How much better? It’s not hard to find out what consumers really want from their cell phone service. Consumer Reports just published a piece on the topic, ranking AT&T at the lowest. The report mentions that price is important, but so is reception. Read the earlier story, “AT&T service ranks lowest; iPhone users don’t mind.”
If you want to offer Cox some tips about what is needed, the company is taking suggestions on its Facebook fan page at budurl.com/FBWirelessBoard.
Cox is also targeting Hampton Roads, Va., and Omaha, Neb., for its mobile service.
As part of its announcement that Orange County was one of three areas to get the service, the local branch of Cox is donating a $25,000 computer technology center to the Boys & Girls Club of Capistrano Valley.
Orange County’s other cable TV provider, Time Warner Cable, is also jumping into the mobile business. It began offering mobile data service in North Carolina on Dec. 1. Prices start at $34.95 with download speeds of up to 6 mbps.
More stories about Cox Cable:
Leone encourages consumers in Orange County too tell him what they’d like to change about their current wireless provider by visiting http://budurl.com/FBWirelessBoard.
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Can’t make plans to buy something when Cox gives no details.
you get 100 minutes for 59.99 for 6 months thin it goes to 79.99.
So they’re just using other networks? Last I checked, Cox doesn’t have the capital to install a fresh new nationwide 4g network, lol.
Cox, you suck. I can’t wait to go to DirecTV.
Don’t they make enough by over charging for meidocre cable. Now they want to over charge for terrible cell service..
I can see it now…
Customer: “Hello, cust…er service, my ce.. ..hone seems to k…p break… up all the …e!”
Cox Customer Service: “Sorry, sir, I didn’t understand what you said?”
Customer: “What I said w.., my cell phone serv…. ke.. bre..ing .p, and .. am VERY u…hap..y with it!”
Cox Customer Service: “Great, we are happy you are getting great service! Thank you! Can we offer you our digital cable TV service?”
Customer; ” Hello Directv…my service is down”
Directv Customer Service; ” Good luck with that..we are in the phillipines”
bobbyc – too funny, dude! LMAO!!!!!
ohh my god that’s hilarious and sad because its true.
Cox will low ball the initial pricing … then start cutting services and start increasing pricing. They have played this exact marketing game with Cox cable TV, Cox internet service, and Cox cable telephone service. I will stay with Verizon mobile … at least I know what I will be paying and I will know the service levels I’ll getting in the long term. No sudden service reduction announcements or pricing surprises.
glad you like to pay high prices for verizon been a customer for 2 yrs hope and pray nothing happens where you cant pay your bill one time guess what they do ??????? good luck and cox is very reasoonable prices have had mine for 2 months now very high quality service
Cox is a great service…can’t wait to see what they bring to wireless.
you must work for cox or are very happy paying almost $200 a month for 3 services.
Cox is the best cable company i’ve ever had. Amazing customer service and reasonable pricing. I hope cell phones will have the same level of service!
Craig – what have you been smoking lately??/
Cox has great customer service, but it’s expensive as heck, due to no reasonable alternatives. AT&T also has great customer service, and since you can change to another provider, you can leverage your costs down. I would hesitate to go to Cox wireless, since I’m already going broke paying for their cable, internet, etc.
Reliability is going to be horrible. They can’t even offer SLAs to their business customers and now they want to jump into another market?
I’m sorry Cox, but yesterday shows exactly what I’m talking about. Both our “business” internet and phone lines went down thanks to your inability to keep things running > 99%
A year hasn’t gone by that our “business” class line hasn’t gone done during working hours. They’re truly becoming the walmart of media providers….
What has been your total uptime each year vs your total downtime?
99% uptime each year you can still have 87.6 hours of downtime during the year. With 99.9% uptime you can still have 8.76 hours of downtime during a year.
Cox sucks, what are you people going on about. They over-compress all their signals, so their video quality looks like @#$*()!@#.
FAIL
I don’t understand all the hostility.. it’s just cable TV people. You have choices if you’re not happy with COX. I for one would be happy to support a local company that does not outsource american jobs to save a buck and contribute to the rise in unemployment.
Cox has a monopoly what choices.
Wow…. If your going to comment please attempt to edcucate yourself. A monopoly? Cable TV is a luxury that you pay for for… if you are not aware of options… I’ll help you out. Good luck
1. Free over the air programing (purchase digital converter $40)
2. Directv (2yr contract)
3. Dish Network (2yr contract)
1 question….If you provided better service for less money….. why woudl you make your customers sign a 2 yr contract with you? Ask the satelite companies that when you call them.
YES…I can’t wait to get out of ATT, as it is so expensive and cost a arm and leg. I need a new phone too.
If it’s anything like their Cable service … good flippin luck!! Worse Customer Service and product ratings of all the players. Cox = Joke!
IT IS WORST…LEARN PROPER ENGLISH…SMART GUY
Hmmm According to JD Powers in the Western Region Cox rates top in overall satisifaction?
http://images.businessweek.com/tc/jdpower/cable_sat/index.htm
Can you provide the links to the survey’s that Cox ranks so bad?
It sounds like people are against any company they have to pay a fee for every month that isn’t perfect. Of course a cable company wont be up 100% of the time and there will always be a company advertising a lower price.
In my opinion Cox is doing a great job all around. You get what you pay for. I can’t wait to see what kind of plans and features comes with a new cell service!
James, do you smoke crack for a living?
Ahh the standard reply on OCR when you disagree with someone.
Cox is the best,,satelite sucks !!
Impossible to tell the difference unless you try everything thats available. Give out free “samples” then let the customer decide what works best for them. Now that would be interesting.
Cox is going to be using Kyocera cell phones. The phones are decades behind the iphone, HTC, and LG and designed by what looks to be third graders. Cox has no chance to grow as a leader in the wireless industry with phones that are used as throw away pay as you go like boost mobile uses.
Cox is going to be using Kyocera cell phones. The phones are decades behind the iphone, HTC, and LG and designed by what lopks to be third graders. Cox has no chance to grow as a leader in the wireless industry with phones that are used as throw away pay as you go like boost mobile uses.;
Would someone please build an app for Android and iPhone’s as well as COX Smart phones, for remote DVR scheduling?