What happened to Cox Cable’s mobile phone service?
March 24th, 2010, 7:12 am · 27 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress
March is almost over and the “unbelievably fair” mobile phone service from Cox Communications has failed to make its debut in Orange County, which was one of three regions nationwide picked for the cable TV provider’s mobile debut.
The launch has been delayed indefinitely, said Lana Ong, the spokesperson for the local Cox operation.
“We didn’t launch Cox Wireless widely to the public on March 8 because we are taking a very deliberate approach to introduce new products and services to the marketplace to ensure an experience that customers expect from Cox,” she replied.
She continues, “We realize many customers were looking forward to it however, the most important thing to note is Cox is putting the final touches on the Cox Wireless experience. Holding true to our customers is our number one priority and Cox Wireless will be here soon. We’re asking that interested customers visit unbelievablyfair.com if they want to be the first to learn more about Cox Wireless – and don’t renew that contract!”
That’s a tough request, even for people who can’t wait to ditch their own wireless provider.
At this point, all we know is that Cox was building a mobile-phone network that uses Sprint’s CDMA 3G network. It would do away with overage fees, vanishing minutes and other consumer outrages. You don’t have to be a Cox TV subscriber. The company even produced commercials about it, which it’ll have to reshoot since they tout a March launch.
Orange County was one of three regions picked to be the first to get service. Hampton Roads, Va. and Omaha, Neb. were the other two areas.
Omaha, however, did launch, Ong said.
“While we don’t have a set date yet for our official wireless launch to the public, our Omaha system launched Cox Wireless in limited availability earlier this month,” she said.
In the mid 1990s, Cox tapped Omaha as a city it planned to launched cellular service using existing its fiber-optic cable network, according to a story in the Omaha World Herald. The service was pitched as something that would cost half the price of existing cellular service. The effort was later dropped.
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Here's a list of TV/mobile companies helping consumers one tweet at a time. 
So what new products products and services did they introduce?
I’m trying to get details on the Omaha launch since, I assume, there would be prices and service features. I didn’t spot any reports of the Omaha launch elsewhere so I’m relying on Lana to come through. I’ll update as soon as I know.
I live in Virginia Beach (one of the markets poised to receive Cox Wireless in March 2010) This doesnt look like a good start for Cox. Im sure it will be fine when the system gets up and running though. I would think that Cox cable having played a Super Bowl add showing the March 2010 launch would want to come out publicly and say what was going on. Why should customers always be picking around to find the truth…this doesnt seem like “fair” service to me, it seems like more of the same “unfair” service.
Don’t renew which contract?
I called Cox about my cable TV service and asked if I could save on any of my services to lower my monthly bill. I was told “no” but then they sent me a letter saying they had made changes to my service. It was so unclear I am afraid I renewed without knowing.
Could Cox be acting shady and trying to get customers to renew so that they are inelligible for wireless or do not have to offer savings when they finally launch the wireless service?
Just an observation, but isn’t this good news?
Cox doesn’t exactly have a stellar record with their customers or their employees…
Oh, and another thing: that little blue & white guy is what Cox calls a “Digi”. So I’m wondering when whoever is holding Atari’s intellectual property is gonna sue them for ripping off “Dig Dug” – which is what he looks like!
Dig Dug was a miner and wore a white miner’s outfit with a white baseball type hat and carried a mining drill. Digi is in a space suit of some type with a space helmet. The only simularity I see is they both are short, pudgy and wear white outfits. The new “improved” DigDug looks like a superhero from DC comics. I don’t foresee a lawsuit as feasable.
I believe the adage “sometimes it what you DON’T say that says a lot..” applies here. I did visit the website, unbelievablyfair.com to find out more about the scope and features of the new service – the site is worthless.. not that I should be surprised!
This follows the typical Cox model – take advantage of your customers while you can. Why would anyone expect Cox to deliver value in the wireless market – they currently operate with little/no competition on the video/broadband market (of course I’m not counting the satellite providers..). Opening a new market in one soooo foreign to them (wireless) is risky at best. Until the dust settles from the current wireless price war, Cox doesn’t want to make any more commitments to a market where they HAVE TO COMPETE.
All South OC Cities should be open to a competitive market and WELCOME AT&T uVerse and Verizon FiOS to their cities in order to improve the dismal service currently offered by Cox.
Dear Gadgetress – please use your media access to increase visibility to this issue of a poor quality product. Act as a conduit to help cities and providers to open their markets for some competition – explore the features/benefits that the new providers (AT&T, Verizon, etc..) will bring and expose the areas of bottleneck to the readers, encouraging them to voice their opinion. Tedious articles about tech help from the North OC PC geeks is not informative nor educational.
Hi Chipshot — I do what I can to cover (and uncover) what’s happening with local TV service. I rely heavily on readers since I don’t and can’t subscribe to all the TV services. This update, by the way, came from a reader reminding me that Cox was supposed to launch mobile service in March. I appreciate every message. So, thanks for reading.
(And don’t knock the PC Club — it has its own surprisingly large fan base!)
Its always very interesting to me to hear someone say a company has little/no competition by completely dismissing the competiton that exists (in this case satellite services). Isn’t that a bit like saying “Ford has little/no competiton (of course I’m not counting GM, Hyundai, Honda, Toyota…)”.
I don’t know if you’re paying attention to the number of subscribers the satellite companies have, but they are QUITE competitive in ALL markets.
I’ve not heard of a single instance of any municipality turning Verizon down for FIOS installation. But Verizon has absolutely no intentions of running fiber to every home in the markets they serve. They may ‘pass’ a lot of homes, but not connect them.
Damn. I’ve really been looking forward to this. In fact, I just called the new Irvine store last night to ask about this. I got a strange response about them not being able to tell customers anything about it! They’ve also gone silent on their Facebook page discussion.
I figured they were waiting for CTIA this week to make the big announcement.
I never expected it to happen in March, and they did not disappoint.
Um, no thanks. Cox is way behind the curve on introducing new technologies already available else where. I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts they’ll end up charging more for it than everyone else too when they finally decide to release whatever it is.
After the last stunt they pulled, disconnecting my internet service when I only canceled my cable service and then telling me it would take days to restore my internet, is all I could take from these people. I spent an hour on hold waiting for these people to answer the phone. I ended up driving all the way over there before they ever answered the phone so I could yell at them in person. My TV bill is half what I was paying at Cox and I get way more. Thanks Cox, your stupidity saved me money.
Typical Cox a day late and a dollar short. When I worked for those people; we were told we would have cell phones over a year ago. They told us we would have a Multi-room DVR September 2009, it’s now May 2010.
I Felt like a Mushroom kept in the dark and fed compost. Don’t even get me started on how they treat their employees.
They did a test run back in 2008 with their employees, which failed. I know there were a lot of issues that they had to work out before trying again and then trying it with the public. Based on the test run back in 2008, I’m not sure how well this service will work for everyone. I definitely will not be using it though.
I don’t think anything about my “former” COX TV service was fair! I dropped the overpriced DVR service and switched to just internet access.
Tamara, on the related subject of vaporware, any news on FIOS expanding in Irvine? I’d like to package my cable, Internet, home phone, and mobile phone together. That either means dropping VZ for the new Cox wireless or switching my cable, Internet, and home phone to VZ/FIOS.
Any guess which one is more likely to exist this decade?
Verizon, apparently, isn’t building much FIOS right now:
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Verizon-Sort-Of-Addresses-FiOS-Deployment-Freeze-107393?nocomment=1
lets just say 3 weeks.
Gadgetress,
Any word from Lana Ong at Cox about the launch date of Epix and Vutopia for Digital Movie Tier customers?
I contacted customer service and they were unaware of the services that are “supposed” to launch April 1.
Does anyone know how this service was supposed to work in the first place? I am wondering if Cox was going to just charge people for DATA and have everyone place VOIP calls using a full data service. This would make sence considering all of the other voice companies offer this capability. Then users would only have to pay for data on phones and not cellular minutes…which would fit there statement “no more vanishing minutes”.
Diesel,
It’s going to be 3G service in pretty much all markets backed by the Sprint network.
Sorry you Cox $uckers. You still don’t have an iPhone and your customer service is? Well? the name says it all.
You like Blockbuster are goin down!
Dana, that was really nice, I like the $uckers part. Lets just say this…AT&T Wireless MIS-SERVICE single program non-google voice running, overcharged iphone rates are not too much to speak for….”can you hear me now?”
Well? yea, But the iPhone is a better radio and gets better service than the others. You have to weigh out all the pro’s and cons and the end result is= The iPhone is worth it. We have tried all the other iPhone clones and they just fall short so far. So until ATT’s contract runs out with Apple I chose to be with ATT, I love Verizon but I love the phone more. Th— — nks —lot—-ve –nice—-ay! Shcshhhhhhhhhhhhhh! LOST SIGNAL….
I have 4 lines ready for renewal. I was waiting for cox but the hype has worn off. I understand delaying if you’re not ready but not being up front and keeping potential customers aware is unforgivable. Customer service is my number one selling point and cox is falling short in this market. A very bad start.
If the cell companies would step away from the contract requirement I am certain they would see an upswing in new customers. That along w/ the fact it only makes sense that email/web etc would be all tied in together vs. paying for double services as we do for cell/web access.
I like everyone else continue to look at cost savings. I use Cox and have not had any customer service issues, but I am tired of seeing my bill inch up and of course the way the bundle the packages is geared towards making it painful for you not consider all three programs.
Simple, no contract and let me access my email w/no additional cost. Dreaming!