James City County resident William Horwatt Jr. is paying top dollar for his Internet service, but he says he is getting anything but. Horwatt Jr. is a customer of Cox Communications. In 2015 he filed a complaint with James City County saying he is paying $69.99 a month for high speed connection but isn’t getting it.
“It never gets to that speed,” Horwatt Jr. said in the complaint. “They cannot consistently deliver any type of Internet connection speed but they charge for a speed that they cannot deliver,” he said.
But according to Cox, faster service is on the way in the Historic Triangle at a premium price.
Customers often deride the largest Internet service provider in the Historic Triangle’s slower than promised Internet speeds, or unreliable connections.
Since January 2015 there have been about 43 complaints to the county about Cox’s services. The county’s website recommends customers contact Cox directly for customer service issues.
County Working on Internet Changes
James City County officials say internet services are important to businesses and residents alike but, despite complaints, Cox has remained king.
Bringing better Internet to James City County residents is something County Administrator Bryan Hill said he’s been working on, but it’s been an uphill battle.
“Cox is our provider and we have made attempts to solicit others to come to James City County,” Hill wrote in an email. “Our growth and development does not provide a good business model for companies to invest in the needed infrastructure to make a profit.”
The county’s job, according to Hill, is to not “inject themselves into the free market economy.”
A lack of options for Internet service is reflective on companies not wanting to invest the money in the area, according to Hill.
Telecommunications companies like Cox ask permission to operate in an area, and it’s the decision of the locality on whether or not they can accept a company’s terms.
An extension of James City County’s agreement with Cox is up for negotiation by as late as December 2018, according to the franchising agreement.
Before those negotiations are set to begin, Cox says it’s in the process of investing $10 billion over five years nationally in its services, some of that investment is right here in Greater Williamsburg, according to Cox Communications spokeswoman Jessica Dawley.
A new faster service
Consumer complaints against Cox Communications’ tiered internet service structure have mounted, but the company says customers looking for faster internet have been able to sign up since mid-October for the company’s fastest service yet.
“We have recently expanded our internet service in your area to include our G1GABLAST service, meaning customers in Williamsburg and James City County can now enjoy one Gigabit per second download speeds,” Dawley said in an email.
The premium service offers download speeds as fast as a Gigabit or 125 Megabytes per second, according to Cox. However, the premium service will come at the premium price tag of $119.99 per month, according to Cox.
Cox Comparison
In 2016, the Federal Communications Commission issued a report that indicated Cox Communications popular Internet packages had high connection reliability compared to other companies.
The study found Cox’s Internet connection speeds rarely fell below about 90 percent of the advertised download speed for study participants.
While several residents have submitted complaints either directly to Cox or to local government, Cox has said it’s doing the best it can to make residents’ happy with the service they pay for.
“We always appreciate feedback from customers and respond to service issues on an individual basis to make sure we are addressing customers’ concerns to their satisfaction,” Dawley said.
For Horwatt, there was no action to back up Cox’s words. He said no matter how many times he contacted Cox his problems weren’t solved.
“It’s like buying a new car that supposedly has a top speed of 50 miles per hour,” Horwatt said in his complaint to the county. “But your [sic] only going to hit 50 mph if your [sic] going down a steep hill with a loaded trailer attached to it. Generally your only going to be able to drive at 15 or 20 miles per hour.”
To be sure, Internet service providers face regulations from the local to the federal level, and expensive costs to install the infrastructure consumers want.
Cox says its newest service will provide fast internet to residents throughout the Historic Triangle.
“We continue to invest in our network to make our service as reliable as possible,” Dawley said.
We want to hear from you
Have you upgraded to the new service Cox has to offer? If so, have you experienced improvements with your internet service? If you haven’t upgraded, why not? Email your responses to [email protected].
Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Kate Jay did not return multiple requests for comment.
