COX - Cable TV Review

I grew up at the end of the world.  Well actually, to get to my parents' house, you go to the end of the world, take a left, and go down about 8 miles (if you don't believe me, go to Mapquest, pull up a map of zip code 71320, and see how many times you have to zoom out before you see anything you recognize).  When I was growing up, the local cable company changed almost annually, the service was terrible, and a stiff breeze knocked out the cable.

What does this have to do with Cox?  Well first of all, Cox was not one of the myriad of cable companies I had growing up.  Second, it gave me an appreciation of cable that doesn't go out at the drop of a hat and has decent service.

For the most part, Cox is very good:

1. I seldom have an outage.  I do live in a city, which I believe helps.
2. The selection of channels is great, even though I never watch a majority of them.
3. *HD channels are free so long as you subscribe to the corresponding standard definition channel.
4. If you get DVR, you won't know what you ever did without it.  Cox offers DVR.
5. I love the pay-per-view sports packages, especially MLB Extra Innings and ESPN Gameplan.

Now the negatives:

1. For some reason, Cox loves to keep new channels and services a secret.  They never announce them.  On numerous occasions, while going through the on-screen channel guide, I've discovered that I have new channels.
2. It's getting progressively more expensive.  They raise the rates a little too much for my taste.
3. The service is good, most of the time.  You do get the occasional rep that's dumb as a bag of hammers, but for the most part, it's pretty good.

Overall, considering what I went through with Star Cable, Classic Cable, et al., Cox is great.  I just wish I would get an e-mail when I get new channels or services, and I wish they would keep the price hikes to a minimum.