Since I initiated the service more than a year ago, I’ve been incredibly disappointed and annoyed by the extreme slowness of the mis-named “high speed” Internet access I’ve received from Cox Communications.

Periodically, I will run a speed test, just to gather data points. I’ve consistently seen a sustained downstream rate of 1.6 Mbps. Recently, the service has felt slower—sometimes unbearably so. I ran another test this afternoon:

Download Speed: 1520 kbps (190 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 276 kbps (34.5 KB/sec transfer rate)

Seriously? This is high speed?

Somewhere I’ve seen Cox advertise rates of 3 Mbps, but I don’t have a reference to this handy. Searching Cox’s web site, I’ve found reference to 15 Mbps. I’m receiving one tenth the advertised rate, yet I’m paying 100% of the price.

Gee, thanks Cox. For nothing.