Cox Communications Transitions High Speed Internet Customers To New Cox-Managed Network
Business Wire
Atlanta, GA
NYSE:COX

ATLANTA, Feb 11, 2002 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Cox Communications, Inc. today announced that it has transitioned 99 percent of Cox@Home Internet customers to its new self-managed IP network.

The network conversion took place in January and included more than 600,000 Cox@Home customers and 20,000 commercial business customers in 18 markets.

"Now that we have completed the bulk of our network conversions, we are focusing all of our efforts on stabilizing the new network for maximum performance and reliability," said Scott Hatfield, Chief Information Officer. "We transitioned over half a million customers to our new network in less than four weeks. As expected with a migration of this unprecedented magnitude, some of our customers have experienced service issues associated with the transition, but we have worked around the clock to fix these issues so that all of our customers can enjoy the fast, reliable Internet service that they expect from Cox."

The transition to Cox's new network is a two-phase process. In addition to the network conversions, customers must also convert services such as email accounts and personal web pages. Beginning in December 2001, Cox@Home customers received conversion kits that contained all of the tools and resources necessary to set up their new Cox High Speed Internet service. To date, more than 70 percent of existing Cox@Home customers have set up their new service, and Cox is encouraging customers to convert to Cox High Speed Internet as soon as possible. Excite@Home will discontinue service at the end of February, so all Cox@Home customers must establish their Cox High Speed Internet service soon to ensure ongoing access to their email accounts and other services.

Cox doubled its customer care resources to assist with the transition process. "We pride ourselves on delivering high-quality service to our customers; unfortunately, despite our best efforts to staff appropriately for the transition, we weren't able to maintain our exceptional standards during this challenging time," said Kimberly Edmunds, Vice President of Customer Care. "We thank our customers for their patience, and expect call volumes to return to a manageable level in the next few weeks so that we can get back to providing the timely customer service for which we are known."

Cox's new self-managed national IP network supports Cox High Speed Internet service and also the broadband telecommunications solutions offered to commercial customers through Cox Business Services. The network will allow Cox to deliver future broadband offerings to meet its customers' evolving needs, as well as several benefits customers can enjoy today, such as increased reliability, fast speeds and new features like enhanced local content and remote, web-based email access.

The network itself includes three main Service Data Centers, located in Atlanta, Oklahoma City, and San Diego. These Service Data Centers house Cox's servers where customers' email, news and web pages will be stored, and support 11 Regional Data Centers located throughout the country. The Regional Data Centers provide diverse routing to the public Internet.

 

 

    About Cox Communications:

Cox Communications, a Fortune 500 company, serves approximately 6.2 million customers nationwide, making it the nation's fifth largest cable television company. A full-service provider of telecommunications products, Cox offers an array of services, including Cox Cable; advanced digital video programming services under the Cox Digital Cable brand; local and long distance telephone services under the Cox Digital Telephone brand; high-speed Internet access under the brands Cox High Speed Internet, Road Runner and Cox Express; and commercial voice and data services via Cox Business Services. Cox is an investor in programming networks including Discovery Channel. More information about Cox Communications can be accessed on the Internet at www.cox.com/espanol.

 

 

CONTACT:          Cox Communications, Inc., Atlanta
                  Susan Leepson, 404/269-8260

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