Cox Communication Blocks My FTP After Transferring 5MB
aI am "insane with anger". After uploading 5MB worth of files to my website last night my FTP client started saying "cannot connect to server". I figured that it was a problem with that particular server so I tried another site with a different hosting company, same thing "cannot connect to server". I spent about 10 minutes trying a combination of different clients and my laptop, then I realized... my ISP is refusing ALL outgoing FTP communication (port 21). It was late so I decided to sleep on it, "maybe they are having some kind of problem weird problem" I thought to myself.
Today on my lunch break I called Cox Communications customer service and spoke with "Will" (we'll call him). He informed me that I probably had a block put on my modem and there was nothing he could do about it. He further explained to me that most people connect to the Internet for web browsing and email and I am in the 1% of subscribers who use their Cox Internet to trade files with non Cox servers. He also informed me that they are always on the lookout for people that are trading MP3 files that way.
Me: Can you transfer me to that department so I can talk to someone about this? Will: No, but you can send an email to "abuse@cox.net" and they will review your request Me: It is absolutely absurd that I transfer under 20MB (I was estimating) of files and you block me, I thought I was purchasing access to the Internet Will: Well you may have violated the EULA and that is something that they will look at. We look at residential accounts with allot of scrutiny, we have business class Internet where we expect all kinds of VOIP, VPN and FTP traffic.
I am not sure how many people reading this have heard about the recent net neutrality discussion, but ISPs are trying to get people to pay more for the same old Internet access that we've all been enjoying for years. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but the customer service rep I was speaking to mentioned "business class" Internet at least 4 times to me.
He did end up sending in the email on my behalf, after arguing on the phone for 15 minutes. What was I uploading you ask? I uploaded wordpress to two different servers at 2.5MB a piece.
At 6/14/2006 12:18:00 PM by
That's re-freakin-dunkulus. Here's what you do: Call Cox, tell them you want to cancel. When they ask why, tell them. They'll probably fix it right away to avoid losing you.
Hey you might interested in this conversation about net neutrality that was just started yesterday. I'm totally against it but there are obviously opposing views.
Josh R. said...
I just moved to Arkansas, it sure is nice here.
