Exclusive Rights

Recently a series of events have caused a stir in the HOA where I live. Cox Communications our cable provider, we have been experiencing service interruptions
intermittently for nearly a year. There are 2 new communities that have been connected to underground utilities that surround our community.
Just a few days ago a vehicle crashed into the utility box that houses the Nodes that carry Cox services to our community, blacking us out for half the day
and sporadically for the past 3 days.

I know we could get Dish or DirecTV, but I called Century Link our land line provider, they offer Prism TV service and high speed internet service too.
Century Link informed me that they cannot provide me with TV or internet service because my HOA signed an exclusive rights contract
with Cox Communications limiting our choices for service.

I called our MC for the HOA and either he is playing dumb or the HOA does not have an exclusive rights agreement in place.
Where can I get the TRUTH.

I agree with Melissa that it's possible nobody on the Board is aware of this agreement.

Ask the Board to:

1) Search Association records for a copy of the contract.
2) If the contract can't be located, have the Board contact Cox for a copy of the signed contract.

I live in Phoenix, where we are served by Cox, Century Link, and, of course, DirecTV and Dish.

At one time we subscribed to Cox for cable TV, digital telephone, and cable internet. The TV was so-so, with a lot of outages. The phone service was adequate but we finally realized that the people we wanted to talk to called us on our cell phones and only parasites called our landline. The cable internet was great. When we moved to our current home five years ago we kept the internet but opted out of both the phone and TV.

We have had DirecTV in several homes and found it superior to cable TV. With cable TV, down-time was usually measured in hours per week; with DirecTV it is minutes per year. We went back to DirecTV when we moved. (I have no comment on Dish as I have no experience with them.)

We ditched the land line, also. We use our cell phones exclusively. We kept Cox's cable internet and it just keeps getting better. I run a speed test from time to time and find that we are able to receive at just over 100,000 MIPS (million instructions per second.)

Century Link also offers telephone, internet and Prism TV. Since their phone is a landline we have no interest in that. Prism TV looks interesting but I do not see any compelling reason to switch to it, as it is essentially cable TV delivered by phone line. Century Link also offers what they call high-speed internet and I am totally unimpressed with it. It is essentially the latest version of DSL, which was a techno-wonder 15 years ago but comes up short today. Century Link advertises that they have speeds "up to" 40 MIPS, less than half of what I have now. In addition, their ability to deliver that speed depends on how close you are to their switching facility, so you may or may not get that speed.

My advice is to keep your Cox cable internet. Ditch the land line and use a cell phone exclusively. Sign up for DirecTV.