Internet quality intermittently bad causing drops of service over the past few weeks

We had a tech out and it turns out there was an issue somewhere up the chain from the power pole where my connection leaves my house. It was lucky that the connection dropping started while we were testing brand new coaxial cables to the modem.

Looks like repairs have been made and my connection is a lot better. Still a little packet loss here and there, but that might have always been the case before the recent horrible connection.

There was a new DNS issue that appeared to occur as a result of the repair and I ended up having to do a factory reset on my modem to get DNS working again.

Pro tips for getting a quicker resolution if you can troubleshoot your own network, router and connections.

• Online chat is useless if you already know how to reboot your modem.
  
  
• Call for support. Humor the tech and go through the modem reboot. Then get an on-site technician scheduled to come out.
  
  
• If your tech support rep sells you something as a solution don't buy it.
  I now have Gigablast, Cox Complete Care and second just as functional modem. I was assured these were issues yet none of these up-sells are useful for fixing a bad internet connection.
  
  
• If your tech support rep tells you it's your computer or modem when it's been working fine for weeks or months already, hang up and call back to get an on-site technician out.
  
  
• Don't waste hours and days in the online chat and on the phone trying to figure it out. They don't have the tools.
  
  
• If the on-site technician doesn't find anything wrong, unfortunately you may need to get another one out if the problem continues.
  
  
• If none of this works and you have other options, save money and find another provider.