Cox Communications may be gearing up to roll out new mobile voice and data services sometime this month, but don't check CoxWireless.com for updates on when and where you can get them.
CoxWireless.com -- which largely comprises gibberish placeholder text like "lorem ipsum dolor sit amet" -- claims that it is "a division of Cox Communications LLC," and includes a logo (left). However, Cox Communications manager of public relations Jill Ullman said the company has no affiliation with the site "and we are investigating it further."
The CoxWireless.com domain name is registered to Duane Cox, of Springfield, Ill., who runs a wireless Internet service provider in the area. According to his site, "Our mission is to provide affordable, reliable, and fast broadband Internet access to the rural communities of Illinois without any sacrifices or long-term commitments."
Duane Cox, reached via phone by Multichannel News Friday, acknowledged that he doesn't have any association with the Atlanta-based cable operator.
Asked whether it was confusing to call his company Cox Communications when there was a well-known cable company of the same name, he said, "There's no intention to mislead anyone... My last name is Cox. That's who I am."
He added that the cable company has not contacted him about changing the name of his firm or the Web site.
According to a search of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office database, Cox Communications Inc. currently owns a trademark on "Cox Wireless." The cable operator has spent $550 million on wireless spectrum and will spend more than that on the buildout of a 3G CDMA network in parts of 15 states, according to Cox president Pat Esser.
At this point, Duane Cox has activated two Wi-Fi sites in downstate Illinois using equipment from Motorola and hopes to expand coverage in the next few months. "All in all, I'm just trying to get the network built," he said.
