COX Email makes the news
Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 2:29 pm
May 27, 2004
Cox Communications said yesterday that e-mail service to its high-speed Internet subscribers in San Diego and across the country has returned to normal after several days of problems.
The company said customers experienced delays in sending and receiving e-mails because of a new anti-virus and junk e-mail filtering system.
"We had an unprecedented volume of spam targeted at our customers," said Ryland Madison, the company's director of broadband marketing in San Diego. "Our e-mail filters were working extra hard going through all of the e-mail. As a result, some of our customers experienced delays."
The company's Web site said the problem was caused by anti-virus software, and that Cox has temporarily stopped scanning e-mail for viruses.
No e-mails have been lost, just delayed, the company said.
A few customers, in e-mail interviews, said the messaging delays ranged from hours to more than a day.
The problem began Friday and was resolved late Tuesday night, Madison said.
Last month, Cox contracted with San Francisco-based Brightmail to remove spam and viruses from incoming e-mail. Brightmail's servers were overloaded by the spam attack, Madison said.
Technicians from the two companies are still working to understand precisely what happened, he added.
Madison said the problem may have affected customers who normally receive a high volume of spam.
Legitimate e-mail may have been delayed as Brightmail's filters scanned the spam addressed to customer accounts, he said.
Cox has an estimated 125,000 subscribers in San Diego County who pay between $29.95 and $49.95 a month for high-speed Internet service delivered via cable modems.
The company does not know how many customers had problems, Madison said, but based on the number of calls to support staff, it did not appear to be a widespread problem.
"The majority of our customers were not affected," he said. "Everything is back to normal. Customers are no longer reporting problems."
Cox Communications said yesterday that e-mail service to its high-speed Internet subscribers in San Diego and across the country has returned to normal after several days of problems.
The company said customers experienced delays in sending and receiving e-mails because of a new anti-virus and junk e-mail filtering system.
"We had an unprecedented volume of spam targeted at our customers," said Ryland Madison, the company's director of broadband marketing in San Diego. "Our e-mail filters were working extra hard going through all of the e-mail. As a result, some of our customers experienced delays."
The company's Web site said the problem was caused by anti-virus software, and that Cox has temporarily stopped scanning e-mail for viruses.
No e-mails have been lost, just delayed, the company said.
A few customers, in e-mail interviews, said the messaging delays ranged from hours to more than a day.
The problem began Friday and was resolved late Tuesday night, Madison said.
Last month, Cox contracted with San Francisco-based Brightmail to remove spam and viruses from incoming e-mail. Brightmail's servers were overloaded by the spam attack, Madison said.
Technicians from the two companies are still working to understand precisely what happened, he added.
Madison said the problem may have affected customers who normally receive a high volume of spam.
Legitimate e-mail may have been delayed as Brightmail's filters scanned the spam addressed to customer accounts, he said.
Cox has an estimated 125,000 subscribers in San Diego County who pay between $29.95 and $49.95 a month for high-speed Internet service delivered via cable modems.
The company does not know how many customers had problems, Madison said, but based on the number of calls to support staff, it did not appear to be a widespread problem.
"The majority of our customers were not affected," he said. "Everything is back to normal. Customers are no longer reporting problems."
