re: Part II: General speed questions, and please recommend a router

Try it in the morning. 9 pm is a time when there is a lot of traffic.

I'm not sure on how cox handles bandwidth during high traffic hours for people who are paying for 50Mbps. I' assuming it won't be much better. But you might have to ask.

But still those speeds suck for peak hours since Cox upgraded the speeds. In Lafayette last night I was getting around 20Mbps down 28Mbps up.

On another note, it could be a problem with your router. Also check the speeds on all of your devices. Check your computer with a direct connect to you modem with ethernet