 Review by JSY 
UPDATED: 278 days ago
member for 9.5 years, 2033 visits, last login: 3 days ago
 Elmhurst,Queens,NY
 Contract price not specified.
 "Faster alternative at a somewhat competitive price. Already comes through existing cable line."
 "Primetime blues. Your speed WILL slow down & latency WILL jump during prime hours. Lacking customer service."
 "If you don't have FiOS and you need FiOS-like speed, this is the way to go..."
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Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
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(ratings match consensus)
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I have had RoadRunner from Time Warner Cable of NYC for over 2 years while simultaneously being a DSL customer through Bway.net (of which I've been pleased with - see my review). I will not compare the services, but opt to concentrate on what I've experienced with RoadRunner.
Installation was a snap. I opted for the self-installation kit that is available at any TWCNYC payment center. Literally, anyone can do this. You simply split the wire that in coming into your cable box with the included splitter. Then you run one cable back to the cable box, and the other into the supplied cable modem (TOSHIBA). You then attach the ethernet cable from the cable modem to your computer's ethernet jack or switch/router if you plan to use one. Plug the cable modem into the wall, and that is it. For most configurations - DNS configurations, etc. is automatic and you will be ready to go. You may need to contact customer service if you find that your cable modem/account hasn't been authorized yet - which seems to happen sometimes even though they apparently activate it right in front of your eyes at the payment center. Being that this account was a dynamic UP account, there really wasn't much to configure.
Speed seems to be average or even a little above average compared to some other RoadRunner users on this website, but overall - it's simply faster than DSL at the comparable price level. I personally receive around 2Mb/sec or so download and around 350Kb/sec upload - but they vary throughout the day according to the tests done here. Typical DSL speeds at this price level go around 700Kb/sec download and 128Kb/sec download.
RoadRunner is quite reliable for the most part lately. A year or so ago - there were semi-frequent service outages - especially with the E-Mail system. However, that seems to have been remedied for the most part. I can now say that it's been extremely reliable over the last 6-9 months. Unfortunately, one big omission that I personally find is the inability to check your E-Mail via a web-based gateway, as some RoadRunner services around the country have started to allow. I was hoping that they would start offering this in NYC but I haven't seen any mention of this and I don't expect to at this point. Yes, E-Mail can be retrieve the POP3 way, but being able to simply log in ocassionally as you would Hotmail, would be nice.
The RoadRunner home page is adequate, literally. It does give you valuable insight, such as user ID management and system/network status - but the home page lacks the usefulness of a real portal. In other words, you'd only go there just to manage your account.
RoadRunner has recently added dial-up access, but I've not had the opportunity to test this out. They did this after raising their rate from $39.95/mo to $44.95/mo.
The remarkable thing is that ever since I self-installed this service, I've *never* had to contact customer service for anything. There have been outages, etc. - but nothing that didn't clear up eventually or explained on the network status. Admittedly, too - RoadRunner has had it's share of outages and E-Mail downtime in the past. I currently still don't rely solely on RoadRunner E-Mail, but my confidence (in instant delivery, etc.) is building. But the ease of doing it all yourself is priceless consider what one must go through to install DSL.
I do not use the news server nor do I even know if one exists that is included in the account. The reason being that I have a separate news account.
At this point, RoadRunner has impressed me over the 2+ years I have had it mainly because the reliability factor has increased a great deal. Early talks about how cable internet suffers from the splitting of the bandwidth has proven to be either false or certainly not experience in this area. This is probably due to the speed caps that are in place.
If you are looking for the fastest possible speed under $50/mo, or if you just don't want to have to deal with your local TELCO, then RoadRunner is the way to go (that is, if you are in their service area).
UPDATE: February 2, 2009
The problem with having a good product is that you eventually are expected to accompany it with good customer service. It's been years since I've updated this review and that has been a mistake because I've had numerous issues with RoadRunner service over the years. However, FiOS is not available here (nor do I relish having to deal with Verizon) and there isn't much of an option for very high speed internet access. I'm not going to let RCN drill new holes in my house. So over the years, I've experienced what everyone has, and that is horrible service during peak times (usually early evenings). Speed drops to a fraction of what you are paying for and latency goes through the roof. At one point, my speed was about 5-10% of what I was paying for (you can find my messages on that in this site if you search) which prompted me to get the typical runaround from the customer service reps and they would not send anyone out to me. I got sick of this and filed a complaint with DoITT. This actually brought results. Someone from Time Warner contacted me and directly sent me to a Level3 tech to help me out. Turned out that my modem was outdated and not capable of the speeds that they were pushing. A replacement of the modem solved the issue. Don't they keep records of the model of the modem that I am using so this could have been solved before it happened?! That being said, though, the people from Time Warner were really nice and helpful - but only after I complained to the DoITT.
Fast forward to about a year later. My speed drops down again and I go through the same motions with customer service. They finally send someone out and this time it appears to be a wiring issue outside my house which they fixed. No big issue here, but I thought this should be mentioned.
Over the years, I've had a lot of mixed feelings. Frankly, at around 8pm - it's just impossible to achieve the speeds that you pay for. I don't care what they say about congestion - that's not my problem. That's a problem of them being oversold without splitting a node. Customers should not need to stand for this and the fact that Time Warner doesn't care speaks volumes. Net congestion on their own networks should not be a tolerated standard. People with higher tiers of service: Turbo, Extreme - they all experience the same lag during primetime. At the very least - why aren't THESE customers getting priority for the amount they pay? That is a sad questions to have to ask since I think all customers, regardless of tier, should get what they pay for.
Customer service reviews with FiOS appears to be high at this point, but I'm not fooled into thinking that Verizon is any better. The only luxury they have right now is the unavailability in most markets, which means that they don't have to deal with the volume of customers that Time Warner does. I have no doubt that it will catch up to them. HOWEVER, Time Warner needs the competition if its customers have any hope of better services. I may need to eventually give FiOS a try... when it gets here in about 20 years I guess.
FiOS in NYC - NOT.
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