 Review by ph03n1x 
UPDATED: 1.6 years ago
member for 5.6 years, 404 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Sanford,Seminole,FL
 $100 per month
 about 3 days
 "Friednly phone service, low ping times and great speed."
 "Minor unresolveable signal issue."
 "RR is a 4.5 star ISP!"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
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Update (02/07/2007)
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It's been quite some time since I updated my review, so I'll share some new insight. The troubles I had in 2004 were resolved in January of 2005. Since then things have been fairly stable. The same old issue of random connection drops only seems to surface once in a great while. It seems like it's only happening a few weeks prior to Brighthouse announcing a free speed upgrade. So, overall it ends up being worth it. It's started happening again recently, so maybe that's signaling the upgrade to 10/1 speed?
Update (10/10/2004)
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I have had Road Runner (first with Time Warner, now with Brighthouse Networks) since September of 2000. I currently have Road Runner High Speed, in addition to Digital Cable and a PVR. From then until roughly May of 2004 I had little to no issue. Only three official outages that affected me for more than one or two hours. One of these was loss of connectivity, the other two were email outages.
Things took a slight turn south in June 2004 though. I begun experiencing random drops in signal. This was happening between 11am & 4pm EST. After trying many things myself, I called technical support. The agents were helpful but were not able to do much besides dispatch a tech since it was a signal loss issue.
The first tech came out and tested the line and found issues with the box outside that were corrected. He also recommended not using a splitter to divide the signal between my PVR and my modem. However being in an apartment and only having one cable outlet makes the splitter neccessary in order to run both devices. Just to ensure that this was not the issue, I used the service for one week without the splitter. When I wanted to watch TV I would hook up the cable box. When I wanted to go online, I would hook up the modem. This didnt fix the issue, proving that the splitter was not the cause of my troubles.
Since the issue remained unresolved, I called back to technical support and a second technican was sent. This technician was very rude. He was short with me, refused to listen to my description of the issue, refused to check the signal strength at the outside box and refused to believe that the cause of the problem was anything other than the splitter.
The third tech thought at first it could be the splitter because it apparently wasnt filtering the right frequencies. He installed what he called a high pass filter/splitter (it does work with a higher frequency) and then gladly tested the inside signal and the signal to the outside box. He couldnt find what was causing the lapse in signal so he suggested replacing the modem. He didnt have any Toshiba modems on the truck, just 3Coms so I got it replaced at the local office. None of this resolved the issue. Brighthouse put in a ticket to have the signal checked at the fiber stop point in the neighborhood, or so the tech support rep said. I never heard back on any progress on this.
At this point, I've resigned myself to the fact that this is going to be an ongoing unresolveable issue. Brighthouse phone reps have been very helpful each time I call and I was able to obtain a significant credit for the times that I had this trouble. Each time the problem reoccurs, I just call up and have a reset signal sent to the modem and if it persists, I ask for and get a small credit for the few hours I have the trouble. However, as cooperative as Brighthouse has been, this issue still slightly tarnishes my opinion of the service, which is why I lowered the Reliability and Value score by 1 point each. Still, my only alternative broadband provider is Bellsouth DSL. Knowing what I know about DSL technology coupled with the fact that I have no home phone service and dont wish to have it, I'm not about to change ISPs unless this issue gets significantly worse.
Overall, I still highly recommend Brighthouse Networks Road Runner service over any DSL provider for good broadband internet access.
From Order to Install
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I first ordered Road Runner service a little over 3 years ago. I had just moved out of my parents house and wanted broadband. I checked into DSL and cable both. I was told by my local phone company that it would take two weeks to get DSL setup on my line. Plus there was a service contract. I thanked them and called Road Runner. This was on a Thursday, and they told me my service would be on by that Saturday, that there was no service agreement and that I could use the service on 4 computers without a router (4 IPs through DHCP). That Saturday and ever since then, the service has been a shining example of how to do something right. The installation was painless as can be, the installer tech came out, plugged in the modem to the wall, hooked up the coax cable and plugged the CAT5 into my PC and then rebooted. Done! No pesky software, no authentication crap! I have had only had to call RR Tech Support four times. One of those was a little rough, but not every tech a callcenter hires is going to be a guru, so I was okay with that. In the almost 3 years I've had service, I have had only one unexpected outage, and it was nothing more than a couple of hours of not being able to access the POP server. No big deal as that's not my email. Other than that, it's been nothing but planned maintenance. I consistently get much higher than the 2.0Mb/s (250KB/s) download speed that is advertised. My ping times in online games always under 30. I cant say enough positive things about Road Runner. If you are shopping for broadband and have RR available in your area, go for it. Just be sure you get an Ethernet based modem, because USB modems are slower and a pain to install. That's not RR's fault, it's just a fact.
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