Review by DarkSyde2 
member for 5.6 years, 338 visits, last login: 3.8 years ago
updated 5.3 years ago
 Akron,Summit,OH
 $40 per month "Great when it works" "Shoddy equipment, horribly oversold or problematic node" "Forget it. If you are in Akron get DSL if its available."
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***Review updated 2 times***
I'd been with Roadrunner since long before they first started using the 2Mbit cap several years ago. Up until about 18 months ago the service was great. After that it went downhill so fast, it was more like jumping off of a cliff with no parachute. About a year ago I finally got fed up and switched to SBC. The decreased bandwidth was annoying but I got used to it because it at least WORKED.
One year later and I can pay $40/month for DSL at half the bandwidth or go back to Roadrunner. No brainer, right? I thought surely they would have their shiite straightened out by now. Besides that, I despise AT&T, but that's another story...
Unfortunately it's become extremely obvious that their service has only further deteriorated. A quick look at their network status page shows a LONG, and I mean LONG list of outages, etc., in the Akron/NE Ohio area, and I'm currently lucky to get a steady 2Mbit downstream even at 4AM! How the heck are they supposed to upgrade to 7Mbit when they can't even remotely handle 5?
The line coming into my home was installed by Time Warner approximately 2 years ago, as well as all lines inside. I've checked and rechecked my wiring and signal levels and they are all absolutely fine. Modem has already been exchanged once. Tech support can't provide any answers. Their network is just screwed...
Guess I'll have to wait a month or 2 and then go back to the Devil that is AT&T for some 'new user' contract again. They'd just better not start trying to pull this two-tier garbage.... I'm still hoping for things to improve before it comes to that, but I won't hold my breath.
I've attached 2 images of a file downloading from Fileplanet, one with RoadRunner and the other with my still active DSL account. These were taken between 6 and 6:30PM and are of the same exact file from the same exact download server. This is just one example, but is the same no matter what/where I go, and is the same every day. It doesn't get any better during 'off-peak hours' either.
***Update 6/23/06***
After exchanging modems for the 2nd time, I got a Toshiba PCX2600 rather than the Motorola SB5101. Either both of the Motorolas were bad or Time Warner fixed a problem on their end at the same time I swapped modems today, because I'm now testing at just under 5Mbit in the middle of a Friday.
Regardless of this modem fiasco, I actually did have to redo the wiring that THEY installed (incorrectly) to bring my signals to within acceptable levels and stop losing sync constantly (outbound dBmV was 55+, inbound was -15dBmV or worse). This should have NEVER been an issue. Time Warner sent techs to my house shortly before I ended up switching to DSL (more than once!) and couldn't find what would appear to be a quite obvious issue. If you are going to get RoadRunner you may as well head down to Home Depot and get yourself a spindle of RG6, some screw on connectors and a good 2/3/4-way (however many you need) splitter for your main line and install the crap yourself.
**Update October 9 2006**
Things were going fine for about a month after getting that last modem. Since then it's all gone back to just the very reason I dumped RR the first time: Extremely unreliable, horrible pings, and clueless support.
Nearly every day for well over a month now, my connection absolutely TANKS in the middle of the day to late evening, barely eeking out a whopping 1Mbit downstream and massive lag to any server in any game I might attempt to play. I'd ran smokeping for an entire week and on some days it reported nearly 60% AVERAGE packet loss. I don't know if that's accurate, but if some days are that bad and a couple are just fine, then something is wrong with their network. After calling support, a line tech was sent out (I wasn't expecting much here) and they checked everything from the pole outside to my modem and 'found nothing wrong' (as I'd expected).
To add insult to injury, TW recently stated they would not be giving the 7Mbit upgrade in areas with no competition, which basically means there won't be any increase here. Of course, they can't handle 5Mbit now anyway so what's it matter?
AT&T recently got rid of yearly contracts and lowered their standard pricing on their DSL services. 3Mbit/512Kbit (really more around 2.6 down) is now only $25/month with no contract. Compare that to RoadRunner's completely unreliable so-called 5Mbit line which during most times that I use it is closer to 1Mbit with insane pings for $40/month and it's not a hard decision to make. As much as I hate AT&T, I'll gladly go back to their service. I've been extremely patient with Time Warner and now I'm just completley fed up with it. I've just ordered DSL and it will be activated in a couple days, after which I'm taking this f***** cable modem back to the local office and cram it up someones rear so far that TW's CEO will choke on it.
BOTTOM LINE: RoadRunner in this area is awful. I don't know if it's like this in all of Akron/NEO or if I'm just unlucky enough to be on a really bad node, but I have more problems DAILY then I had with a full year of DSL. Hopefully they will get taken over by Comcast in this area as maybe then I can get decent cable here...
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