Review by kd6cae 
UPDATED: 1 year ago
member for 8.2 years, 2677 visits, last login: 1 days ago
 Palmdale,Los Angeles,CA
 Business customer
 $119 per month (24 month contract)
 about 1 days
 "always on, upload mostly solid"
 "Unable to communicate with the Rogers cable network"
 "If you want reliable speed, you may want to stay clear of RR, as it seems to be less reliable than other providers"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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Since I do a fair bit of uploading to the internet, I wanted to get Time Warner business class service, as it's the fastest upload around, since FIOS unfortunately isn't serving the area I live in currently.
I ordered the service on 7/14/2008, and was online the next day. The techs who installed my service originally however gave me an RCA cable modem, which wasn't capable of handling the static IP's I ordered. The next day, we got that issue resolved, and the tech that made the swap was very kind. The new modem is an SMC 8014 I think the model number is.
I say I think, because since I'm totally blind, I can't read the model number myself, but based on the modem's layout, I believe that to be the model modem I have. One disadvantage of having TWC business class, is that I'm unable to go in to the modem and check my own signal levels and the like, something I've been able to do with every other modem I've had! Oh I can get to the modem's log in page just fine, but TWC has changed the log in info from the defaults, something that ticks me off just a bit, because I can't even get the modem mac address should I need it, since my only way to access that info would be the web page itself. Why exactly won't TWC allow you to configure or at least look at the settings of the provided CPE equipment anyway?
Back to the internet service. It is suppose to be the home pro plus package with speeds up to 15mbit download and up to 2mbit upload for $99.95 a month + $19.95 additional for the 5 static IP's. However my upload speed ranges anywhere from 1.4-1.6Mbps, which is acceptable, but a bit lower than the 1.8-1.9Mbps I'd expected. My download speed varies wildly, and ranges from 1.5Mbps or less at times, to an acceptable 14Mbps range very early in the morning. The speed is far from being consistent, and in fact most of the time, on a single connection, I'm getting way less than half of what I'm paying for!
Interestingly though, if I use tools such as free download manager to make multiple connections and download files that way, I'm able to achieve nearly 15Mbps. Why I'm only able to achieve that on a single connection early in the morning is beyond me, since latency looks fine even at peak time usually.
My overall review of the service, is that it's not nearly as good as I'd hoped it would be, and at times my 3000/768 backup DSL line works better than my cable TWC line!
I'll soon be moving to another TWC socal service area, and I hope when I do, that maybe the service will be a bit more solid than it appears to be here, because other cable networks I can say with certainty provide the kind of speeds I'm paying for without issue, even at peak time, so get it together TWC! Hell I expected better from you guys and so far you're letting me down, and I'm stuck with you for the next 2 years! I'll provide updates as conditions warrant.
Update: In late July 2008, I moved from Hemet, CA, to Palmdale, CA, where my business service was a bit better on upload. I was actualy getting anywhere from 1.6-1.9Mbps upload, and all was good. However I left on a trip to Arizona in Late September, and when I returned on 9/30/2008, I noticed my uploads weren't breaking 1.3Mbps! Remember that I'm paying for 2Mbps, so I should be seeing 1.7-1.9 most of the time. During the last month though I haven't broke 1.3Mbps when doing FTP transfers or upload speed tests. However transfers via skype with other RR users are showing me the full 240 Kilobytes/sec I should be getting, so not sure what's up. Reliability wise though the connection is solid. It hasn't gone down once since it was installed here in early August. Hopefully my upload oddity will sort itself out
Followup comments:  kevlogan
join:2008-07-23
Arcadia, CA
| SOCAL Time Warner RR Turbo Service I have been a TW customer for over a year. I have the Surf and View package which includes RR Standard Service. I believe the advertised DL/UL is 6.0mb/500mb. I decided to go with the turbo for $10 more a month which is supposed to give me 10mb DL and 1.0mb UL.
I upgraded the service to play Halo 3 over Xbox live and am experiencing an enormous amout of lag online. When I run speed tests I get various UL/DL speeds. None are close to the 10mb DL I was promised (range is from 1.5 - 6.0) and the UL is at almost 2.0mb. I am totally disappointed.
I too live in an area where FIOS is not available yet. Very frustrating. | |
| 
CurtDalton
@rr.com
| It's the only game in town so I guess it's OK OK. Roadrunner/Brighthouse is the only game in town where I live (Bakersfield, CA) so I really can't complain. (Unless I go back to AT&T DSL again I'm stuck with RR/Brighthouse).
Having said that, I just now called and upped my level of service to the "Turbo" package. It IS faster by a large measure but it's not the advertised speed. On the plus side, Brighthouse/Roadrunner is having a "special" on their Turbo service = .25 (25 cents) a month more for the first year so for an extra quarter I'm happy with the difference.
Here's my speed:  | |
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