 Review by djdanska 
UPDATED: 150 days ago
member for 7.2 years, 3787 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Chicago,Cook,IL
 $72 per month
 about 4 days
 "Works, faster than comcast."
 "Ordered services and installed services are two different things, slow repair times. Billing dept closes early"
 "When fixed, is rock solid. Good speeds."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I ordered the 20 meg service with cable tv (with digital vision plus). I talked to the building rep and made the order through him. Said it would be around $90 + dvr fee. They come with a wireless modem/gateway and full catv. Instead of what the rep said, its like $160 total. Their customer support is closed on the weekends so i have to wait to get it all fixed. When i talk to them, im going to get the $80 catv (and digital vision plus, i think it's like $16.00 )and 10 meg internet combo. They really screwed this order up. They even put me down for the phone service too. I quickly told him to not even install it. I don't want phone service. That's what my cell phone is for.
Tech support was pretty helpful. About the same as comcast when i had them. I do hate this linksys gateway as the power supply is very loose and one touch is all it takes for the modem to reset itself. I'm going to request a regular modem w/o wireless on monday too. I did not request this thing to begin with. Not really happy with the person i ordered this with. When i got services through comcast, they at least did not add products to my order w/o me knowing.
The install was ok. the modem took forever to sync. 45 minutes later it gets connected. I hit the modem turning my computer on and it did a hour long "update", rendering my modem useless. (all i could get to was the modem diag page.) The installer was nice. Followed my request on not installing the phone service. That's the last thing i needed. That's partly my fault. when i made the order, it was part of the combo. $110 for 20 meg internet, cable tv, and phone. I called him back the next day and told him to take the phone off and add a dvr in its place. The person instead added the dvr and left the phone on. I sure hope billing can get this all fixed. Until then, i have a not so very good view of this install.
The internet is not as snappy as comcast. frequent page stalls and buffering with streaming videos. (like hulu.com). and im on the 20 meg line. Pings are kinda high.
C:\Users\Dan>ping -t google.com
Pinging google.com [64.233.187.99] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 64.233.187.99: bytes=32 time=70ms TTL=244
Request timed out.
Reply from 64.233.187.99: bytes=32 time=72ms TTL=244
Reply from 64.233.187.99: bytes=32 time=78ms TTL=244
Reply from 64.233.187.99: bytes=32 time=76ms TTL=244
Reply from 64.233.187.99: bytes=32 time=77ms TTL=244
Reply from 64.233.187.99: bytes=32 time=81ms TTL=244
Reply from 64.233.187.99: bytes=32 time=71ms TTL=244
Reply from 64.233.187.99: bytes=32 time=68ms TTL=244
Reply from 64.233.187.99: bytes=32 time=79ms TTL=244
Reply from 64.233.187.99: bytes=32 time=79ms TTL=244
Ping statistics for 64.233.187.99:
Packets: Sent = 11, Received = 10, Lost = 1 (9% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 68ms, Maximum = 81ms, Average = 75ms
I never got pings like that with comcast to google.com. I can't get dsl where im at. So im stuck with rcn.
Downstream signal seems ok.
Downstream Power 11.5 dBmV
Upstream signal i thought was a little out of spec, but i could be wrong. My upstream power with my comcast service was around 40 dB. Is 61 dB acceptable to rcn?
Upstream Power 61.0 dBmV
edit: The whole building is having some issue. Signals are off for all the modems. Most are connected but stats are bad. I happen to be the one person who's modem cannot sync up and figure this out for the whole building. Just my luck! The tech could not find the right equipment to fix it today so i have to wait til saturday or monday for it to be fixed. Been out for 2 days now. They are trying. I have to admit that.
edit: They finally fixed the line problem. My modem has only gone off sync once since then.I get the full ten meg usually. Pings are ok. I had better pings on comcast but it's rock solid and im very happy. It took forever to get fixed but was worth it.
edit again: I signed up with their 20/2 speed tier. Single file downloads average about 15 meg. I can max out the connection downloading on newsgroups. It's strange. Some sites like apple.com's movie trailers download about 4-5 meg while others download at 15-20 meg. Was given the speed for $5.00 more per month. (some special). I have not gotten my first bill with the new speed but im pretty skeptical about that. I am expecting a much later bill. This will be a good test for rcn on how honest they are. I should get a bill any day now.
Not having 24/7 access to the billing department is kinda strange. I don't like how they close at 5pm. That's pretty bogus. I don't expect 24/7, but at leas stay open til 7 or 8pm. 5pm is just too early.
Followup comments:  dehmmy
join:2004-11-20
Bethesda, MD
| re: upstream power levels quote:
Review by djdanska See Profile
UPDATED: 28 days ago
member for 6.9 years, 3585 visits, last login: a few hours ago
...
The internet is not as snappy as comcast. frequent page stalls and buffering with streaming videos. (like hulu.com). and im on the 20 meg line. Pings are kinda high.
....
I never got pings like that with comcast to google.com. I can't get dsl where im at. So im stuck with rcn.
Downstream signal seems ok.
Downstream Power 11.5 dBmV
Upstream signal i thought was a little out of spec, but i could be wrong. My upstream power with my comcast service was around 40 dB. Is 61 dB acceptable to rcn?
Upstream Power 61.0 dBmV
WOW! 61dB!! That's off the charts. My cablemodem will max out at 58.. That's some serious probs..
jay | |
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