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Member review of RCN CABLE


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Reviews:
read 297 reviews (153 positive) (67 negative)
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Six Month Rating

Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:


$70 per month avg ($40 to $176)

Speed test results 3 year trend
Review by tvdrew See Profile
UPDATED: 137 days ago
member for 1.2 years, 347 visits, last login: 1 days ago


Washington,District Of Columbia,DC
$95 per month
about 3 days
"Reliable internet (few outages in 8 years); good channel selection"
"Tech support a total mixed bag; site visits a pain; billing a crapshoot."
"Better than the alternatives"
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)

    I've had RCN since it was Starpower (approx. 8 years). During that time I've had extremely few service outages, typically weather related. Internet speeds are close to advertised, but not quite. Television service is pretty good, although they've been moving channels to higher-priced tier and will be requiring a cable box.

    Installation was extremely quick, but not completed. Fortunately it didn't matter, since the house was still under construction. Subsequent cable card installation was also quick, although it didn't work until several calls to tech support.

    Tech support is their weakest link. They seem (judging by accents) to have outsourced to folks overseas who really don't know what they're doing. They're nice, but don't solve the problem In fact, they rarely can even identify the problem. It took ten calls for them to tell me that the reason I was not receiving a certain channel was because it was not in my package, despite what the channel guide showed.

    And that misleading information carried over to price. They offered a promotional price that was quite good. What they didn't say was that there were two promotions. One for a low price, a second for a 6-month discount that expired.

    Update: Billing may be their weakest link, or at least where I've had the most trouble. A combination of expiring promotions, new promotions, and unrelated rate hikes has led to some eye-popping recent bills that seem to take multiple calls to straighten out. Service remains reliable, and the HD upgrade has been a great benefit with lots more HD channels.

    Followup comments:
    view 1 comment
    Flyersfan72

    join:2006-07-11
    Coplay, PA
    ·RCN CABLE

    more thougths on RCN in the Lehigh Valley

    I agree with most of your points from the perspective of a Lehigh Valley, PA customer. I rarely, if ever have had my cable go out. I have one-way cable (3MB down) and my speed tests consistently come in at around 1.5MB which is low in my mind but consistent.

    Billing IS ridiculous and I've heard the same from several friends. Everything is fine until you need to change something then look out. You're in store for months of waiting for the new (yet still incorrect) bill to arrive, making the dreaded phone call to try to get it resolved and being told it's been taken care of only to get the next bill and find it's still not right.

    I called to complain that my rates were going up $10-$12 because RCN was providing new services. That was almost comical to me because I have not been able to take advantage of any of the new fiber related services RCN has offered due to the infrastructure I'm connected to.

    I just had gotten to the point that I was so frustrated from dealing with limited service yet not being cut any breaks on my bill -- and now they wanted to charge me more? So the woman I spoke to was very helpful - spent close to an hour on the line with me and ultimately reduced my bill by about $20 a month. I thought this was fair. Next bill comes - I find out she applied $20 in discounts but the $11 increase still went into effect! And most recently I noticed my bill had gone up again.

    This time when I called the woman explained that the previous discounts that had been applied had just expired! So I AGAIN explained my frustration given the limited services I have available to me, so she applied some 'permanent' discounts which got my bill back down again. Well, I have yet to see my new bill but according to what she told me I should now be paying $154 a month for my cable tv (basic+digital vision - no movie channels, no HD/etc), one-way cable modem (3MB down 33.6k up) and phone line ($30 and needed only because of the one-way cable modem)

    Sorry, I started to ramble but every once in awhile I get all worked up over this and this is one avenue I have not pursued.

    RCNMAN - I thank you for reaching out and trying to get some information for me. Like another poster wrote somewhere on here -- after years of being told - it should be soon - I can't help but not believe anything until I actually see it in my house.

    I'm optimistic that this "crush" going on in the LHV will in some way benefit me.

    A couple months ago a Service Electric truck was at the pole right outside our house. He said they (SERVICE ELECTRIC) were working on providing two-way cable service to my area and they hoped to have it ready by the end of summer.

    I haven't heard or read anything else about that and summer is winding down. I can't help but think it was really an RCN employee in disguise having some fun with me.

    I keep reading that there are a lot of one-way customers in the LHV....where are they all? I haven't read any posts from anyone as frustrated as me. Have they all just resigned themselves to the fact that this is life? Are they getting the kind of discounts on their bill I would expect to be getting so they're happy? Fellow one-wayers - are you out there? Have you voiced your displeasure to anyone? What are you paying to RCN?
    permalink · 2009-08-18 22:27:52 · Print · Reply to this
    Forums » comments on review of RCN CABLE

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