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Review by elray 
UPDATED: 50 days ago
member for 8.9 years, 404 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Santa Monica,Los Angeles,CA
 $27 per month
 about 3 days
 "Good value"
 "Obnoxious tech support, its a cable company, amateur installer"
 "Good to have an alternative to phone company"
| Pre Sales information:
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We ordered TW Roadrunner 1.5 when our DSL went out of service for a week - the phone company (Verizon-GTE) was incapable of undoing the damage they caused internally to our vintage Frame-Relay hookup - so we had to convince them to build a new circuit from scratch.
TW installer showed up 2 days after we placed the order. He had to borrow my ladder, extension cord, and I had to fish the cables for him as he routed them about the building.
Since I ordered only cable-internet, no TV, he took the time to scold me and tell me "I installed a filter" (so I can't hook up a TV.)
As usual, they expect to hook up your Windows system raw to their internet - so I had prepared a disposable system for the occasion. It was attacked in 3 minutes.
The tiny black cable modem generates way too much heat, and throughput is not consistent, slowing to a crawl at times, though not often enough to warrant pulling the service. Since it is cheap enough ($34.95/mo total), we actually are keeping both DSL and cable modem, in hopes that one of them will be working when the other goes out.
(I know that sounds cynical, but our experience bears it out.)
I'm hoping to get a better price than $34.95 - there was a $19.95 package, but I haven't yet figured how to get them to commit to it.
Mar 2008 Update: service is more reliable, but speed drops to 650Kb often. Not sure if they're throttling or saturated - resetting modem doesn't change anything. Otherwise no complaints. Still would prefer cheaper price, but in Verizon/GTE area it seems we've always had to pay a bit more.
November 2009: We downgraded to Roadrunner Lite (768K) some months back, to save a few bucks (now $26.95). Service is decent, except when it goes out every 4 months, we have to spend an hour on the phone to get to Level III tech support, for them to re-sync their access server. Levels I & II can't do it, but are glad to insist we need to swap out the modem or schedule a truck roll and spend a day at home waiting for them.
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 Review by guypd
UPDATED: 51 days ago
member for 1.5 years, 772 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Silver Springs,Wyoming,NY
$34 per month
about 4 days
"Great bandwidth and low latency"
"They keep talking about starting tiers and caps"
"Good deal for the price, as long as they don't start the tiers and caps"
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(update)After continuously comparing the bandwidth between my mom's dsl with Frontier and our Road Runner, Road Runner had consistently had three times the bandwidth and less than half of the latency.
(update)Even with the Powerboost added, you can compare large files, that overcome the first 10 MB Powerboost and show you your true speed usually by using a java based speed test.
Seeing the true speed after Powerboost, it is still 3 times faster than Frontiernet.
(update)Time Warner has put their tiers and caps on the back burner, until they "educate the consumer." They have added some tier and cap terminology to their TOS, so it might not be too much longer before they decide to initiate it onto their plans.
(update)Time Warner announced that they are going to be starting caps and charging by a tiered program with overages at $1/GB. If they do start that, then the cable TV will be getting scaled back. If it still too expensive, then we might end up going back to FrontierNet, since they have said they decided to NOT start caps and a tiered program.
(update)Switched back after trying FrontierNet. The technician came out and installed the modem in just a few minutes and we were up.
The speed is three times what we were getting with FrontierNet. It was a mistake to switch over to FrontierNet in the first place. Especially, now that they are talking about adding caps and tiered service plans.
However, when we had called to have Road Runner installed, again, we were NOT given the option for a self-install kit. In our next bill, they attempted to charge us for the install, in which we complained. They removed the charge.
(update)FrontierNet offered us a deal where the first year was free, plus a modem charge and then the second year was $30 plus modem fee, so we switched from Road Runner to FrontierNet.
Mailed us a self-install kit
Switched to Frontier, when they offered us a deal of the first year free and the second year at $30/month.
However, Road Runner is almost three times the speed, so based on speed to price, Road Runner was the better deal. Will probably be coming back to Road Runner, soon.
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Review by oldbrit
UPDATED: 53 days ago
member for 149 days, 34 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Dallas,Dallas,TX
$57 per month
about 3 days
"Friendly"
"8% upstream packet loss"
"If you have an alternative, don't use RoadRunner"
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Further UPDATE Monday October 12th, 2009
Time-Warner North Texas President Moel contacted me quickly when I emailed him.
He put a competent and motivated technical manager on this issue. He communicated well with me and worked with me to monitor the line when the outages were in progress and get knowledgeable techs out here while the outage was actually in progress. They put appropriately valued filters on my line and I now have reliable service. -- It's been good for a week, but it will take another week or two of reliable service to prove that it is really fixed since I've had it go 10 days or so without a problem and then become unusable more than once over the last three months.
I am still getting timeouts on the first three hops, but the packet loss has been reduced to the point that it is 0% most of the time. When I am getting packet loss, it is around 1%, which is perfectly acceptable.
I'm still monitoring it and will update further.
The issue, as I see it, is that TWC is responsive to typical problems, but when it gets into more complex issues, it is difficult to get attention from someone competent with the required tools, and authority to resolve the issue.
In my mind, this means that if you subscribe to TWC and get a good reliable connection, that's great and is likely a better deal than AT&T 6Mbs download and 748K upload for $45.00 per month.
Lesson I learned is that if you have a problem with TWC and it isn't resolved quickly, don't argue with them for 3 months. Instead contact their Corporate Office of the President in NY or the TWC North Texas President immediately
TWC has a problem with the procedures for handling the more difficult issues. For example, it was only after I contacted the executives that I discovered they could open an intermittent ticket and monitor the situation over time.
So, my problem is not that the standard techs couldn't get the service going properly, it is that I kept going round and round with them because no one was willing to escalate the ticket to the proper level to get it resolved. You would think that after replacing the modem, and sending techs out multiple times, TWC would want to escalate it to a level that could fix it. Instead, they kept running the same maze to failure over and over.
This is a problem I've seen with other organizations as well. They have the resources to fix a problem, but they give the customer the run-around until the customer either gives up and lives with the problem, cancels the service, or raises Hell with top level executives.
I'll be interested to read future TWC reviews and see whether they do a better job at handling complex issues.
Liz
FURTHER UPDATE Monday October 5th, 2009
Contacted investor relations last week. Someone contacted me quickly. They came out, tinkered, and made a few adjustments.
Unfortunately, when my Internet service went out on Thursday afternoon for 9 hours, and I had continuing problems on Friday and throughout the weekend, my contact had gone for a long weekend and I couldn't get anyone to take interest in the problem while the service was actually out.
This has been the problem all along. The service is intermittent and it is impossible to contact anyone who has the skills, motivation, and authority to investigate while the service is down.
They keep working on it, but they won't get it fixed until they investigate while the service is actually down.
I'm beginning to think they don't want to investigate the problem while the service is down because then they'd actually have to fix it. As long as they can't find a problem when the service is up, they can pretend that it isn't their problem and I'm just a chronic complainer.
UPDATE:
Have been having problems with Road-Runner now for over 3 months.
It takes 1 to 2 hours to get escalated to the proper customer support level, explaining the problem over and over and over again because they don't have the account history in front of them. They repeatedly suggest things that have already been tried.
I've offered to work with them to find the problem, but they refuse. I've requested direct contact with someone when it goes out so that it doesn't take 2 hours on the phone and chat to get to the department authorized to handle this situation. They refused.
My Internet connection is consistently too slow to use 10-20 hours per week during the 8AM - 8PM time frame - Usually for 1 to 2 hours at a time.
Have had two outages in the last month that lasted more than 24 hours during which the modem can't even acquire an ip address.
I haven't had as many outages in the last two weeks - since I raised holy living Hell with them and they did something to the wiring in the building (I'm in a Turtle Creek highrise).
However, the upstream packet loss is consistently 8%. The signal-to-noise ratio on the line is marginal. So, even when the speed isn't degraded, it's still crap.
They replaced the modem, which did nothing because the modem wasn't the problem. The problem has to do with the way this building is wired. Occasionally, someone will connect something weird to their cable outlet in the wiring segment I'm on and everything goes to Hell. Time-Warned knows this. In the past, when this has happened, they come out and go through the wiring until they find the problem. I've lived here for over 20 years and have had them enter my unit in the past to make sure I wasn't the one causing the latest problem. It doesn't happen that often -- probably 2 or 3 times per year in a high-rise with a master contract for cable service for all 400 condos in the building.
I've had it with Time-Warner / Road-Runner and will be going to an AT&T dry ADSL as soon as I determine that there's not a better deal from someone else.
ORIGINAL POST:
Had Southwestern Bell, Speakeasy, and Quest at this same location. All were reliable and consistently performed up to specification. Switched to RR / Time Warner because of lower price for higher speed. (This is over a 15 year period and started with SWBell dual ISDN.)
I NEVER had an outage or problem with any of the above over the entire 15 year period. -- Well, one time my service went dead. I walked out into the hallway and saw the phone guy in the utility closet. I told him what had just happened. Oops, he had disconnected a wire that was mislabeled. He reconnected and labeled it correctly and I never had another problem.
RR has two packages: 7MBS and 10MBS. We have the faster 10MBS.
Install was fine. Motorola cable modem supplied by RR. Basically, the service has been good until about three weeks ago when I started having intermittent speed problems.
One minute the speed would be fine, next minute a light-weight html page won't load. the speed bounces between 28K and 52Mbs. When it slows down. this can last for hours. Resetting the modem, forcing a new ip-address, etc. have no effect.
Here's my conclusion:
Since the speed is sometimes 52Mbs and the service level is for 10Mbs, it seems to me that the wiring and modem must be OK, which leads me to think that when someone on my wiring segment turns something on (or uses it) the speed drops and when they turn it off (or stop using it, the speed is back to normal.
Following is how I came to that conclusion:
After detailed testing, I believe it to be a problem with another customer on the same wiring segment as us. (High-rise building, connections are strung together like Christmas tree lights and sometimes another user on your "string" or wiring segment can screw up your connection.)
When I contacted RR, I kept getting bounced back and forth until I got to a high-enough level support. Had to tell each person what was going on over again. They mostly didn't understand what I was talking about.
I told them about the issues in this building, but they didn't want to hear about it. Their response was to do a ring test. They decided the modem is bad, but told me that if it was a wiring problem, I would have to pay $50.00.
I've tried three routers with one computer (and no others) connected: the D-Link I normally use, a Linksys, and a Zyxel -- all wired, no wireless.
All of them exhibit the same intermittent speed problem. Direct connect to the modem with one computer improves the speed, even when using a router is slow - but the direct connection is still not up to the contracted speed.
Seems like that would indicate that the line is "fragile" -- that is, it appears to work OK under the best circumstances, but a little extra stress on it and it starts dropping packets (or it can absorb packet loss when the traffic is light.
Or, it could be a RR problem when handing DHCP off to a router.
Or, it could be a modem setting (but, unlikely since nothing has been changed and everything is on battery backup).
Or, it could be another user on the same wiring segment.
Or, it could be a bad modem.
I'm betting it isn't the wiring in my unit and I am betting it isn't a bad modem.
As I said, I think it is a wiring problem in the building, but not my unit. My logic is that no changes have been made in my unit, the cable tv on the same connection works fine, when the speed slows down, it lasts for at least an hour, sometimes 3 or 4 hours. Resetting the modem has no effect. The slowdowns tend to occur several times per day at about the same time. The problem started two weeks ago. Before that, there was no problem at all.
If it is a wiring problem, it would be something done by another RR customer on my wiring segment - for which I do not want to pay $50.00 to have repaired.
We'll see what happens when they replace the modem. They made an appointment for this morning, but they are "running late."
Followup comments:  
Bill250
@rr.com | Never except when the phone guy caused it?? Not even once?? >I NEVER had an outage or problem with any of the above over the entire 15 year period.
You just lost credibility with 99% of the readers. | |
| | oldbrit
join:2009-07-08
Dallas, TX
 ·RoadRunner Cable
| Re: Never except when the phone guy caused it?? Not even once?? said by Bill250 :
>I NEVER had an outage or problem with any of the above over the entire 15 year period.
You just lost credibility with 99% of the readers.
Yes. The Internet went dead. I walked out into the hall and talked to the phone company guy in the service closet.
My service was out for less than 5 minutes.
NOW AN UPDATE:
Time-Warner replaced my modem. I downgraded my service.
I am still having periods that last up to several hours at a time when the Internet is connected, speed tests say the connection is normal, but when I do the Austin RR image download, it can't complete the download, and websites fail to complete downloading or take several minutes per page.
When the installer brought the new modem, he confirmed my claim that someone on my network segment -- most likely someone here in the highrise where I live is causing the problem.
I have been unsuccessful thus far getting Time-Warner to take any action to resolve the problem.
In the past - when someone had a cable tv problem - Time Warner has entered my apartment to look at my connection to make sure I wasn't causing the problem for my neighbor. Unfortunately, they don't put the same priority on Internet service and to this point have refused to investigate further.
I'm going to switch to an AT&T dry (no phone service needed) DSL. It's slightly less expensive than Time-Warner for similar speed. | |
| | Pr1c3rA
join:2009-10-07
Terre Haute, IN | Not true. I've had nothing but trouble with my service. Please don't speak or the 99% of us. | |
| | | oldbrit
join:2009-07-08
Dallas, TX
·RoadRunner Cable
| Re: Never except when the phone guy caused it?? Not even once?? Note that Bill250 is an anonymous poster...
I thought it pretty silly that he claimed my post was totally discredited because I said my SWBell / ATT DSL service was never out except for one time - for 5 minutes.
Perhaps, it's a TWC employee who's trying to get around the prohibition against employees posting reviews. | |
| | | | gia
join:2008-01-30
Mcallen, TX
·RoadRunner Cable
·Time Warner Cable
1 edit | Re: Never except when the phone guy caused it?? Not even once?? said by oldbrit :Perhaps, it's a TWC employee who's trying to get around the prohibition against employees posting reviews. According to the BBR rules TWC employees can respond to other people reviews but they are not allowed to make a review of their employer.
Anyway, I've seen TWC employees criticizing the very same company that feed their families so I doubt Mr Bill works for TWC.
I'll have to agree that TWC's biggest enemy is within in their employees. Most of the problems related to their cable system is the result of poor employee training and lack of loyalty.
For the majority of us (TWC customers) the service has been perfect.
Edit for spelling. | |
| | | gia
join:2008-01-30
Mcallen, TX
·RoadRunner Cable
·Time Warner Cable
| said by Pr1c3rA :Not true. I've had nothing but trouble with my service. Please don't speak or the 99% of us. I think you got it wrong +99.9% of users have no problems, please don't include us (happy TWC customers) in your .1%. | |
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Review by geoffreyq
Posted: 55 days ago
member for 139 days, 4 visits, last login: 2 days ago
Studio City,Los Angeles,CA
$22 per month
"Fast internet, gave me a discount when i was going to switch companies"
"has been going down for maintenance lately"
"Pretty decent"
| |
Where I live, RoadRunner is my only option, and they have been okay.
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 Review by OnHeL
UPDATED: 56 days ago
member for 9.2 years, 2238 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Jamaica,Queens,NY
$49 per month
about 7 days
"Reliable, consistent service."
"Slow upload speed, upgrading to Wideband is comparitively expensive."
"Decent service, wish wideband was cheaper"
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I want wideband, cant afford it at $99/month.
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 Review by rkrocha
UPDATED: 63 days ago
member for 9.2 years, 1402 visits, last login: 2 days ago
Garland,Dallas,TX
$54 per month
about 7 days
"Fast. Fast. Fast. I have the turbo-boost or whatever RR calls it, so I see top end at 20Mbps"
"Pricey. The 10Mbps tier is more than what VzFios offers for the 15Mbps tier in my area"
"I'm happy with it and dont plan on changing for a while."
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I have been a TWC RR customer since 2006. My market was an old ATT Broadband, then Comcast, then TWC Dallas. I've been online with the cable modem since 2001. The speeds have gradually increased over time and the reliability is been solid. My only 'complaint' is the price, but I am not in any mood to switch services just to save a few bucks, besides the saving is only temporary in the end. VzFios is tempting, but I have DirecTV for TV so I dont gain much from FIOS unless I do the full blown change out. I have ZERO interest in TWC CableTV BTW.
Update in Oct 2009.
TWC RR upgraded me to 15Mbps down/2Mbps up with Powerboost up to 25Mbps. My speedtest on speakeasy was 22.5Mbps/1.7Mbps... Love the speed and service continues to rock solid.
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Review by mrsdeepblue
Posted: 64 days ago
member for 64 days, 1 visits, last login: 31 days ago
Austin,Travis,TX
$45 per month
about 5 days
"Mostly reliable and often faster than expected"
"Cost, occasionally down or very slow"
"Good service overall"
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We've had RoadRunner for nine years now. During that time, we've only had a few outages and most lasted less than a few hours. Occasionally the service becomes slow and Time Warner has corrected this by running a new cable from the box to our house or by replacing the modem. I noticed a slow down when people come home from work and often in the summer when the kids are out of school. Sometimes we get speeds as high as 20 Mbs but 10 Mbs is fairly common. Customer service is good but you must press them to respond quickly. Recently someone ran over the cable and broke it and they had someone here the same day... but only after I asked for a supervisor. The construction crew seems to be the weak link. I had to call them about 6 times to come and bury the cable - it sat above ground for several months before they got around to burying it... and then, buried only half of it and left the rest laying across the grass. Given what I hear from my friends who use other services, ours is very fast and reliable for the price.
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 Review by Derspankster
UPDATED: 66 days ago
member for 6.8 years, 2321 visits, last login: 6 days ago
Marion,Marion,OH
$45 per month
about 10 days
"Basic Reliability"
"Infrastructure still needs updated"
"About as good as I'm going to get."
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I have underground utilities, including cable. My signal at the box is not especially good, actually barely acceptable (this according to a tech that was in my house and NOT MY OPINION) My internet connectivity and speeds are good but TV is only adequate. I have 2 HD TV's in the house and TW offers free HD but the quality and quantity of the channels offered are very limited in this area. I would consider phone but just don't think the old wiring would support it.
I don't really expect any improvements in the near future. TW is my best option for my area at the moment.
Followup comments: aparis99
join:2006-10-24
Owensboro, KY
| reply arrogant because they said it would be a week? that seems like a "busy" thing instead of an "arrogant" thing. Also, most TW's have a 24/hr trouble call guarantee, im sure somethin could have been worked out within a day's time. (if ur TW does the 24 hour thing)
also, u dont recieve HD channels... whats ur point? they dont have HD service or u dont have an HD box? not sure what u mean | |
|
vz guy
@rr.com
| stop crying switch to business svc and you won't experience the trouble you have now. TWC is the best I have seen in years. Do you expect them to upgrade all your very old system to the most advance tech system and not experience trouble in the process? Why are you guys short sighted? These people have only been around for a yr and have made great improvement than ATT, Comcast and other who once had the area. If the upgrades were done, you would not have had these issues in the first place. Be patient or go to loser sat svc or vz and see and experience. | |
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 Review by CCat
UPDATED: 67 days ago
member for 3.9 years, 2248 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Wonderland
$49 per month
about 3 days
"15Mb download"
"Occasional weekend slowdowns"
"Seems pretty good so far"
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I switched from WOW in March. TWC offered a bundle with cable, internet, and voip.
Aside from a minor install problem (which was corrected the next day) everything went well. The turbo speed (15Mb down) is great. I only have 768K up but I really don't upload much so for me its not an issue. So far, so good.
Jan 2009 ISP has been very consistent with speeds. Aside from the usual slowdowns at peak times, and even these are not really a problem. At this point I am very happy with Roadrunner.
Sep 2009 Nothing has changed since Jan. A couple of outages due to weather but thats about it. The usual slowdown with cable at peak times but acceptable.
Just wish RR would increase the upload speed, 768 Sucks.
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 Review by SnowyOne
UPDATED: 68 days ago
member for 6.6 years, 3708 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Kailua,Honolulu,HI
$49 per month (month by month)
about 10 days
"Oceanic Cable Vision is the local provider for TimeWarner, this provides a more local avenue for problem resolution"
"Customer perks are available, but not apparent to most customers"
"Hawaii Telcom has become the new DSL provider in my area & I assume they'll give RR a run for the money."
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There's no question that in The State of Hawaii RoadRunner (Oceanic Cable) is the go to ISP. The cost is higher than the DSL competitor, but it's worth the extra expense when you compare the level of service offered. The choice is a no brainer when the dismal CS offered by the DSL competitor is factored in. I won't mention them by name because whenever I do my office suffers mysterious phone outrages.
No issues whatsoever. The last outage was attributable to Hawaiian Electric beyond that it's been a few years since the last outage.
The speed is more than adequate.
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