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Review by VerumEst 
member for 11 years, 802 visits, last login: 4.7 years ago
lodged 10.1 years ago
 Daly City,San Mateo,CA
 $50 per month "connection speed" "billing" "fast speed!"
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ISP : RCN CABLE
Few months ago, I called RCN up to install the Resilink pack gold for
about 130 - 20 for 6 months. Blocked all the long distance , internation
calls , and 900 numbers. Every thing worked fine after they installed
the phone, tv except for my cable internet. The technician doesn't know
how to operate XP, so he had to call someone that does know. I was
laughing on my mind. So the technician just said, that if you cant
connect in a few hours call them up. So, after few hours i called them
up. The Tech Support said to unplug my cable and connect it back after 1
minute, so i did,and i got to log in, FINALLY. After logging on i keep
gettin drop on my 3com Cable Modem. I didnt care much because i was
getting 400kb/s and my upload speed is 90kb/s, which is sweet. But i fed
up with it because i kept getting drop from the internet while gaming.
So i called them up and said that its my ethernet card. So i bought a
new ethernet card and getting same problem. So they made a appointment.
When the technician arrived he tested it and I was getting drop. He swap
my cablem modem to Toshiba PCX2500 and getting 500kb/s and 91kb/s and
never got drop from the internet.
After 1 month of installation i got a bill for 140 the 20 dollar
reduction wasn't subtract as plan.. So i called them up and they said my
bill is now 120 including tax. This happend every month. Plus my bill
shows that I been calling internations calls/ long distances calls,
which is supposed to be block.. They said I dont have to pay for those
sinces it shows on my bill that its block.. Even though this keep
happening every month. I also got a disconnection letter from them and
they said to disregard it, heh. Also I got a bill from pacbell ( my old
telephone provider ) and being charge from my OLD number.. Pacbell said
that my new provider never disconnected it!. This problem happend in
following months and it was only solved after doing 3way ( rcn , me ,
pacbell ). This was resolved properly. That was the final straw. So we
dicided to let them go, but kept my internet since i love my connection.
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Review by mrkook
member for 10.1 years, 54 visits, last login: 6.8 years ago
lodged 10.1 years ago
- Somerville,Middlesex,MA
- $50 per month
- "Speed and tech support"
- "bad latency on RCN MA routers"
- "Good broad pipe but unless they get the latency sorted you may run into problems with gaming"
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The latency is only on selected RCN routers but it can get real bad recently. I've done some line tests that multiple hops have been over 300 ms.
2003-04-14 20:49:09
2003-04-14 21:09:20
Very Fast though, pay a little extra ($10) to get mega modem and they take the cap off, 1.5 megabit. Tech support has been mostly great as well, they know what they're talking about
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Review by Nova1313
member for 11.7 years, 15 visits, last login: 8.7 years ago
updated 10.1 years ago
- Allentown,Lehigh,PA
- $40 per month
- (month by month)
 about 5 days- "Sorta Fast i get 120k per sec down and like 30 up most times... ehhh.."
- "Get dropped alot."
- "If i could find another company that was more reliable i would switch. Dont get um if you have a choice."
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It was cool in the beginning now i get dropped download speeds are alot slower then before. When i call for tech support half the time they wont help cause i run linux and windows xp all the time and those are unsupported and they always tell me "Oh thats the operating systems fault it must be a bug that you drop like every hour" And ive fresh installed so many times. They sent tons of tech people out and for a while i had win 9x installed just so they would help me. I wasn't expecting help with linux but at least xp. They never find anything wrong with my line. In june they were out and did something although they said they found nothing and it was perfectly fine it worked perfect for like a month. then It started having problems again. I can't play any games cause i get disconnected if i wanna play a game i use the dial up service they offer cause at least i dont get disconnected on that (it's got good connect speed adn such). They said mega band on there site it's not even close to broadband tho in reality so i dunno why there pushing it with that... YEah it's fast then 56k everyone told me oh it will be around 1 meg per sec and stuff even the guy that installed it. I ordered and it took them about 5 days they came out and plugged it into my network card then left. It's a dynamic ip changes about once every 3-4 months so it's not to bad. Service electric's 2 way is alot mroe reliable but i live so far off the nearest road only RCN has a line that comes half way to my house so we had to get them.
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Review by CableJay
member for 12.8 years, 312 visits, last login: 3.8 years ago
updated 10.1 years ago
- Glenolden,Delaware,PA
- Contract price not specified.
- "Price, Stability, Speed, Fast Tech Support"
- "Pre-Install was difficult"
- "Customer Service Has Come A Long Way"
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This is an update to my ISP review. After the rocky start when they first came into my area they have greatly improved. The service is rock solid and very fast. The other day I had an outage called tech support was told somebody would be out to fix it that afternoon 10 minutes later there was a tech at my door. Thats service  Keep up the good work RCN you rock!
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Review by kyuen_revere
member for 10.3 years, 183 visits, last login: 4.3 years ago
lodged 10.1 years ago
- Skokie,Cook,IL
- $50 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 10 days
- "It WAS good, now service is unreliable."
- "Packets always dropping, Service is terrible."
- "Getting big and not keeping up with upgrades."
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I've had RCN Cable for about 2 years. First when it was 21stCentury before acquired by RCN. Initially, surfing speeds were great. However, over the recent 6 months (gosh, why did it take soooo long for me to switch...) dealing with service, changing cable lines, hardware checkup, etc... the quality of the connection was just terrible. I was getting good download 1500kbps, but upload only at average 10kbps. It was just awful. Geez, 56kps would have worked better, and in several cases I had to since I do some work from home.
Now, I'm switching. Will write another review for the new provider.
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Review by Tiki4
member for 10.1 years, 6 visits, last login: 9.9 years ago
lodged 10.1 years ago
- Annandale,Hunterdon,NJ
- $40 per month
- "Not a one"
- "Slow, unreliable, horrible tech support, one-way cable..."
- "Only use RCN Cable if its your ONLY choice. Try 56k first."
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RCN is the single worst ISP I have ever experienced in my life. I live in East/Central NJ, in Hunterdon County, and my download speed fluctuates from 1000 (highest) to 100 (or lower, which I have right now). I believe RCN was audited by the NJ Board of Public Utilities for refusing to upgrade basic services in internet and TV. They've been claiming they'd upgrade their horrendous one-way cable for years now, and we've never seen a single drop in price. Not only is this expensive, but its unreliable. RCN posts on their website that RCN Cable should be at 1500 downsteam. In every time I've tested it, I have never seen over 1050, if that.
I called their tech support when it tested at 350, and they claim thats an acceptable speed. I shouldn't need to describe tech support any further than that. I would say they can solve my problems...maybe 1 out of 5 times I call, which is often.
I'm really hoping that Patriot not only upgrades to 2 way cable, but increases pings as well. Cause I'm getting sick and tired of this. I am a webmaster, a gamer, and a daily internet user, so you can imagine how enraged I am at download, and especially upload speeds, which I usually ping at around 10 - 20 kps.
In conclusion, RCN Broadband is a joke, and avoid it at ALL costs.
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Review by i_flem
member for 10.3 years, 1179 visits, last login: 6.7 years ago
lodged 10.2 years ago
- Somerville,Somerset,NJ
- $50 per month
- "cable modem speed goes down the toilet 7pm-11pm"
- "if you live in central jersey - you may have serious speed issues"
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I think RCN just built out central NJ without concern for bandwidth. RCN cable modem used to be so fast and reliable. Now, from 7pm to 11pm, pings around central NJ drop below 28.8k modem speeds - and they don't care. If the new owner, Patriot, steps in to fix this, I'll update this review. I've had no other problems - just very slow speeds. I would switch to another service if I could.
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 Review by onehuman
member for 11.4 years, 3277 visits, last login: 41 days ago
updated 10.2 years ago
- Waltham,Middlesex,MA
- $120 per month
- (6 month contract)
- about 8 days
- "Quick to fix outages"
- "Initial problems with equipment"
- "Overall, a great connection"
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I've had RCN for a while now, and although they had some initial problems getting the cable modem recognized by their network, they've provided excellent customer service inclusive of peripheral devices, such as when I installed our LinkSys router. At the outset, there were a lot of outages, but they ramped up their available connections such that outages now are nonexistent. As I've said, overall a good connection.
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Review by spelosi1
member for 10.2 years, 211 visits, last login: 8.1 years ago
lodged 10.2 years ago
- Franklin Park,Somerset,NJ
- $50 per month
- about 7 days
- "None"
- "Dial-up type pings to servers as close as NYC"
- "RCN has horrible ping times during peak hours."
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I have had RCN a little over a month. The install process was annoying, they had to have a tech come out to install the modem. He was late of course, and parked in my reserved parking spot. I didn't let it bother me too much, I was just happy I was getting my internet back. I figured it would be a big adjustmentment going from Optimum Online speeds to RCN speeds, but I never even thought I would have such an issue with the ping times. Between 7:30 pm and 11:30 pm the best ping I can get to any server is in the high 300's. The worst ping is close to 1000. These are dial-up pings. Its very frustrating to come home from work every night, turn on my pc and xbox, load up xbconnect and see that the best ping I can get to someone in NYC is a 280. And its like that every single night.The techs don't care. RCN doesn't care. They were just sold to Patriot communications. Who knows if they care? When you speak to an RCN tech, he tells you to test the d/l speed, I was getting 430kb (Which in my opinion is pathetic). He tells me that is an acceptable speed, and I am faster than most of the east coast. He must not know that OOL is right down the street with 4300kb d/l speeds. I am of course told they only advertise "up to 1.5 mb/sec", and "up to" is the key. I told him you might as well advertise "up to 2GB/sec, because I'll never see that speed either". Off peak, its "OK", but its a little hard to play of peak when you have work in the morning. I am in the process of switching to Earthlink DSL. If you can, avoid RCN, its just a headache.
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Review by Toenail
member for 10.3 years, 26 visits, last login: 8.6 years ago
lodged 10.3 years ago
- Chicago,Cook,IL
- $35 per month
- about 18 days
- "Cheaper than ATT, especially if you buy your own modem"
- "Sales & installation totally raked me over the coals"
- "Argh! May keep, if they can do something about up speeds and give me some credits"
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Ordered on 12/17/02 (talked to local office, not 800 number in NJ). Called a couple of times previously, to check if POP, up/down speeds, etc. DHCP only.
After putting me on hold, I was told 890 down, and 550 up speeds. (No, not "Mega" service). I mentioned RCN chart (comparison to other services) on website shows 1500 down, 800 up. »www.rcn.com/internet/highspeed/p···ance.php Again, not looking at Megamodem service. No disclaimer as to any part of country being different.
I accepted anyway. Address was verified for install. Was also told there was no evening or weekend service. I since discovered that they are required under Chicago contract to offer this. I have no doubt that Sales was told to do this, because they were overbooked for evening/weekends. Or there are some internal incentives to get weekday installs.
Install was set for 12/24/02 (I was off for Christmas Eve-they weren't). Two installers came 45min. early, I was thrilled. Went outside, and said that there was no equipment on the pole, to connect cable!? Called their supervisors, and told me that there was someone right there (Construction-pole work), who would come by and install in a few hours. They, or other installers would then come back, and finish. Nobody called or showed up.
I called, and was told that I showed as installed?! After convincing them, an appointment was made for Friday, 12/27/02. I took a day off work, still thinking that I had no options. Construction was supposed to install whatever needed to be done on pole, and then installation was supposed to finish.
Called at 11:00AM, to check on status. "Everything is on schedule, and they are on their way". Installer came about 12:30PM. I told him about pole work, and he went outside, and told me he couldn't install because no connection to pole possible. Someone else was supposed to come and do pole work, that afternoon. Waited all day. Called again at 3:30PM. Now there was no record of ANY appointment, and there was one set for Monday 12/30/02. No notice to me again.
After complaining to a few folks, finally talked to someone who said that they were going to "expedite", "priority", or whatever the usless buzzword was, and get someone there that same night, to do the internal work, and be ready for pole work, that was now going to be done on Saturday 12/28/02. Of course, nobody showed. Next person I talked to, said is was impossible to do internal, before pole was available, and nobody could have told me this. Records now show that the "lead tech" had been out to my building on 12/27/02, and reported that there was no connection/equipment on the pole (ha-ha).
Of course, nothing happened Saturday 12/28/02 either. Now I am told that I can get a Saturday install. Set for Saturday 01/04/03. In the meantime, yet again, they were supposed to do the pole work, to be ready for Saturday. Work to be done on Monday 12/30/02. didn't happen. Called to complain. Install on pole wasn't done because they needed some unavailable part (brains, no doubt). Set again for Friday 01/03/03. Nope, now no record of anything setup again.
Saturday 01/04/03. Installers come, and still no equipment on pole!!!
More calls, and finally somebody must have triggered an "alarm", as three trucks showed up, one with a cherry picker. Pole work finished. Internal installation finished.
Now the installer tells me that the service can't be turned on, as the office he needs to call to setup is now closed. (LOL-too funny) Promises to call the office from home, Sunday morning.
Just for the heck of it, I plugged in the modem, after he left. About 11:00PM I get a call from RCN saying that the modem is synced and active. Great (I suppose)
Now I find out that my service will not be 890/550 Argh! Silly me, having Sales check and writing it down after having it repeated, was usless.
It actually tests around 1400/220, even weekdays, at 3AM. Once saw 242 up.
Probably biggest disappointment (to whole dissapointing experience) was the performance. The only reason I didn't cancel the install, after the first series of screwups, was the expected performance. I already have ATT cable TV service, and could have very easily went with them for broadband.
Lost a days pay. Lost many hours of valuable personal time. Including changing family plans for Christmas Eve.
Every call was an experience. Each person would completely change what the last person told me. Information would NEVER show up on their computer screens, as to last appointment, special work orders, etc.
Many names probably forgotten, but I had to repeat my sad story every time:
Tina-Sales (nuff said)
Pete-Tech tried to help
Kevin-Tech a few times
Anad (or sounded like Anon)-put me on hold (6:18PM), supposedly to check something. After 1/2 hour (or more), I gave up waiting. I discovered that the office was closed (6:30PM)
Robbie Emery is likely the one who finally got all of the staff/trucks there.
I have likely forgotten some of the details, that would have made this story even more unbelievable. Good luck.
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