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Review by boble88 
Posted: 364 days ago
member for 7.9 years, 472 visits, last login: 1 days ago
 Somerville,Middlesex,MA
 $149 per month (24 month contract)
 "Best value for the money, Prices beat the competition, 20Mbps Internet download speeds(see bad points),"
 "Internet speeds vary with the time of day, lack of HD channels, Does not keep customer up to date on changes to the service"
 "If you are looking to save money and get more for your dollar than look no further. Customer service can be a disaster,"
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Review by robertq
Posted: 1 year ago
member for 2.9 years, 1 visits, last login: 1 year ago
Burlington,Middlesex,MA
$100 per month
"Service was OK"
"Can't cancel service"
"It's like the Hotel California. You can cancel, but you'll still be billed."
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Three months ago, I ported my phone number from RCN to Verizon FIOS and then canceled both my landline phone and Internet with RCN. I canceled on the start of a billing cycle, so I should owe them no more than about $10 for the few days that the service was still active until the phone port completed.
The phone portion of my bill stopped billing, but I'm still being billed for Internet services. When I received a September bill, I attempted to call to straighten the problem out, but that was the night of the power outage in the DC data center. I sent a certified letter to the billing address to dispute the charges and terminate my services. A few days later, the junction box on the side of the house was removed, but I still received a bill the next month for services. I followed up with two additional phone calls, where both representatives claimed the service was canceled effective back in August, but I am still receiving phone calls. I'm composing letters to my local regulators now.
I've never had a contract so this is totally uncalled for.
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Review by Eric33
Posted: 1 year ago
member for 1 year, 0 visits, last login: 1 year ago
Arlington,Middlesex,MA
$110 per month (12 month contract)
 about 7 days
"Reliable TV, Internet and Phone"
"Fewer HD channels than the competition, uneven HD quality"
"No Sci Fi HD = I'm switching to FIOS next week"
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We've had decent if not glittering Internet, CATV and phone service over the past year from RCN, but have been quite disappointed in the slow rollout of new HD channels. Worse, even after analog crush happened here in Arlington, Mass., we've started seeing audio and video hiccups on HD channels, making me skeptical that RCN can really add more bandwidth-hungry HD channels any time soon. The last straw? They STILL haven't added Sci Fi HD, and guess what? FIOS just came to my street and they carry it, as does Comcast. I'm switching next Wednesday.
Followup comments:  
dlconkey
join:2003-01-19
Chicago, IL
clubs:
|  No offense, but that's a darned weak argument....
30 basic HD channels here (RCN Signature free... gotta love bulk cable buildings  .
44 digital CD music channels.
And yes, as of the lineup on 8/4/08, no SciFi HD... I think the other 50 or so make up for ONE channel which IS available on std DTV. (Signature level.... I think that's standard level).
And your beef is??!?! Fer crying out loud. The lineup has changed by the time a printed list has been delivered...
I'd call that "UPGRADING". The channel list has only gotten better and you go right ahead and dump RCN. I will guarantee you SciFi HD WILL be included prior to the February cutoff... RCN has a large group of HD on the way... (directly from the horses mouth...Trust me... In a building this size, when something glitches...... RCN is ON it yesterday.
Sure, the UBR get's trashed from time to time... It's called ADDING customers while trying to BALANCE channels.Ask others here in Edgewater/Uptown/Lakeview areas... We all see the same crap. But in general, it gets fixed though I must admit living in a 738 unit building carries a crapload more 'pull' then a single family house... But it also alerts RCN of issues prior to most of the neighborhood even noticing and outages are short ignoring a major screw up by some contractor slicing a main fiber line on the backbone...
Sorry for the rant.. just a flashback to a couple years ago about another DSLR subscriber threatening for months to ditch, come back, ditch, change his mind, etc... Bet he ditched Com(rap real fast too... lol
Bet 'Lil Hurricane remembers...
But... buh bye... Hope yer HSD holds up. Enjoy the HD-SCiFi
--
Dave, Chicago - Edgewater/Uptown, @ the lakefront | |
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Review by shalling
Posted: 1 year ago
member for 1 year, 1 visits, last login: 313 days ago
Arlington,Middlesex,MA
Contract price not specified. (24 month contract)
about 10 days
"RCN has been a great provider for many years. Install was easy and done right. Service has been way above average."
"Lately, they are playing games with pricing and "included" services. What was included is now being charged as "premium"."
"While I like RCN, and especially their service, I no longer trust them. I am looking to get out."
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For several years, I have been one of RCN's greatest advocates. Everything has been on time, on budget, and done to my satisfaction.
But now they have changed. After signing a two year agreement with provisions that saved me money, they changed the service agreement and now services that were once part of my bundle are being sold as "premium" for an additional cost. It is a catch-22. They say I was given those as a courtesy in the past, but no more. If I want to change my plan to off-set the cost of the "premium" services, then they say I change the contract terms, so I pay a big penalty. Apparently, they can change the terms of the contract without notice, but I cannot. I now feel betrayed and trapped. As soon as I find an adequate service to replace them, I will do so. I do not feel I can trust them anymore.
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 Review by Maggs
UPDATED: 1 year ago
member for 7 years, 2386 visits, last login: a few minutes ago
Woodside,Queens,NY
$130 per month (12 month contract)
about 65 days
"Stable Service"
"Phone service drops out for 20 seconds randomly yet remains connected!"
"Good Service after bankruptcy, but just watch your bill"
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10/2008: I had a problem with RCN, as noted by the newspapers with them charging for the 1st basic cable box which is free. I had to haggle with them for 2 months to fix it, but it was resolved after a complaint to NYC DOITT. Made my mother feel like a dope at the Woodside office, but you don't get good employees sometimes. Sludge happens!
4/20/2008: Haven't had any problems with RCN yet, except for the DNS, which is easily remedied by changing DNS servers, and the 20 second dropoff in phone conversations. The price has increased due to the cable programming being jacked up. With the introduction to all digital TV next year be prepared to pay another $7 a month for extra converters. Speeds on the internet service exceed spec most of the time. RCN forum support folk are awesome, they must really like their jobs. Inept construction crews decide to slice through RCN fiberoptic cable at times making internet service use a PITA at points, but that's very rare, but it happens. Con Ed sometimes decides the nodes don't need power in the summer, and they go offline during brownouts due to things outside RCN control.
All in all there's decent service, the 20 second dropoff in the phone at random times is something I still have to check out.
1/12/2006: RCN has GREATLY improved. The service has gotten immensely better since they have a new management team. You know what they say about fresh blood, it does all the good.
I had a couple of hiccups with the phone service lately, outages for a couple of hours but nothing really major. Cable modem service runs exceptionally well, and I haven't had ANY issues with my Motorola Surfboard 5100 modem, which I own, and save $5 a month with RCN.
Overall customer service, is very helpful, but you have to watch out to make sure they are doing things according to spec. Kudos to the cable modem team, for running a tight ship. I like the responsiveness of replies, and have helped the Cable modem team on occasion diagnose some issues in the area.
All and all, RCN is now worth the money, I only pay $115 for 2 TVs, Internet, and local phone.
1/10/03: I have had 7 techs out since I started service in Sept. They replaced the lines and everything. I even bought my own modem to use on the network. I was not able to get a solid cable light for 3 months in a row. At this point, it seems to be fixed. I had to end up going alll the way to the top of the RCN food chain to get my problems resolved. I just got a call recently from the operations manager of the RCN netowrk in Queens. They are monitoring my connection to make sure I don't have any downtime. I had constant downtime for 2 weeks a while back.
They blocked my node from accessing Newsgroups, and still charge me full price. I talked to RCN support and they said they would credit me 1 month of cable internet service for all the troubles I have had over the past 5 months, and that has not happened. So this company is full of broken promises and half truths. If you have a good connection with them, you are lucky. If not, like me your experience will be utter hell. I hope they don't raise the rates too much whe my year deal is up. If they do, I will complian about how horrible the service has been since the get go.
They send us advertisements offering new services, but we are already customers and not eligible for the promotion, so why waste the paper and send us the mailings.
»/quality/nil/1259432
»/quality/nil/1257949
»/quality/nil/1256640
»/quality/nil/1253841
»/quality/nil/1255747
Doctor Ping Score 69.20
Doctor Ping Score 63.80
Doctor Ping Score 64.60
Doctor Ping Score 68.70
Doctor Ping Score 102.80
Doctor Ping Score 59.60
Doctor Ping Score 63.70
Doctor Ping Score 75.10
Doctor Ping Score 73.30
Doctor Ping Score 70.00
Ever since that point on Sept 26th, I have never has so many problem with RCN cable.
I have to admit their bundled package was cheap, 2 TVs with basic cable (no converter needed) saves $6 a month each, Local Phone with same # as before for $20 unlimited to the 5 boroughs on NYC, regional 5c a min, no Long Distance (since we use cards to call LD anyway)
Total for the whole package with a base of $75 comes out to $95 with the $20 the govt gets in taxes. All and all , I think this is a great deal.
My old bill was for $150 with all the mentioned stuff. I even save $5 a month by using my own cable modem which I bought on Ebay for $50, the same type as TW the RCA 245R.
Great Choice if you have it in your area, but only in the 2 way cable modem markets though.
5000/800 Down /Up speed
4 emails (con need to be called into the head office to setup)
10 Mb webspace per mailbox
Usage checked for mail and ftp
7/18/04
Routing issues are a constant pain. Sometimes it takes 3 mins or more to resolve the DNS. I have had 3 cable modems on this line since install about 10 months ago. I have had over 15 techs out to my house to fix various problems. Many of these issues have not bee resolved to this day. If I were you I would stick with TW, much more expensive, but hey you get what you pay for, but in the case of RCN, you DON"T get what you pay for.
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Review by alanisrox69
UPDATED: 1 year ago
member for 4.6 years, 1317 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Bethlehem,Northampton,PA
$179 per month (12 month contract)
about 14 days
"Fast 20mbps internet. NON voip Phone service."
"Rateshaped HD Channels. Selection not so hot. Removed HD channels that were good. HD-VOD selection is TOO SMALL."
"Fast internet."
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UPDATE: RCN has really gone down hill in terms of Cable TV service. They have been rateshaping all the HD channels. There is no reason behind the shaping either, other than stupid head-end techs who have no clue what they are doing. RCN has 2 HD channels per QAM but have shaping licenses applied to every channel. Again, no reason at all.
They also removed the PBS-HD National Feed and replaced it with the crappy local HD feed. LAME!
HD-VOD is limited. Most pay titles are already on Blu-Ray. They don't keep an extensive library of Starz-HD titles (maybe 8 at one time)...and sometimes they have glitches in them making them unwatchable.
Original Review:
Verizon DSL in my area is only 1.5mbps and when I had it always had connection drops when it rained. With RCN I get nice 20mbps that is rarely down.
My package includes Full Phone, Full Cable, and the Mach 20 internet for a total of $179. That includes 1 HD-DVR and 3 other non-dvr digital converters.
I replaced the supplied WebStar cable modem with a D-Link DCM-202 modem, as the supplied modem cannot handle 20mbps too well. The upgraded DCM-202 model can 
Customer Service needs some work though. Many times when you call you can be on hold for 30 to 45mins before getting a hold of someone. Once you do get someone they sometimes are rude and tell you that "another department" has to take care of that and says they submitted a ticket. When you call back the next CSR will have no knowledge of a submitted ticket *rolls eyes*.
Their Customer Retention reps are generally helpful though. They are allowed to offer up to $30 off monthly for 12 months or up to a one time $50 service credit.
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Review by Tendril
UPDATED: 1.1 years ago
member for 1.1 years, 123 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Bethesda,Montgomery,MD
$120 per month (12 month contract)
"Looks like there will be a decent lineup of HD channels once the analog switchoff is complete"
"Horrible internet speed, bad tech/customer service, remotes not delivered on installation"
"The cable tv service is decent, hopefully will get better. If possible try and avoid the internet service at all costs."
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Update 10/19: The internet worked at advertised speeds for 4 days (10/13 - 10/16) but has now fallen back to the very slow speeds I was getting when I originally signed up for the service. It was so bad on Friday 10/17 that I was unable to complete the RCN speed test because I could not even load webpages.
I currently have HDTV service (with HD DVR and one other digital converter box) and the 10Mb/sec internet service.
Well the TV service is acceptable. Looks like a decent HD lineup once the analog/digital switch is complete. One downside is the signal freezes a couple of times an hour for 1-2 seconds. Not a total deal breaking, but still bothersome. Another downside with the TV service is that VOD doesn't currently work and tech support seems to be unable to fix it. I guess I'll have to take back the box, just need to somehow catch up on things recorded on DVR first. With the installation no remote controls were provided. I was told to call the installer the next day and he would drop off the remotes. I tried but he was unable to that day. I have called again but no answer. I don't feel like dealing with this any longer as I use other universal remotes but I also don't won't to be charged when I return the boxes.
The internet is a complete mess. Originally, RCN's own speedtest told me my download rate limit was capped at 7.5Mb/sec while I pay for 10Mb/sec. Tech support didn't understand what I was saying when I called, started raising his voice and talking down to me like I didn't know what I was talking about. I finally got the situation resolved and he admitted he was in the wrong and the problem was on their end. Speeds at night are horrible, ranging between 0.05Mb/sec and 4Mb/sec between 6pm and 1am. A tech support person has been out to my house and checked my connection, no problems on my end. Only after I called tech support every night for a week was I told that there has been an outage in my area since September 26th (still not fixed as of October 9th). I was told once this is fixed my speed and night should be better. I still hold out hope that this is true, as I go through periods at night with the internet being unusable, but at this point I'm not feeling good about the chances of my connection improving.
Followup comments: 
annearundelcty
@optonline.net | bye i have relative in md that got so sick of starpower which is now rcn that as soon as fios became available they signed up and never looked back. | |
| | Tendril
join:2008-10-07
Bethesda, MD | Re: bye I just recently moved from an area that had FIOS to my current location that only gets RCN. Given the opportunity I would switch back to FIOS no questions asked. That was a fantastic service and I really miss the reliable internet connection. | |
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Review by kcblack
UPDATED: 1.1 years ago
member for 9.2 years, 1275 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Chicago,Cook,IL
$87 per month
about 21 days
"they do have 20MBS"
"everything else. horrible tech support, horrible customer service"
"If you can get anyone else, give them a pass, you'll be glad you did."
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Horrible.
I've spent hours online with tech support. They close tickets without explanation.
They go through the same tired script over and over without helping out which ends in a totally useless service call that they make you wait for 3 hours.
Update:
Still horrible after all these years.
Moved, went with someone else, still trying to straighten out the billing issues. They need to get a clue.
Can't wait for Uverse in the new place.
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Review by Komosatp
Posted: 1.1 years ago
member for 3 years, 328 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Washington,District Of Columbia,DC
Contract price not specified.
"Costs"
"Customer Service, support of Cable Cards, Contant problems with In Demand"
"should be put out of biz...but then we'd be even worse off just having Comcast"
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While the lineup and cost are better for RCN (compared to Comcast) there's still a long way to go before I'd be happy.
Get rid of the off-shore call center. Either empower them to do something aside from sending a signal, or get more people in the PA call center.
RCNs commitment to Cable Cards is half hearted. But at least they change nominally, rather than 100% like Comcast. If the crush (Oct 08) doesn't solve my problems, I'll be contacting the FCC and a rater vicious class action friend (for failing to comply with the telecom act of 1996).
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Review by nycityny
UPDATED: 1.1 years ago
member for 4.3 years, 1880 visits, last login: a few hours ago
New York,New York,NY
$124 per month
"Consistent connection; offers faster speeds than most cable companies"
"Overseas tech support generally unhelpful; billing dept is inept"
"Generally reliable connection, poor customer service if you need them"
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SEPTEMBER 25, 2008 UPDATE:
I have not updated in many years. I have had several problems with RCN this year which took awhile to resolve. I'll discuss:
1) In July my VOIP phone services (both VoicePulse and ViaTalk) were experiencing a lot of audio loss. VoicePulse helped me track the problem down to significant intermittent packet loss on my broadband connection through RCN. This lead to about five phone calls with RCN's tech support and two visits to my home before this was resolved. Since the packet loss was intermittent the technicians would come to my home, change something, and think it was fixed. It was not fixed until someone in their back offices found the problem and addressed it. Neither RCN nor I know how it was fixed but it took about three weeks of interaction before it was finally resolved. The first technician changed only a coax splitter in my home and thought that would do it. That's pretty inept to me.
2) After the Internet problem was resolved my cable television incurred an issue. When watching through my cable box only there were audio and video pops occurring several times a minute. Also, the Starz channels were not coming in. RCN phone support sent a signal to my box. When that did not work they sent a stronger signal and told me to wait two hours. That didn't help. I went out of town and returned to the same problem. I called again. They sent the strong signal again and told me to wait two hours. That did nothing so they sent a technician to my home. The diligent person they sent spent two hours in my home tweaking all my connections and splitters, changing my cable box and changing some cables. Nothing fixed the problem. He then connected a new box to the direct source coming into my building (an apartment building of over 400 units). The audio/video pops remained. Finally he spoke with headquarters about the signal reading on his meter and the guy explained to him how two parameters of the signal were too close together. To fix this a different tech was needed to come to the building and adjust the level for the entire complex. Oddly, out of 400+ apartments I was the only one to get to this point in the diagnosis with a problem that had affected everyone for almost a month? Weird. Anyway, someone apparently came out the next day to adjust the levels because the picture has been pristine ever since.
3) All RCN customers incurred a rate increase in July. I called to complain and was offered a $10 credit for six months which I accepted. Based on prior experience, I didn't really expect to see the credit properly applied in my bill and, of course, it was not. I'm still working with RCN on this and another billing error they made. Their billing department has been deplorable during my entire 11 years with RCN.
I will say that when a technician has been sent to my home they are always sent within a day or two of the request and they always arrive within the 3 hour window.
So right now my Internet connection is great and my television picture is fine. I just purchased two TIVO HDs and had cablecards installed so I am ready for their digital conversion (analog crush). If the quality remains as it is I will remain a customer. If not, the advantage RCN had of not scrambling channels will have disappeared with the analog crush and so I will have no reason not to switch to Time Warner (or to Verizon FIOS which is coming to New York City soon).
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
I've had RCN cable television for about nine years and cable modem broadband service for about six years. Both are reliable and offer pretty much the latest that is available technologically. RCN's top broadband speed of 10Mbps beats the Time Warner Cable and Verizon DSL alternatives available to me. Unfortunately, I have been testing at about 7.3 Mbps lately. Still, that's fast enough for me.
I have a package with RCN called Power CI which offers a discount & includes Digital Cable, a premium channel and broadband internet. The cable modem piece of this is $38 since I own my own modem. That's very competitive. As an aside, my total bill for Power CI is about $102/month which includes some premium cable channels I've added on. So for $102 per month I get all the big premiums except Cinemax, digital cable and cable modem at fast speeds. My building in Manhattan gets a discount which is reflected in that price. I have a digital cable box in the living room to give me all the channels. I don't need a box in the bedroom and without one I still get all the basic (non-digital) channels. With Time Warner I would need a box on both TVs at added cost to get any channels.
The biggest problem with RCN is their customer service. When you call them you get a representative who is located in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Texas, or some other such place. Every time is different. They often do not understand the logistics of Manhattan and in that way puts them at a disadvantage from Verizon or Time Warner. Inevitably, whenever I request a change in service it is done incorrectly the first time and billed wrong as well. I have spent hours and hours over the years with RCN contesting my bill immediately following a change order. I always win the argument but it takes persistence to get things corrected. The phone representative will tell you that your account will be credited but the next bill often does not reflect it.
As an example, I recently took RCN up on their promotion of waiving the $10 monthly fee for a year for upgrading from 7Mbps (Mach 7) broadband to 10 Mbps (Mach 10). When a month later I noticed speeds closer to Mach 5 I phoned them. The representative saw that my account was at Mach 10 but agreed to check the line. That diagnostic check revealed that the service was not at that level. They had neglected to re-provision the line to get it up to speed. I asked that my one year promotion be extended by a month since I did not have the right speed for a month. Instead I was told I would be given a $10 credit. I expressed skepticism that the credit would actually occur but the representative assured me that it would as she had previously worked in the billing department and knew how to do it. Sure enough, the bill came the following month without the $10 credit. I had to phone again to get it.
Another example: Last year I purchased a modem (Toshiba PCX 2500) and returned my rented modem to the local RCN office. I was told that I would be billed $5 each month for a rental but would also receive a $5 credit each month to offset that since I own my modem. That's how their system works. OK with me. I received my next bill. There was a $5 charge for a rental, a $5 credit and then another $5 charge to reverse the $5 credit. I phoned to get this corrected. The representative did not believe me and simply thought I was unaware that they bill you $5 and credit you in the same bill. It took several minutes (and some attitude) to get her to see that I was right and for her to correct the situation.
I also had RCN's telephone service for awhile. Given the complexity of the phone system and the lack of local support, this was a nightmare. Stay away from RCN Phone! Their prices are not that competitive anyway, even with a package.
While the tone of this review is somewhat negative, I have overall been happy with RCN. When you don't need to make changes to your service, things hum along just fine. Cable television channels are always there and the broadband internet connection is always on. If you make a change, however, review your bill thoroughly when you receive it!
September 14, 2005 Update:
I previously mentioned my inability to get top speeds. I was instructed to reboot my modem and after a couple of tries I now achieve greater than 10 Mbps downloads. Consequently, I upgraded my score on "Connection Reliability" to a 5. The connection is never down (I hope I don't jinx things saying this)!
I should also mention that for the past six weeks I have been using VOIP phone service via my RCN broadband connection. Both have worked perfectly. Since the quality of VOIP is greatly affected by your broadband quality, it's nice to see that RCN is so conducive to this new phone technology. The VOIP I am using is VoicePulse and it has become the primary phone service in my home. I no longer have a regular POTS phone line.
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RCN CABLE
(18)
(17)
Agree that Digital Crush took away service!
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