Review by mwvsnet - Location: Chicago, Cook, IL, USA
- Cost: $95 per month (12 month contract)
- Install: about 6 days
That is now the question? Speeds are getting bad during peek times Better than Sprint Broadband Direct so far?
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:
|
WOW was installed on 07/05/2007. 11/23/2007 WOW has had one service outage since it was installed & that was from 2:AM to 8:AM which was a pain. Our voip service was out for that time too. 05/06/2008 WOW has been down since 5:AM today. VoIP on backup system Sprint. WOW was down for 13 hours today first outage for this year. Everything is now back to normal now. 05/26/2009 We upgraded our wow connection too 15/2 we will see how thing work out??? Also there was a price decrease with the speed upgrade. This is a first. 09/10/2009 So far so good, but we never see the full 2Mb upload speed it hangs out around 1.4Mb & we have peeked out at 16.4Mb/1.9Mb only once in four months. We do get over 15Mb here in the states 97% of the time no matter what time we do a speedtest. Most speedtest to overseas are all over the map & are just fun to do. 10/08/2009 They we down tonight for 35 minutes & this is the first time this year. We are still getting 15.9Mb down & 2.0Mb up so we just hit the 2Mb mark for the first time 02/12/2010 Again they went down tonight for 5 hours & we are still getting our max speeds of 15.0Mb down/2.0Mb up. We shall see how long we can go with out any more down for the rest of the year? 06/09/2010 WOW was down for 3 hours plus today. They say some type of fiber cut & there were a cluster of nodes that were down. Down at 3:PM until some time after 6:PM? 09/02/2010 WOW was down for 14 minutes today. Speeds are still rock solid for now. No word on DOCSIS 3.0 network upgrades yet? 02/28/2011 WOW was down for about 30 minutes. The speeds are also going down around peek times (2:PM thru 8:PM). No word on DOCSIS 3.0 network upgrades yet? On 07/10/2011 we canceled our WOW service. Still no word on DOCSIS 3.0 network upgrades? On 07/01/2020 WOW was installed because they had higher upload speeds then Comcast We have had WOW now for about 18 months & this is the 1st speed problem we have had. The tech will be out in the morning to check our modem to see what the problem is. Fast.com speed test rates the connection at 99Mbps down & 3.8Mbps up. That puts us at 1/3 of what we are paying for On 11/01/2021 RCN acquired the Chicagoland market from WOW plus a few others & then around the first of the year changed there name to Astound This is 02/10/2022 the wow tech never showed up & never called to confirm the appointment. So now I wonder if there was even a appointment setup & still no word from wow/rcn about the no call no show. Our speeds as this update are still in the crapper & I find it interesting that no one questions why our bills never change but we can go for days & days with crappy internet speeds. We pay for something that we are not getting 98% of the time but they still want 100% of there money. For now we are just stuck with crappy service from two providers out of 3 that cover this area of Chicago. WOW was down all day on 03/24 for some reason & I still need to call tech support to find out why there was a no show for our upload speed problem that is still a problem member for 23.3 years, 166 visits, last login: 1.9 years ago updated 1.9 years ago
|
dollar for dollarCoax will always beat out over the air in our life time, even when WiMAX hits your area (if sprint doesn't screw up that is). But how long a cable do you need to take your WOW on the road? | |
| |
cdsmith
Anon
2010-Sep-5 9:07 pm
Wow cable used to be good but not sucksI have been having intermittent problems with my WOW Internet connection. Three techs have come out and have verified that nothing is wrong with my connection or with the equipment or my computer system inside my house.
Almost every night starting around 8PM I experience very poor service. I get dropouts and lag beyond belief. I have been having this problem for six weeks now and they have yet to fix my connection. All I get is "We have to send a service person out..."
There is obviously a problem with the traffic shaping in my area because this happens on a regular basis. They have done NOTHING to fix the issue and I am SICK OF WOW CABLE!
Again, multiple modems (theirs and mine) have been hooked to the line when there have been problems. Multiple computers, routers, etc have also been hooked up. All lines inside and out to the NID have been tested and show NO PROBLEM. They must have changed something farther down the line such as the traffic shaping rules or they now have too many subscribers in my area.
I DO NOT recommend WOW Internet to ANYONE! They do not have anything in place to address problems such as the one I am experiencing. Other companies do have the resources to fix such a problem. WOW does not. | |
| | | | |
to cdsmith
Re: Wow cable used to be good but not sucksyour problem is probably their backbone provider. XO and such. I have problems accessing google because for some reason its routed to BING when it hits XO beyond WOW. But that is the CLE market. | |
|
|
Anonaa8cc
Anon
2022-Feb-10 1:57 am
Name ChangeThe name is still RCN- Astound by RCN. Name was never changed- they created a "marketing brand". the same as Comcast uses "Xfinity" and Charter uses "Spectrum" those aren't companies- they are brands. | |
| | |
|
mwvsnet
Member
2022-Feb-10 10:09 am
Comcast - RCN - Astound - WOWIt does not matter if it is a brand or a company they all need to provide good customer service plus great internet experience for there customers. We are paying more for business class service but getting consumer class service across the board | |
| |
Anondbb4a
Anon
2022-Feb-27 4:59 pm
WOW-internetI never had one day of service of WOW Internet but l paid the bills they sent me. Never got an email about the $300 visa card or $50.00 for referring friends. I also had to pay a reconnection fee of $22.00 but l never ever was connected. I paid 4 months for nothing & it wasn't the package deal l wanted. I settled for $30.00/month with the sales rep. Kelly, but l was charged $45.00 for 4 months. W0W is still sending me bills but they owe me! I am a senior citizen living on a very tight budget eating mostly peanut butter & jelly sandwiches because l can not afford to buy much food. They miss represented their product, lied & cheated me. They hung up on me 2 separate times l called. Thanks for nothing WOW!!! I hope you can sleep at night knowing your only out to get old poor peoples money! You stoled over $200.00 from me; who else have you stolen from? You ought to be ashamed of yourselves. | |
|
| |
Review by Polypeptide - Location: Montgomery, Montgomery, AL, USA
- Cost: $213 per month (24 month contract)
Phone service, TV Speeds unreliable Look elsewhere first
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:
|
We have a large tv package, 1000/50 internet, and phone bundle. Supplied EMTA modem is a TM822g. We use TV through CableCARDs on TiVos. Our customer-supplied modem is an EU2251. member for 3.9 years, 313 visits, last login: 65 days ago updated 2.1 years ago
|
Anonb3422
Anon
2021-Dec-10 10:54 am
Consumer GradeIf you want a true dedicated connection that gives you that 1gig download 24/7- I would suggest calling a provider/carrier up and asking them for a business dedicated line. Tell them you don't like best of effort services (even though you're probably doing your speed test wrong) and you're willing to pay that extra for that direct Fiber or copper line to the Internet. I'm sure you'll be happy with paying a few grand for it. | |
|
| |
Review by jdowning1 - Location: Columbus, Franklin, OH, USA
- Cost Contract price not specified.
Unhappy
| Services:
|
Wow gave us a 12 month commitment for 200 megabit internet at $34.99 a month. Just rec'd invoice for month #8 that increases price $4.00 a month. Chat support says that everyone got the increase. When you go to their homepage they still are advertising rates that don't support this increase. Buyer beware! member for 20.7 years, 748 visits, last login: 2 years ago updated 2.3 years ago
|
Anon6ee0b
Anon
2021-Sep-29 10:33 pm
Still the best if you have themThe best prices by far compared to any ISP regardless of contract or not. 500 mb/s for a straight $59.99 and can be cheaper if you do auto-payments (never). Gig/s is also cheaper coming around $80 or so. No hidden fees or anything. I've been paying $59.99 since the contractual period ended and there just is no better.
Problems: If you are an Ohio customer in Cleveland (and Cleveland areas) and Columbus, WOW has been bought out by Atlantic Broadband which is going to be more expensive, feature worse speeds per price bracket and probably be garbage. If you are an Ohio customer that isn't being bought out by AB, then the biggest issue I've experienced is how slow WOW is to recover outages. Customer Support is fine/great, but the outages I've had with WOW have been more than I'd like; due to the ridiculous price though, I can put up with an hour or two of outages once in a while. | |
| |
1 recommendation |
Anona6dd2
Anon
2021-Oct-7 4:07 pm
Re: Still the best if you have themWOW only has 2 Ohio markets- Columbus/Central Ohio and Cleveland/NEO
And ABB isn't a bad provider. you assume a LOT and even mention you don't know what you're talking about. One should beware. | |
| | | Netgear RAX200 Technicolor ET2251
|
Re: Still the best if you have themThey do bring up some valid points on the speed for your $ though. Looking at ABB's website their prices for the speeds they offer (especially after promo) are substantially higher than WOW!'s and actually in most cases are higher than Charter (Spectrum)'s pricing. | |
| | | |
1 recommendation |
Anona6dd2
Anon
2021-Nov-3 1:58 am
Re: Still the best if you have themPromos are almost a thing of the past. The problem is people are too stuck on shopping on promos and think they deserve everything at cheap rates. It's not the case. It takes $$$$$ to manage everything they do and pay an actual living wage. The same with CHTR- did you know the starting wage for ALL CHTR call center reps are $20.00 per hour? That's more then what wal-mart and alike are paying. Plus full time and benefits. Companies just don't provide that without paying anything out. ABB is the same way- they pay a living wage- WOW is became a bottom provider and only was worried about competing on price. That's what cost them in the end. Provide a solid customer experience and network and people will pay no matter what- Ask CellCo Partnership that. They're some of the highest rates of mobile service and people pay it- why? They LOVE the CellCo network and they don't care what they have to pay.
The writing was on the wall with WOW though, a few years ago about them going to sell. Everything started going down hill after they started to expand in the last 5 years. Expanding too fast with little income and rushing to be the promo giver for everyone. They needed to act like CHTR and tell the customers- this is the price, this is what you pay. You don't go to the power company and tell them what you're going to pay or cancel. You don't go to the gas station and do that. You don't grocery shop that way. But everyone thinks that other companies are required to give you what you want- well it's not the case- its take it or leave it and in the end, You'll be the one that takes a day off work to switch everything over. | |
| | | | |
1 recommendation |
Re: Still the best if you have themLOL your whole argument is flawed, there are ISPs in other countries that pay a living wage AND have affordable pricing. | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | |
to Anona6dd2
I agree with the last para. I have 3 (including wow) providers in my area. Though Comcast has caps, at least their offered network speeds are solid, at least back when I had them they were). WOW's like Sprint. It's a matter of time before they fade out of existence or someone buys them. | |
| | | | | | |
Anona6dd2
Anon
2021-Dec-7 3:35 am
Re: Still the best if you have themWrong. You would have over 8. Just because they don't spend money on a physical wire doesn't mean they aren't an option, service is still offered, thus is an option.
And WOW has played a tough game, but this shows that overbuilding does NOT work and no reason to do it, and no reason to spend tax money trying to create a gov't ran company. We have two of those now and both are bankrupt. | |
| | | | | | | |
Re: Still the best if you have them8? I'm counting wired (3) (Comcast, ATT WOW). Wireless, I'm only counting, based on cell phone coverage, 1 usable, 2 maybe. Broadband wireless that covers my address, 1, TMO. Im sure the SAT providers can/could count but rather it's 8, 18 or 3, it's more than one. Right now, I'm on TMO's 5G home system. So far it's been pretty rock steady. 500/50. I have WOW's 500/50 and on a good day, might get 300 down, Up is always around 50. Here's my most recent speed test with TMO » www.speedtest.net/my-res ··· 241ab2a0Not bad for a system people keep saying wont work. | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | dplantz join:2000-08-02 Bradenton, FL
1 recommendation |
to Anona6dd2
Overbuilding does work if it is managed right. RCN has done very well as an over builder. RCN has roughly 1/3 of the Internet market in Boston and competes well with Comcast and Verizon FIOS. Both Comcast and Spectrum are overbuilding in some areas. If it did not work the big cable cos would not be doing it. Comcast overbuilt in Southeastern CT over Atlantic Broadbands network. Atlantic Broadband is much better run company than WOW is. It is no wonder WOW has sold some markets off. | |
| | | | | | | | |
Anona6dd2
Anon
2022-Mar-18 5:52 am
Re: Still the best if you have them1/3 of the market is nothing- that's barely enough ROI to even consider building out a network. Do you know what it costs to build a network? Hardly. And if it worked- then RCN wouldn't have had to be sold countless times and then merged again with someone else and would keep expanding. Insight wouldn't have gone away either. and Charter (there is no such company as Spectrum- its a brand only not a company) is only over building in select areas to meet merger requirements that's it nothing more nothing less. Comcast is only going into small cities/villages- max of maybe 3000 people at most in those areas. Many of them are mom/pop areas and have no other choice and will end up selling to Comcast anyway- so there is no overbuilding there then is there? NOPE! WOW didn't sell because of how the network was run- the network is solid and they were expanding only because they had the $$$$ and were picking up cities in between where they already had coverage. It made sense to service those you already are running fiber through to get to the next few cities on the other side. It's called BUSINESS! But ROI of 1/3? Is nothing. hence- why overbuilding isn't there. Otherwise it would be done on a mass scale and it would work- the same as DSLR says that Muni networks work when in fact they don't. If overbuilding worked- then we'd have countless cellular networks that were actual physical networks and not MVNOs. We'd have 10+ networks easily.- oh wait! we had that before the FCC stripped the networks from their CBRS and turned that into 5g and stole money from the cell networks and Fixed Wireless providers that were already using it. | |
|
|
Wowway in CharlestonJust got home from Walmart, started my internet and decided to check my speed. I now have speeds in the 190's. Before that I had speed of around 60. | |
| | |
| |
Review by dbowers - Location: Dearborn, Wayne, MI, USA
- Cost Contract price not specified.
Used to be rock solid as far as reliability Over the past year WOW's service reliability has cratered.
| |
If you have other choices for Internet and cable, look elsewhere. Their reliability has gone way down the tubes. My service problems started earlier this past spring with frequent outages ranging from a half hour to several days at a time then suddenly everything is great for a few weeks only to start all over again with going in and out of service for another several days. It got to the point to where I had no idea if I had internet access or not at any given moment. Since I wasn't working from home that wasn't too much of an issue, but at the same time I wasn't about to pay over $200 per month for this type of shoddy service. Aside from reliability issues, another thing that really irked me was one time when I was having an issue with telephone connection. A live chat with the service tech resulted in my phone service being DISCONNECTED. Don't ask me how they managed to mess something like that up... The third thing that they screwed up was my login access to my account online. Allegedly my main WOW email that was tied to my account somehow got compromised and was red flagged as a spammer email account, so they disabled my login. A call to the service dept. resolved the issue for maybe a day, only to get disabled again. I never was able to get that matter resolved with them. member for 2.6 years, 43 visits, last login: 1.5 years ago lodged 2.5 years ago
1 recommendation |
Anon78de1
Anon
2021-Sep-3 11:18 pm
Rule 1Rule 1 is NEVER use an ISP email. #Failed | |
| 1 edit |
Not my experience at all.Sorry for all the issues, that hasn't been my experience with them over the last 5 years and I'm in Dearborn too (Michigan & Schaefer area).
I only have internet and 99% of the time I get 10-12% above advertised speeds (regardless of the level I've had with them 30/60/100/200/500 Mbps over the years). Very few outages and once in a blue moon the speeds dip, but recover shortly after. Maybe I reboot the modem a half-dozen times per year. Currently, getting 200/10 service for $34.99 (no extra fees).
So they're giving me great service and great pricing, although I'm not happy with the new data caps. I'll likely go up to 500/50 and get more data and be happier with the higher speed (but not the higher price of $54.99 a month).
We've got good antenna reception around here if you're tempted to cut the cord and use an antenna. Just a thought.
Mom has it in Berkley, and she loves it too. Her phone service goes out too often though (but sometimes I wonder if the phone just isn't hung up correctly!).
I don't use ISP email, as that ties you to the carrier if they take away your mail when you leave. That's like using your college email as a primary, someday (hopefully) you'll leave college and won't have that after a few years. | |
|
| |
Review by u475700 - Location: Prattville, Autauga, AL, USA
- Cost: $60 per month (12 month contract)
- Install: about 4 days
Reasonably priced, no data caps yet Mediocre customer service, technical support is a major disappointment! Reasonably priced but reliability has deteriorated
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:
|
[Update 08/13/2021] Internet reliability has been increasingly problematic. Technical support, which is primarily offshore, has also been a disappointment. Moreover, WOW outsourced installations and service work in my area to outside contractors. Evidently, the opportunity to cash in on this situation has not gone unnoticed by Spectrum, which is currently extending service to my neighborhood. At least I'll have an alternative in another six weeks. About the best that I can say about WOW now is they offer discounts as compensation for continuing issues with their service. [Update 11/27/2020] The name WOW is certainly a mixed bag for this cable provider. After being a long time Comcast customer, I was pleasantly surprised that WOW! could be so different. For starters, knowledgeable and helpful sales and customer service. It took only about twenty minutes to place the sales order and schedule an appointment for the installation later that week. The installer was even on time. He had the modem activated and was finished in thirty-five minutes. The salesman who I dealt with called me about an hour later to check whether I had any questions or issues. Several days later a representative from their regional office called and thanked me for becoming a WOW! customer. The service has been generally reliable but my first call to technical support earlier this year for an outage was not only a surprise but also a major disappointment. Apparently support calls are routed offshore on weekends. The "customer advocate" who I spoke with was rife with pleasantries but otherwise clueless! He presumed my service area was on the west coast where they supposedly were experiencing outages. However, as far I know, WOW only services the central and south east. Even Comcast was never that bad. I called technical support last week for an ongoing issue with intermittent outages, which seem to coincide with a flurry of excessive power warnings logged by the modem. The representative that I spoke with recommended a truck roll to diagnose the issue. The contractor who came out "looked at" the neighborhood distribution box for the service and the issue summarily stopped. For that I was charged $50 dollars even though they couldn't even tell me what the contractor actually did. Nevertheless, the problem has subsequently reoccurred albeit less frequently. The bottom line - technical support when you need it has been a major disappointment! member for 20.1 years, 9170 visits, last login: a few hours ago updated 2.5 years ago
karpodiemHail to The Victors Premium Member join:2008-05-20 Troy, MI
1 recommendation |
NiceGlad you enjoy WoW, I've had them for two years now and my experience largely mirrors yours. | |
|
1 recommendation |
DetailsI'm curious what speed did you get for the 1 year commitment at $35/month? | |
| | u475700 Premium Member join:2004-02-16 |
u475700
Premium Member
2020-Nov-27 11:19 pm
Re: DetailsHi! I'm sorry that I overlooked your question. I believe it was 100MBPS. | |
| | |
1 recommendation |
Re: Details100mbps for $35/mo is a great price. Congrats and welcome to WOW!. | |
|
|
Service isn't part of your contractEven though it should be. Sign up for $5 a month to ensure that you won't get those service call charges. Strange that service is yet another profit center. | |
|
| |
Review by insomniac - Location: Naperville, Du Page, IL, USA
- Cost: $40 per month (24 month contract)
- Install: about 2 days
- Caps of 1500 gigabytes/month
Speeds are as advertised, installation and price are far better than Comcast Sales rep wasted my time Great alternative to Comcast for internet-only service in my area
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Services: Value for money:
|
6/23/2021 UPDATE: It's been almost two years and things are still fine. I rarely see slow speeds and get a consistent 108/10 on speed tests. My two-year promo was about to expire, so I called and they let me re-rate at $40/month ($35 with autopay) for 100/10 with no contract. Usage caps don't much concern me for the time being. I see no need to go back to Comcast, my only other real option. 7/9/2020 UPDATE: It's been a year and things still work fine. Speeds have been a little slow during the day, probably because of everyone at home during the pandemic, but the service has always been usable, with speeds close to advertised. My promo price went up to $50/month ($45/month with autopay) after the first year, as advertised. Still beats Comcast. ORIGINAL 7/2019 REVIEW: I was a Comcast TV/internet customer for 17 years, but I decided I'd finally had enough. Comcast was no longer willing to price-match WOW every year, and Comcast does not do promotional pricing for internet-only service, so I knew it was time to put up an antenna and jump ship to a different internet provider. A WOW rep has visited my house every time I've submitted a pricing inquiry online, and that happened again a few months ago. I had a chat with the guy, told him of my plans, and said I'd be in touch when I was ready to make the switch. I did get a fair amount of marketing BS from him that I was able to see right through, but the price was right, and I have enough friends with WOW service that are happy with it. I called him in June once I got my antenna up, we talked about the latest promotion, and he scheduled an installation date. I received two frantic calls from him asking me to unfreeze my credit with Equifax, because he "couldn't even get me into the system" without doing a credit pull. He claimed it would be a soft pull, but it came through as a hard pull--not like I had a choice if I wanted their service. He told me he'd stop by the next day to drop off paperwork, but did not--I got a last-minute call asking to reschedule for the following afternoon, which he also missed. I got tired of waiting around, called and asked him to mail the paperwork instead, and he never did. The installation tech showed up on time and ran a new drop instead of just moving the existing Comcast drop to the WOW tap, which I really appreciated. He was fast, courteous, and did good work. Speed tests have been a consistent 108/12. I'm paying $30/month for the first year, $50/month for the second year, and $60/month after 24 months. This is still lower than Comcast for better speeds, even after all promos end. I'm happy to be free of Comcast. BOTTOM LINE: Service is great. I expected my time to be wasted during installation, not by a sales guy. member for 21.5 years, 4687 visits, last login: 2 days ago updated 2.7 years ago
Review by slmetcalf - Location: Athens, Limestone, AL, USA
- Cost: $90 per month
- Install: about 1 days
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:
|
I have been with Wow for 4 years. I switched to them when they were still Knology in our area. Of course with Knology just being rolled out in my neighborhood we had our ups and downs but they were quickly resolved. We had stable service until about 6 days ago when we are forced to reboot our modem at least twice a day. Any time i have called customer service or problem was quickly resolved. Night before last our internet dropped and stayed off for most of the evening. Yesterday I held out hope that our problems had been resolved because we did not have to reboot at all yesterday. Today we are back to rebooting again. Timing seems to be around 3 or 4 in the afternoon when we start seeing issues. I pay way too much each month for the service I am getting. I am this close to switching back to Charter because it is the only other option in my area and they were a nightmare from day one. I have the phone and internet bundle with them. Quality has continued to deteriorate in the last year since the pandemic hit and customer service was even worse than dealing with previous cable companies. As of Monday Apr 12th I am an ex customer of WOW and have changed all my service to fiber member for 22.3 years, 1029 visits, last login: 2.9 years ago updated 2.9 years ago
1 recommendation |
Anon523c5
Anon
2021-Apr-16 10:18 am
WowCharter has fiber? How do you like your new service? | |
|
| |
Review by cwcjr - Location: Huntsville, Madison, AL, USA
- Cost: $250 per month
Better than dial-up -except during prime time! Poor services, deceptive marketing, unreliable service, overpriced Avoid if you have other options.
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:
|
Update Nov 2020: Noted that VPN would not work using their DNS, so changed to another provider on router. (OpenDNS, also does not work with VPN). HERO being hawked for whole home WiFi : they intentionally set their modem/routers to lowest sensitivity to force you to purchase the addons. Feb 2017: Service at WOW is getting worse, plans are dropping or charging for channels previously provided, and now a mandatory land line phone service Cable modem must be rented from them. (Even if you have your own internet Cable Modem). If you do not call in to have the wifi on it disabled, it keeps the WiFi on the modem actively tracking and reporting your WiFi use even though you cannot log into it!! It also pollutes your WiFi environment by continually broadcasting its id. They will not rewire the house to the modem if you do not have a pre-existing cable port next to an AC outlet and a phone jack. We finally have ATT Fiber option in the neighborhood. Many are switching, but without special pricing promotion, ATT will be 15%-25% higher than WOW's current pricing at end of two years. You can, however. get a discount from WOW to keep you if you call in. Advantage for ATT is the link and specials associated with using their cell service, too. Update Nov 2015: Costs have skyrocketed. All ($60 worth of) premium channels have been dropped and the cost still went up $20. Max rates at 2:00 am in the morning have improved, primetime is still 1/5th or less of the contracted rate. Cable service is very intermittent and HD channels are usually pixelated. No improvements to previous issues. Sept 2013: Now they have added actual false/deceptive advertising to the mix. With the Speed channel going to FS1, they sometimes put or temporarily move programs to FS2 - in HSV market 194. I called when a football game ran long and the race was moved to FS2 - but I had a not authorized screen. Sales said it should be active with the Digital Preferred. So he transfers me to Cable Support, and I get told 'nope it only comes with the sports package add-on'. He tells me to go to the Website to see what comes with Digital Preferred - guess what - the Website says it is included in the Digital Preferred without the Sports Package. However, he will not activate it unless I pay for the Sports Package! Sales says its included, The website says its included, but the tech says you gotta pay for the sports package: False/Mis-leading/Deceptive advertising! Prices keep going up as well as the wait time to get someone from Customer Service to answer the phone. The service is getting worse, outages seem to occur at least once a week (last week 4 times over 2 days). We keep getting Emergency Broadcast message for Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas that that have nothing to do with Huntsville. A company in seeming disarray. By the way, the internet speed is still horrible. Captured history charts (forwarded to Techs) show download speeds worse than upload speeds on weeknights between 8 and 11 pm. Been going on for many weeks. Update Aug 2013: WOW data rates are WORSE than dialup between 8 pm and Midnight, even when paying for premium data rate upgrades. Nothing but excuses and no fixes for the last 90 days. Update July 2013: WOW has taken over Knology and the service is TERRIBLE. They have oversold their capability in the area and the nightly data rates for download are 1/2 the upload rate!!!! Paying for the upgraded 15 Mb and getting 0.6 Mb (yes that is Mb not MB) download between 5 pm and midnight. It is now Way (WOW) overpriced and using their Email via a Client is a joke. It will lockup Outlook and financial institutions cannot reliably communicate with their investors that use a Knology Email address. Synacor and Cloudmark (their Email and spam filtering services) cannot seem to get it straight. -------- I originally (2007) had the all in one (Phone,Internet, Cable) -premium w/ HD and all major movie channels. Had to cut back to delete ALL the premium movie channels to get it down to $137. At the time I contracted it, it came with the fasted speeds they offered for internet. They have now upgraded to have some more costly premium speeds available and multiple tier options in the bundles. Trying to figure out what options you have (pick and choose) is not possible from the information on the Internet. You MUST call in to get pricing on individual services. The greatest frustration is the decrease in reliability as they expand. An example is this weekend, all Knology (hosted) domains' Email is down for over 24 hours. Sure does NOT make you want to run right out and sign-up for Electronic Delivery of your financial and investment notifications using a Knology hosted email account. Since their last major reshuffling of the channels and upgrades, digital dropouts and artifacts in the middle of the TV screen are becoming the norm. Some shows are so broken up that you cannot watch them and it does not matter if it is live or recorded. When you have an internet speed problem and call in, you get the impression that they are 'throttling' people until they complain. All the resetting, unplugging, and testing I had done before calling, then magically doing it once with them on the line and the problem seems to go away - for a while... And the classic deception, your Knology IP address to the internet is NOT truly DHCP: it seems that it is reserved unto your address so that advertisers, doubleclick, Google, Intellus, etc., (Police and Homeland Defense) can always find YOU. As a test, I released the Knology internet link from the router, unplugged the router, unplugged the modem, Shutdown all the computers, went on the road, and came back two weeks later to the same IP address. Knology refreshes the connection ever three hours in a growing subdivision, so I guess the assignment is not DYNAMIC. WOW Deceptive Marketing, bad service WOW recently took over Knology. The service is very poor and declining. 1) Data rates between 8 pm and midnight are less than 1 mbit that is bit not byte! for Download. Even if you are paying for their 25 Mb Edge service. Folks that is WORSE than dial-up. Been fighting this problem for over 120 days. 2) Cloudmark filtering for Synacor, their Email handler, has a perpetual problem with Epsilon internet services. e.g, if your financial services company distributes documents to you via a knology email address - you don't get them!! They do not even make it to your spam filter to find out that anything was sent to you. Been over 8 months fighting that problem. 3) Paying for upgraded data rates is functionally just paying for a higher throttling speed-limit WHEN THERE IS NO TRAFFIC. They sell it to you as being like an HOV lane during peak demand times, but that is deceptive, see item 1). 4) Digital dropouts on the cable service are horrendous. Attempting to record shows has been a waste on many nights because the shows continually freeze. Yes, the service and equipment at the house has been checked! The techs (several) have confirmed that they oversold the area and have too many houses on a single server. They have been deceptful about it 'should be fixed in a couple weeks' for 4 months. PS: The difference in cost between the knology and subsequent WOW reviews is that I DROPPED all premium movie channels. Otherwise the cost would have risen about $30 for the same services..... member for 21.6 years, 131 visits, last login: 132 days ago updated 3.3 years ago
|
bhattnet
Anon
2013-Aug-18 6:37 pm
Are you New to WOWHow long have you had WOW? | |
| | cwcjr join:2002-08-02 Huntsville, AL
1 recommendation |
cwcjr
Member
2013-Aug-18 9:22 pm
Re: Are you New to WOWI have had WOW, formerly known as Knology, for many years at more than one location. Over 5 at the current. | |
|
kellodl join:2005-01-23 Huntsville, AL |
kellodl
Member
2013-Aug-18 10:06 pm
YuckI'm having the same problem although not that extreme. I went from 25Mbps EDGE package and i'm only getting around 15Mbps/8Mbps at anytime of day or night. Ever since WOW has taken over it has been a bad experience with internet speed. | |
| | cwcjr join:2002-08-02 Huntsville, AL ·Knology TP-Link Archer AX3200 ARRIS SB8200 Netgear WNDR3800
3 edits
1 recommendation |
cwcjr
Member
2013-Aug-18 10:16 pm
Re: YuckUse a speedtest OTHER than the WOW one between 9 pm and 11 pm and see what you get. It is worst on the west side of county.
Noting that according to one of the techs that serviced next door they connected in a new subdivision on already overloaded equipment about the time WOW took over. The City Councils (both) need to be made aware of that and the utility license needs to be reviewed on that one! | |
| | | 1 edit |
Re: YuckWOW will only take speed tests from their speed test site. Anything else they will not look at.
Also just an FYI- WOW is NOT a utility; especially when it comes to internet. | |
| | | | cwcjr join:2002-08-02 Huntsville, AL |
cwcjr
Member
2013-Aug-19 6:31 pm
Re: YuckTo be able to supply cable in the city requires Council licensing and authorization to use easements. (They have been 'pulled' before! | |
| | | | | |
Re: Yuckit maybe true in that City but things can be changed at the state level. Although still, cable and Internet are not a utility. Also they are never "pulled" the companies are told to fix the issues or sell. It's easier to sell. | |
|
| | kellodl join:2005-01-23 Huntsville, AL |
to cwcjr
I normally use www.speedtest.net I can try others. Is there anyone from WOW that actually checks dslreports? I call in to the WOW helpdesk and all they can tell me is that my cable modem had good signal and that they can send someone out if i'd like. I too checked my cable modem signals and all are well within recommended range. CWCJR, would you like to compare speed results? We could even arrange to get online at the same time and test speed at the same time. I live in NorthWest Huntsville near Oakwood Ave. I'm going to try and post a speedtest.net result when I get home from work today. | |
| | | | |
Re: YuckWOWDan does, he used to provide support here but was promoted shortly afterwords. But WOW will only take the speedtest on their site as the bandwidth as written in their TOS/AUP is only on their network, after that, they don't and won't do anything. | |
| | | | | cwcjr join:2002-08-02 Huntsville, AL |
cwcjr
Member
2013-Aug-19 10:49 pm
Re: YuckThanks, Kyle. I guess once false advertising and/or deceptive practices is proven with cable/internet companies it is off to the BBB then to the DA, then court or a class action... | |
|
| | | kellodl join:2005-01-23 Huntsville, AL |
Looks like my speed is back to "normal" which is around 25Mb/6-8Mb, I will continue to test. | |
| | | | | cwcjr join:2002-08-02 Huntsville, AL |
cwcjr
Member
2013-Aug-21 12:18 am
Re: YuckGreat! I should be able to check the west side of the county by Friday. Maybe it only took 16 'next' weeks to get it fixed. but I am not holding my breath. | |
| | | | | | cwcjr |
cwcjr
Member
2013-Sep-29 3:12 am
Re: YuckUPDATE: No, the speed on the west side is still terrible during prime time during the week. Download speeds worse than upload speeds. They added a 'hard' case of false/misleading/deceptive advertising - Sales and the website (on 9/28) say FS2 is included with Digital Preferred but Cable Tech support will only activate for additional $$$$. | |
|
|
JustMeh
Anon
2015-Nov-29 3:58 pm
Internet slower after cancelling cable T-Mobile Cell Speed Test | Wide Open West WiFi Speed Test |
So my boyfriend and I have noticed that our internet is MUCH slower since we cancelled Cable with Wide Open West (I refuse to call them WOW as that is a MMORPG I play online). We used to have the bundle of phone, internet, & cable but with the rising costs of cable we have decided to go with Netflix, Hulu, & Amazon. After he cancelled the cable, there was such a notable decrease in our internet speed. Example, we CANNOT both be on our Xbox 360, one playing World of Tanks (full online play) and the other streaming video. I have done speed tests using my WiFi and cell phone internet share capability, I have attached the results. He is looking to switch to Comcast...which he hates. P.S. Digital Gods forbid that I try to download files from my OneDrive while loading a webpage...on my desktop PC....through LAN connection. | |
|
| |
Review by karpodiem - Location: Troy, Oakland, MI, USA
- Cost: $55 per month
- Install: about 4 days
- No Cap
Fastest HFC provider around None Great value, very fast internet speeds
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:
|
Returned to Wide Open West in September 2017, after cancelling Comcast due to Comcast's impending picture quality downgrade (» Re: [HD] MPEG-4 Migration ("HD Enhanced Program")) - ordered the 500mbit downstream / 50mbit upstream internet service along with the 'Large' cable TV package. While I don't receive all of this speed, I'm very happy with the speeds I'm getting - *Edit - someone recommended the Speedtest.net Windows store app - » www.microsoft.com/en-us/ ··· ncrfj1wgResults - » www.dropbox.com/s/dy2t98 ··· png?dl=0Installation was flawless - had a great installer, Jeremy. We were able to get four TiVo HD 652160's up and running in about two hours. I own my own model - a SB6190. I have promotional pricing that puts the bill at $140ish - I'll include a picture of it once I receive my first bill. I have this promotional pricing for two years - off promo, the price is $167. Update 2020-05-03 - Dumped TV service and was put on a $55/month plan for 500Mbit down / 50Mbit up. Great deal! Attachments: member for 15.8 years, 4461 visits, last login: a few hours ago updated 3.8 years ago
Review by jt11220 - Location: Knoxville, Knox, TN, USA
- Cost: $40 per month (24 month contract)
- No Cap
Fairly cheap and consistent. It can be hard to get a hold of support. For $40 It just works and I don't have to think about it.
| |
We are on the 100/10 package. I have my own cable modem (Motorola SB6121) so no rental fees. We started out at 30/5 and about a year ago I called and asked for the same deal new customers get and eventually they bumped my speed up for the same price. Another nice thing is that my IP address tends to stay the same for 6-12 months at time. Really though it hands off to my Edge Route Lite and consistently works as advertised. member for 16.2 years, 32 visits, last login: 112 days ago lodged 3.8 years ago
|