dslreports logo

Review by Bornloser See Profile

  • Location: Cleveland, Cuyahoga, OH, USA
  • Cost: $119 per month
Good customer service, good package deal and very reliable service.
None yet.
Would highly recommend.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I've had the cable/phone/internet package for a few years now and have had very reliable service. Just recently contacted customer service and was able to upgrade internet service for just about the same price that I was paying previously. Their customer service people are the greatest!! I downgraded their service at end of 2012 because I am the only one in the household now. Everything went smoothly and I saved a lot of money.

UPDATE: Moved out of the Cleveland, Ohio area in May of 2013. Very sad to say that I am no longer with WOW. I now have TWC (no other option). I miss WOW a lot. After the downgrade with WOW, I was paying $85.00 a month. The same package with TWC is $120.00 a month. As soon as an alternative is available in the area of Portage county I am in, I will definitely look into it.

member for 21.5 years, 7245 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 10.7 years ago


Review by mrvelous01 See Profile

  • Location: Ferndale, Oakland, MI, USA
  • Cost: $127 per month
excellent consistent internet speed
do not offer 105mb download package yet
Excellent customer service, willing to negotiate price/packages
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I have been with WOW for 8 years. Previously Comcrap then ATT DSL/Dish. Any time I have issues (rare) WOW is quick to respond. They typically leapfrog Comcrap in this area for internet speed advancements though they're behind right now. Got a good explanation from WOW the other day that Comcrap speeds are not guaranteed and that they (Comcrap) have no local limits to the number of connections per "node" so performance can suffer. I attempted to switch to Comcrap last week but found out at the last minute that they LIED about the package they sold me, neglected to tell me about all the promotional pricing that was good only for 6 months, then tried to basically bribe me into continuing the install. I did not. I'm glad I didn't switch. WOW is consistent and friendly and willing to adjust pricing. See my review in forums for details.

member for 12.4 years, 22 visits, last login: 1.2 years ago
lodged 10.7 years ago


Stell
@wideopenwest.com

Stell

Anon

Terrible

Worst cable ever. They raise the price and the service continues to get worse. Picture keeps skipping and you catch every other word on the sound. If you have a choice make sure this isn't one of them
thedark3rd
join:2013-07-04
Augusta, GA

thedark3rd

Member

Augusta Knology changed over to WOW - not happy :-(

Used to be able to contact Knology in Augusta to manage my internet service 24/7, without hiccup or problem in getting services modified, changed. Wanted to provision my router as my gateway to the ISP, and find out why my usenet access wasn't working.
Found out usenet service has been dropped due to a lack of use (by who?) and the people who handle reprovisioning the modem device are not available...

Not happy, and really considering changing service for the first time in 12 years. So long Knology - I will so miss you.

Review by AlgUSF See Profile

  • Location: Seminole, Pinellas, FL, USA
  • Cost: $40 per month
  • Install: about 5 days
15/2 Broadband for $20/mo less than Brighthouse's 10/1 standard RR.
Ping times are a little high.
Good value for the money
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

My wife and I had Brighthouse Cable and Internet since we bought our house 4 years ago. We went with DirecTV for cable and were stuck at ~60/mo for just Internet. Since FIOS wasn't available in our neighborhood we decided to give Wow! a shot. Wow! bought Knology who bought out the old GTE Americast cable system from the late 1990's. For 60/mo with BH we were getting 10/1 service, and now we have 15/2 service with Wow!

The woman on the phone was very courteous and upfront with all of the prices, and fees. We decided to forgo the modem rental and grabbed our own DOCSIS 2.0 modem to save the $5/mo.

The gentleman who came to install our service was extremely friendly, and made sure to install it the way that we requested. The install was very professional looking. He told us that a burial crew would be here within 7-10 days to bury the cable, and they were out the next day burying the wire. I am happy that Wow! has their installers ground to the electrical meter as opposed to the water line like Brighthouse and Verizon do. Not to mention that it is one less unsightly box next to my pool.

Speeds are as promised, but the latency seems a little high.

member for 10.9 years, 17 visits, last login: 7.2 years ago
lodged 10.8 years ago


Review by jkowols See Profile

  • Location: Mount Prospect, Cook, IL, USA
  • Cost: $130 per month (18 month contract)
Picture quality, features, whole house dvr with 6 tuners,
Router funtions are limited
Over all good, just need to work out the issues
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:



After 27 year s with Comcast, we were tired of the steady rate increases
with little or no consideration for being a long time customer. Here is a
review of our WOW Ultra TV installation which was completed this week



Pros:

Picture quality is good on all 3 tvs with Media Players

TV that is directly hooked up receives a lot of channels and local broadcast
in HD - overall picture quality is good

Channel lineup for the price is good

DVR functions & options are good

Installation was on-time and went well with one exception. I had ordered a
cable card for my HD HomeRun Prime. When the installer arrived I was told
that it would not work and he took it with him. So I called the salesman and
complained. 2 days later the same installer was back with a cable card. It
works and I receive the same channel lineup on the cable card that I do on
the media players. Problem solved



Cons:

Internet speeds good be better. Really don't want to add another $20 to the
monthly bill to upgrade to the 30 Mbps speed



Gateway/Router - Mine is in the crawl space so I don't use it for wireless.
I have a separate AP for that. The biggest problem is that I have not been
able to port forward my IP cameras. I spent an hour with tier 3 support with
no success. According to WOW it is setup correctly, just not working. The
device itself is slow to change menus, which does not help with the setup. I
found the solution posted by another member that uses my old router after
it has been setup as a DMZ device. Unless WOW comes up with a better idea,
I may need to try that



Phone - Limited options in setup. For example, I would like to adjust the #
of rings before the voice mail kicks in. If this is do-able, I can't find it



Overall we are happy, in spite of a few bumps in the road. However, I will
be happier when I can see my IP cameras from outside the house. The switch
to WOW is saving us $50 / month over Comcast and that makes us very happy

member for 10.9 years, 71 visits, last login: 9.9 years ago
updated 10.9 years ago


Sjjdjb
@wideopenwest.com

Sjjdjb

Anon

Tech support?

Tech didn't understand the cable card the first time?
Your cameras didn't work and going through different levels of support they still don't?

How can you give tech support 100%?
jkowols
join:2013-05-06
Mount Prospect, IL

jkowols

Member

Re: Tech support?

Well, maybe 100% was being too kind, but since then the issues with the IP cameras and the cable card have been resolved and I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. During all of the years with Comcast, they were far from perfect too

On the negative side we have had to reset the gateway a few times. Hopefully last nights software upgrade resolves the problems

Review by JG526 See Profile

  • Location: South Lyon, Oakland, MI, USA
  • Cost: $80 per month
  • Install: about 20 days
Good installation, Getting advertised speeds, prices, no contract
None yet
Happy with new WOW internet & phone service
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

New service that was installed approximately 3 weeks ago. The tech showed during scheduled time period & did a nice clean install. Order the 15/1 plan and am getting advertised speeds. Paying $80 per month for internet & phone with a price lock until 2015. Only minor disappointment was the older Arris TM402g modem they provided me. Will update if any issues come up.

member for 10.9 years, 1156 visits, last login: 3.8 years ago
lodged 10.9 years ago







Review by MikeC9 See Profile

  • Location: Des Plaines, Cook, IL, USA
  • Cost: $130 per month
  • Install: about 1 days
Whole house DVR and great menu system.
Record 6 shows at once and faster internet than Comcast for less.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Sales people are real nice and try there best to give you the right information. Installer was great, explaining how to use things and programming the remotes for all my stereo devices. Internet speed is way better, no lag around early evening when everyone gets home. The picture and sound are better, really surprised by that. DVR expansion you can attach a esata drive to your DVR. Looks like you can also stream from your windows media pc to the cable boxes.

member for 22.5 years, 3568 visits, last login: 10.9 years ago
updated 11.1 years ago


Review by Richard8655 See Profile

  • Location: Glen Ellyn, Du Page, IL, USA
  • Cost: $75 per month
Cost is probably more reasonable than the competition
Poor choice of intelligent channels. Almost no public TV. Mostly low brow channels.
Fair. Pricing is good, but channel choices offer little for the intelligent viewer.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Lack of Public TV channels. Lack of intelligent channel choices.

With the start of digital TV, our (Chicago) public TV stations are now also broadcasting subchannels. Our 2 public stations each have a couple additional channels of great, intelligent programming.

But expect WOW to carry them in their Chicagoland cable line-up? No, of course not. We're too dumbed down, and only want wrestling and the usual mass entertainment. Even the competition here (Comcast and U-verse) carry them. But WOW, of course not.

I've rigged an outside antenna in pulling them in (for free). All the more reason to consider dropping WOW. In addition, only 1 of the 2 public TV channels is in HD on WOW. On top of that, WOW offers no on-demand feature for any of the Chicago public TV channels.

Additional intelligent channels such as Current TV and Sundance channels are also completely unavailable. Again, these are offered by WOW's competition in Chicagoland - Comcast and U-verse.

This is why the fair rating. If the pricing wasn't so good, I'd switch to one of the competition.

member for 11.1 years, 304 visits, last login: 8 years ago
lodged 11.1 years ago


Ygvygv
@wideopenwest.com

Ygvygv

Anon

TiVo

This is why I love TiVo. Combines cable and antenna into one channel line up. Seem less to the user what the source is unless you know what numbers go with what.

Review by mrbeerrjg

  • Location: Clinton Township, Macomb, MI, USA
  • Cost: $135 per month
Customer service when you can get them
Being able to reach them by phone
Terrible to connect to by phone.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:



WOW or WowWay had one of the best ratings for customer service. Now you can
never call in and get a customer service representative. Today I called
in, got the phone message that the wait time was more than 20 minutes. I
put the phone on the speaker and set next to me. The automated system at
WOW, asked what service I wanted, and I pushed the number 1, and waited, 20
minutes later, it again asked me what service I wanted, and I pushed 1
again and waited. Next I hear them trying to connect me and then I get a
busy signal. Being retired, I tried again and after 15 minutes I did get a
customer service rep and he handled my problem. I do not have a problem
with any of their customer service reps or the installers they have, it is
their phone service trying to get connected to them.

(review was emailed from domain gmail.com)
lodged 11.2 years ago


Review by doyling See Profile

  • Location: Schaumburg, Cook, IL, USA
  • Cost: $120 per month (12 month contract)
Good Tech's when you need them
Can't reach customer service lately
Generally Happy
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I have been with WOW for around 12 years or so. Generally really happy with their service. Yes prices go up, but not as bad as it could be. Reliability is generally good, some trips here and there but in general very stable. I love the 30/3 internet, quick but not sure if I have a QOS/Router issue or not but at this bandwidth I sould be able to run Vonage on the high setting.

member for 19.5 years, 180 visits, last login: 102 days ago
updated 11.2 years ago

voltageme5
join:2004-09-23
Columbus, OH

voltageme5

Member

From a cable man's perspective

as a former inhouse WOW technician, i can say there appears to be a signal issue.

how often does the cable light blink on the modem?

try bypassing the router and hook up the pc directly to the modem for a while to see if you have the same issue. there have been service calls that i have run on where the problem ended up being the router.

as far as the dedicated line, its not always necessary to have a dedicated line to the modem. it depends on the signal strength. but this you can check on your own by visiting the diagnostic page of the modem. open up your browser and goto 192.168.100.1. this should bring up the modem diagnostic page where you can view the signal strength for the transmit and receive. this will tell you if there is an issue with the cable or not.

it may ask you for a password to log in. this will depend on the type of modem you have. if it is a hitron modem, type user=admin and password=hitron. if it is a black webstar type user=admin pass=w2402.

you want your receive to be no less than -9 and the transmit to be no more than 52. if either one of these is out of range, then you need a dedicated line.

for only being there 15 minutes, it sounds like the installer just picked a tv outlet and put on a splitter to the modem. the easiest way for him to do it and leave.

hope this helps.

imrf
Premium Member
join:2002-06-06
Utica, MI

imrf

Premium Member

Re: From a cable man's perspective

said by voltageme5:
you want your receive to be no less than -9 and the transmit to be no more than 52. if either one of these is out of range, then you need a dedicated line.

As per the DOCSIS specs,
Downstream power: -15..+15 dbmV
Carrier to noise: Normal in 30..38 dB range
Upstream power: Normal range 30..55 dbmV

If the signals are out of those specs, a WOW tech will be required to fix the issue. A separate drop to a modem should never be needed, and usually never allowed as there are not enough ports on most taps to allow this. If he is out of the DOCSIS specs, which WOW must adhere to, then his segment on the node is out of spec and needs a proper sweep and balance of the power.
voltageme
join:2001-06-10
Dublin, OH

voltageme

Member

Re: From a cable man's perspective

on our system if you are lower than -10 on the receive than you are risking unstable connectivity. your return you do not want to be less than 35 if possible but it will work down to 30. as far as the signal to noise, you want to be at least 33. the higher the better, if you go much lower than you may have problems.

but if the levels are good than there may be an issue on the plant or the node.

but when i said dedicated line, i certainly did not mean from the tap, but rather the end of the drop at the first splitter.

doyling
join:2004-09-22
Ingleside, IL

doyling to voltageme5

Member

to voltageme5
Thanks. I had to pull the feed again this morning. Looking at the log I see the following.

Cable lost FEC Lock
Lost Sync
DHCP Renew field invalid in response
Unicast Maintenance Ranging invalid response
voltageme5
join:2004-09-23
Columbus, OH

voltageme5

Member

Re: From a cable man's perspective

your best bet is to call in to the tech support and tell them what you are seeing from the diagnostic page, as well as the tech who comes to fix it for the last time.

if the service tech is not checking the diagnostic page in the modem, then he is not doing his job.






Review by AlexE4 See Profile

  • Location: Park Ridge, Cook, IL, USA
  • Cost: $114 per month
  • Install: about 1 days
UltraTV UI is great, service is priced very competitively!
Various minor tech issues, nothing too severe
Great service, great technology and a low price. What else can you ask for?
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Let me start out by saying I was a loyal Comcast customer for about 6 years, and before that I was with ATT (for internet). I really liked comcast and had no issues with it in my area, but each year I'd have to call and try and find deals to keep my bill down. I finally got tired of it and after WOW upgraded their system to DOCSIS 3.0 and offered speeds comparable to comcast, I jumped ship and switched. I went with UltraTV and the basic Digital Cable package, which includes virtually all the channels I had with comcast as a "Digital Preferred" package customer, plus Starz for free! I highly recommend UltraTV to anyone who is looking for an alternative to the severely outdated iGuide UI on the comcast moto boxes, as it's clean, looks great, and has loads more functionality than anything comcast has to date. I have UltraTV, 15/2 internet, 2 media players (included w/ UltraTV), and a cable card with HDHomerun Prime. I haven't had any service issues and would highly recommend WOW over Comcast, especially for anyone looking to save a few bucks and keep the same level of service, with a few extra perks! The main complaint about WOW currently is that the customer support has been horrid lately. This is due to WOW recently upgrading/overhauling their billing system, which has caused a LOT of issues with customers, and the resolution to these issues is to call support. Calling support however, results in extremely long wait times due to all these new issues arising...

Personally, I haven't had any issues during this billing switch over, so I can't complain, but there are plenty of people who have had issues so just be warned. If you sign up now/ in the next few weeks, you may be met with long hold times if you attempt to call the support line.

Bottom line here is that I'm happy with WOW, the support community on these forums both by others and by a WOW tech himself is great and you can get many issues resolved just by posting here. I'd recommend WOW to anyone, and DO recommend it to everyone that asks about it!

member for 17.2 years, 364 visits, last login: 6.1 years ago
lodged 11.2 years ago

adam1991
join:2012-06-16
united state

adam1991

Member

No 15/2 speeds to new customers, sorry

WOW doesn't offer 15/2 to new customers. You have 15/1, 30/3, or 50/5.

chachster
Premium Member
join:2002-08-07
Westerville, OH

chachster

Premium Member

Re: No 15/2 speeds to new customers, sorry

Actually I am getting 15/2 speeds even though my bill lists my internet as 15/1, so it could be that the reviewer is getting those speeds. I've had 15/2 speeds since I had it installed end of September.

AlexE4
join:2006-12-16
Chicago, IL

AlexE4

Member

Re: No 15/2 speeds to new customers, sorry

True, it's advertised as 15/1 but it seems as though most people, including myself, receive 15/2.
adam1991
join:2012-06-16
united state

adam1991

Member

Re: No 15/2 speeds to new customers, sorry

Well, just to let you know. When your u/l speed drops to 1 Mbps, don't scream and yell.

For awhile, those of us who got grandfathered to 15/2 were getting only 15/1; after some investigation by WOW Dan (and insistence by CS that "there's no 15/2, therefore you're getting the correct product"), he found the glitch and restored us.

He may have actually had to set everybody to 2 up, and/or it may be a mistake that will be caught.

Just so you know.
mogamer
join:2011-04-20
Royal Oak, MI

mogamer

Member

Re: No 15/2 speeds to new customers, sorry

said by adam1991:

Well, just to let you know. When your u/l speed drops to 1 Mbps, don't scream and yell.

For awhile, those of us who got grandfathered to 15/2 were getting only 15/1; after some investigation by WOW Dan (and insistence by CS that "there's no 15/2, therefore you're getting the correct product"), he found the glitch and restored us.

He may have actually had to set everybody to 2 up, and/or it may be a mistake that will be caught.

Just so you know.

I only had 8/1 and upgraded to 15/1 when 8/1 was being phased out. I received the 15/2 upgrade when it happened. So I believe that most customers probably got it.