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Review by Albo23 
Posted: 1.3 years ago
member for 3.5 years, 109 visits, last login: 87 days ago
 Sterling Heights,Macomb,MI
 $89 per month (24 month contract)
 about 7 days
 "Speed is higher than advertised. Reliable. Good customer service."
 "Bad cable menu. OnDemand is lacking."
 "Get them, now."
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In a Comcast ruled area, WOW! really shows its colors.
WOW! has done everything right for me. From order to now, months later. There are rarely any dropouts.
I get Advanced Phone, 4Mbps Internet, and Digital Value. The speed I actually get is about 4.5Mbps. The cable is very reliable and so is the phone. Everything was set-up within an hour.
I definitely recommend WOW! to everyone and anyone I know. Comcast is just horrendous in this area. They constantly gave me dropouts on the internet and the WOW! technician told me it was because our in-line was split four time before it got to our computer.
I have also heard you get a few free HD Channels over Clear QAM but I'll update you guys in about a month when I get my new HDTV.
P.S. WOW! is a very competitive company. Make sure you tell them while you're signing up that you want a higher internet speed or you will stick with your current provider, or if you are already signed up threaten to switch until they up your speed or give you more channels. I promise, if you are still in your base package with what you signed up on, they will give you a discount.
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Review by karpodiem
Posted: 1.3 years ago
member for 1.5 years, 374 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Troy,Oakland,MI
$105 per month
about 4 days
"Good, stable service. Priced well for a recession economy"
"More choices, even if I wanted to pay extra, would have been nice"
"Great value, rock solid stability."
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I've had WoW for about 4 years now. My experience has been mostly positive; my internet connection has been stable and my digital basic TV subscription works fine. No complaints here at all, they've done a great job keeping everything rock steady. $105/month for 4mbit internet, basic cable, and VoIP.
Hopefully WoW will raise the internet speeds, however I'm fine with 4Mbit/600kbit as of right now.
Because I get a pretty good deal from WoW and don't want to change anything, I ordered the Dish Turbo HD Gold package earlier this morning. Hopefully that will fill the gap the WoW currently has left open in terms of programming choices (especially HD), but with the metro-Detroit area still very much in the rut of a recession, WoW's pricing can't be beat.
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Review by kevincash007
Posted: 1.3 years ago
member for 1.3 years, 1 visits, last login: 1.2 years ago
Columbus,Franklin,OH
$54 per month
"the price is right, however you get what you pay for!"
"WOW is like the used car salesmen of ISP's"
"If you live in the (614) OHIO get roadrunner, not WOW."
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i have had wow for about 4 years and just in the last month there have been so many issues with my internet that i have had to call the out to my home every weekend for three straight weeks. I have been realy into on line games since the PS3 came out. I often play online with my brother who also has WOW (and lives less than 5 miles from me).
I upgraded to their (so called) fastest connection to help the re-occurring lag issues when playing online to no avail. i will be calling them after this email to cancel my services and jump to road runner.
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Review by dnosotti
Posted: 1.3 years ago
member for 4.4 years, 75 visits, last login: 83 days ago
Saint Clair Shores,Macomb,MI
Contract price not specified.
about 4 days
"Connection exceeds rated speed. Reliable"
"None so far!"
"Exceeds expectaions"
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I switched from AT&T DSL to WOW cable only because it was cheaper as a bundle services. I also have telephone and cable TV service with WOW.
The $99.95 a month bundle includes 2.0 mps speed cable.
The order and installation went smoothly. The installer was on time and there were no problems.
I was pleasantly surprised to see the speed tests indicating the actual speeds were in excess of rated speeds. My experience with AT&T DSL indicated that actual speeds were significantly less than rated.
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Review by CrimsonChaos
UPDATED: 1.4 years ago
member for 7.3 years, 73 visits, last login: 1.1 years ago
North Royalton,Cuyahoga,OH
$99 per month
"Well, they installed quickly..."
"The Internet was slow, the DVR didn't work, and the phone wouldn't accept incoming calls..."
"DO NOT GET WOW *PERIOD*"
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Frankly, I'd rather NO ONE get WOW, due to their false advertising practices. But I realize some regions may have fared better than I have with this company. Plus, I guess everyone falsely advertises these days.
I was going to switch to WOW (from Time Warner) because of the $99/month deal they were offering for Cable, Phone, and Internet with free DVR - NO RISK, MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. At the time I was paying Time Warner about $110/month for just Cable and Internet.
They came out and installed the equipment without a hitch. They said the phone would be activated the next day, and something about letting the Internet run a day if it seems slow at first.
Well a few days went by, and while I was able to place outgoing calls on my phone, but I was not able to receive incoming calls. Fortunately, I discovered this only because we bought a new phone and I wanted to hear how loud the ringer was. So I called myself from my cellphone, just to find it was not working.
Additionally, the Internet speeds were VERY inconsistent. It could range anywhere between LESS THAN 1 Mbps to about 5Mbps. Now, I realizes that when a company advertises "up to 6Mbps" that you might not expect it to always be 6Mbps. But many times, especially in the evenings, the speed fell drastically and even under 1 Mbps. My wife could even tell how slow the Internet was compared to Time Warner.
And lastly, the DVR would lock up quite often. I had to reboot it (and sometimes call WOW to have them reset something), which was a major inconvenience. Other than that the DVR was fine. The PIP worked nicely, and the recording features were great.
So I called Tech Support. Their message said "due to increased volume from the $99/mo promotion, wait times may be longer than normal". So in other words you launched a promotion but didn't hire enough support to accomodate? Brilliant. Of course, as they predicted, my wait was rather lengthy - over 1/2 hour! The good news is when someone answered, they spoke English and were helpful. They said they would have the phone fixed by tomorrow, and that they would send out a technician to check my Internet.
Well the phone never did work, but a Technician did come out two days later. He told me that the reason the Internet was slow was because WOW's "taps" are not as large as Time Warner's. He then proceeded to tell me that I would likely never have the speed that Time Warner gave me because of their smaller "taps". Ok, I admit I have no idea what a "tap" is, but is this really what you tell a paying customer? Like, do you have any plans on increasing the size of your "taps" (if this is really even the problem)? Do you think something might be done so you can deliver speeds that are competitive with Time Warner?? The good thing is at least he got my phone working.
So after some e-mails back and forth with WOW's tech support about the Internet speed, basically they said nothing could be done about it. So I cancelled the service, after just about 1.5 weeks of having it. Do you know they sent me a bill for $99? And do you know I've sent letters to them explaining their advertisement said NO RISK, MONEY BACK GUARANTEE? Basically they are trying to charge me $99 for 1.5 weeks of service that never worked properly. And get this, THEY WILL NOT CREDIT MY ACCOUNT.
So I called Time Warner, who was able to offer me something called "Triple Play", which was also $99/month for Cable, Internet, and Phone (though no DVR). And hey, guess what - everything worked perfectly as soon as it was installed! Seriously, when Time Warner is beating you in every facet of providing service and customer support, you have some MAJOR ISSUES. Not that I think any WOW people are reading this as they're too busy sending out false advertisements, but GET A CLUE, WOW. I will be telling every single person I know NOT to get your service, or to switch off if they already have it.
Followup comments:  
jmr
@wideopenwest.com | I disagree I have WOW and pretty much the exact opposite thing happened to me. I was getting inconsistent speeds with Time Warner and now I have higher than advertised speeds with WOW. | |
| | CrimsonChaos
join:2002-07-28
North Royalton, OH
 ·WOW Internet and C..
·RoadRunner Cable
1 edit | Re: I disagree That's fine. If you read the 1st paragraph I said other people may have fared better.
I guess I just have a bitter taste in my mouth about the whole experience because they are trying to charge me $99 for what amounted to crappy service for 1.5 weeks.
Like I said - if you're going to make a money-back guarantee, stick to it. The customer shouldn't have to fight you to keep your word. | |
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jmr
@wideopenwest.com | Re: I disagree I agree that they should honor the money back guarantee. It just surprises me that their service quality varies by so much... I am in the Cleveland area, too. Not disagreeing with you. | |
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Ispeedster
| I disagree as well. WOW has been a wonderful service provider with the best service of any cable/ internet/ phone provider I have experienced in the last 24 years.
Obviously, the person registering the complaint is an isolated case, which I am sure WOW would be happy to have the opportunity to make amends. WOW has ranked number one in the annual JD Powers Survey for customer satisfaction among all cable providers for the last three years. | |
| doncaruana
join:2008-05-01
Northville, MI
1 edit | Not so isolated WOW has been abysmal (metro Detroit). Their network can't handle VOIP, the DVR frequently - and inexplicably - just skips recording shows. This evening, I specifically deleted some shows so the stuff I had set for recording would have room. I come back later - it skipped 3 shows. Of the other 3, one only recorded 6 minutes of a half hour show (no clue why) and one wouldn't actually play back. So I got to watch one hour of four and a half.
Why wouldn't one playback? Because the cable signal is so bad here (it's up and down - works fine for a week, sucks for a week, etc).
Customer service? Yeah, right. Haven't done jack so far... | |
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Review by ranchwhere4
UPDATED: 1.4 years ago
member for 6.5 years, 5 visits, last login: 1.4 years ago
Columbus,Franklin,OH
Contract price not specified.
"3 IP's, allow Mail/Web/FTP/PBX servers to run"
"Repair Appts. take too long, new modem not as good as the really old worn out one"
"For us, the freedom is essential."
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Update 07-16-08:
Well after swapping modems a few times...and missing a service call, I got the QA tech out today. He came in place of the regular tech. because of the errors we were throwing in Wow's Network Center. Turns out they've changed the signal. My roommate had replaced a garbage splitter (on the outside) with a better one. One that had a high frequency range than the TWO it replaced. However, still not a high enough range for the current signal. The QA guy said our upload was all messed up. So far, the dig. STB that had a horrible picture and could do no On-Demand, is working like a champ. I guess we'll say, that if I'm not back in a day or 2, the internet connection is staying up, and all of the hassle was our own fault! lolol
As far as their new modems, they're the "shrunken" Scientific Atlanta Webstar...these modems still run too hot (as they have for 12-15 years now to shrink!!). There's a model that's between the old reliable that up and died and this new one that they said they'd put me on per my request.
When they do have an outage, I must be the first in my area to call (always). My neighborhood (Clintonville) is almost 100 years old, so the utilities can be touch and go.
Everything is run on poles in the alley, copper POTS from MaBell (oh wait, Grand Daughter Bell), then Wow fiber, then Warner fiber, then way up top the power. It's kinda scary to look at. Most phone lines have been replaced, water/sewer constantly being "renewed". On Road Runner, there were intermittent issues that usually had to do with components up the line from us, that were worn-out. The Warner lines were the first 2 way cable in the country:
»www.media-visions.com/itv-qube.html
»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QUBE
So, the techs would have to schedule a cherry picker truck to come out and replace parts every once in a while, that got old.
Here in Columbus, most are on Time Warner, some on ATT DSL, some on RR thru Insight. I've had experience with all. And would choose WOW hands down. Insight is the worst cust. serv. ATT, well, "for the last 100 years all they've changed is their prices", Warner, sent a nasty letter to a co-worker who worked remotely at a friend's house, using friend's RR for a VOIP client phone and using our SSL website. Time Warner's nastygram stated that the connection was used for biz purposes blah blah. 1 day, SIX hours, on a secure website w/ a voip phone. The real problem must have been that Warner wasn't making money on the phone. We have an asterisk PBX, an employer that has bulk trunk deals and has ported our phone to that trunk, run the "hardened" Asterisk on its OWN IP addy...ney a word from WOW. Neither have FTP/Web/Email servers ever been a problem. Only once has a nastygram come from WOW in about 4-5 years of total service (have played them and Warner against each other a couple of times for pricing deals...and not worth doing that now)....was a letter about some "alleged" software (4 years old at the time) who's author had recently been acquired by the Evilest of all Evil, the Sony Corp. The letter was a VERY LIGHT slap on the wrist about some "alleged" torrenting. Not the "alleged" torrenting itself, but rather that Sony snivels like no other (to the ISPs)...and basically stay away from them. Roger that ISP, don't want you to "alleged" get sniviled at either 
Am curious what the "new" speeds they are boosting to will be this summer. Here's the summary of our speeds with speedtest.net for 2008. There was 1 of the 18 tests where the speed was below 2m (urrgh) throw that one out and they're keeping the speed we pay for.
Last Test Date: 6/24/2008
Total Tests Taken: 18
Fastest Download: 7722 kb/s
Fastest Upload: 1101 kb/s
Average Download: 5576 kb/s
Average Upload: 991 kb/s
Lastly, we've got a VOIP to analog converter tapped into the old Dmark, so all the analog phones still work. I've tried some dialup thru the PBX, getting about 52-53k as opposed to ATT (Bell Jr's) copper getting 46-48k. Nice. And faxing anywhere for free, DISA callback for a "free line" to my cell. With websites like hulu.com we're so close to telling Wow, drop the TV and give that bandwidth to mah InnerWeb!
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 Review by Phoenix2088
UPDATED: 1.4 years ago
member for 7 years, 2580 visits, last login: 3 days ago
Strongsville,Cuyahoga,OH
$40 per month
about 14 days
"Speed, Reliablity, Price, Tech & Customer Support"
"None"
"Overall great & reliable service"
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Review by johril
UPDATED: 1.4 years ago
member for 1.4 years, 1 visits, last login: 1.4 years ago
Columbus,Franklin,OH
$103 per month
"channels and internet speed as advertised, CCI flag copy freely on non-premuim digital channels"
"extremely painful installation"
"fine once installed"
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I wanted the digital basic cable package and 6mbps down / 1mbps up internet connection. $94.99 advertised on website. Also needed multistream cable card for Tivo HD instead of STB, and an additional wall outlet and wire drop from the second floor of two-story house. Tried to specify all that on the "order now" section of the website -- could not, so called pre-sales. I clearly stated all that and the CSR seemed to understand. Tech arrived on time. After an hour, he determined that the outdoor pedestal was bad, so nothing was installed. Had to reschedule. Second appointment a week later. Tech arrived an hour-and-a-half late. Installed wire from pedestal to house, 2 single-stream cable cards (didn't carry mulitstream), and cable modem successfully. Tech stated that he could not install wire drop/panel because it was not on his work order, and he did not have time to do the work. Had to reschedule a third appointment. Another tech arrived the day before the third appointment unscheduled to bury the cable running through my yard. Called CS the day of the appt to see if they could compensate this drop/panel any way. CSR offered $5, which I found unacceptable. I cancelled the appt. Also found out that the service notes for the second appt were for a "video upgrade", when in fact it was to activate new service.
Obvious communications problems between CS and techs. Both of my service calls were handled by a local sub-contracted company.
Days from order to success: still unfinished, but i have service
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Review by tiesto
UPDATED: 1.4 years ago
member for 2.5 years, 20 visits, last login: 1.2 years ago
Naperville,Dupage,IL
$120 per month
about 200 days
"Good customer service and installation team."
"Choppy at times, not as many services"
"Good choice for now until more ISP's are in the area."
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Review by akwoolf
UPDATED: 1.5 years ago
member for 5 years, 20 visits, last login: 1 year ago
Plymouth,Wayne,MI
$63 per month
about 2 days
"Consistent Download speeds. Great customer service. D/U = 6/1"
"Couldn't get advertised speeds with my own Motorola Surfboard Cable Modem. One issue with sub-par RG6 cable installation."
"WOW has always been fairly responsive to any issues I have faced over the past 5 years or so. (2 issues over 5 years, not bad)"
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Awesome service!! Great customer relations. Definitely recommended to anyone with the option to obtain WOW service.
Only one issue:
WOW came out to bury a cable that was previously run overhead. (Tree branch took out the line during a wind storm) They were VERY fast in responding - within 3 hours, in fact. (I appreciated this!) There were two issues with the installation that I faced. One was that the connection to the box on the main overhead line was not spliced properly. The cable actually fell out of the compression fitting within a day or so. (Simple oversight, I am sure) I was able to get his simple issue repaired, but then a few days later I noticed that the cable was dangling from the connection to the main line. The installer had not adequately secured the line to the pole, which it ran down to reach a box.
The fact that this was the only real issue speaks volumes for their service. Generally speaking, I would say that the installers are the weakest link of my service, including DirecTV, which I have been a happy member of for over 5 years. This is not a knock on installers as a whole, just a comparison of all of my experiences with individuals within the company, installers have been the ones with whom I have had any issues.
WOW= Great service, Awesome staff. Get it!
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Pay for the speed we receive...?