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Review by boontonflyer 
member for 7.6 years, 1757 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 3.5 years ago
 Ringoes,Hunterdon,NJ
 $250 per month about 10 days "Connection Reliability, HS Int. (speeds),now(7.2Mb/1.2Mb)" "Fouling up billsleads to provisioning errors and painful problem resolution." "Good services [CATV,HS Internet & Digital Phone], Problem resolution slow and difficult"
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April 6,2006 Several multi-day outages (over the last five months) caused us to pull one of the digital phone lines back and have "ported" it over to Sprint[ to assure connection reliability]. Line is fax line on which we are having a DSL connection added. Have had to buy a Dual WAN input router to handle the addn'l input source. Note:One of household users needs the "business day" connection all day /every day and could not stand the multi-day outages. Still have issues with how "Tech. help desk" handles calls and wastes time going through their "canned routine" without basic questions (ie. did PM make a provisioning change on your account recently?, have you been able to direct connect to the modem and get an IP etc.?, ).
Have used PatMedia(and predcessor RCN before them) for ~ three years. Progressed from CATV(analog>>digital[w/DVR;s]): HS Internet(One way to two way now speeds are: /downloads ~~ 6Mb/sec //uploads (`` 768Kb/sec) and Now Digital Phone Service (3 lines). Installation ,Connection Reliability and service has generally been good for the last two years. Some growing pains (ie Digital Phone Service) has not been completely integrated with support features (ie. no phone prompts included for Digital Phone Support). Help desk / support routines are basic and time consuming when you have a problem and they do not include helpful timesaving questions up front like (Have you changed services/contacted us lately that might have affected your services??). Recent billing problems after Digital Phone Service addition caused them to correct it by re-provisioning (Incorrect re-provisioning caused us to lose HS Internet and one of the phone lines). Took four separate calls and ~~ three hours of my time on the phone to correct their problem!! Presently using Dynamic IP(1); Arris cable modem for (CATV/HS Int/Digital Phone). Our network includes: Dual WAN input routers(2), Access Pts(3)
Update Feb. 13, 2007 Speed has increased slightly in past few months (~~ 10Mbps/1Mbps). Arris EMTA (cable modem) has performed great over the last 11months. Haven't had any significant problems with digital phone service/HDTV or HSI over this period. Using Dual WAN routers (w/ Embarg DSL modem as 2nd ISP source). With this set-up wouldn't notice any momentary outages!!
Haven't noticed any outages of service [short of local occasional power outages {JCP&L}]. Although both IP's are technically dynamic we still have the same IP's on Cable /DSL as 11 months ago!!
Service Equip. Summary: HDTV(Four Mot. Dual Tuner STB's, two lines of Digital Phone Service and HSI. Two Dual WAN input Symantec VPN 200 routers, two wireless access points, 16 port switch, four ethernet connected PC's and tthreemore wireless PC's . OS's run from WIN XP to WIN 2000.
Addn'l notes on Aug. 6,2007:
Account Services [ TV, HSI and Phone(2 lines)] have been flawless over the last year!! No billing problems now that we have a stable "suite of services". Until I shut the network down for vacation had the same IP for over a year! Don't know how customer service has changed since I have had no reason to use it in the last year.
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Review by Lazor25
member for 10.6 years, 786 visits, last login: 15 days ago
updated 3.7 years ago
- Princeton,Mercer,NJ
- Contract price not specified.
- "Outages are very rare."
- "1Mbps upload isn't bad, but the company will eventually need to increase that to stay competititve."
- "Good service"
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20Mbps/1Mbps Enhanced Internet Service
The tech showed up to install the hardware at the scheduled time.
This service has been exceptional from the start.
Online gaming is trouble-free, and my download speeds are consistently good. There has been only one service outage since I signed up for the service years ago, but it was fixed within a few hours.
The upload speed could be higher, but for the time being, I don't do anything that requires a faster upstream connection.
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Review by ednj
member for 10.9 years, 1536 visits, last login: 133 days ago
updated 3.9 years ago
- Hillsborough,Somerset,NJ
- $118 per month
- "Usually fast (9 Mbps) downstream and (1 Mbps) upstream"
- "Cost is high"
- "It's the only game in town"
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I've been a customer for years, since the took over from RCN. Overall, they provide a reliable cablemodem service and good digital cable TV. Their digital phone is overpriced so I don't use it. My main complaint is their cost is too high relative to Verizon, but I have no choice here in Hillsborough as we are in Embarq territory and Embarq doesn't provide anything like FIOS. The only option is satellite, but they don't offer a high speed Internet comparable to the cable company, so that is out. If Verizon came to town with FIOS, I would drop Patriot Media in a hearbeat, but alas, that's not likely.
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As of December 4, 2005, Patriot Media has improved their service so that downloads average 6 Mbps and uploads average 760 kbps. I no longer have the service outages nor the long latencies that occured in the past. I am now using Vonage over Patriot Media's cablemodem service and I have cut my cord with my telco provider. So far, no problems with either the cablemodem service nor the Vonage service. I am pleased with the service, but the costs are still high.
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 Review by DaveDude
member for 12.4 years, 4080 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 4.1 years ago
- Skillman,Somerset,NJ
- $39 per month
- about 7 days
- "fast download/upload"
- "sometimes there is latency"
- "Expensive!"
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Patriot is good, but support has caused heartaches. Overall satisfied.
Update:
Patriots impeding sale to comcast has made for very concerned. If my favorite channels disappear, i will either go to direct tv (4 months free), or Verizon. Hopefully someone at PM is listening, and realizes that the less change, the better. If they just add CN8, and comcast sportsnet, i would be happy. Otherwise leave it the same Comcast and keep your expensively acquired customers.
Hello price increases, its was expensive before but now its over the top.
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Review by JLitz
member for 6.5 years, 9 visits, last login: 2.3 years ago
updated 4.5 years ago
- Somerset,Somerset,NJ
- $140 per month
- "Some local Philadelphia television stations are included."
- "Telephone customer service can be poor."
- "I wish there were more choices."
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When I first signed up for there broadband service they didn't honor the discount package I was offered. A week later they said that no such offer had ever existed, and there was no record of such an offer having been offered to me. I'm kind of stuck with cable though. I am too far from the local switch for DSL and I don't like the local channel offerings on satellite generally.
I do like the way that networks of similar interest are generally grouped together. I think we will be loosing this feature, as well as possibly the Philla. channels, when Comcast takes over.
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Review by ColKurtz
member for 7.2 years, 135 visits, last login: 1.3 years ago
lodged 4.6 years ago
- Belle Mead,Somerset,NJ
- $125 per month
- "reasonably stable"
- "overpriced for the service"
- "They are selling themselves to Comcast - FIOS her I come...."
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Dear Steve Simmons,
Thanks for rescuing me from RCN, and generally improving things. However, when you decided to sell out to Comcast, you revealed yourself as a flipper. I had heard from others that this was your M.O. in other parts of the country, but I figured you'd realize the sweet niche you could carve for yourself here in $NJ$. Wrong. Paging Verizon FIOS - white courtesy telephone please...
RCW
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Review by ihateacid
member for 6.7 years, 12 visits, last login: 4.2 years ago
lodged 5 years ago
- Princeton,Mercer,NJ
- $45 per month
- about 2 days
- "Reliable, Fast"
- "Price jumps after promotional plan expires"
- "No Contracts if u dont take a 'promotional plan'"
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I live in an area that only has PatMedia as a choice for TV and Cable, only VerizonDSL as the only other internet source.
I took the Triple Play(Full Basic TV[about 75 non-digital channels}, Unlimited digital Phone, 7/1mbps internet) for about $100, which i believed was a good deal as I needed TV and everything fell together nicely. Home was previously wired, so no installation needed, but a tech rep came and set up the VOIP modem. Speed was in 10% range of the 7/1mbps promised, low ping/latency in gaming. No faults in the system/downtime for the one year I've been contracted to, cant comment on the tech support. The price for just the internet was $30, free modem rental for the promotional period
After one year, the $100 triple play turns into a $145 billing, 50% increase ....
Just the internet service costs $45. I think Verizon FIOS 15/2 costs $50 and 5/2 costs $40 without promotional plan, comparable with my price.
Doesnt appear to have any bandwidth caps. Static IP
Ran this at around 7pm weeknight.
Last Result:
Download Speed: 7030 kbps (878.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 1028 kbps (128.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
The one thing i can say about PatMedia is that it tries to grab new customers while ignoring their old customers. I dont see a promotional plan availble to any customer after the 1-year 'promotional introductory period'. I would say go another plan unless you dont have a choice like me.
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 Review by dmk08809
member for 10.4 years, 1506 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 5.6 years ago
- Clinton,Hunterdon,NJ
- $58 per month
- (6 month contract)
- about 7 days
- "Speeds were genrally ok during off-peak hours, but congested during evening."
- "Quite expensive after 6 mo new customer promo, non-existent tech support, no usenet netnews service."
- "Started out decent but went downhill fast. Arrogant and unwilling to match competitive market prices after initial promo."
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Update 3-July-2006: Good bye and good riddance PatMedia! After getting blown off when asking for a price more favorable than PatMedia's standard $58+/mo I moved back to Sprint/Embarq DSL and couldn't be happier. See forum article »[HSI] Adios Patriot Media! for details.
Update 2-Mar-2006: The alleged upgrade to 7Mbps down/1 Mbps up appears to be the straw that broke the camel's back in terms of latency and peak-hour throughput. PatMedia simply appears to not have enough capacity with their upstream ISP (ATT). Its so bad lately that many apps such as gaming and VoIP are unusable. Tonight I'm seeing 100ms+ just leaving PatMedia's network. Tech Support? You've got to be kidding. Virtually non-existant. Had been in contact with tech support via email but never received much of a followup. Called by phone this evening, the rep wouldn't even hear of the problem -- all she would say was that if the PatMedia-hosted speedtest was bad, then they would look into the cable modem. Forget about trying to convince there is an actual issue here, much less that its on their handoff to ATT... Felt that I was treated like an "idiot user"... Was eventually transferred to another extension that rang, no answer, no voice mail, nothing. Lovely. Spent 15-20 minutes on hold to get basically nowhere and get blown off. Guess these folks really are not much different than their predecessor - RCN. :-( I had really hoped that PatMedia was different and "kept the faith" 'til now.
I have it on good word that Sprint has some new packages coming out in the next couple months which will be very aggressive on pricing and speed packages. Once those packages are announced, it'll be bye-bye to PatMedia. I seriously regret dropping Sprint DSL - their service was great for the 5+ years we had it. Only left them since PatMedia's pricing was more attractive under a 6 month promotion. Guess the saying "you get what you pay for" is all too true in this case.
Oh, as a final note here. The PatMedia installation damage matter was finally resolved acceptably. Their sub-contractor issued a check based on an amount we agreed was a fair settlement.
Update: 12-Feb-2006: After a seemingly decent start, PatMedia's steadily deteriorating network performance has me wondering if moving from Sprint's DSL was an optimal choice. Evening latency to PatMedia's upstream provider has become horrid often making gaming unusable. Forget about VoIP, the network jitter makes tin cans and strings a better option. 6Mbps downstream? Only during early AM hours and daytimes. Evenings I've been lucky to get 1.5Mbps on FTP downloads, and frequently that approaches 500kbps actual thoughput.
Tech support has acknowledged the issue but offers no encouragement as to when/if this will be effectively addressed. Not very happy at the moment and am reconsidering my late-December decision to ditch Sprint DSL. Fortunately PatMedia's installation was "free", and there's no term committment. Oh, yes, still waiting on a final resolution to my house tiles PatMedia's installer shattered on installation (see original post, below).
Original review (circa January 2006):
First I'd like to mention that I'm a Sprint DSL convert to PatMedia's 6Mbps offering. I've had Sprint's service since they first started offering it in my area back in 2001. Upgraded from the original 512k/128k service to 1.5M/256k in 2003. Had fastpath activated to keep latency to a minimum, was very a generally satisfied customer. Over the past year Sprint's 256k upstream speed was becoming a bit slow for my needs and also the promo pricing I had expired. So, I called Sprint to upgrade to 3M/512k service hoping that I can also take advantage of a favorable promo. No go. The higher speed service was available but the pricing was not competitive.
So, given that Patriot Media had a promo for 6 months @ $20/mo, no installation fees & no commitment, I figured what do I have to lose? After the 6 months it's slated to go up to $57/mo (I do not have or need cable TV). After experiencing the horrors of the former RCN cable company serving Clinton, I was a bit distrusting of Pat Media and not fully confident that Patriot was any different than its predecessor. So far, I've been fairly surprised and generally pleased with the connectivity and customer service including the installation. Installer was here on time, needed to run a new drop from the street, cable into the house, etc. It would have been a clean job other than THREE cracked shingles resulting from installer's hammering of cable anchors (I have hard ceramic shingles). Am awaiting a followup from PatMedia on that...
I've only had the service for about 30 hours now so it's hard to comment on how reliable the service is. I can say however that the 6Mbps download speed is "right there" as is the 768kbps upload speed. I've run several throughput tests during the daytime with consistency. Evening hours seem to slow down a bit due to network congestion at PatMedia's handoff to their upstream provider (att.net).
One major drawback to Pat Media's service is the lack of Usenet/Netnews service. This is something they require you to buy from a third party news hosting provider instead of including it in their package. In 6 months once the promo pricing expires it'll be a difficult sell for me to justify paying $57/mo for the cable modem and another ~$15/mo for netnews service which is otherwise included in Sprint's DSL offer. We'll see come June -- this is a competitive industry and lots can happen in 6 months! By that time, I'm told by Sprint, they'll have completed their local division spinoff and will become much more price and feature competitive. With no contracts on the PatMedia service, and also my own hosted private domain, its truly a cinch to switch broadband providers. PatMedia will of course need to respond competively if they wish to keep up with both Sprint's local company spinoff and Verizon's advances depending on the locale being served.
For the time being, I have no regrets about cancelling my DSL broadband and moving to Patriot Media's cable modem broadband service. Ah, you just gotta love competition!
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Review by Digitalis
member for 6 years, 230 visits, last login: 2.5 years ago
lodged 5.8 years ago
- Princeton,Mercer,NJ
- $150 per month
- about 10 days
- "It isn't Verizon and Dish (and it isn't *shudder* RCN)"
- "It isn't Fios either - plus, it will take 6 months to get a correct bill"
- "If you have no choice whatsoever, they can't be beat!"
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Moved into new house end of August / early Septemner 2005. Ordered Cable TV / HDTV / cable modem in late August for installation in early September. Rep was very friendly in explaining various offers, and just got in under the wire for a $29.99 / 12 months cable modem offer. Installer came on day promised, but had no clue as to how to read a Patmedia order form. Said he usually didn't do Patmedia installs. Uh oh. Didn't have HDTV box, but DID have an HDTV / DVR box. What the heck ...
Service was on and working as expected from the start. No outages!
However, it took 6 months and an insane number of phone calls to get a correct bill. First four bills had wrong cable modem charge. First three charged for extra cable TV box. Added HBO, but they only pushed programming to one of three cable boxes.
Customer service is extremely courteous. Billing appears to be handled on one of the outer planets (India is apparently too close), and no one in CS seems to be able to communicate successfully with billing. However, when they start to recognize your voice.at CS, there is something really wrong.
The bill itself is a total mess. They must have a special billing program that makes it nearly impossible to figure out if you're being billed correctly. I guess that's intentional, 'cause they never get the bill right anyway.
The good? My cable modem is rock solid. Even that nasty 100ms lag in the handoff to AT&T seems to have gone away. TV is reliable (though there's a really long lag between when you select a new channel and when the new channel actually shows up, more than any digital TV I'd ever seen before).
I'd really like to go with IP phones, but I'm not really sure I trust Patmedia that much. Patmedia's digital phones cost MORE than Verizon once you get past the first 3 or 6 months. What's with that?
Patmedia isn't really ready for the big time, but when it's all you can get in Princeton, I guess it's pretty good.
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 Review by Asterix
member for 9.4 years, 3047 visits, last login: a few hours ago
lodged 5.8 years ago
- Flemington,Hunterdon,NJ
- $20 per month
- (6 month contract)
- about 5 days
- "Fairly good speeds & reliability"
- "Cost is high after 6 months"
- "I'll keep it for now, but glad they don't have contracts"
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Moved to NJ area in Feb 06 and was pretty sure I will be getting the great OOL as my service provider. Bad luck there. My area was one of those small patches which was covered by Patriot Media.
When I first heard that name I told myself "I am doomed !!!". Had no other choice as I use VoIP and hate POTs DSL services. Though I had SBC Yahoo! DSL back in Connecticut I was not that impressed with the speeds ever. Cable was the only answer for my requirements.
Called customer service the day I moved in. Start was pretty bad. The lady told me I already had cable internet at my place and it needed to be disconnected before they could re-activate it for me on my name. I am like, common !!!. The apartment has been vacant since well over 60 days (as it was under renovation) and you tell me the cable line is still active. After 10 mins of intensive search she found out that she was looking at the wring building number altogether. After taking down the required info I was told the technician will come over and activate the line (since I am a dish user, didn't go for the cable TV package, so it was a simple line activation). they provide a free cable modem for the first 6 months.
On the day of install the technician was right on time not even a minute late. Within 5 mins I was on line. I made the technician install my personal modem since I didn't want the hassel of calling customer support after 6 months and make them change the MAC address on my account to get my personal modem work and save the extra modem rental charge. Checked the speeds and it was not bad at all. I knew I was getting around 6 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up speeds. And just after 4 weeks in the running I noticed 7 Mbps down speeds and was pretty delighted. To add an icing to the cake when I received the first monthly bill I couldn't help but notice that they do not add in the usual 6% tax. The bill was a perfect $19.95
Its almost close to 3 months now. The service has been up and running all the time. I'm a happy camper 
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