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Review by hyebba 
UPDATED: 3 days ago
Fair warning: reviewer joined this week
 Tampa,Hillsborough,FL
 $112 per month
 "Can't think of any good points."
 "Internet service is horrible, techs are not educated in IT field, no quality assistance provided."
 "FIND ANY OTHER PROVIDER AND BE WILLING TO PAY THE DIFFERENCE"
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A few months ago I moved and had my Brighthouse service transferred.
When the technician showed up he: was in a personal, unmarked van. Was quite dirty. Did not speak English and communicated with yelling MAMA at me and pointing at the floor in front of him, indicated he wanted my presence. Add to all this that he had no idea what he was doing and it began becoming offensive.
It took this technician over 4 and a half hours, and numerous calls for over-the-phone help, for him to install a new aerial drop. This was apparently necessary because he could not figure out the cabling that was already existing.
When I asked for an outlet for the internet, his professional response was to run roughly 50 feet of coax fully exposed and along my baseboards from the living room television to the area I had the computer desk. I have tile floors and this was run at the bottom of the baseboard. He left about six extra feet of cabling hanging out of the wall and when I asked if he could 'clean it up', he just screwed the cable splicer to the wall, leaving the extra six feet still protruding and hanging out.
To boot, after all this, my service didn't even work.
I called customer support and they sent out a lead technician who was quite nice and agreed the installation was unprofessional and made arrangements for a new crew to come out and fix the installation. this would include installing a drop for a proper internet cable outlet to be installed.
When the new technician came out, he spent some time walking around the house and then told me the installation was fine and that it was acceptable to run the cabling along the baseboards for 50 feet. He then added it would be time consuming and too difficult for him to install a new outlet. I explained to him that the lead stated it was not a good installation and that it needed to be redone, to which he responded, "Well then, why don't you call [xxxxx] (lead tech's name) to put it in.
this is when he was instructed to leave my property.
I called customer support again to complain. They made yet ANOTHER appointment to come fix the install (we are now on day four of Brighthouse being at my house).
The crew came out and fixed the installation and a supervisor credited my account for two months of service, which I accepted even though the amount of time I lost due to their incompetencies was deemed far more valuable than that.
This was a couple of months ago.
Now I am currently having huge internet connection issues. Everything on my side has been ruled out. No malware, system is set up perfectly, brand new hard drive, new modem - a support tech not affiliated with Brighthouse identified the only possible problem as being my ISP and to call them to do a diagnostic check.
I called Brighthouse tech support and just getting to tech support was not fun. First I was transferred to Earthlink, even though I had stated it was a connection issue. Earthlink referred me back to Brighthouse because it was a connection issue. the shell game commenced.
When I finally did get through to tech support, he told me I definitely had an issue on their end, that my signal was 'way out of range' and that I had a lot of packet loss. He scheduled a tech to come out the following morning.
A very young man, no more than 18, and in an unmarked vehicle, corn rows in his hair, and clothes that looked like he was going clubbing showed up. He was nice, but he was incapable of doing the job he came to do. He told me I did NOT have a signal that was out of range, even though the diagnostics that were run the day before said there was. Here we go again with employees of Brighthouse giving customers conflicting information and both sources insisting they are the correct one. I think the woman who tagged along with him and hung out in the front yard was his mom. I've learned that the techs bringing friends and company along with them on service calls is quite accepted and normal. Somehow I doubt seriously that these friends and family have been checked out by Brighthouse to ensure they are safe to be going to customers HOMES. Huge liability and quite frankly, I don't appreciate Brighthouse taking my personal safety so lightly. MORE OFTEN THAN NOT WHEN BRIGHTHOUSE COMES TO MY HOUSE THEY BRING COMPANY WITH THEM TO HANG OUT AND EVEN HAVE THEM COME INTO MY HOME. One time, they even set up a little mini grill in my yard and fixed themselves some food. I wish I were exaggerating.
this tech spent HOURS at my house - all the while making numerous calls for help - and the only thing he did to try and fix the problem was replace the cabling from the street to the house. the brand new cabling that was just installed.
Even though he knew for a fact the internet was still not functioning properly when he left, he actually told me to call him on his cell phone if I continued to have issues. I just kind of blankly started at him because he knew I was still having issues. Nothing was fixed, he knew it, and made no effort at getting somebody out here that actually knew enough about their profession to be able to provide quality service. Exactly what would change if I called him? this made no sense to me.
So he left, my numerous attempts at contacting customer support for further help were unsuccessful. It seems the problems even extend to Brighthouse and their phone system was down and I could not get past the first couple of minutes of the recorded operator to make a selection before the call would disconnect.
I still have no useful internet and no hope of having any as long as I am with Brighthouse. I work from home, on the computer, and have been unable to work for the last two and a half weeks because of this issue.
Run as far away from Brighthouse as you can. they do not value their customers enough to even hire quality and capable technicians. and you will spend days of your time just trying to get a proper install. And brush up on your prayers for when you actually need troubleshooting assistance - you will not get that from Brighthouse.
Not only will I be finding a new service provider, I will be letting everyone who will listen know about the horrible experiences I have had there. Verizon, and their contracts, are starting to look really good. Brighthouse may be less expensive, but it is only a value when the services you pay for actually work. Brighthouse's system - in all areas - leaves too much to be desired and is broken in every way.
Followup comments:  Chris Berry
join:2008-10-22
Orlando, FL | Service hyebba,
My name is Chris Berry and I work for Bright House. PLEASE email me so we can review your account. Christopher.Berry@mybrighthouse.com.
Thank you,
Chris | |
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 Review by swsamurai
UPDATED: 10 days ago
member for 7.6 years, 410 visits, last login: 5 days ago
Bakersfield,Kern,CA
$49 per month
 about 4 days
"Quick link, pretty much"
"Tech Support, has dropped off a lot over the last couple years. They are off-shoring their Tier-1 support to India now."
"Go for it. I like a service that you do not have to fart around too much with, so this works for me."
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I have been using RoadRunner/Brighthouse for some time. I really do not like to have to have play games with my ISP and BH has been good about leaving me alone. I am disappointed in their tech support. If you call them, and know something about networks, ask for Tier 2 or Tier 3 Local support immediately. Otherwise you end up dealing with someone in India that is obviously reading a script for each problem you pose them with. When you try to explain that they are not listening to you, they ignore you, proving the point. Unfortunately that is common these days.
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Review by garrichie
UPDATED: 14 days ago
member for 8.7 years, 600 visits, last login: 3 days ago
Edgewater,Volusia,FL
$107 per month
"Internet Speed and Reliability"
"Television/cablevision reliability and quality"
"Very good but high priced for Internet, fair for TV, poor for phone"
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Bright house is the only option for hard wired service in this area. DSL service from AT&T or any other vendor is non-existent. The only other option is wireless Internet from AT&T or Verizon and that is a problem.
The speed sought was 3000 kbps, but the service is nearly always above 5000 kbps. The price is about $45 per month for Internet, $55 for TV and - well, don't get the phone service according to the neighbors unless you don't mind being without it on a regular basis.
The install and maintenance technicians run the gamut, from "dazzle with brilliance to baffle with bullsh*t." The order went well, the installer had trouble and didn't allow enough time to get the job done, so he left before everything was checked out. Technicians have been here for failure of the TV service about seven times in 15 months. Two times were due to my blundering. The others were due to problems in the line in this neighborhood. For some reason, the first three technicians showed up at sundown and had to work in the dark, which went poorly. After a crew installed a new backbone in the neighborhood, the next three showed up during the daylight but had trouble getting our fix right without costing other neighbors service. All has been well for nearly three months now. The Internet has nearly always been good. It is the TV that has failed repeatedly.
The TV box and cable modem are Scientific Atlanta products: Explorer 2000 and Webstar respectively.
The technicians respond almost instantly in recent months. Sometimes, there will be four trucks out front. The help desk rarely tries to troubleshoot the problem anymore. They just make an appointment for someone to come out and that happens fast. Perhaps it is because the snowbirds are still north and the staff does not have enough to do. The sad part is that Bright House has to be out here so often. It seems like they are working on this street every week, but service for us has been good since August.
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Review by islandmicro
Posted: 31 days ago
member for 4.7 years, 3 visits, last login: 31 days ago
Saint Petersburg,Pinellas,FL
$130 per month
"works sometimes"
"totally unreliable, service interruptions every single day"
"if FIOS was here, Bright House would be a distant memory"
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We've been Bright House customers for about the past 8 years, at two different addresses. Since moving to our present address in 2004 it's been one thing after another. There isn't a day that goes by that we don't have an issue with either our cable TV, broadband Internet, or VOIP (T-Mobile, not BHN).
We have RoadRunner basic Internet service (7Mb down, 512Kb up) bundled with Digital TV and HBO/Cinemax. The cable modem is a Motorola SurfBoard SB5100, rev. 3, with software version SB5100-2.3.2.5-SCM01-NOSH.
I've called and their tech support has been a colossal waste of time. We had a guy come to the house and he replaced a splitter, which only improved things a little. Meanwhile, I've measured speeds as low as 483Kbps down and 26Kbps up using Speakeasy and Bright House's speed tests. The cable modem's error log is full of T3 timeouts, DHCP Warnings, and SYNC Timing Synchronization failures. Visualware testing has yielded unacceptable QoS (21%), jitter (as high as 91.4ms), and packet loss (>10%) results.
Our house is small (only about 1200 sq. ft.) but it was built in the 70's and the people who lived here before us were early TWC adopters. I'm thinking the wiring infrastructure in the house might be a factor. We have 4 TV's, 2 VCR's, a DVR, and a cable modem on line. There's clearly a problem, but nobody at BHN wants to take the time or effort to solve it.
I can't get past the people who are working from the scripts to the people who actually know something and can talk to me on my level. I'm an IT professional with over 25 years of experience and while I don't consider myself an expert on any of this stuff I do know more than a little bit about it.
The shame of it is that in my experience Bright House used to have some of the best service and tech support in the business. Those days are gone apparently. I've looked into Knology, but haven't been all that impressed. I've decided I'll just try and hang on until Verizon brings FIOS to my neighborhood.
Followup comments: Chris Berry
join:2008-10-22
Orlando, FL | Service Islandmicro, my name is Chris Berry and I work for Bright House Networks. Send me an email: Christopher.Berry@mybrighthouse.com, I would like to help! | |
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Review by weaseled386
UPDATED: 34 days ago
member for 1.6 years, 359 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Port Orange,Volusia,FL
$160 per month
about 2 days
"Blazing Fast, Static IP, Amazing Business Tech Support"
"None So Far"
"Amazing Connection If You're Willing To Pay The Price!"
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This isn't the standard Brighthouse Networks residential service. I have the Ultimate Gamer Experience / Ultimate Value Package. Just as standard residential Turbo, the advertised speed is 15/2. The difference is you get a static IP (they provide the cable router), and you get to deal with busness tech support.
They were late for my install, but they make good for the wasted time by giving a $20 credit towards your bill. Speed is plenty! When testing to Atlanta, Tampa or Orlando I vary between 13 - 50M down and a steady 1.8M up. That is slightly lower than advertised, but it's consistent & higher than any of my many alternatives.
My only complaint is they won't give me the login/pw to my ZyXEL 964 cable router! If you have your own network downstream you need to call them and ask for DHCP & NAT to be disabled, and router put in BRIDGE mode -- all of which can be done remotely.
The price listed above includes: 15/2 internet service, HD digital cable with DVR and HBO. Installation of all services is free.
Update 10/20/2009:
Although I've ran into a couple bumps in the last few months, I'd still recommend this service to anyone in the market for a solid broadband connection. I had a chronic issue, and three weeks in a row dispatched on a Sunday to check things out. After that didn't fix it they rewired my entire house for free.
Avoid the Xyzel cable modem at all costs. After having new ones fail I requested a different brand. The tech had an Ambit on his truck, and it has been rock solid for over a year.
Updated price from $135 to $160 to include: 15/2 business class internet, Samsung HD-DVR, HBO, Showtime, Cinemax & The Movie Channel.
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 Review by Beachie
UPDATED: 35 days ago
member for 8.3 years, 3669 visits, last login: a few hours ago
St. Pete, FL
$59 per month
"SPEED!"
"Sub-contractor issues"
"Best speed and reliability in St. Petersburg"
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I have been a Roadrunner customer since it was first offered in my neighborhood in 1998. I'm pleased that we now have a Bright House Networks forum of our very own  I live in an area with competition (Verizon DSL and Knology), but none can compare to the speeds offered by BHN. I recently upgraded to the 20/2 package and couldn't be happier.
10-19-09 Nothing to update, still pleased with my service.
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 Review by cmcasey79
Posted: 36 days ago
member for 8.9 years, 3343 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Farmington,Oakland,MI
 Business customer
$165 per month
about 7 days
"Connection in Michigan is pretty solid."
"Needed business class for Static IP. Account changes are a ngithmare"
"Connection usually good, Customer service needs work!"
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I've had this service at my apartment for about 4 yeras now. I ordered Business Class internet/Cable TV so that I could get a Static IP address and run a web server and stuff. The connection has in general been pretty solid, except for minor outages here and there. The cost is pretty high though. They marketed the business internet as basically $20 mroe and normal, however, they wont do any bundles with a business class account, so when its all said and done, i'm really paying about $50 more than what a normal residentail account would pay.
Cable TV, in general, is very reliable. Unfortunately I can't say the same for their Motorola DVR boxes. Brighthouse never seems to update firmware at all (comcast has much newer firmware on their identical cable boxes, with numerous bug fixes). Complaining to brighthouse gets nowhere. They sya things like the box being unresponsive for over a minute, or recording things it shouldn't are just normal.
I no longer need the Static IP, so I've been trying to get my account switched back to a normal residentail one to save that money. Getting that done has become a nightmare. Apparently there is only ONE person in the entire company that can do it, and, suprise, she's on vacation.
At this point, i'm pretty fed up, but hopefully will get everything resolved soon. If I could get satellite in my apartment, i would definitely switch to that for TV, but I dont face the right direction for a dish.
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Review by alexkorlando
Posted: 39 days ago
member for 51 days, 4 visits, last login: 39 days ago
Orlando,Orange,FL
$50 per month (12 month contract)
about 7 days
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This review is actually for Brighthouse/Earthlink cable internet but I don't think Earthlink is in any way responsible for this mess.
Connection was ok for the first 6 month then worsened dramatically and kept on degrading. As of now, the link is down 50% of the time, disconnecting and connecting at random. Called tech support a number of times. The only thing they do is come in and swap cable modems. Called Brighthouse tech support 6 times, tried 6 different cable modems, enough is enough, switching to DSL. Wouldn't recommend this provider to anyone, even my personal enemy.
Followup comments: Chris Berry
join:2008-10-22
Orlando, FL | Internet AlexKOrlando,
I work for Bright House Networks and I would like to help. Send me an email at Christopher.Berry@mybrighthouse.com
Thanks,
Chris
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BHN Insider | |
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Review by against
UPDATED: 43 days ago
member for 5.4 years, 1020 visits, last login: 2 days ago
Valrico,Hillsborough,FL
$150 per month
"Not many lately."
"Unreliable connection, support keeps no record of previous issues or calls."
"If you are in the Tampa Bay area, be wary of signing up for Brighthouse Internet services (Including Phone)."
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Have been going back and forth with phone support for connection loss for what seems like months now.
First tech to come out on this problem was late, and never scheduled the follow up appointment to check the outside coax and tap. (Had to call to request this).
The tech that was scheduled to come out to check the tap called and cancelled, said "It should be fixed". This was not the case.
Now, one would think that they would keep some sort of records of your previous calls and or service visits by techs and what was performed; apparently this is not the case.
The unhelpful circle of troubleshooting they try to put you through every time you call is very frustrating.
All in all, would not recommend Brighthouse Internet to anyone, look elsewhere.
Followup comments: Chris Berry
join:2008-10-22
Orlando, FL | Service My name is Chris and I work for Bright House Networks. Sorry to hear about the issues. Send me an email at Christopher.Berry@mybrighthouse.com. I would like to help. | |
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join:2004-06-15
Tampa, FL
clubs: | Re: Service Thank you Chris.
Sending you an email in the next few minutes. | |
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 Review by BryanOnRR
UPDATED: 46 days ago
member for 2.4 years, 487 visits, last login: 5 days ago
Brandon,Hillsborough,FL
$45 per month
"Quick speed, good customer service"
"8 of 10"
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Great, No issues, No problems,
Going to try Fios...
Update back to Roadrunner now, cause fios sucks, overhcarged too many times and internet browsin speed sucked.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Bright House |
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