how-to block ads
|
»next review in page
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"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
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 | |
| | | |
| Forums » comments on review of Bright House |
 | »next review in page (previous review)
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"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
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.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Bright House |
| »next review in page (previous review)
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"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
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! | |
| | | |
| Forums » comments on review of Bright House |
| »next review in page (previous review)
 Review by cmcasey79
Posted: 36 days ago
member for 8.9 years, 3344 visits, last login: a few minutes 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!"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
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.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Bright House |
| »next review in page (previous review)
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
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings well below consensus)
|
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
--
BHN Insider | |
| | | |
| Forums » comments on review of Bright House |
| »next review in page (previous review)
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)."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
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. | |
| | against
join:2004-06-15
Tampa, FL
clubs: | Re: Service Thank you Chris.
Sending you an email in the next few minutes. | |
| | | |
| Forums » comments on review of Bright House |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by TyRobbins
UPDATED: 145 days ago
member for 1.9 years, 8 visits, last login: 137 days ago
Daytona Beach,Volusia,FL
$110 per month (12 month contract)
"They're super helpful on the front end."
"Everything after the install. Business Rep G.M. would return 1 email to my 5. Horrible follow-through and no modem control."
"Too bad Comcast Business isn't offered in Florida. Stay away from this company for your business needs if you do more than surf."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
This is my second recent Brighthouse bad experience so I figured I'd post my story to try to warn everyone else from going through what me and my company have endured.
Business Brighthouse 7/512 is a scam at $110 when I can get 6/1 from Comcast Business for $60 plus a local rep and technicians that will talk to me and answer my questions immediately.
My company had problems from day 1 with Brighthouse when their installer broke through the wall in one room and then accidently disconnected our customer's telephone equipment which took over 12 hours to bring back online (had to call in their phone provider). I asked Brighthouse to pay and it took them over 3 months (and about 20 emails/calls) to pay.
Customer service was unreliable. Sometimes you'd get a happy professional and other times you'd get their 12 year old kid.
Business support is nonexistent. My rep G.M. said he was overworked and his assistant had been in an accident and then never replaced. I would call and email repeatedly with no replies until I threatened to switch ISPs or contact his boss which would get me a email 5 minutes later. Apparently he just needed a little motivation to do work.
I can't manage my Zytel modem and have noticed ports being blocked at times. "Business class" means just a residential modem that you pay twice as much for. Nothing business about it.
I deal with many ISPs throughout the Southeast and Brighthouse is at the bottom of my list so far. I had written them off 3 years ago and gave them a try this year…bad decision on my part.
Followup comments: Chris Berry
join:2008-10-22
Orlando, FL | service TyRobbins,
My name is Chris Berry and I work for Bright House Networks. Please email at Christopher.Berry@Mybrighthouse.com. I would like to help.
--
BHN Insider | |
| | TyRobbins
join:2007-12-26
Knoxville, TN | Re: service Emailed you Chris. | |
| | | |
| Forums » comments on review of Bright House |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by Hardtime11
UPDATED: 238 days ago
member for 238 days, 2 visits, last login: 12 days ago
Dover,Hillsborough,FL
Contract price not specified.
about 10 days
"They have support?"
"The follow thru is very bad. They send technicians out but they are box exchange specialists and do not fix the plant issues."
"As soon as FIOS comes I will drop BrightHouse/RoadRunner like a wet brick after 9 years."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
As mentioned previously. I have BrightHouse Cable with Road Runner Service. I have had it since the beginning and that is only because FIOS is not in my area yet. I get macro blocking on their cable service every evening and their Road Runner Internet Service is not stable at all when it comes to speed. Right now I am getting speeds of about ISDN capabilities (at best). Their DNS really is bad and old I actually have my setup looking to some free DNS servers first as primary then RR's. The free DNS Servers are a lot more consistant and faster. I have had numerous techicians out to my house for the issue and they always send a house tech that can only fix from the house to the pole. I have even advised them and they have noted that the issue is not at the house but within the plant (lines on the pole or elsewhere) They change my boxes (1 at a time) most of the time even though it is on both HD Boxes and my regular non-boxed cable shows static/fuzz on the picture. That should be a major hint.
At present I have been downloading a 30mb video for about 15 minutes and it just now past 50%. That is some 7mb pipe they have to the house. I used to have the faster package but with this poor service it makes no sense to have it.
I have a relative and some friends with the FIOS service and it takes less than a couple of minutes to download the same video.
Followup comments: hottboiinnc
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH
 ·Time Warner Cable
·buckeye cable
| Plant Operations Maybe you should advise your Local Tier 3 Support Center of this. They're really the only one that can issue someone to fix the Plant or the poles.
IF you place the trouble ticket in at National Help to have Tier 3 return your call they will. Takes about 24hours for Tier 3 to call you back and that's the only way to contact them. | |
| Chris Berry
join:2008-10-22
Orlando, FL
| macro blocking Sorry to hear about the speed/macro blocking issues. I work for Bright House Networks. Send me an email at Christopher.Berry@Mybrighthouse.com and I'll have a technician at a higher level review the issues.
Thanks - Chris Berry
--
BHN Insider | |
| | | |
| Forums » comments on review of Bright House |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by louiedsl
UPDATED: 275 days ago
member for 9.6 years, 27 visits, last login: 2.9 years ago
Orlando,Orange,FL
$168 per month
"Fast, mostly reliable."
"Expen$ive, antiP2P, tech support clueless."
"Best choice for this area."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I had standalone Brighthouse cable in Orlando before moving to Volusia. It was fast and reliable. Since then I have ordered the triple-play of phone, internet, and cable from Brighthouse.
Although the service is good quality, especially for the area I live in, when there is a problem calling tech support can be a crapshoot. The quality of technician varies wildly from top notch professional to blithering idiot. You never know who is going to answer the phone.
My internet comes with a 'sticky' IP address that changes roughly every month, or occasionally whenever you change the MAC address of the connected router or PC.
Brighthouse is not above blocking ports to your favorite P2P apps. Almost all of the default ports have been blocked outright or throttled. Additionally it seems that transferring more than a certain amount of data within a set time period will throttle your connection as well. I have not verified this, but I have observed it several times, YMMV.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Bright House |
| »next page (previous review)
Review by macaw87
UPDATED: 275 days ago
member for 1.7 years, 2 visits, last login: 1.4 years ago
Indianapolis,Marion,IN
$99 per month (24 month contract)
about 7 days
"Good Internet Connection"
"Bad Usability"
"It works for somethings, but still not optimal"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I have the 7M/1M static connection at my office. the biggest thing i hate is the fact that if i am at the office i have to send e-mails for other accounts through my brighthouse e-mail account, so if people reply after i have left work, i don't get them unless i happen to logon to their useless webmail. and i can't receive my work e-mails on my mobile. i have no problem receiving my personal e-mails(sbcglobal.net) on my mobile. so if you just need an internet connection then this is a good choice, but if you plan to use their e-mail service too, plan to just be able to use it when directly connected to their servers.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Bright House |
|
|
(13)
·