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Review by facedoc 
member for 8.8 years, 6 visits, last login: 8.7 years ago
updated 334 days ago
 Chicago,Cook,IL
 $140 per month AT&T "Qinconsistently fast" "Terrible terrible service, fluctuating speed" "Awful"
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Terrible service. No system for quality control. Every service starts with least qualified tech who refers up to another on another visit. When line tech fails to do service ( says has no access to pole and tap) service is dropped and they start again. Beware of their incompetence.
Sent from my mobile device
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Review by frussel
member for 4.7 years, 60 visits, last login: 1.6 years ago
lodged 3.9 years ago
- Clifton Heights,Delaware,PA
- $280 per month
- "Fast, Reliable, Been with them since the beginning"
- "Expensive"
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From Broadcast to Satellite to RCN! Neighbors on both sides have switched back to Comcast then back to RCN. I"m running the premium package but they keep changing the lineup. I think I lost channels, Never lost the phone. Price runs about $280.00 a month.
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Review by DSuziedelis
member for 6.8 years, 0 visits, last login: 6.8 years ago
lodged 6.8 years ago
- New York,New York,NY
- $99 per month
- "When it works, it works...."
- "Constant loss of DSL signal, bad and rude tech support"
- "Go with someone else."
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I bought the "bundled" DSL-Cable TV-Phone package from RCN on August 10, and in the three weeks I've had them, I've had three technicians come to check on:
(1) constant and regular loss of internet service (about every 2 hrs, for 10 minutes at a time)
(2) Cable TV box constantly resetting and recycling every time the TV is turned off.
A technician just visited my home for the third time this morning, did another "repair" to my DSL service, and said it would "probably work now."
10 minutes since he left, and I've lost my signal AGAIN.
Choose someone else if you are in NYC.
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 Review by Allopenna
member for 12.7 years, 228 visits, last login: 6.7 years ago
updated 7.1 years ago
- Charlestown,Suffolk,MA
- Contract price not specified.
 about 21 days- "Once you get hold of them, the telephone support is excellent"
- "Very difficult to get a person to speak to on the phone"
- "If you live in the Navy Yard, this is probably your only option"
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No DSL or Cablevision service available in this area, so RCN was my only choice for broadband (apartment building, no DirectPC either). It took me an entire day to get through to set up the appointment (my understanding is that I tried at the worst possible time, during the Verizon strike) and I had to wait three weeks for the installation. However, the installation itself went off as scheduled. Be prepared yourself, though, to know what you need to do with your own system setup, as the installer is just that, an installer, not a technical support person.
As it happens, I am having some serious packet loss, even the installer thought my connection was unsatisfactory. Again, not easy to get hold of their tech support on the phone (I finally called at 1 AM and got someone fairly quickly). The first person I spoke with was very defensive from the get go (tried to tell me, without checking, that I wasn't having any problems). After persisting, though, I did get him to actually verify what I was telling him from his end, and he agreed I did, indeed, have issues. Once he saw that, he did submit it to their line support folks, who followed up. The long and short of this story is that I need a housecall, which is scheduled for later this week.
I'll post my progress as it goes along, but in the meantime, this has been about as smooth a process as I'd anticipated.
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Now that the tech has been here, I'm still having some problems (although they did help me, as did the phone support while the guys were here). So, I called back, and got someone who really knew what he was talking about (well, at least more than I do), who took quite a bit of time to diagnose what was going on.
On the whole, I can't complain about the technical support - it's difficult to get through on the phone, but once you do, at least in my experience, you'll get what you need to move along  . In any event, I'll chalk that one not as cooperative as he could have been person up to his having indigestion. Everyone else has been good, and (and this has struck me as a touch out of the ordinary) actually interested in seeing that things are working properly.
The long and short of it - so far so good.
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While I still am having some PL issues, these folks have been great. They call me now, I don't have to keep calling them . My confidence is that sooner or later (and hopefully sooner, for everyone's sake) the problem will be identified and repaired. It's taken a while, but certainly not from lack of either effort or knowledge on their part - just something out of the ordinary going on here.
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Still rock solid. Since my last review, some competition has changed in this area, and my complex has gone condo. RCN now has Comcast as cable competition, and Verizon offers DSL to this area, now. I ran into a Comcast tech not long ago, and he told me that almost all 600 units here have RCN. That's true, at least of my immediate neighbors - we all have RCN and we are all delighted.
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 Review by slvrblkk
member for 12.3 years, 2774 visits, last login: 24 days ago
updated 10 years ago
- Bethlehem,Northampton,PA
- $29 per month
- about 7 days
- "convenient,already had their phone(local and long),cable, and dial-up service"
- "one-way modem available for now, price goes up in 6 months"
- "really never had any problems with RCN's services"
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This is for RCN's cable modem service!!!! One-way, Dynamic IP
2/9 Called RCN to order cable modem service. Told me only one-way is available in my area. Said it would be about six months until 2-way is available. Decided to stay with my dial-up until two-way is available.
2/12 Decided over the weekend that one-way is still better than dial-up. Called and ordered the service. Was told price is $29.95 for first six months then $34.95 thereafter(being a cable and phone(local and long) already) Also said regular price is $49.95 if you only have cable service with them. Said they would call back in a week to schedule an appointment.
2/16 RCN called to schedule appointment, made appointment for 2/21 between 10:30-2:30. Also said tech would come out to check out the line I had run to my computer for the modem.
2/21 Tech #1 showed up at 10:20 to check the line I had run. Said should work ok with the modem and said the other tech should arrive in same timeframe to do the modem set-up. Tech #2 arrived at 12:10. Installed modem(3Com USR cmx) and software. Explained how to operate and answered all of my questions. Left in about an hour.
I have gone thru all the tweaks, speeds vary from 800-1100(down-east coast) and 12-14(up).
Bottom line is:
Tech's were polite and curtious.
I think I'm getting a pretty good deal, BUT I'm hoping two-way is available SOON!
Will continue to mess with tweaks to see if I can get faster downloads. Never was quoted speeds. I would think I might be able to get close to 1.5mbps down. We will see!
No rating on tech support yet, since I haven't had to call. Though I did call twice before I ordered the service to see how long it would take for support to answer the call, both times it took less than two minutes. Calls were made during the week and in the morning both times.
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Review by bobafett
member for 12.3 years, 1639 visits, last login: 2 years ago
updated 10.4 years ago
- Lebanon,Hunterdon,NJ
- $39 per month
- about 7 days
- "dowloads faster than dial up"
- "slow uploads, too expensive"
- "ok service, not great"
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RCN Hybrid Telco return cable modem service
My experience is mixed. Download times vary widely form peak time to non peak. At times I've gotten 200 KB/s downloads, but only during off peak. At worst peak times I can see 10KB/s downloads.. Uploads are not pretty. The modem uses a telephone line for the return back to RCN's headend. The outside plant in this area has not been upgraded for a long time. RCN is doing upgrades in neighboring towns but no estimates on how long, if ever, before an upgrade is done in my area. Until then no 2way cable modem.
Network reliablity has been so-so, have to keep dialup modem as a back up.
I've had to call customer service once and had a long hold time. The support person handled the call well and was able to resolve the problem by resetting the modem from their side.
The installation of the modem was done right on time and the installer did a good job. I ran the cable for him so he just had to set up the pc and plug in the modem.
Overall, better than dialup.
Update: Sept 2001, installed Sprint DSL. Download speeds almost double current RCN speeds, upload speeds 50x better. Goodbye RCN.
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Review by (hidden by request)
(review was emailed from domain rcn.com)
lodged 10.8 years ago
- Brewster,Putnam,NY
- $99 per month
- @link
- "speed? reliability?-----don't make me laugh!"
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So far very very disappointed------would recommend to ppl I am not fond of.
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 Review by hockeyfun1$
member for 12.5 years, 870 visits, last login: 10.4 years ago
updated 10.8 years ago
- Allentown,Lehigh,PA
- $40 per month
- "Great download speeds, great upload speeds, great pings!"
- "You have to call support to change connection to another computer or hookup/unhook a router to get the MAC ID of the nic reset."
- "It's ok. DNS and DHCP problems make the service less than five stars."
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Download speeds are usually around 1300 kbps, and they can dip slightly down to maybe 900 kbps.
Upload is around 750 kbps.
Pings are great. Here is a trace route to www.yahoo.com:
Tracing route to www.yahoo.akadns.net [64.58.76.178]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 9 ms 8 ms 11 ms 10.16.0.1
2 10 ms 12 ms 11 ms ge6-0-0.gw1.atw.pa.rcn.net [209.122.64.33]
3 10 ms 10 ms 11 ms ge6-0-0.core1.atw.pa.rcn.net [208.59.89.82]
4 17 ms 16 ms 17 ms poet1-1-0.core5.lnh.md.rcn.net [208.59.95.161]
5 19 ms 19 ms 17 ms ge4-0.core3.lnh.md.rcn.net [207.172.15.19]
6 18 ms 19 ms 21 ms pos0-0-0.border2.tcob.va.rcn.net [208.59.95.225]
7 19 ms 20 ms 18 ms fe5-1-0.border1.tcob.va.rcn.net [207.172.15.210]
8 21 ms 20 ms 18 ms ibr03-s1-5.hrnd01.exodus.net [209.185.9.57]
9 19 ms 18 ms 22 ms bbr01-g3-0.hrnd01.exodus.net [216.33.203.93]
10 22 ms 20 ms 21 ms bbr02-p6-0.stng01.exodus.net [209.185.249.137]
11 21 ms 22 ms 19 ms dcr04-g9-0.stng01.exodus.net [216.33.96.146]
12 21 ms 20 ms 25 ms csr22-ve241.stng01.exodus.net [216.33.98.19]
13 25 ms 22 ms 22 ms 216.35.210.126
14 23 ms 23 ms 21 ms www9.dcx.yahoo.com [64.58.76.178]
Trace complete.
Overall it is a great service and speeds and pings are great!
DNS used to have problems, now it seems a little better.
7/3/02 - Installation is scheduled for today at different location in zip 18102. Installers are supposed to show up between 8AM to 11AM. It is 2AM now so an update will be posted later today. He came today at 10:15. Ran a line from the pole. Moved the TV entertainment center to do something and didn't move it back. Also tried changing my home page to rcn.com from BBR. I got the Toshiba PCX2500 modem. We do a speed test; 25/43. Hmm.
He checks the signal levels and that is the problem. I don't even have connectivity now. So another person will come out later and check the lines. Well looks fine now. Not sure if the signals were touched yet. Speeds and pings are great.
Tracing route to broadbandreports.com [209.123.109.175]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms 10.19.158.1
2 8 ms 7 ms 7 ms ge6-0-0.gw1.atw.pa.rcn.net [209.122.64.33]
3 8 ms 7 ms 8 ms ge6-0-0.core1.atw.pa.rcn.net [208.59.89.66]
4 14 ms 14 ms 17 ms poet3-1.core2.nyw.ny.rcn.net [207.172.19.32]
5 15 ms 15 ms 14 ms fe3-0.border2.nyw.ny.rcn.net [207.172.15.89]
6 19 ms 15 ms 15 ms sx-x.core1.nyc.nac.net [207.99.8.237]
7 18 ms 17 ms 18 ms a9-0-0-8.msfc1.oct.nac.net [209.123.11.85]
8 18 ms 19 ms 18 ms www.dslreports.com [209.123.109.175]
Trace complete.
Ping statistics for 10.19.158.1:
Packets: Sent = 1224, Received = 1224, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 6ms, Maximum = 65ms, Average = 8ms
Always DNS and DHCP server problems everywhere. Two locations in the same city too. I've seen it reported in the RCN forum with the same problems. Very annoying. Loss of connection when the lease renews. It happens about once everyday. Lease time is an hour but it shouldn't matter. The lease time could be every second and the service should still be smooth. It isn't. Total loss of connection for about five minutes. Good chances are if you are in PA/NJ/NY then this will happen to you....
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Review by wizzy
member for 12 years, 729 visits, last login: 2 days ago
updated 11.8 years ago
- Chicago,Cook,IL
- $40 per month
- about 7 days
- "Quick install"
- "Slooooooooooooow speeds"
- "Go for it only if DSL isn't available"
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I just moved in to a new place, so I ordered RCN cable modem service. They installed it 4 days after I moved in. I moved from a location with Mindspring DSL
The tech arrived within the two hour window, and was there for about 40 minutes. Most of that was spent running another line for me (computer wasn't near a cable jack), and the actual cable modem install only took a few minutes. I already had an ethernet card installed, so just set it up for DHCP and it immediately synched up.
I ftp'd a bunch of files over the next few days to test the connection speed. At best, I saw (once or twice) 80k/s, but usually 20-40k/s. This is much better than a dial-up modem, but I'm used to the 150+k/s that I saw from my DSL provider, and the 250+k/s I saw with @home in Atlanta about a year ago.
I'd probably be happy with things if I didn't know how much better it could be; I called Mindspring and am having them switch my old DSL service to my new line. They're saying 2-4 weeks, depending on Ameritech. Hopefully I'm up and running before my 30 days money back is up with RCN.
My installer mentioned that the area I live in (Wrigleyville) is one of the busiest in the city. It was a gamble, and I lost.
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Update: My phone line finally got fixed, so I was able to dump RCN and go with Earthlink/Covad. I'm MUCH happier now.
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Review by mpbloome
member for 11.9 years, 178 visits, last login: 3.6 years ago
lodged 11.9 years ago
- New York,New York,NY
- $40 per month
- (12 month contract)
- "Nice peole that can say and do nothing"
- "no, repeat, zero actual tech support"
- "sell well, no intention of offering significant broadband support"
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Download speed of 433-483 is "within acceptable range" according to
customer service. When I said upload is 730-760 which indicates an abnormal
state, I am repeatedly told 433 is acceptable and, until node members
downloads drop to around 300, RCN policy is to do nothing - to add no
additional hardware. The agree that the differential is abnormal, but "433
is in our acceptable range".
Procedure is to sent out level 1 tech (who normally does initial
installation) to see if anything "looks" wrong and if nothing visible shows,
then no further attention is paid.
Tech support is really non-existent. One is never allowed to talk to anyone
who actually knows anything.
marc-paul bloome
managing director
mpb llc
tel: 212.737.3182
fax: 661.752.9744
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