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cathyy
join:2000-11-30
30000

cathyy

Member

How long is too long to wait for decent service?

Yes, as a Broadstripe customer I am suffering through a transitioning system. But it has been over a year now. Every time they transition channels to digital they fail to send the correct update to our Cablecard, resulting in an entirely useless and unneeded technician visit. Every time it rains, snows, or blows the Internet slows down to a crawl if it doesn't go out entirely. On evenings and weekends it slows down to a quarter of our alleged speed. We have been told it is because our small town has 4 nodes serving 2000 customers. They say they plan to upgrade to 16 nodes, but can not say when this may happen. The only reason we have not dumped WOW already is the lack of alternatives. There is satellite for TV, DSL for Internet, and WOW. End of options. My husband suggests we stick with WOW until the end of April, to see if they will improve any. I believe the node congestion issue is not going to be addressed anytime soon, and the sooner we dump WOW the better.

smunro622
Premium Member
join:2006-02-15
united state

smunro622

Premium Member

the straw broke the camels back last week when i lost internet...
i called and support only took 30 mins, i was told they are doing upgrades the customer should never know about.

needless to say i am done with WOW TV as i lost TV @ the same time, i am keeping the internet for now. I did have to call them back today as i noticed my bill went up and i was charged for the 30mb internet i do not have... I do have to say hold time was 5-7 mins and they resolved it on the phone under 45 mins... sorry WOW i can deal without TV just cant deal without internet...

Michigan has been told it is node congestion also, i dont see things getting better. Comcast and Uverse are going door to door in my neighborhood selling services.

tc1uscg
join:2005-03-09
Gulfport, MS

tc1uscg

Member

Funny, I've been getting the run around from Comcast and my upgrade. Bumped up from Performance internet (20mbps) to Blast (30). I'm getting 36 down, 6 up. But there is LOTS of congestion here so I don't even see numbers CLOSE to that in real world use. I'm seeing low teens the MAJORITY of the time. In house, my lan tests out up the router and tests to my modem are showing almost no ping time delay running a wireless test, I'm getting my 300gbps. The choke point seems to be outside my control. So, I called wow. Talked about their 50mbps. Is their network that bad that I will never see anything faster then my comcast (slower) service? They offered me a ultra tv and 50 package that I consider on mark with my CC and DISH service. I just don't want to get the 50 and only be hitting teens in real world use. Lots of streaming here on weekends so I'm going for the max. Input?
levis76
join:2013-01-06

levis76

Member

Streaming video with WOW! is terrible more often than not. I have to walk away for 10-15min and let a YouTube HD video download fully before watching otherwise I'll have to deal with watching it buffer continously. It's been that way since day 1. Speedtest.net reports 15M/2M to local servers, but just about any server outside Mich is no better than 3-4M d/l. Pretty crappy if you ask me.
cathyy
join:2000-11-30
30000

cathyy to tc1uscg

Member

to tc1uscg
Tc1uscg, YMMV, but it is going to depend on how bad the congestion is in your area. I am supposed to be getting 16 meg. During the daytime in good weather I do. Evenings, weekends and bad weather lower those speeds to 4 or 5, or, tonight, 1.5. The *actual* speeds you get are more a function of node congestion more than which speed you purchase. So the question becomes who has oversold their bandwidth more in your area?
cathyy

cathyy to levis76

Member

to levis76
said by levis76:

Speedtest.net reports 15M/2M to local servers, but just about any server outside Mich is no better than 3-4M d/l. Pretty crappy if you ask me.


This speaks more to the bandwidth WOW is paying other people for than their own network. The functioning of those servers and networks are, as WOW says, outside their control. But when the first non-WOW server is dropping 10% of WOW packets (but not Comcast packets) it leads me to suspect that WOW is limiting the amount of usage they will pay for to 90% of current demand. I see no reason to believe the new owners have any motivation to decrease their profits by providing better Internet service, since this has been a problem now for over a year. Cynical me believes it is a deliberate cost-control measure, designed to maximize profits without being annoying enough to make customers leave. Or just buy more companies where the customers do not have other options so are stuck with the crappy service WOW provides.

tc1uscg
join:2005-03-09
Gulfport, MS

tc1uscg

Member

So it comes down to, get 50 and end up with low 20's? I've checked from time to time and see no traffic shaping from Comcast but there is also a $24 difference between CC's 50 and Wow's. From my WiFi scans in my immediate area (about 20 houses in a 360 of my location, only 2 are WOW. Rest are CC. But like you hinted, once it leaves WOW's eqp, it's up to the providers of it's bandwidth so have to wonder if they are nibbling on Comcasts network, Sprint's or what use to be MCI/Worldcom aka Verizon (in my area of southeast Mi)

dfs
@wideopenwest.com

dfs

Anon

Guess i am lucky, Havent had any problems here streaming in Clinton Twp. I don't do it much but when i have its been good.

I have 15 down and 2 up from WOW.
mogamer
join:2011-04-20
Royal Oak, MI

mogamer

Member

said by dfs :

Guess i am lucky, Havent had any problems here streaming in Clinton Twp. I don't do it much but when i have its been good.

I have 15 down and 2 up from WOW.

Same thing here in Royal Oak. I have 15/2 plus phone service and haven't had any of the problems some people here are having. But my mom has had problems with her tv service from WOW. And that coupled with the comments here have really turned me off from switching tv providers. Last year I was thinking about adding tv to my package. But now, if I want to save money, I'll lower my package with Dish before I even consider using WOW.