Time Warner Cable - Legacy → [Internet] New to Cable Internet. Planning to Sign Up With TWC. Have Questions.

Currently, I am in SoCal and receive reliable internet from UVerse. However, I am planning to switch to TWC internet and would like to hear your opinions about the service.

1. How stable is your TWC internet?
2. On average, what are your speeds on peak time?
3. What modem did you purchase for your service?
4. How would you rate your internet service with TWC vs Uverse?

1. Very stable, never any packet loss and good latency.

2. Speeds are the same at all times of day, in my case 20/2 on the turbo plan, will be receiving an upgrade to 100/10 at no extra cost when the maxx upgrade comes to my area hopefully by the end of the year.

No slowdowns during peak hours, this did not used to be the case however, before FiOS came to my area everybody had TWC, and on some days there was a noticeable decrease in speeds, but that was back in the DOCIS 2.0 days, I'm sure it would be different now with DOCIS 3.0. Now that FiOS is here, almost everybody has dumped TWC and I would say a good 70-80% of the people in my neighborhood have FiOS now so it makes sense that there would be no slowdowns during peak for me.

The way I figure 70-80% of the people in my area have FiOS is because I have an app on my phone called WiFi analyzer, which tells me the manufacturer of the router broadcasting the signal, and the vast majority are Actiontec, the company that supplies the Verizon routers. There are very few Arris routers broadcasting, which are the TWC provided ones (not sure if TWC provides any router/modem combos other than Arris) and an even smaller number of people with their own Netgear, Linksys, Asus...etc

3. I'm using a Netgear CMD31T 4x4 modem, only reason is because is was on sale for less than $50 which is a steal for a new DOCIS 3.0 modem, couldn't justify paying more for a 8x4 modem when I'm only on the 20/2 plan. However when maxx comes to my area, I will most likely replace it with a SB6183 16x4 modem when it becomes readily available because I want to have a modem capable of 300/20 speeds should I want to upgrade from turbo to extreme/ultimate.

4. Have no experience with Uverse, but I would rate TWC a solid 8 out of 10, only because it can be a hassle to get lower rates back after your promotion runs out.

1) Very stable! FYI, TWC will work on your area so be expect to have some outage or slow internet at night etc etc. You will get faster internet after TWC complete your upgrade in your area.

2) I constantly get 16mbps on my Standard internet plan and some slowtime at night because TWC is working in my area. My area will soon complete and my 15/1 plan will go 50/5!

3) I purchased $28 Netgear CG3000D on Ebay. Keep it in mind this is a WIFI modem. I dont use their WIFI and I paired it with my ASUS RTN66. You can look in approved modem list »www.timewarnercable.com/ ··· dems.pdf

4) I would rate it 8 out of 10!

1) Extremely stable, no packet loss and ping stays very low, good latency.

2) On 50/5 Ultimate plan and I always get 50/5 no matter what, lowest speeds I've gotten are 45/5 and it's possible that my family was using up some bandwidth.

3) SB6180, it's not on the approved list but it works fantastic as a cheap 8x4 alternative to the SB6141.

4) When I had UVerse it sucked, TWC beats UVerse by a mile honestly.

Overall; you'll love TWC internet.

1. Stable most of the time, with occasions that might drop speeds and possibly high latency. But Your Mileage May Vary, different areas may have different situations

2. Most of the peak times I am getting 100% speeds, with the exception of a few peak times.

3. I am using the Motorola SB6141, a very reliable DOCSIS 3.0 modem, one of the best modems out there available. I would wait for a little while and get the Motorola SB6131 with 16 downstream channels for maximum reliability and more likely to be future proof.

4. I have not used Uverse before, although I did have DSL with AT&T 2 years ago. They can only provide up to 1.5 mbps on my area, which sucks. But I have not really have a problem in terms of reliability, just that pricing is bad comparing to TWC. But though, I would still prefer TWC over AT&T.

1) I got it in February of 2014, and it hasn't gone down once. (As far as I know, it could have gone down when I was not home or asleep).

2) I have the Ultimate subscription, which is advertised at 100 Mbps. They provision it at 115 Mbps though, and in peak times I get 105-110 Mbps, and when it is quiet I get 113/114, basically maximum. Measured over a wired CAT5 connection, wireless will be greatly affected by your environment.

3) Because I also have phone service, I am forced to rent one of their modems. It's a UBEE modem. The modem is good (it hasn't gone down) but the wireless network on it wasn't great. My wife's Macbook dropped connection constantly, everytime she opened it up in the morning it needed to reconnect which took 30 seconds. About a month after I signed up I bought my own router (an ASUS RT-N66U) and completely disabled the wireless in the modem, and put it in Bridged Mode. Wireless has been rock solid since then, and since the modem hasn't gone down, i'd say I am in good shape.

4) TWC has better options to offer greater speeds, as they aren't dependent on the distance between your house and the VRAD. So when they offer a new speed in your city, everyone can get it, not just those at a certain distance. Currently the fastest plan is 100 down, 5 up, but in SoCal the plans will change speeds before the end of the year, with the most basic going from 15/2 to 50/5, and the top tier going to 300/20. U-verse is currently stuck at 45/5 as their top speed, and the only way they are going to beat TWC is when they deploy Gigapower, and go with fiber. So at THIS moment i'd say TWC has the edge. But that could change next year or in 2016, you just never know.

Thank you again for your answers.

I have decided to subscribe to TWC Standard Internet service starting in December 2014 or early January 2015. I will let you know how my service will fare.

Answers:

1. Connection is very stable. The connection did have a few issues at first, but now it is solid 24x7.

2. I always get about 43Mbps/7.5Mbps. Bandwidth never fluctuates during any hour of the day. I also always get 5800k/bits for a bit rate while watching movies, shows, and what not, on Netlflix.

3. I bought the white Motorola SB6141.

4. Cannot compare it to U-Verse, however, I can compare it to Fairpoint Communications. It is 100X better than their DSL considering the superior bandwidth, price, and stability.

I wish my latency could be a little lower but otherwise it is a reliable connection and I get above advertised no matter the time.

Ask people in your immediate neighborhood. Because my TWC service works great in 93063, but may be terrible for everybody on your street.

vom53: Just ask your TWC neighbors. Or better, try it and the compare. You're lucky to have choices. Some, like me, don't (cable wins in my areas for affordable broadband services).

Thanks again everyone!

In mid-December, I will be getting TWC internet once I move to my new home. However, I heard some scary customer service stories. Whenever you have the chance, I love to hear your experience with your TWC installation. What was it like?

My installation was flawless. The technician arrived on time, was very professional, and completed the installation of internet and phone within an hour.

Also, if you aren't hooked up to the cable grid which I wasn't. They ran the wires across a main route, to my pole, and then the house for $0.

1. How stable is your TWC internet?

Pretty stable, except for the occasional outages. Seems to about one every couple of months for about an hour. Must of been due to the Maxx upgrade, its been okay since.

2. On average, what are your speeds on peak time?

Exactly as advertised, even more. About 105 down 10 up.

3. What modem did you purchase for your service?

We're using the rented Arris modem.

4. How would you rate your internet service with TWC vs Uverse?

Never had Uverse, did have Verzon DSL. DSL was about 3 megs down, cable now 100 so there is no comparison.

1. How stable is your TWC internet?

Pretty stable only had had one outage back in 2011

2. On average, what are your speeds on peak time?

Exactly as advertised, even more. About 216 down 22 up.

3. What modem did you purchase for your service?

We're using the Motorola SB 6183

4. How would you rate your internet service with TWC vs Uverse?

Never had Uverse, did have At&t DSl at a different address. DSL was about 768K down, cable now 200 so there is no comparison. I had a tech had Uverse. He told me before Docsis 3 era Uverse is better. Now TWC is better unless At&T starts rolling out gigapower.

1. How stable is your TWC internet?

My TWC internet here in Northeast LA is very stable. I've had two outages over the last few years, but none that lasted more than a few minutes. (Probably due to the upgrades they were doing.)

2. On average, what are your speeds on peak time?

Since the upgrade (as of last week), my speeds are consistent day or night, peak time or not... i've been getting 214 Mbps down and 21 Mbps up (I'm on the 200/20 speed plan). I haven't seen my speeds decrease at all since the upgrade. Prior to the upgrade, my speeds were okay, but they'd dip sometimes during the day. Now i don't see that. But then again, i was getting like 8/2 speeds before.

3. What modem did you purchase for your service?

I'm using the TWC issued modem. Currently, for my 200/20 speeds, i'm using their ARRIS DG1670 modem which handles 16 bonded channels down and 4 up. This is the modem if you are on a plan that gives you 200/20 or 300/20 speeds.

The other modem people seem to be having great success with is the Motorola SB6183 which is also a 16/4 channel modem that can handle speeds of 300/20 and higher.

** I had the Motorola SB6141 modem (issued by TWC) for a few days. Once my 200/20 upgrade went live, i peaked at 100/10 with that modem. That modem works fantastic if you are at any speeds that are 100/10 and below. If you plan on the 200/20 or the 300/20 speeds, you'll need the ARRIS DG1670 or Motorola SB6183 modem to achieve those speeds and beyond.

4. How would you rate your internet service with TWC vs Uverse?

I've never had Uverse, but i did have Earthlink DSL for many years which was actually AT&T DSL. Since they never bothered to upgrade the infrastructure in my neighborhood and i was at the limits from the Central Office, i decided to dump them and go for TWC the moment it was available to me in my neighborhood.

I've been with TWC ever since and haven't looked back. I always had good service and it's been very reliable. I think this new fiber upgrade they just did will make it even that more reliable. The speeds sure are fast and consistent.

** Keep in mind that many things can affect your speeds. I'm achieving 200+/20+ speeds by running a wired connection from the modem to my router, then computer. Wifi speeds will vary, depending on whether you're N or AC, but they will be lower and not achieve 200/20 or higher peak speeds as wifi speeds can vary.

You will also have to make sure that your ethernet cables are cat5e or cat6 and that your router/wifi can handle 1Gbps speeds and be either N or AC for greater speeds over wifi.