RCN → Re: Advice Needed for Equipment, Service, and costs.

rcn pricing is the same as Verizon, Comcast, AT&T, etc. New users get a good deal for 1-2 years and old customers can
1) pay way more
2) threaten to leave for another provider (works best when there is some competition)
3) switch providers every 2 years

Is the MoCa bridge only there to support the cable box? Do you use moca?

You can stop renting the modem however if you keep the phone service you'll end up with 2 modems (it's stupid). You'll have one that's only for your phone service and another that's only for data. I would go with either a Surfboard SB6183 or NETGEAR cm600 unless you are planning on going to a package that's 300Mbps or faster in the next 2 years.

Avoid any modem with the puma 6 chipset. Most 32 channel modems are puma 6 along with some 24 channel modems. Currently rcn only has 20 3.0 channels deployed and 1 3.1 channel.

Pacomartin who tends to be on this forum from time to time has had good luck getting rcn to bend on the rental cost of equipment.

As far as considering another provider, the one we left for RCN, I believe is really the only competition, and their service & pricing are not that good.

When you ask about the MoCa bridge, I hope I understand what you are asking. If I check the settings via the Tivo box, it does say under "Network Connections Details: Type: MoCa connection.

From the time we moved into this house, we had DSL with one company, and another company provided phone via old copper, and that was pretty straightforward. When costs & quality were becoming an issue, we decided to change to RCN. When their technician arrived, there was suddenly all this uncertainty as to what should be placed where, and I didn't understand his 'dilemma'. We had to move the base of our phone from its place in the living room, to the upstairs (which now meant no longer seeing easily if voice messages where left.) Our main TV was in the living room, and the 'main' PC & router where on the upper level. He installed the modem, and the MoCa bridge with the computer, and in the next room was a second Tv, in which he did a horrendous job running the cable. From the PC desk, he clipped the cable all the way around the perimeter of the room - which includes wrapping around a dormer, and continued around the door frame of the second room, then running the cable from bottom of the doorway, around the top and down again, until it connects to the second TV. We hadn't expected this, and it stands out - not in a good way (thankfully, no visitors go in there.)

So if I am understanding your suggestions equipment-wise, it is not a matter of just getting a modem equal to the one they have supplied? I've done a little reading on MoCa, and although I get the basic premise, and the benefits, I am not sure why this setup was used. If I ditch the cable, and also don't want to continue paying for their modem, I need to purchase two modems? I would have thought by now, technology would be a bit further and a modem with telephony capability would be an option.

I am going to look into cost & availability of the Netgear & Surfboard modem's suggested. I need to make an informed decision and take action asap.

Thanks so much for your replies.

It seems like you are following quite well.

If you ditch cable you won't need the tivo. if you don't need the tivo you don't need MoCa.

if you keep your phone service with rcn you MUST use their modem for the phone service. If you use that same modem for internet they charge you to rent the modem (so dumb). If you buy a modem for your internet you'll still need the modem that rcn provided for phone service however you won't have the rent the modem.

If you switch phone providers to a voip provider (like jsolo1 was talking about) you would no longer need the second modem but you'll likely want some sort of adapter(ata) so you can still use your current phone. I've used Callcentric in the past but they are for advanced users. You might want to take a look at ooma »www.ooma.com/home-phone- ··· e/basic/.

If you are really trying to cut back on costs you might want to look at porting your phone number to your cell phone. Your cellphone provider will likely charge a bit extra but it would be less then your other options.

I did explore ooma before jumping in the deep end with the config I mentioned earlier. I found ooma to be too dumbed down for my tastes. To make the service really usable, one needs to subscribe to their premier service ($10/month).

During testing, I got the ooma telo device from costco (which has a generous return policy). After about 3 weeks I decided to look for other options. That granular control just wasn't there. Give it a shot to see if it works for you. They provide you with a temp # before you port over.

When comes to phone service, I have been trying to steal some time to 'research' both ooma, Callcentric, and any other option which might be out there. And as cdr1000 mentioned, using a Wireless Home Phone ZTE model + SIM, my mobile carrier offers that, and months back I was considering. I've ruled it out because I have seen too many people bring up one particular (or is it two,) quirks which may get irksome very quickly. Another factor is that two other members of the household don't want to make any change to phone service.

It's frustrating looking at the current cost setup as it is a triple play bundle, and you really don't know (easily) how much is going toward the phone service. I know for fact that the taxes, fees, and other surcharges are $13.94 a month. I believe looking at ooma last night, the calculator indicated approx. $6 + change for taxes & fees. The only other insight I have into the cost of "Basic Phone" is from two letters which we received after we were late on one bill, and RCN payment error. One from Dec 2018 had a breakdown...Basic Phone = $20.55 + $2.44 for toll. For May 2019 the Basic Phone was $16.08 + $2.43.

I am going to dig deeper into the options you and lart suggested. I think other's in the household are a little hesitant when it comes to change - I'm willing to go with something else if I am getting reliable service that I need, at the lowest cost. Thanks for your suggestions.

You can easily test a obi/gv/callcentric before porting your number over.

Open a new google account, get a google voice number assigned. Configure that in the obi and connect a cordless base station to it. That will be your temporary/testing number. We tried this arrangement for several weeks before fully committing.

Once you're ready, you'll need to port the house number to a wireless provider as an intermediary. A day later port from the wireless provider to google voice.

Use the link below to determine if your land line number is portable to gv.

»www.google.com/voice/por ··· g/status

More details here:

»www.obitalk.com/info/tut ··· tutorial

Retail bring-your-own modems with telephony are NOT an option with RCN phone service. You can buy your own modem, but you must also keep an RCN modem to use for RCN telephone service. If you use a third party for telephone service, you must buy your own MTA (I believe the $50 Ooma is the most popular and cheapest choice)I use the other option, Type:"Ethernet connection" since I don't want to run coaxial to multiple locations around the house. The coaxial is a two way split, one side goes to the modem, and the other side goes to the main DVR box.Most of the homes were wired with coaxial decades ago. There were splitters placed all over the house because it didn't matter with analog TV. The 'dilemma' with the technician is he is trying to get a signal to the modem that has not been through too many splits as it is degraded. My friend has her RCN modem near her front door since that was the outlet with the fewest number of splits from the point of entry.

With the equipment that is less than about 5 years old, it is not necessary to run coaxial to secondary TVs. You can just run CAT-5e or "ethernet" cable which is much smaller, lighter, and with tighter bend radius and is usually a lot less obtrusive. In at least three places I run it alongside the pipe that feeds the radiators. If I don't have a radiator I drill a small hole to the basement through the hardwood floor.

I have one dual split in the coaxial running after the point entry and one half runs to the modem and the other half to the DVR. I have yellow Ethernet from modem to the router and wifi-access point (with antenna) and ethernet from the router to two gigabit switches ($15 apiece at Home Depot). The router to the switch in the photo is colored blue, the other switch is on the opposite side of the house. All three RCN TiVo boxes are connected to one switch, and the two computers and ROKU box are connected to the other switch . The advantage of having all the TV equipment connected to one switch, is that all the TVs still work on LIVE TV even if the internet goes down.

The 4th and final wire from the modem (blue leading to orange termination) is the phone line.

If I want to switch to streaming service to save money I can disconnect the RCN boxes and return them and use the ethernet network without any changes and plug in ROKU boxes or FIRE TV or one of the other choice. I would do that but my parents are in their 80s and they don't like change.

At the risk of beating this point to death, with most of the RCN equipment that is less than 5 years old you only need a Cat5-e ethernet cable to the secondary TiVo mini and television. You see I drilled a small hole through the floor near the closet door jamb, and the cable is very bendy. I used a clip into the floor to keep from tripping on the wire. It then feeds up to the desk surface.

You may wonder why the technician still used coaxial. The coaxial is necessary if the box has a tuner. All the historic equipment had a tuner in every box, and so did RCN's original TiVo equipment that came out in around 2012. But the equipment since then has 4 or 6 tuners in the main box, along with the DVR. So it is the only one that requires coaxial. The secondary equipment (the minis) get their signal from the main box on the local area network. This signal has the option of being fed over coaxial using MoCa, but it can be just as easily fed over ethernet cable (according to TiVo website it is even the preferred way). Perhaps the RCN technician is instructed by RCN to use an all coaxial network.