 Review by kpfx 
member for 7.5 years, 1024 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 2.3 years ago
 San Antonio,Bexar,TX
 $47 per month about 6 days "Fast and reliable. Works great with my VPN and remote access..." "Installers & Support is hit & miss between awesome and poor..." "Very stable! The fastest internet service in San Antonio."
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(ratings match consensus)
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OK, so I moved to the San Antonio area about a year ago and ordered services (HD-DVR, DigiPic 4000, and Road Runner). With the bundle the cost for Road Runner comes to approximately $35. Service was for the standard tier 5000x384. I'm in a dense area (Medical Center) so this would be a good chance to see how the load was handled.
Took about 6 days to get installed due to my schedule. Contractor came to the apartment, activated the outlets, and connected a Toshiba modem. Install went smooth. Speeds were about 2-3 Mbps.
Initially I was getting a 1-2% packet loss . After some testing I saw the loss was between me and the very first router which means its either a signal issue or some bad equipment. My signal levels were great so I had a hunch it was my modem. A trip down the street to the service center and I replaced the old Toshiba cable modem with a new Ambit U10C018 modem. No more packet loss!!! Speeds now range from 3-5 Mbps depending on the time of day (back in Kerrville, TX I always got the full 5 Mbps, but that's a small town).
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FAST FORWARD TO 2007
I noticed my speed had increased earlier this year. Modem was now provisioned at 7168x384. A few months later I also saw that my area's node was split again reducing the passings by about 75%. Speeds are now ranging from 5 Mbps to 7 Mbps. When downloading a big torrent I can easily pull the full 7 Mbps so I'm quite happy.
I keep a close eye on my connection since I use a VPN to access files at home while traveling daily. In the year I've had service I can only recall one major outage lasting several hours which was caused by power going out (a bad storm knocked out CPS's electricity for nearly 5 hours... cable didn't come back until a few hours after power was restored). Funny thing is that my electricity goes out more than anything else... so I'd love to review CPS if I could.
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ON SPEED ZONE
Want to mention that the Speed Zone access was a nice unexpected perk. While at the Toyota dealership getting my car worked on I saw that Road Runner customers get free WiFi access there. I've already stumbled across a few other restaurants and stores in San Antonio that offer this co-branded WiFi service.
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UPDATE 08/14/07
Just noticed San Antonio just upped the standard Road Runner tier to 7168x512 (was 7168x384). Upload speed increase is well overdue and welcome!
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UPDATE 07/22/08
About a month ago I went to the service center to swap out my DVR after the hard-drive died (it was old but served me well.... may it rest in peace). While I was there I went ahead and upgraded to the Premium or Turbo level. I don't even know what marketing calls it anymore but here in San Antonio its a 15x2 Mbps connection.
Overall not bad.... from good sites I can easily pull 1 MB download (that's Mega-Byte with a big B). Also Speedboost was just deployed a few days ago so I sometimes peek above 20 Mbps on tests and then settle down to about 11-13 Mbps. I'm still running the same Ambit modem I got several years ago but have gone through three different routers!
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UPDATE 12/16/2008
Just bought a house and got my services setup in a new part of town. Went ahead and signed up for their Digital Telephone services at a promotional deal.
Previously my house had both Dish and AT&T's uVerse services so there was quite a bit of rewiring to be done. Overall the tech did a decent job and even helped me identify the old unused lines and outlets so I can tear them down later (much too cold right now). Install was done after 4hrs (including a new drop, dug in the same day) and I had my internet and TV services working.
Home phone services switched on a few days later but I had to call to have somebody "refresh" my equipment as it didn't automatically kick in. Calling tech support was very easy... almost no hold time and the rep identified the problem and had it fixed within 5 minutes.
The only negative I discovered is that I seem to be missing PowerBoost now that I'm getting my Internet services by the Aris Telephone Modem. None of the speed tests seem to be going above 14 Mbps (base service is 15x2 Mbps). I figured I'll call in later and ask around.
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UPDATE 06/15/2010
Still rocking along just fine. They updated some stuff and PowerBoost now works on my Aris phone modem. I've seen my speeds peak at close to 30 Mbps and they seem to hold for quite a bit of time. I think there was only one major outage a few months ago due to a pretty bad storm. I also had to get my drop replaced after something dug it up and chewed it...
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UPDATE 1/31/2011
Was having a beer with a tech and we got to talking about the DOCSIS-3 stuff. Apparently they already have it in place (at least in my area) and are using the multiple carriers to increase the capacity even more. He thinks they may launch the channel-bonding for Wideband sometime around late-summer (3Q?). Speeds have continued to be very good in my area (31.5 x 1.7 Mbps on my last few tests).
I updated my monthly price too since I noticed I had the old promo-rate from my original review listed. Also picked-up a 4G card from the service center (250U) and will give that a whirl (paid for the card so I have no contract with that).
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