Review by nycityny 
UPDATED: 281 days ago
member for 3.9 years, 1696 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 New York,New York,NY
 $124 per month
 "Consistent connection; offers faster speeds than most cable companies"
 "Overseas tech support generally unhelpful; billing dept is inept"
 "Generally reliable connection, poor customer service if you need them"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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SEPTEMBER 25, 2008 UPDATE:
I have not updated in many years. I have had several problems with RCN this year which took awhile to resolve. I'll discuss:
1) In July my VOIP phone services (both VoicePulse and ViaTalk) were experiencing a lot of audio loss. VoicePulse helped me track the problem down to significant intermittent packet loss on my broadband connection through RCN. This lead to about five phone calls with RCN's tech support and two visits to my home before this was resolved. Since the packet loss was intermittent the technicians would come to my home, change something, and think it was fixed. It was not fixed until someone in their back offices found the problem and addressed it. Neither RCN nor I know how it was fixed but it took about three weeks of interaction before it was finally resolved. The first technician changed only a coax splitter in my home and thought that would do it. That's pretty inept to me.
2) After the Internet problem was resolved my cable television incurred an issue. When watching through my cable box only there were audio and video pops occurring several times a minute. Also, the Starz channels were not coming in. RCN phone support sent a signal to my box. When that did not work they sent a stronger signal and told me to wait two hours. That didn't help. I went out of town and returned to the same problem. I called again. They sent the strong signal again and told me to wait two hours. That did nothing so they sent a technician to my home. The diligent person they sent spent two hours in my home tweaking all my connections and splitters, changing my cable box and changing some cables. Nothing fixed the problem. He then connected a new box to the direct source coming into my building (an apartment building of over 400 units). The audio/video pops remained. Finally he spoke with headquarters about the signal reading on his meter and the guy explained to him how two parameters of the signal were too close together. To fix this a different tech was needed to come to the building and adjust the level for the entire complex. Oddly, out of 400+ apartments I was the only one to get to this point in the diagnosis with a problem that had affected everyone for almost a month? Weird. Anyway, someone apparently came out the next day to adjust the levels because the picture has been pristine ever since.
3) All RCN customers incurred a rate increase in July. I called to complain and was offered a $10 credit for six months which I accepted. Based on prior experience, I didn't really expect to see the credit properly applied in my bill and, of course, it was not. I'm still working with RCN on this and another billing error they made. Their billing department has been deplorable during my entire 11 years with RCN.
I will say that when a technician has been sent to my home they are always sent within a day or two of the request and they always arrive within the 3 hour window.
So right now my Internet connection is great and my television picture is fine. I just purchased two TIVO HDs and had cablecards installed so I am ready for their digital conversion (analog crush). If the quality remains as it is I will remain a customer. If not, the advantage RCN had of not scrambling channels will have disappeared with the analog crush and so I will have no reason not to switch to Time Warner (or to Verizon FIOS which is coming to New York City soon).
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
I've had RCN cable television for about nine years and cable modem broadband service for about six years. Both are reliable and offer pretty much the latest that is available technologically. RCN's top broadband speed of 10Mbps beats the Time Warner Cable and Verizon DSL alternatives available to me. Unfortunately, I have been testing at about 7.3 Mbps lately. Still, that's fast enough for me.
I have a package with RCN called Power CI which offers a discount & includes Digital Cable, a premium channel and broadband internet. The cable modem piece of this is $38 since I own my own modem. That's very competitive. As an aside, my total bill for Power CI is about $102/month which includes some premium cable channels I've added on. So for $102 per month I get all the big premiums except Cinemax, digital cable and cable modem at fast speeds. My building in Manhattan gets a discount which is reflected in that price. I have a digital cable box in the living room to give me all the channels. I don't need a box in the bedroom and without one I still get all the basic (non-digital) channels. With Time Warner I would need a box on both TVs at added cost to get any channels.
The biggest problem with RCN is their customer service. When you call them you get a representative who is located in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Texas, or some other such place. Every time is different. They often do not understand the logistics of Manhattan and in that way puts them at a disadvantage from Verizon or Time Warner. Inevitably, whenever I request a change in service it is done incorrectly the first time and billed wrong as well. I have spent hours and hours over the years with RCN contesting my bill immediately following a change order. I always win the argument but it takes persistence to get things corrected. The phone representative will tell you that your account will be credited but the next bill often does not reflect it.
As an example, I recently took RCN up on their promotion of waiving the $10 monthly fee for a year for upgrading from 7Mbps (Mach 7) broadband to 10 Mbps (Mach 10). When a month later I noticed speeds closer to Mach 5 I phoned them. The representative saw that my account was at Mach 10 but agreed to check the line. That diagnostic check revealed that the service was not at that level. They had neglected to re-provision the line to get it up to speed. I asked that my one year promotion be extended by a month since I did not have the right speed for a month. Instead I was told I would be given a $10 credit. I expressed skepticism that the credit would actually occur but the representative assured me that it would as she had previously worked in the billing department and knew how to do it. Sure enough, the bill came the following month without the $10 credit. I had to phone again to get it.
Another example: Last year I purchased a modem (Toshiba PCX 2500) and returned my rented modem to the local RCN office. I was told that I would be billed $5 each month for a rental but would also receive a $5 credit each month to offset that since I own my modem. That's how their system works. OK with me. I received my next bill. There was a $5 charge for a rental, a $5 credit and then another $5 charge to reverse the $5 credit. I phoned to get this corrected. The representative did not believe me and simply thought I was unaware that they bill you $5 and credit you in the same bill. It took several minutes (and some attitude) to get her to see that I was right and for her to correct the situation.
I also had RCN's telephone service for awhile. Given the complexity of the phone system and the lack of local support, this was a nightmare. Stay away from RCN Phone! Their prices are not that competitive anyway, even with a package.
While the tone of this review is somewhat negative, I have overall been happy with RCN. When you don't need to make changes to your service, things hum along just fine. Cable television channels are always there and the broadband internet connection is always on. If you make a change, however, review your bill thoroughly when you receive it!
September 14, 2005 Update:
I previously mentioned my inability to get top speeds. I was instructed to reboot my modem and after a couple of tries I now achieve greater than 10 Mbps downloads. Consequently, I upgraded my score on "Connection Reliability" to a 5. The connection is never down (I hope I don't jinx things saying this)!
I should also mention that for the past six weeks I have been using VOIP phone service via my RCN broadband connection. Both have worked perfectly. Since the quality of VOIP is greatly affected by your broadband quality, it's nice to see that RCN is so conducive to this new phone technology. The VOIP I am using is VoicePulse and it has become the primary phone service in my home. I no longer have a regular POTS phone line.
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