Internet service

[cl0udy.livejournal.com]

The roomies and I live in Porter Square and subscribe to RCN's 10mbps cable internet service (no TV). Over the last few months, we've been pretty happy with the service and promotional rate we were getting, which was $26.95/month.

Now that the promotional period is over, the rate's switched to $44.95/month for a one-year plan. RCN customer service says that's the best deal we can get right now (despite their site advertising a $43/month rate).

I'm not too happy about this. Admittedly, I don't know what the market rate is for cable internet service in Somerville, but suddenly jacking up my bill by $18/month seems sketchy. What have your experiences been like with RCN internet? Would you recommend switching to another provider?

Comments

[studeronomy.livejournal.com]

1. Tear a sheet of paper into 18 pieces.
2. On each piece, write a different number between 25 and 43.
3. Put pieces into a hat, and then draw one.
4. Attach a dollar sign ($) to that number.
5. Call RCN, and tell them that Comcast (or other available cable Internet provider) offered you $[whatever # you drew] and that you plan to switch unless they can offer you the same price.
6. Receive lower price.

[afty.livejournal.com]

This is correct. RCN will stonewall you on price until you threaten to switch to Comcast. Then they will transfer you to a different department that will happily wheel and deal with you.

[arrowintwolakes.livejournal.com]

Does that work for Comcast as well? Because my trial period is expiring here pretty soon, but I think I've only ever see people suggest this if they have RCN and threaten to switch to Comcast, not the other way around.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

It might. But RCN is a much better corporate citizen than Comcast.

[afty.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure, but, like you, I've only heard this technique suggested for RCN. I can personally vouch that it works for RCN. This summer my promotional rate ended, and I called to see if they could offer me anything better than the full rate. At first they told me they couldn't do anything. Later I received a Comcast offer in the mail and called RCN back, threatening to cancel and switch to Comcast. They transfered me to a different department that was happy to offer me the rate I asked for, which was even cheaper than the promotional rate I had had previously.

[arrowintwolakes.livejournal.com]

Heh, maybe I'll actually switch over to RCN, then. I'm not under any contract or anything with Comcast.

[bilateralism.livejournal.com]

anyone else have a TERRIBLE TIME with rcn internet? Ours craps out ALL THE TIME. We have to unplug the modem/router and plug it back in at least 3 times a day.

[solarpanda.livejournal.com]

Ugh YES! Though admittedly, this has only happened at my new place. Previous place had RCN with no problems. Maybe it's our modem... :(

[sylphae-minuo.livejournal.com]

Modem issue, I have had no problem with connection.

[aquaflame16.livejournal.com]

We've been having similar problems. We used to have our own cable modem and have switched to a rented modem from RCN. Our service is better but still gets interrupted a few times a day on average.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Do not expect better results with Comcast. Just even crappier customer service.

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

we have the same thing happen with comcast... had a tech out to "fix it" he replaced the modem... then we had no connection for two days until he could come out again and refix it... it was fine for about a month, but has started crapping out again, 1-2 times a day.

[thebinturong.livejournal.com]

I cycled my cable modem several times a month to get my connection back, til it crapped out completely and I got one of these. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16825122003 (Except it wasn't down to $40 at the time.) And its been solid now for several months.

Also, some troubleshooting that helped one day that was so obvious I didn't even think it was worth trying... if you have a cable that screws into a faceplate on the wall, make sure it's screwed tight.

[badger-92.livejournal.com]

We have also had a problem with losing our RCN internet connection. Usually just turning the modem on and off solves it - but it has been worse lately. Our connection basically crapped out for all of yesterday afternoon, but was back on this morning. This is the second time this has happened in the past week...

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

We have the opposite experience; literally in the eight months or so thatwe've had RCN, we haven't had to power cycle the modem except just once, and it had been so long that I'd spent half an hour troubleshooting the home router before i even remembered the modem.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

Same here!

[pushupstairs.livejournal.com]

for the two weeks that I had them, the internet functioned fine (except for them blocking ports), but the TV signal would spend 5 seconds on and 5 seconds off.

Do you have cable?

[shana-lyons.livejournal.com]

RCN just jacked our bill up, too, and I called them and negotiated it back down. We're now paying $109 a month for basically every cable channel except HBO (including HD and all other premium channels), telephone service, and a 20mbps cable modem. We had to agree to a two year commitment to get that rate but that was fine with me because that's basically 2 years in which I don't have to call them every 6 months and negotiate our rate.

Call them and threaten to quit. Tell them Comcast has a better deal. You can get your rate back down.

[progressnerd.livejournal.com]

I've had both Comcast and RCN and while neither was great, I prefer RCN. It was cheaper and the service was more reliable. Both offer low promotional rates that eventually expire.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the one thing that's still super sketchy about it though is that the "real" rates are *impossible* to find on their web site. There is a little asterisk next to the advertised rate indicating that it is a promotional rate, but there's nothing you can click on to find out what your rate is going to be in a year.

I hadn't thought of the "threaten to switch to Comcast" path. I should try that.

Dump RCN.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

...

RCN

[mjrocks98.livejournal.com]

I found that with RCN I get better deals by calling the local people who put fliers in your mailbox. When I call RCN direct they always offer me higher rates. I'm getting every cable channel plus the fastest modem speed & 3 cable boxes & a modem for $95 a month. When I called RCN direct they were pricing me at $180. I called Juan who put a flier in my mailbox & got the $95 rate for 2 years. I was also able to get set up faster. Calling the 800 number they told me it would be 3 weeks to get my cable etc. set up. Juan sent a crew over same day & I was set up in less than an hour. I find it all very strange, but it worked.

Think carefully before actually switching

[waaronw.livejournal.com]

I'm on the Cambridge side of Porter Square, so I don't get a choice for cable - it's Comcast or nothing. Now, as much as it pains and surprises me to say this, my Comcast service has been excellent since the install. It's lightening fast (testing at 18+Mb most times) though I do pay an extra $10/mo for the faster service. HOWEVER, I know from talking to others and reading reviews, if I have a problem, I'll probably be up the proverbial creek.
Another issue: 250GB/mo cap, auto throttle for "heavy users" at any given time, and no way to monitor your usage. They also cooperate closely with certain large sue-happy industry reps, so if you are someone who uses your internet connection that way, beware. (I've had friends get C&Ds)
BTW: If you do actually switch, some of us have found that if you also subscribe to their VOIP service (actually makes my bill $2/mo more) then you mysteriously have a more reliable, less problematic connection most of the time...

Re: Think carefully before actually switching

[pushupstairs.livejournal.com]

and no way to monitor your usage

they're supposed to be rolling this out Real Soon Now^TM, FWIW.

[pushupstairs.livejournal.com]

1. "promotional rate we were getting, which was $26.95/month"


2. "Now that the promotional period is over, the rate's switched to $44.95/month"


3. "suddenly jacking up my bill by $18/month seems sketchy"

That's not a "sudden" jacking up. Your promotional period ended, which you knew was going to happen. Sounds like you just want to complain.

service outage

[mcary219.livejournal.com]

Has anyone had problems the past couple days? I think that is pretty rediculous, call their billing department to negotiate taking off for next month.

[gothic-hamlet.livejournal.com]

My RCN bill was on the steady incline for roughly a year and a half after I finished my promotional package. We were paying $90/month for an internet/cable/phone package with extended channels, which jumped up to $120 after our promo first year ended. However, since then that number steadily increased until I finally ended my service last month, at $160. No extra line items, no warnings - just a blurb on their website justifying this mild increase in price.

That - combined with the fact that my service would sometimes be so bad that I would be dropping connections every 30 minutes like clockwork - has caused me to switch to Comcast. The Tufts/Somerville area has been having on and off connection problems for ~ages~ now (some months will have no problems, but then suddenly three weeks will be connection hell), so use them as you will.

[mjperson.livejournal.com]

One you've switched from one to the other, chances are you have both installations running right up to the house, and switching back is literally a matter of swapping one cable connector.

If you have your own inside equipment, (Tivo, cable ready TV's, whatever...), so don't have to mess around with trading cable decoder boxes back and forth, there's little reason to not keep switching back and forth once a year and always get the introductory price offered to those customers just "stolen" from the other guy.