Cable/Internet: RCN v. Verizon v. Time Warner

I had TW and they suck. I have been using RCN for about a year, so far so good. I got a deal from them last year, they offered $50 bucks off the first bill plus free tivo for a year. I did not sign up for their phone so not sure how that is.

My year is about up with them so I need to renegotiate. Just like TW, their rates go up by 40-50% after the 1st year. I will probably jump back to TW if RCN won't keep the same rates.

Verizon FIOS!

I found rcn to be horrible.

I liked TW better than RCN and found the money saved with RCN was not worth it.

Fios beats all, just fyi

We've had all three (for cable/internet only; we haven't had a land line in years). Verizon FIOS is by far the best. Regular verizon is only for phone and internet - they partner with Direct TV in non-FIOS areas, so your building would have to allow a dish.
RCN is certainly better, faster and more reliable than TW, and their customer service people behave like they actually value your business. TW has nothing going for it besides NY1, which is why they advertise it so heavily. We used to live in a TW-only building, and after several months of incredibly unreliable service, frequent internet disruptions, slow speeds and the rudest customer service drones on earth (and we had a top-tier package) we ditched them and went with Verizon DSL and a rabbit-ear antenna.

Verizon FIOS is awesome. We switched from TW two weeks ago and will NEVER go back. The HD channels actually work and the internet is much faster.

A friend has RCN, don't like it so much. TW now has far more options for channels, on demand (including free) and other things they never had. If you dig, you can find music videos, all the music, channels, etc.

Plus, I like the DVR a lot (RCN is similar but not as good) and Fios isn't as good.

And, NY1. Can't really live without it.

and my internet is better than t1 speed on TW, no joke. I clock it sometimes.

Had both, can't recommend either. Now have RCN as TW somehow forgot to hook up the connection for my apartment and it would have taken a week for them to fix. I have had more Internet outages with RCN than with TW; I therefore spend a lot of time on the phone with customer service at RCN and they are pretty terrible. Prepare to spend 20-30 minutes waiting for to speak to a fairly incompetent human. Never had to call TW as much so can't really compare.

Also I miss NY1.

Had RCN at my last apartment and TW at this apartment. I think RCN was better, I have outages all the time up in washington heights and they barely acknowledge. then when i ask for a credit they tell me it is on me to tell them when it started and when they fixed it. If i forget to call i do not get a credit.

I am now moving to a new condo wired with FIOS and that is what i am going with. Everyone i knows really likes it and the bill is so much lower.

as to NY1 i do not watch it so i do not care

What do people think about Verizon FIOS?

Have not heard much. Is the service good?

I had RCN for several years. Initially good, but the service got so bad that I switched back to TW. Also, I spent over two hours on the phone trying to get them to stop service. They tried to charge me for months. Would not recommend

Switched to RCN 2 years ago after we kept having problems with TW's DVR. RCN outage record has been acceptable, but their pricing is infuriating. You don't sign a contract, which sounds nice, but you have to haggle with 3 layers of reps on the phone every six month when your pricing "agreement" expires - otherwise they jack the rate WAY up. I put "agreement" in quotes because they reserve the right to raise your rate when and by whatever amount they want before the six months are up, so you're guaranteed nothing. Unless you're a dedicated haggler, I would not recommend RCN.

RCN can be quite annoying.. i get internet outages about once a month and it seems to last through the night..Its as if they don't really have people working around on a shift.

I used to have timewarner when i lived in queens and it was pretty solid back then.
RCN will also nickle dime you for everything like hd, hd box, hd dvr.
make sure you check your bill closely also for double charges and things like that as i got double charged for a premium channel package and also charged separately for the channel.
if i had a choice i would go FIOS personally, as I've heard the reliability is there.

my first year with tw I had cable/phone/internet and paid $99.00 now I pay $139 so I'm not sure if that's good or bad but it dueable for me.

dueable ?

"What do people think about Verizon FIOS?Have not heard much. Is the service good?"

We had TW for 4 years - the HD channels were always pixelated, our DVR malfunctioned at least once a week and they swore nothing was wrong with it, and on top of it, we had outages often even though we lived in 3 completely different parts of the city.

We switched to FIOS (installation took a while but no complaints). It's cheaper, our HD channels work (no pixels or interrupted picture or sound ever), and our internet is twice as fast as it was on TW. Also, you can manage your DVR from your computer and the DVR hasn't malfunctioned once. The installation person also took the time to explain the entire system to me and my fiance and made sure we knew how everything worked before leaving. It was great.

Also, never understood this fascination with NY1 - I don't miss it.

I found it strange cablevision does not compete in the same territory where TW is. Can't this be considered price collusion as the two largest cable providers in the city decide to stay off each other's turf?

I've used RCN for the past two years (since the digital conversion) for cable, internet and phone. Have not had any significant problems, just a few outages with the cable but overall pretty good. No issues with the phone or internet, and I had been concerned about switching from a Verizon landline to IP phone service (lots of friends and family have had that "dead air" issue with other providers) - so far so good, and the price is half of what I was paying with Verizon. RCN's customer service is actually helpful, far better than Cablevision, which I used for many years in the 'burbs. Only complaint with RCN is that there are quite a few channels that are not included with the 'basic' package that seem like they should be...not a big deal for me, but it might be something to consider if you want certain channels - you may have to subscribe / pay more for a comprehensive package.

i'm sure verizon fios is great, but stay the hell away from verizon DSL

Never had RCN. In the city I've had Dish, TW, and now FIOS. The reliability of FIOS has been great - I've never had an outage (installed about 1yr ago) - the only problems occur with the occasional overheating of the set top box, but that doesn't occur too frequently, and could be alleviated if I had a better place to put it. The biggest issue I have is with the size of the hard drive on the DVR - it is pitifully small for HD recordings. The offset is that their on-demand offerings are tremendous - I don't know how TW compares these days, but I feel like I can get most every show I'm interested in on demand, including tons of children's programming, which saves my DVR from being taken hostage by Dora, Diego, Barney and the WonderPets.

The ability to program and manage the DVR on the computer and my smartphone is awesome. They also have widgets that let you do some simple things like easily view photos on the TV, get quick weather forecasts, and they have some type of facebook and twitter interface if that's your thing.

"I found it strange cablevision does not compete in the same territory where TW is. Can't this be considered price collusion as the two largest cable providers in the city decide to stay off each other's turf?"

No, its the opposite. The government historically awarded the franchises, and it was only one per area. TW was the one allowed to wire the streets in some areas, and cablevision was given other areas. Its why most towns and regions only had one.

Fios is using the right of ways from telephone services to connect the wires.

"and my internet is better than t1 speed on TW, no joke. I clock it sometimes."

For what it's worth, a T1 is a mighty slow connection.

Verizon does not break the way TWC used to break ALL THE TIME. I am never on teh phone with customer service with Fios. ALWAYS was with TWC. Nuff said.

Also, my bldg has 35 units, all can get EITHER FIOS or TWC. 35/35 have FIOS. Now nuff said.

somewhereelse,

I feel the same way too!

"And, NY1. Can't really live without it."

i dont know if you have io cablevision as an option, but if so please do not go with them.
i must say their customer service is ok, but the service itself totally sucks.
it always stutters. tbs is almost unwatchable in the morning, i wouldnt care except i like married with children
also i dont get ifc and some other stations with basic option, have to pay more.
not to mention their really annoying commercials.

when i had twc it was ok, but the customer service sucked.

rcn and time warner both kind of suck

Had TW, SUCKED, had RCN, the best. Now i have Verizon and it sucks, cant even watch a video...

I prefer TW. Have had for a number of years now and only complaint is that the internet connection can be slow at times. Had RCN for about five years and had many problems with outages. Customer service is a nightmare

i have tw for internet, cable and phone never had a problem...all three cost me $120 a month.

TW for cable and internet.

Verizon for phone.

No problems.

You who have Verizon FIOS -- where do you live in Manhattan?

Had TW cable modem for years. In the past six months had been experiencing ever more frequent Internet outages (at least once/month), sometimes longer than a day at a time, plus even more frequent slow connections. Customer service was a joke and they could never get a service guy out any sooner than 48-72 hrs from the time I called. I got fed up. Thank goodness FiOS was installed in my building. I switched 2 months ago and have not had a single problem, plus my connection is faster overall. From all that I read while doing my due diligence prior to switching, outages are rare with FiOS...people who've had it for years have never had a single problem. I am on the UES in Yorkville.

scargo - I'm on the UES. I've had FIOS for 1 1/2 yrs, I don't recall a single outage. With TW the outages weren't bad, but I often had to re-boot the set top box, something I've only had to do a handful of times, if that, with FIOS.

In 15 months, Verizon has never broken.

35/35 units in my building have Verizon, none have TWC.

All can have both.

My experience says Verizon is better.

RCN is HORRIBLE!

Sorry, but FIOS is not the magic bullet either. If you have more than person connecting, it cant't handle. I think it is a victim of its own success and doesn't have sufficient bandwidth. Better than RCN, I agree, but still not as good as it shouldbe.

I bought super high speed fios, and it certainly handles "peak times" better than cable. Its technologocally impossible for cable to be faster than fios, all else equal.

The VERY fastest is satellite downloard, fiber optic upload. Saw that a few places. Its like changing TV channels.

Cool, thanks.

I had rcn and hated it. I really have little problem with tw but for some pixel problems on occasion. I can get fios but I don't know if my husband wants to learn all new channels. He has a hard time with new cable devices - lol. Not sure it's worth it. TW internet has not had a problem in over a year and it's fast. I also do a package.

I have TW, in multiple spots, and have problems every couple months. Half the time needs a repairman.

The DVRs crash and burn all the time (a lot of hard drive failures), even though I make sure to get newer ones each time. Now, lots of just errors in recording things, it just missed scheduled stuff with the "was unable to record XXX" message... even though there is plenty of room.

Plus, the pricing for my package seems to be 25-30% less on FIOS, and I get the phone thrown in on top.

And I'm weaning myself off NY1.

BTW, I wonder if the supposedly fios reliability improvement comes from their slightly different setup, where there is one "gateway" box in the house that might be a better quality than the individual boxes, doing the heavy lifting, and the single boxes acting more as just tuners/recorders. Plus the fact that the cabling has to be much newer than TW's old coax.

"Also, never understood this fascination with NY1 - I don't miss it"

I can't understand my fascination with it myself but I can't live without it. It is my "go to" channel when I'm occupied with something else like cleaning, web surfing, lounging. It's like a bad habit. Sometimes the same story will loop for the fith time and I get disgusted with myself and have to turn it
off. A true addiction with all the symptoms.

That being said. I did a mini purge of TWC. Returned an unused cablebox, cancelled all the Hi-Def fluff,
and got rid of the unreliable internet since my job and livelihood demands a non-flaky connection. I replaced the internet with RCN ultra-high speed. Kept the TWC cable for TV and other stuff (Can't get FIOS yet.