ATTN: Erie Area Time-Warner Road Runner Customers
Posted December 4th, 2007 @ 01:40pm by Erik J. Barzeski
Attention all customers of Time-Warner's Road Runner cable Internet service living in the Erie area west of I-79.
I've previously documented the issues I've been having with Time-Warner's service here and here. Today a "PM" (plant maintenance) technician came to my house. I had scheduled the appointment last Thursday when my speed issues were not resolved by the first "IR" tech that came last week.
The PM Tech ((I did not ask his name.)) told me several interesting things. Essentially, since June, all Road Runner customers in the Erie area west of I-79 have been getting horribly slow speeds well below acceptable minimums. Local Time-Warner management only bothered to tell the techs and installers of the issue two months ago. The PM Tech told me that they've also recently discovered what they think is the cause: a faulty piece of equipment at the Asbury Road hub ((I don't know the exact address of this Time-Warner location.)). The PM Tech then told me that he was told the equipment has been "ordered." When I asked him when the part was likely to arrive, he couldn't guess. When I asked him how quickly Time-Warner was going to replace the faulty part after the new one arrived, he told me they were planning to overhaul the system in January, so they'd probably just wait until then.
The PM Tech told me this issue affects all Road Runner customers west of I-79. He said that "standard customers are getting 1 Mbps speeds, 1 Mbps customers are getting Road Runner Lite, and Road Runner Lite customers would be better off with dial-up." ((This page defines Turbo as 15 Mbps, Standard as 7 Mbps, Basic as 1.5 Mbps, and Lite as 768 Kbps. Please bear in mind those are the theoretical maximums, but I've been told by several Time-Warner technicians that I should expect at least 4 Mbps on the 7 Mbps plan and "at least 7-10 Mbps on the Turbo even at peak hours." Even 3 Mbps on the "Standard" 7 Mbps line is thus unacceptable let alone speeds of 500 kbps.))
The PM Tech went on to say that there was no real way of contacting anyone who would know about this. "The help desk people don't know about it. It's a local issue, and they didn't even tell us until two months ago" I was told. I told him I'd like to know when the issue is resolved so that I can check my speeds again to confirm the fix on my end. That won't be possible, I was told - there's nobody I can call or talk to. No office, no manager, no supervisor.
When pressed, the PM Tech said "I can't give you the number for the office in the Millcreek Mall, but if you go in you can talk to them there. That's probably your best bet."
In other words, customers in the area I've mentioned have been getting ripped off for six months and will continue to be ripped off for at least another month or two.
I am hereby encouraging all Road Runner customers west of I-79 in Erie to run some speed tests ((To check your own speeds, visit DSL Reports. My speeds vary literally minute to minute, so you'll want to run several tests at various times of day.)) and drop in to the Time-Warner office in the Millcreek Mall. Pressure them for repeated updates. Pressure them for partial refunds dating back to June. Pressure them to provide free or steeply discounted service until the problems are corrected and the speeds for which you are paying are reliably delivered.
Take action.
Update: Feel free to read my "op/ed" piece on ErieBlogs.com.
Update #2: TW NEOH Executive Customer Service Info
Donate Life
Posted 06 Dec 2007 at 2:03pm #
Hi,
I don't really know what these numbers mean...maybe you can let me know.
NJ=download=2685Kb/s Upload=462Kb/s
NJ=download=2047Kb/s Upload=475Kb/s
NY=download=4719Kb/s Upload=468Kb/s
This is for Lake City, Pa. WEST of I79 in the West County.
PLEASE let me know how far off these speeds are from what we sgould get.
Dave Martin
Posted 06 Dec 2007 at 2:55pm #
[quote comment="44784"]PLEASE let me know how far off these speeds are from what we sgould get.[/quote]
I'm not certain exactly what area is affected - I'm just repeating what I was told.
That being said, your speeds varied from just under 2.0 Mbps to 4.6 Mbps. I'm assuming you're on the standard plan, which gives you speeds of "up to" 7 Mbps. Again, you'll never see 7 really, but you should always see, at a minimum, speeds of 4.0 Mbps. Two of your three tests failed to meet that minimum. If you're on Turbo, they all did.
If you can use the "official" Time-Warner Speed Test, do so. But it seems to be having issues with is licensing right now.
Also, keep running tests and make sure you're not otherwise using your network connection (checking email, downloading a file, etc.). You'll see how much the speeds will vary, seemingly for no reason and from even minute to minute.
I've been keeping a log of my speeds at various times: http://barzeski.com/twst.txt.
Posted 08 Dec 2007 at 7:45am #
Erik, that 'licensing' issue on the TW test site can be dealt with by removing their cookie (speedtest.twcnc).
I'm on the east side and have been very well taken care of by TW on my one complaint(dropped connections). The tech solved my problem with a new modem and also put in a pre-amp. Plus, for the few days of inconvenience they gave me a $45 credit. (The credit was volunteered; I didn't ask or expect.)
So, I'm anxious for some feedback by any of those affected by your issues to see if you're treated as well. I hope you folks get some substantial credits out of this.
Posted 09 Dec 2007 at 8:23am #
i have just recently had my modem replaced by the friendly but slow to repsond staff at TWC. pre replacement, my average dl was around 2.5MB, post replacement after 24 hours of solid line testing, i am getting an average of right around 6.5MB and upload testing and holding at about 460K i would say to have the company send out a tech to test your modem, often times, if you have a solid RF, and strong transmit recieve signal the modem could be the key to the problems you are having. when they tested my lines i have a strong RF, transmit also strong. however modem was failing off and on, and causing dl to drop for no reason. As soon as he replaced my modem, the latency issue (at times a full second to 1.5 seconds) was reduced to a meager 34ms atency to server on most speedtesting sites, the greatest having been 65ms at a cinni site. i would be more pressed to say that issues have been addressed in our area, I live in Girard by the way, and most cases are likely hardware at the user level. and by the way i am not an employee, and am not being paid for this answer. this is personal experience from someone who had at one point faster service in Tulsa OK, with Cox.
Posted 09 Dec 2007 at 8:43am #
Mike: I've tried two modems. It's the same on both and one is brand new. Also, given that the tech who came to my house is the one who told me a lot of this stuff, I'm inclined not to believe that it's a "hardware at the user level" issue.
If you're in Girard, you're probably being routed out of a different hub or switching station or whatever they're called.
Posted 10 Dec 2007 at 5:36pm #
I had a tech out today. I own my modem and replaced it out last Wednesday. The phone support sent out a tech since they could not believe the slow speeds and the high ping times after they provisioned my new modem. The visting tech told my wife today he did not know why they sent him out in this area again since he was out a few blocks away for the same complaint a few days ago. He told my wife about the Asbury road issue and also said this area is overloaded since the rollout of 'digital phone' service and there are too many people on the system. He hooked up his laptop my my modem and said we are below the normal speeds.
Posted 10 Dec 2007 at 5:59pm #
Almost forgot. If you want to talk to a North East Ohio tech (we're considered NE OH) dial 330.572.6199 and choose option 3 to have someone answer almost instantly.
Posted 10 Dec 2007 at 10:51pm #
I am having the same issues. At this point I'm gathering stats on various things including: bandwidth (upload/download), latency, packet loss, any downtime... For any of those you think about using web chat, DON'T! (lols). As I found out painfully they don't know what they are talking about: http://fulkrod.net/?p=26
Posted 14 Dec 2007 at 2:16pm #
I'm about 1 mile W of I-79. The TW tech came out last week and replaced a connector in the basement, saying it didn't seem to be of high quality. It didn't make a bit of difference. Yesterday I stopped by the TW office. They told me replacing the modem would likely fix it since mine was a couple years old. She said they just installed a $$$ piece of equipment in our area last week due to complaints in my neighborhood.
So far, it doesn't look like either made much difference. Last night I was getting 300-500Kbps down and 150Kbps up, which isn't much different than before.
They told me to come back to the office if the modem doesn't fix the problem and they'd try to escalate the issue to a supervisor.
I'll give it another day or so to see how it behaves.
Posted 14 Dec 2007 at 2:39pm #
[quote comment="44912"]Yesterday I stopped by the TW office. They told me replacing the modem would likely fix it since mine was a couple years old. She said they just installed a $$$ piece of equipment in our area last week due to complaints in my neighborhood.[/quote]
Which office? And please report back re: the modem. My guess is it won't make a lick of difference.
[quote comment="44912"]Last night I was getting 300-500Kbps down and 150Kbps up, which isn't much different than before.[/quote]
What plan are you on?
For what it's worth, I've seen somewhat better speeds lately, but they're still half or less of what I should be seeing at a minimum. And both yesterday and today something very funky has been going on with DNS or packet loss or something - pages stall at loading one time and then a minute later you hit reload and the page comes right up across the Web (not limited to a few sites).
I'm continuing to document my speeds here: http://barzeski.com/twst.txt . If you have a similar file and wish to share your results, please do so.
Posted 15 Dec 2007 at 10:02am #
I'm on the 7Mbps plan.
I stopped by the Millcreek office on Thursday and they replaced my 3-4 yr old Moto Surfboard modem with a new Scientific Atlanta unit.
The new modem didn't seem to make any difference Thursday night -BUT, last night (Friday) and this morning, my bandwidth has been amazing. By "amazing", I mean, I'm getting what I'm paying for. I'm seeing download speeds of 4-6Mbps +/- and 450-500Kbps upload speeds.
I don't know if it took a day for the modem to "find it's legs" or if T-W made some other change in the system, though I suspect the latter. The woman at T-W told me that they thought the problem in our area had been fixed a week ago, and she was sending a note to a supervisor when she gave me the new modem. That may just be a line they use to get you out the door, but I believe she was sincere and wanted to help.
Had I just spend many thousand$ to fix my network, and customers were still complaining, I'd darned-well want to find out why. Maybe someone looked into it on Friday and found a misconfiguration in the new equipment or something.
I'll continue to monitor this closely.
Has anyone else in SW Millcreek noticed a drastic bandwidth improvement in the last day or two?
Posted 15 Dec 2007 at 10:59am #
I did notice it was running better Friday night but a speed test revealed I was 1.2 Mbps down. I have the 7 Mbps plan. Saturday mornings I always get good speed. Thursday night it was so bad I called the Ohio Level 3 support and complained again. This tech told me the same story of the illegal bandwith limiting equipment Adelphia had on the network and they have been working on it. I had him transfer me to billing about getting a credit since this has been going on for such a long period of time. The agent would not give any credit since I have only had one tech at the house within the last 3 months. If they are going to do it that way, I'll call each time and have them send out a tech. After I got off the phone I filed a online consumer complaint with the PA Attorney General's office for paying for a high level of service but receiving the lower level. I've also been filing help desk issued through email had receiving this back just after I filed the complaint:
Posted 16 Dec 2007 at 11:50am #
[quote comment="44927"]I don't know if it took a day for the modem to "find it's legs" or if T-W made some other change in the system, though I suspect the latter.[/quote]
Modems shouldn't have to "find their legs." You can see from my ongoing table of speed results that I've seen increased bandwidth lately too, and yet today, they were down again.
[quote comment="44927"]The woman at T-W told me that they thought the problem in our area had been fixed a week ago, and she was sending a note to a supervisor when she gave me the new modem. That may just be a line they use to get you out the door, but I believe she was sincere and wanted to help.[/quote]
They probably "thought" the problem was solved. That simply shows that we must continue to pressure them. Keep using the official speed test at http://speedtest.twcnc.com/ (when it works) and keep a table of your test results.
[quote comment="44927"]Had I just spend many thousand$ to fix my network, and customers were still complaining, I'd darned-well want to find out why. Maybe someone looked into it on Friday and found a misconfiguration in the new equipment or something.[/quote]
Thursday and Friday (see the results) I saw more speed but still less than I should have (and today much less). However, I had some other network issues that evening. They seemed DNS-related, but weren't. Some sites would take forever and still not load, but then when reloaded would come up instantly. Other pages would load quickly one time and then take forever when reloaded. It wasn't a caching or browser issue - it was definitely with the network. Some sites could be pinged one time but then experience 100% packet loss the next time.
[quote comment="44928"]I did notice it was running better Friday night but a speed test revealed I was 1.2 Mbps down.[/quote]
It's a sad state of affairs when "running better" means 1.2 Mbps.
[quote comment="44928"]Thursday night it was so bad I called the Ohio Level 3 support and complained again.[/quote]
Could you share the direct phone number with me if you have it? Post in a comment if you don't mind others knowing, or email me.
[quote comment="44928"]This tech told me the same story of the illegal bandwith limiting equipment Adelphia had on the network and they have been working on it.[/quote]
That's interesting. The tech that talked to me didn't say anything about bandwidth limiting equipment - just that they'd recently identified the problem and
Of course, bandwidth limiting just might mean limiting the 7 Mbps people to 7 Mbps. Given our situation, though, it's easy to assume it's limiting us by the amount of stuff we use. I'm on my computer all day, and sometimes downloading large files. I wonder if they (Adelphia before them or Time-Warner now) also limit your bandwidth based on your transfer averages or something. I believe it'd be illegal for them to do that - I certainly never agreed to such a thing.
[quote comment="44928"]If they are going to do it that way, I'll call each time and have them send out a tech.[/quote]
I would do that. I'm going to keep doing that as well. I have an iCal reminder set up to call them every week and complain so long as speeds are below their stated minimums.
[quote comment="44928"]After I got off the phone I filed a online consumer complaint with the PA Attorney General's office for paying for a high level of service but receiving the lower level.[/quote]
I'd like to add my name to that. Please contact me privately if you wish with the details.
Posted 16 Dec 2007 at 6:46pm #
[quote comment="44947"]I'd like to add my name to that. Please contact me privately if you wish with the details.[/quote]
I filed it online at http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/consumers.aspx?id=451 Maybe we can make some noise if they get alot of them.
[quote comment="44833"]Almost forgot. If you want to talk to a North East Ohio tech (we're considered NE OH) dial 330.572.6199 and choose option 3 to have someone answer almost instantly.[/quote]
This is the number I called and they said "level 3" when answered. I just ignored the recording saying use this option if you already have a ticket number.
Posted 19 Dec 2007 at 8:34am #
Although I do not understand this as much in depth as most of you seem to, I can say that my Time Warner internet has been terrible for the last couple of months. Because of ths blog, I called time Warner and was told they are 'repairing' the system in my area (West of 79). The woman told me they are replkacing the Adelphia system. I also have the Motorola surfboard modem.
My thought is to just rent one of their modems so that they can't tell my my modem is the problem. It seems that in less than a year the modem I bought is being called obsolete...so why not just rent one?
Is there any reason not to rent theirs?
I will be interested to see what they tell me when they come to the house and do a test. I have Roadrunner basic and should get at least 1MBPS. I've done the tests all week and the best I get is about 225KBPS.
And when they put one of 'their' modems and I am still getting 22KBPS, then I'll expect some compensation. LAst night I could not even get on the interent as my speed was close to dial up.
Posted 19 Dec 2007 at 8:47am #
[quote comment="44992"]Because of ths blog, I called time Warner and was told they are 'repairing' the system in my area (West of 79). The woman told me they are replacing the Adelphia system.[/quote]
That's interesting, and I'm glad TW is starting to be more honest with its customers. However, the fact that you still have to call in to get those answers and the fact that they're still ripping off thousands of TW customers (and have been for months) upsets me to no end.
And I don't remember doing speed tests before when we still had Adelphia… because I didn't need to. Speeds back then were fine. So why is "the Adelphia system" suddenly failing when it worked before?
[quote comment="44992"]Is there any reason not to rent theirs?[/quote]
You save $3/month and you have the assurances of me, TW techs, etc. that your modem is not the problem. A cable modem is a cable modem. I was previously using a modem that's five years old. I only replaced it so they wouldn't have an excuse to blame me. At about $29 (check eBay or Amazon), it'll be "paid off" in ten months.
[quote comment="44992"]I will be interested to see what they tell me when they come to the house and do a test. I have Roadrunner basic and should get at least 1MBPS. I've done the tests all week and the best I get is about 225KBPS.[/quote]
To be clear, I believe you mean "kbps." A "B" typically stands for "byte" and a "b" stands for "bit." A byte is 8 bits, so 225KB/sec is 1800kb/sec or kbps. So I'm going to assume you mean kilobits per second…
And yeah, that's bad. You should get about 1 Mbps (again bits).
Good luck. You'll be asking for compensation soon, no doubt. I got December free and will get January's free as well when I check on January 1 and the issue is still not resolved.
Posted 19 Dec 2007 at 11:38pm #
Can I ask why you don't just go to DSL?
I have been waiting for DSL to come to my area for some time. Today, out of desperation, I tried the website again where it asks you your phone number to see if it is available in my area. It finally said it was!
But if you type in my address, it says it is not. I am on LaRae Drive off Zimmerly just West of I-79. I am not really sure how it computes but there are three of us in a row with three different exchanges, 833,836 and 835.
So both of their internet "DSL availability programs" can't be right...I am hoping I can get DSL. My parents have it on Harvard Road in the city a couple miles away and it will suit me just fine.
I am cautiously optimistic.
I also called Time Warner again this evening. After a nine minute wait, I was connected to a woman who was very friendly and said that they are having all kinds of problems in our area. When I asked what Time Warner is doing for these customers, she immediately offered a credit for the month of December which I graciously accepted.
They scheduled a tech to come to my house and the first available is on January 8th. She said with the Holidays and the large volume of service calls that is the best they can do.
I told her that I highly doubt that this is a modem issue and she agreed and said that the problem is widespread to this area.
I also have had nothing but a squiggly line and fuzzy picture for WICU channel 12 since they moved it from the old slot to the new slot #12. She said they are aware of this problem and are working on it.
What a mess. I had to go to my parent's house this evening to use their DSL and connect to work and get things done.
Just thought I would share this with you since you have taken such a personal interest in this.
I'll try to keep you posted in case you would care to share this on the blog...especially about the DSL 'supposedly' being available here when it has not been for some time. I am dreading a phone call from Verizon telling me that they made a mistake...!
Posted 20 Dec 2007 at 7:00am #
Spent OVER 1 hr with technical yesterday. I was transferred to them from customer sevice. After resetting modem and tracing route, etc. she determined the problem is MY wireless router.
When not using router, my speed was 4 times faster than while using the router. Could that be the problem?
Today at 6:45AM I ran a speedtest at dslreports.com and received the following:1944 Kbps on download and 472Kbps on upload. I then ran a test using speedtest.net and received the following: 5188Kbps on download and 465 on download. Why such a difference? On DSLreports I used NJ and I used Frederick, MD as the server on speedtest.net. When using Toronto, the test results are MUCH slower.
I have the STANDARD service (7.0Mbps). NO credit was offered to me, due to the fact the tech said it is my router, it is NOT that old(approx. 1 Year)...could that be the truth OR just a stall tactic?
Dave
Lake City, Pa.(west of I-79)
Posted 20 Dec 2007 at 10:17am #
My wireless router was giving me trouble months ago when I first bought the entire Motorola Surfboard Modem and Linksys router from Best Buy last December and was using Adelphia for internet. Linksys has a website to download updates. It has been fine since I downloaded the updates some time ago. Just because of this new speed problem with Time Warner, I went to the linksys site last night and 'updated' my wireless linksys router.
The modem I believe to be fine. As said before by others, TW keep blaming Adlephia but I never had speed problems until TW entered the picture! The tech last night confirmed the problems to the area, but that does not mean that there could not be other things needing attention in your home setup.
But it is possible your wireless router could need an update like mine did. I never realized you needed to do that. I've never had to 'update' my modem. Go figure. I am unfortunately not as computer literate as most of the people on this blog.
I believe this would be your spot if your product is linksys:
http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_CASupport_C1&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1166859678292&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper&lid=7829277881L05
You need to plug your PC/laptop that you set the router up with into the back of the router with an ethernet cable. The troubleshooter will do the rest. There is some place there that you can download a shortcut to your desktop to go to now and then and 'update' the router.
I wish you luck. Don't claim to be a computer support person but this blog has helped...thanks Erik!
Posted 20 Dec 2007 at 10:59am #
[quote comment="45004"]Can I ask why you don't just go to DSL?[/quote]
You live fairly close to me. My home number is 833 and Verizon's site says DSL is not available when I check both by phone number and by street address. Additionally, one called me last month offering me DSL and when I said "I don't think it's available here," he checked and then apologized for calling because, as it turned out, it isn't.
Plus, it's slower. Sure, you don't share the bandwidth, but 768kbps when I should be getting 10 Mbps? Forget it. Verizon's fastest DSL is 3 Mbps.
[quote comment="45004"]I also called Time Warner again this evening. After a nine minute wait, I was connected to a woman who was very friendly and said that they are having all kinds of problems in our area. When I asked what Time Warner is doing for these customers, she immediately offered a credit for the month of December which I graciously accepted.[/quote]
Good to hear, and that seems to back up everything we know to be true and have heard from others.
[quote comment="45004"]I also have had nothing but a squiggly line and fuzzy picture for WICU channel 12 since they moved it from the old slot to the new slot #12. She said they are aware of this problem and are working on it.[/quote]
I have DirecTV. For media-related issues like that I'd suggest you visit eriemediablog.com.
[quote comment="45004"]Just thought I would share this with you since you have taken such a personal interest in this.[/quote]
I think sharing all of this information will lead to more understanding and, hopefully, a quicker resolution. I still wish Time-Warner wasn't ripping off thousands of customers and not saying a peep about it.
[quote comment="45005"]When not using router, my speed was 4 times faster than while using the router. Could that be the problem?[/quote]
It's either that or you simply saw a momentary boost in speed. This is part of the reason I've been keeping test results for so long - so I can compare the averages. Sometimes I get good numbers, and sometimes they're abysmal. Did yours last?
The wireless specs for, say, 802.11g are 54 Mbps. You won't always see that, of course, due to noise and whatnot, but on a fairly strong signal you should see at least a third of that, and that's still above and beyond the 15.0 Mbps "Turbo" speed.
As for why your test results vary, the sites will have information on that. I believe in using the same test as much as possible. I've also been publishing my results and keeping a tally. Even minute-to-minute I've seen 3 Mbps (or more) changes in speed!!
[quote comment="45005"]I have the STANDARD service (7.0Mbps). NO credit was offered to me, due to the fact the tech said it is my router, it is NOT that old(approx. 1 Year)...could that be the truth OR just a stall tactic?[/quote]
It could be. Check out your router and make sure it's set up properly, has a strong signal, etc. Things would have to be pretty darn screwed up to see less than 2 Mbps just due to a wireless router. Even 802.11b was 11 Mbps, and 802.11b is pretty old.
[quote comment="45007"]But it is possible your wireless router could need an update like mine did. I never realized you needed to do that. I've never had to 'update' my modem. Go figure. I am unfortunately not as computer literate as most of the people on this blog.[/quote]
It's true that your router can sometimes use a firmware update. Oftentimes all it fixes are small things, like improving the firewall or some other features. It rarely has much to do with speed, and if an 802.11g router had some sort of bug that limited it to 2 Mbps, it'd be
But yes, I also recommend keeping your router's firmware up to date.
Posted 31 Dec 2007 at 10:53pm #
I am not around 79 I am in Harborcreek.
Beginning last thursday, around 11pm our rr started going wonky. All my messengers disconnected, web pages timed out if they even were able to be found. My digital phone quit working as well. I called Thursday night late, ended up talking to a level 2 "repair tech" who was a complete moron trying to tell me that 90+ms pings were great. He ended up telling me that it was my computers. Fine and dandy but two computers all of a sudden causing problems with my RR at 11 at night, and interferring with my digital phone? I told the guy he was an idiot.
Saturday they sent out two different techs who replaced my modem, ran all new cabling, and ended up scratching their butts. I was told the signals were good and it should be working. I said "you think?" Well, after the modem change the new modem wont even lock the cable light just blinks. They are supposed to be back out wednesday, but I think it's real nice that I have two viatalk phone lines, one digital phone line, and so far has been out for five days with basically no help. And so far I see no credits to my account.
My neighbor, whose RR is fed from the same tap out in the yard, is experiencing the same issues. He also has viatalk and has no Internet. Hs modem shows everythin as ok but you can't use anything. Nothing will connect. Late at night he may get one page to partially load but then it dies again. Time warner is supposed to have an "Advanced" fiber network. What is so advanced about not working? And I thought when you offer a service like this you were supposed to have employed the required help that understands it enough to support it and repair it when needed. I can understand delays on the HSI, but when people have phone service that is out, that should be a red flag and TW should have to work balls to the wall to at least get that running I would say with in two days.
Here's a clue if you can't find your way through your own network, then you need to sell it to a company who can handle it. TW keeps claiming its the old Adelphia stuff, but here's the kicker adelphia was DOCSIS 2, and hardly ever had these kind of outages at least around here and they were a hell of alot quicker and efficient when it came time to making repairs. Maybe they should bring back the old Adelphia people long enough to get the network functional again. I really wish law makers would put more pressure on these crooks, because they just sell sell sell and take your money wether the shit works or not. And when you try to explain to them that it is not working, you get to talk to some minimum wage drunk they found at last call who tries to tell you that you need a new PC. Half the shit that spews out of these peoples mouths wouldnt make sense to a five year old let alone someone who understands it. I like it when they try and remind you that you called them, its like no shit sherlock who did you think I would call the electric company; it's not like we have a choice. And everytime they transfer you, you get the reboot monkey speech all over again. I talked to seven different people/departments Friday evening, the last person I talked to told me my modem was offline and that the first person I talked to should have scheduled a truck roll.. duhh wish I would of said that.
TW used to be good about five years ago, but unortunately when they took over Adelphia and made it so that them and comcast are basically the only cable players, what motivation do they have to do anything if they know you aren't going anywhere. I can tell you this much, I deal with quite a few people/companies who have me deal with their Internet/networking needs, and I have been recommending RR and digital phone to them, I can tell you if my shit is still down when the tech leaves here wednesday, I can and will switch all these people/companies over to Verizon DSL, and possibly ViaTalk and I will start printing these posts out and stapling them to telephone poles around town, cause this is just BS. If anyone ran a service where we didn't give two shits if it worked the way it was supposed to or we only delivered 1/4th of what we advertised and still billed people full price, how long do you think that would last?
Posted 03 Jan 2008 at 3:41pm #
Well, the maintenance tech just left, finally it's working. At first he was going to reschedule saying that he was scheduled to be a regular "Service Tech" today, but then I finally lost my cool saying I was going to go through the phone book and start calling every state office I could find and complain until I got something done. Well he ended up running a temporary cable to a different tap, essentially the one that feeds ours, and wouldn't you know we have better signals using a regular peice of cable then we do with a main.
I can still say I am glad I have dsl coming, as the headache I went through the last week with their drunk reboot monkeys, and the techs and the ever so popular phone reps that only know how to reboot your modem and transfer you to different departments, verizon will be a breath of fresh air.
I plan on keeping the cable, but I am going to get rid of the digital phone which should cover the cost of the dsl.
I had to deal with the service tech for dsl last week for my brother, and I can tell you while their first line of tech defense isn't much better then tw's, it is alot better specially when you get moved up the ladder it don't take as long. And, when I hung up with verizon's, the dsl was working. The longest we ever had an outage with dsl here a couple years ago was 24hrs, and they kept in contact with us, where tw does their best to avoid you.
Anyway, kudos to the guy who finally straightened it out today. And to the tw people who try to blame your problems on adelphia, good try. Lets tell the whole truth here, the problems at least around ehre is your trying to upgrade your own dam network to catch up to what adelphia had.
I seen first hand, that adelphia was running docsis 2 before tw in erie. And the adelphia techs knew how to fix their network they didnt need 25 different people/departments to do what was so painfully obvious in the first place.
Posted 03 Jan 2008 at 11:54pm #
Man doesn't anyone post anymore, or is it because they can't get online at all now?
Posted 04 Jan 2008 at 7:25am #
I was able to switch to DSL. And it actually works! The speeds are consistent and what I am paying for.
I see this entire neighborhood switching to DSL now that it is available.
Posted 04 Jan 2008 at 9:37am #
[quote comment="45205"]Man doesn't anyone post anymore, or is it because they can't get online at all now?[/quote]
Things have been trending up. Just this morning I had four speed tests out of five above 7000 kbps.
I call in weekly to Time-Warner. They're still "aware of issues" and are "working to resolve" them. The first time I call in and they say "we fixed everything" and my speeds still suck, I'll complain again.
[quote comment="45207"]I see this entire neighborhood switching to DSL now that it is available.[/quote]
I don't. Even on the bad days cable Internet is usually as fast as DSL. 1.5 Mbits? I consider 5 Mbps unacceptably slow (as it is on a 15 Mbps cable line).
Also, my uploads are likely much, much faster than yours. Upload speed hasn't ever really been affected in my testing.
Posted 04 Jan 2008 at 11:33am #
Dsl goes up to 3.0 Mbps down and 768Kbps up, which the 768 up is the highest residential upload you can get on tw, and its on turbo. I talk from experience around here when say 768 up is faster on dsl then on cable, at least around here.
Posted 04 Jan 2008 at 11:54am #
[quote comment="45213"]Dsl goes up to 3.0 Mbps down and 768Kbps up, which the 768 up is the highest residential upload you can get on tw, and its on turbo. I talk from experience around here when say 768 up is faster on dsl then on cable, at least around here.[/quote]
By 10-20 kbps, yep. I've been empirically testing almost every day for quite some time and the difference is fairly unremarkable.
3 Mbps is well below the 5 I get on what's still a bad day for TW. I should be seeing 7-10 at a minimum. People on the 7 Mbps cable plan should see 4-5 Mbps - both well above the 3.0 you'll get.
DSL isn't a LAN, so one of its plusses is consistent bandwidth. But it's still slower overall. DSL is also cheaper, currently, if you're able to get the $27.99 or $29.99 packages.
You're in Harborcreek - many of us can't get DSL where we live. No copper phone lines or something, probably - same reason I couldn't get DSL in Florida.
Posted 04 Jan 2008 at 12:07pm #
Oh my bag I just assumed most in erie area could get dsl.
But in defense of it yes it is technically slower, but if you ever find you qualify for the 3meg, they do a hell of a lot better job supporting it and they stay more consistent, and they will keep in touch with you if they are going to do maintenance so you dont go nuts thinking its always something on your end.
Anyways, I hope you guys get your stuff taken care of soon, hard to beleive after reading on dslreports and here how long this shit has been going on. I know I was told like 2 or 3 different times in the last 6 months from a teir3 tech that tw was going to be splitting nodes you would think that would of taken care of some of it. At the least if they did split some you would think it should of helped them pin point some of the problem down.
Posted 07 Jan 2008 at 3:43pm #
[...] This is a follow-up to the ongoing story I first wrote about here. [...]
Posted 25 Jan 2008 at 11:05am #
[...] this and this, I must say that the improvements Time-Warner has made are noticeable. Never before in the [...]
Posted 25 Jan 2008 at 3:10pm #
The problem is greater than you have been informed. I live east of I 79 and the low speeds started when I boosted to RR premium. I have documentated outages since I went to premium service. I have had poor service since Dec 06 when they suposally fixed a crimp in the cable which they found again months later. I have personnaly email the poor communication and service I have received to the CEO. I have only been told that I have been one of the first to identify the issue and will be compinsated later. However I have been nothing but harrassed by the poor billing problems and no commincation feedback on the progress of identifing and repairing the problem. With such lack of customer supprt I soon will be filling a BBB complaint, and providing a copy to the PA attornay general, and also a copy to the FCC in hopes for their invesigation of thier pratices....
Posted 10 Mar 2008 at 4:08am #
I live in Lancaster, NY.
Did the TW Download test - 2136 kbps
upload- 361 kbps
Funny the local network icon lists it at: speed:10.0Mbps
Ill try a new modem
Posted 08 May 2009 at 12:21pm #
It says 10Mbps because thats the max speed of the connection you are using on your computer (probably USB). If you hook up with an Ethernet Cord it would probably say 100Mbps. All the network icon means is the max throughput for that connection on your computer. It has nothing to do with your RR service and it is unrelated to your RR speed in any way.