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Roadrunner/Time Warner Cable Opinions Wanted

Dane D. said:
No problem with RR here, I use their total package (VoIP, RR and TV) I get about 4.8Mbps down and 256Mbps up on average. The only thing I can complain about is severe weather does affect performance, read heavy Thunderstorms. I like the simplicity of cable; cable into modem out to 4-port 10/100 router/switch works great. :D Costs about $130/month. Digital phone much more clear since swicthing from land line.
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What level of RR service are you subscribing to? I signed up for "standard" but I seem to be getting "basic."
 
I have had horrible experience with RR in the Dallas area after the Comcast buy by Time Warner, it is incredibly slow and I get the same report from many friends living around the city, the only way to fix is to keep calling them (at least a dozen times total) and to try and escalate to someone higher up every time, eventually they will get sick of you and fix your area for speed... until it breaks again of course.

If you have a choice, stay away from RR where its actually Time Warner, especially if youre in a Comcast -> Time Warner buyout city, at least until they resolve all the issues.
 
poppe said:
What are you all testing your speeds with
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Here's the crazy thing. For a long time I was testing my bandwidth on a site called pcpitstop.com, and another called internetfrog.com. Both indicated that I was getting a down rate of between 1.2 and 2.5 Mbps. When I called tech support at Roadrunner, they asked me to check using speakeasy.net. They showed my bandwidth averaging 5.2 down and 0.5 up, which is great! Why the huge difference, I don't know and tech support could not explain.
 
Never been impressed with Time Warner in any capacity. But I hate
the contracts ATT makes you sign with big penalties for early termination.

Look forward when in a few years wireless will probably be free
through
Google.
 
The cable guy didn't insist on installing any software. Never even asked. I was all ready with my PowerBook and Airport base station, standing by to hook up and test the connection when he arrived. The installer called back to the office to initiate the service. He didn't have any information about the outgoing mail server. He was just a drill, wire and screwdriver guy. He was at a loss to explain why I was getting such crummy bandwidth. The only thing he could suggest was the modem. I doubt it, but I also have no idea what else to suggest except possibly that the office has my line provisioned incorrectly.
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I worked for the other major cable monopoly as an installer and can tell you that for a basic internet installs all the tech is allowed to do is verify that the cable modem is getting a connection(via the modems internal lites), leave the install disc with the customer, and make a run for it. The company doesn't want the install tech's to mess with the customers computers mostly for liability reasons. I've known of more than one case of a over confident tech try to set up a computer and completely hose the system. Anyways, most install tech's aren't overly knowledgeable on computers anyways, exspecially mac's.

Also it could easily be the modem that was causing the connection issues. When I did installs, we would regularly get batches of bad modems from the manufacturers or get issued bad return units that weren't checked out before going back into the field.

As for pop info, you can usually find it on the company's home page. You may have to dig around the FAQ's or help section's but it's usually listed somewhere. It may also be listed in the 'gettting started' guides that you usually get with the install disc's.

No problem with RR here, I use their total package (VoIP, RR and TV) I get about 4.8Mbps down and 256Mbps up on average. The only thing I can complain about is severe weather does affect performance, read heavy Thunderstorms.
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My guess is that you have a bad cable line going to your home. If it has damage on the exterior, water can leak into it during heavy rain and screw up the connectivity of the cable. This will lead to picture quality issues down the road as the copper in the cable oxidizes and corrodes. You may want to call your local people to come out and take a look at it.
 
Its all about the bandwidth

IJ Reilly said:
Here's the crazy thing. For a long time I was testing my bandwidth on a site called pcpitstop.com, and another called internetfrog.com. Both indicated that I was getting a down rate of between 1.2 and 2.5 Mbps. When I called tech support at Roadrunner, they asked me to check using speakeasy.net. They showed my bandwidth averaging 5.2 down and 0.5 up, which is great! Why the huge difference, I don't know and tech support could not explain.
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At my work we regularly use speakeasy.net for testing a clients bandwidth. It has proven itself much more consistent then many of the other sites available. As for the differences in bandwidth, that is the nature of the internet. The closer you are to the server, most likely the better your results will be. On top of that there is also the equipment and pipes used on the test servers end. If they have a small pipe say only 8 or 10 mbps, then the results are not going to look very good, especially if there are a lot of users running the test. Their internet pipes could also be throttled which would limit results.

Firewalls and routers can also have a
 
I've had Road runner for nearly 3 years and LOVE IT! It's hardly ever down where I live. Worth the $44.95 a month IMHO. Seriously, it rocks where I am.
They say a speed increase is coming too and so far in 3 years my price has NOT went up at all!

Thank you Time Warner!

Tom
 
mrsoundman24 said:
At my work we regularly use speakeasy.net for testing a clients bandwidth. It has proven itself much more consistent then many of the other sites available. As for the differences in bandwidth, that is the nature of the internet. The closer you are to the server, most likely the better your results will be. On top of that there is also the equipment and pipes used on the test servers end. If they have a small pipe say only 8 or 10 mbps, then the results are not going to look very good, especially if there are a lot of users running the test. Their internet pipes could also be throttled which would limit results.
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The obvious advantage to using speakeasy is the ability to select a nearby server for testing. I'm not surprised to see a difference, but by 50% or more? That was a shock. The Roadrunner tech (who spend nearly 45 minutes with me on the phone) had me running traceroutes to the various web sites I was using for testing and I found each of the two sites I was using timed out in one of the jumps, so the difference in performance has to be attributed to glitches on the internet if only because it has no other obvious causes.

The installer was also more helpful and took more time than I had any reason to expect. He brought me a replacement modem the following day, which did not help. But he also had his office provision me for the maximum bandwidth in the course of troubleshooting my connection. So in the end I might have received more bandwidth than I originally expected. I really can't say I have any complaints about Roadrunner so far!
 
We've had RR for a few years now, and while the rest of the family thinks it's fine, I'm far from impressed. In my experience, their DNS servers are woefully inadequate, especially during peak periods, and even when all systems are go, we're still receiving well below the advertised speed. Quite a terrible benefit for what we're paying, IMO.

By contrast, my Comcast service in Chicago has been fantastic (save for the moronic CSRs and install techs). I've consistently been receiving FiOS speeds (~15MB down) while paying for 8MB. Couldn't be happier in that area.
 
I dont make the interent decisions in the house, but my mom got tired of twc dropping the connection about 4 times a day. she made the call to switch to verizon fios. i have never been happier. :D
 
IJ Reilly said:
Here's the crazy thing. For a long time I was testing my bandwidth on a site called pcpitstop.com, and another called internetfrog.com. Both indicated that I was getting a down rate of between 1.2 and 2.5 Mbps. When I called tech support at Roadrunner, they asked me to check using speakeasy.net. They showed my bandwidth averaging 5.2 down and 0.5 up, which is great! Why the huge difference, I don't know and tech support could not explain.
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I am part of the tech support and to explain that one...... the reason that they are so different is because one of them is farther away from your computer then the other......... i dont know why they told you to go to speakeasy to do it anyway we are not supposed to take people to there because we have not provin that it is a good one yet:confused: ......... the one that we are suppose to take people to is discoversandiego.com/speed...... try going to there and that will give you a correct test........... if you are still getting crapy speeds then give us a call and tell them that you went to that speed test and tell them that you are getting slow browsing........ they might take you to a different one but we have a list of ones that have been tested and that are correct...... so dont go by the speak easy it is not always right....... sorry about any inconveniance that that might have caused you.......... TW employee
 
badmonkey2006 said:
I am part of the tech support and to explain that one...... the reason that they are so different is because one of them is farther away from your computer then the other......... i dont know why they told you to go to speakeasy to do it anyway we are not supposed to take people to there because we have not provin that it is a good one yet:confused: ......... the one that we are suppose to take people to is discoversandiego.com/speed...... try going to there and that will give you a correct test........... if you are still getting crapy speeds then give us a call and tell them that you went to that speed test and tell them that you are getting slow browsing........ they might take you to a different one but we have a list of ones that have been tested and that are correct...... so dont go by the speak easy it is not always right....... sorry about any inconveniance that that might have caused you.......... TW employee
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I know, and that's why (I presume) I was asked to try speakeasy.net -- I could select a nearby server for testing. The other servers I tried are probably far away, so can be negatively effected by a slow server response on any of the in-between hops. The traceroutes seemed to bear this out. The speakeasy.net tests report great bandwidth now, so long as I test with a nearby server. If I test with one of speakeasy's servers the other side of the country, the bandwidth drops to about half. Is this not expected?
 
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