RCN Reviews 14

consistent outages, slow internet speeds, terrible connections

They installed a modem in a COMMUNITY building as I was the first tenant to have their service. It's a locked room their tech somehow got into. When I ended my service, they told me (which I have in writing and verbal recording) since I cannot get to the modem that they do not need it back. They ended up still charging me for it though. I've since called and emailed, been told a case was opened and it'd be resolved soon. Now 9 months later they sent me to collections. This is bad business ethics.

Con artists -- good luck trying to cancel, they'll throw a litany of bureaucracy at you to prevent it and bill you an extra month. The price keeps creeping up and their customer service is absolutely terrible. Avoid at all costs.

I switched from Comcast/Xfinity to Astound (RCN) the installation was efficient and worked well.
So my 2 stars are for one reason only.

To setup Voice Mail via my landline (VoIP) from Astound I was asked to create a VoiceMail PIN number. I did and it works fine when accessed via telephone. However, it is very convenient to be able to view and hear the voice messages on-line at Astound.com and this is where problem lies.

On the Voice Mail management page, I am asked to UNLOCK the Phone with my Voicemail PIN, but it fails. So, it works via Phone button presses but I cannot even setup my VoiceMail on the Astound web page.

This smells like a very serious BUG. I phoned tech support about this but they were unable to fix the problem. All they suggested was that I reset my PIN. Of course I do not want to change what works. Sure I was told I could reset to the the same PIN number, but while I am talking on the phone to the tech support person, there is no way I can check to make sure I can still access my voicemail via phone button presses. I don't want to take a chance at not being able to get my messages. Tech support told me they would report this problem to the support people and let me know when it was fixed.

Of course it still does not accept my perfectly working PIN number. This is serious incompetence in the first place, and represent very poor management overall.

All I can say about RCN is that they are thieves. My bill with them was $138 per month which I already consider expensive. I am using AT&T fiber for my business in another location. That bill was 79.99 and they raised it to $84.99. This was after having that service for 5+ years. AT&T fiber is not available in the area that I lived so I was stuck with either RCN or Xfinity. Well, after 3 years, RCN decided to increase my bill to $228. This strictly for WiFi. Yes, they robbed me. I immediately canceled with them. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY

We were customers of RCN, now known as Astound Broadband for several years, and we decided to switch to another carrier, and in doing so returned all their equipment to them (receipt given to us at time) and several months if not over a year later they come back to us then, stating we owed $470.50 or something close like this here. We called them and of course the back and forth, and on hold forever in a day, and many apologies of course (which mean almost nothing at some point) unless you implement new protocols. So we kind of ignored the billing and discussions for it was their way or the highway kind of attitude. They then like most of these corporate run entities do send you to a third party collection, damaging your credit at some point and after several notices, I got sick and tired of dealing with them, I stated originally we would pay the bill in full. But after the first agreed payment of $156.39, and two remaining, I got thinking again why am I paying them? Why do I lose and they get more money from me? So, we are done fighting and or discussing anything with them, and the third party collection agency has been advised we are now done, we are not offering anymore of our hard earned dollars for paid book keeping and or notation of files on returned goods. All I can say is most of these type companies (RCN, AT&T, and others) all operate on the same platforms of typically under trained staff, or lack of staffing, no compassion, robotic replies and only care about your money and nothing else. They are to some degree so they say and it may be true controlled by the networks, of which they blame their must do pricing on, but really it is bad skills at negotiating or greed or both. I would not ever recommend RCN/Astound Broadband to anyone ever and at some point companies like this are or will become dinosaurs due to new technology, so beware RCN, stop treating your customers like crap, and sending them to collection, further damaging them, and for sure never see that client again coming to your door for any reasons. Horrible company, and one star rating is too good here.

Disappointing Service and Unfulfilled Promises

I have been a loyal customer of Astound Broadband for over two decades, dating back to when they were a local company. Unfortunately, the quality of their customer service has significantly declined.

For eight months, we experienced persistent internet issues, with average speeds of 100 Mbps download and 25 Mbps upload—far below our plan's specifications. After multiple attempts to resolve the problem remotely, technicians finally assessed the situation and determined that both the feed to the tap and the line to our house were faulty. These components were replaced, resolving the connectivity issues.

To compensate for the prolonged inconvenience, Customer Service Representative Mary promised us two months of free service, which we accepted. However, we received only one full month free and approximately one-third of the second month. Our bill included a "one-time out of service fee" of $40—the exact amount that negated the remainder of the promised credit.

Upon contacting Astound, Supervisor Rich (Employee #42853) acknowledged that the notes confirmed a full two-month service credit and that we had not received the full amount promised. Despite this, he explained that the $40 charge was not an actual fee but a subtraction of customer loyalty credits, which contradicted the compensation we were assured.

This experience has been profoundly disappointing. The excellent customer service once provided by individuals who lived in the community they served is no more. As a result, we have decided to take our business elsewhere and encourage others to consider alternative internet service providers.

Misleading promotions on sign up. I was promised explicitly in writing on email several promotions when signing up. Astound is saying they have no record of this and will not send me the nearly $300 equivalent value of promotions ( Apple Watch and Gift Card). Illegal misleading practices. Avoid at all cost. Unhelpful Customer service tells me different information each time, and does not follow up.

They don't care about their current customers, they only care about getting new ones! They refused to match me with the promotion price as a new customer.  They told me that this price was only for new customers and I already had my promotion as a new customer a long time ago.  So it looks like they don't care about their current customers and I have to become a new customer for someone else like a "Comcast'' which has the same deal!!!

They started offering high speed internet in my building a couple of months ago. The offer was USD 21,99 plus equipment+taxes. The equipment costed USD 3 a month. Nevertheless, they had surcharges and I ended up paying USD 44. Furthermore, they advertise 500 Mbps. This is only for download. The upload speed is 20 Mbps. I had several issues during online and video calls. I decided to move back to verizon. Many in my building are doing the same.

They have the worst service on the planet. Every week they service goes out I don’t understand it how are you to work from home if you have a problem with your internet service every week. I got to the point that it is time to move on from them because it is bs man.

Incredibly inconsistent even after I upgraded to the most expensive plan

I've been with RCN for years. I often get 300+ Mbps but I'm only paying for 250. Service is very reliable. They always keep their prices lower than Comcast.

My reasons for leaving have been an ongoing concern with how RCN loosely disseminates information to its customers versus what it actually does. The most recent and ultimate decision has been your response with covid-19 and, subsequently, its handling of customers.

Last year I lost my job at the end of March, and not long after RCN promoted financial relief to eligible customers, I was one of them and who reached out and submitted my information. However, RCN ignored my requests and submission and later stated it would no longer offer any such financial discounts to eligible customers. This year the FCC' began the EBBP rollout, and RCN, like many companies, chose to carefully word information on its page to not truthfully tell its customers the full and transparent truth about its offering. Instead, RCN chooses to force a plan onto its customers that requires them to use its equipment; in turn, it will make a customer responsible for all city, county, state entertainment, and applicable taxes related to this rental equipment. In addition, once the EBBP ends, customers will not be allowed to return to using their own equipment again and be barred from all future promotions unless they continue to use its equipment.

This was double-checked and confirmed by one of your customer service managers, who relayed that information and adding that the internal information given to them omitted any such mention of this portion of the program. So while RCN tries to defend they are helping low-income people, they are actually implementing predatory practices and disenfranchising a group of people based on their financial status. Furthermore, lying to customers and choosing to make it mandatory for its equipment is not a requirement of the FCC's EBBP program, as stated on their website and RCN's page.

I reported your company to the FCC, and a woman called me yesterday claiming that she was unaware and that no such information was omitted from the webpage. However, she did acknowledge the wording of the webpage was not straightforward, and even though it states a customer will be required to continue using its equipment and pay applicable taxes and fees, that isn't the case.

I no longer take anything your company has to say for the truth. It continues to deceive actively and target financially impacted customers and force them into a specific program that they do not have to accept. Many other companies follow the FCC program guidelines and let customers apply the $50 monthly credit to their bills. RCN's page says it can do but gives an ultimatum of either accepting what we are going to offer despite what the program states, or we will not help you.

Lastly, the RCN rep, who I have a record of in the transcript, was 100% clear why my service was being canceled, not because of technical issues but due to its egregious and willful intent to take advantage of customers the federal government.

While I do not care for Xfinity/Comcast and how they have taken advantage of customers in the past, they have been transparent during the pandemic and are helping their customers and providing them with the monthly $ 50-month internet credit to their bill. Plus offering a much better deal on internet speeds and included amenities. RCN is a shameful company for what it is doing.