We just had our building "upgraded" to streaming cable and new wifi. This means that watching tv now is fraught with wheels spinning with the words "program loading"!!!! THIS IS NOT AN UPGRADE! IT IS A DOWNGRADE! They took away some of the features like being able to rewind a program but you can't see where you want to go. It only shows you how many seconds it rewinds. TERRIBLE, SECOND RATE SYSTEM. Also, no longer to do slo mo if you want to see a sports event like golf shot or touchdown pass. SECOND RATE. Must wanted to save money. Oh, you do get to see many features offered by GOOGLE. STAY AWAY if you can. read more

The wifi system is reliable but the internet tv system based on an Android "box" buffers frequently and requires rebooting on many occasions for a variety of reasons. The selection of channels is great for the price but the delivery is not completely reliable. read more

So, I wrote a BAD review for horrible service, and being down for 23 straight days. The response I received was, "Glad you're up and running now, if there is anything else we can do let us know." How does that help address the poor service I mentioned? Then there was a comment that if I needed to reach them, to send a private message, with no info on how to do that. OMG. You can't reach anyone at this company, so I resorted in Yelp. The response was worse than no response at all. Seriously? Astound has dramatically fallen from the days of WOW. Disappointing. read more

So far, so good! RCN is so much better than Comcast. It took me just a couple quick phone calls to get a good plan for my new apartment. I had an issue with my apartment not being listed in the system, and they called me back the next day with a resolution. Also, no contract! They also have great prices and were able to find me some promotions. So I am paying $30.99/month for the first three months for 50 mg internet, then it goes up to $35.99. This includes the modem and router. The installation fee was only $9. If you have your own modem, you can subtract $11 from the monthly price. The delivery guy came within the time frame and set up in under 10 minutes. If it keeps going this smoothly, I'd say it definitely blows the competitors out of the water. read more

Had to call Tech Support because streaming on TV was so bad that we couldn't even watch it. Knew that things were going to not go well when they said they didn't provide WiFi service to us. They were unable to answer the question if that was true how was I able to connect to the internet on my laptop using their WiFi service if that was true. 2 different customer service reps were unable to answer that question. Their answer was to have me pay $79 for a service call. Not impressed. Even Xfinity wasn't this bad. read more

If it were possible I would give RCN a dead star, or a dwarf star if you will. High prices, awful service, and mind boggling bad customer support. And the equipment they use is so outdated I find it very hard to beleive it doesn't involve a phone modem. I swear sometimes when i turn on the TV I can hear the old "bong bong bing screeeeeech" of 8600 baud modem connecting in the background. For you youngsters that is a reference to a form of communication over land lines where information was written on little pieces of paper and taped to a pigeon's little tiny leg. The pigeon would then sit on top of an RCN truck and move at approximately 1 block per week. I may have my forms of communications mixed up there but they are about equal speed trust me. Need to talk to a "service representative"? Make sure to have a very sharp #2 pencil ready for the call. That way you can jam the sharp part up one of your nostrils. Be sure to push the inserted pencil back and forth with great force which will, with any luck, scramble some of your own brain matter hopefully lessening the realization that you are talking to someone that can't spell TV. This is the type of customer service experience that will leave you asking, "is there any way you could transfer me to tech support in India? English speaking optional. But seriously, I would rather be sexually assaulted by a Wolverine than ever have to deal with these thieving. lying, over priced, under delivering, non-appointment keeping, bait and switch weasels. Other than that, I got no problems with them I guess. Oh wait, their logo is stupid looking.. read more

I wish there was away to give them no stars. I had fraud on my billing card, and I got them the payment 2 days after it was supposed to post. So what do these lovely people do charge me a late fee of $25. I'm sorry this is not the right thing to do. It shows you just don't care about your customer, the people I talked to on the phone did not care if I was a customer or if I dropped them. This is just another company that will take you to the woodshed whenever they feel like it. The agent's excuse was "well everyone else does this". So that make it ok? Everyone who works there, does this make you feel good when you go to bed? I can't imagine it does. read more

UPDATE: twitter is apparently the best place to get issues resolved, even above directly calling their customer hotlines. I've finally managed to get the fees reversed, and hoping they fix the communication issue. Updated from 2 stars to 3. I used to be a huge fan of RCN until I moved, trying to transfer service, and the entire process has been a nightmare. First they can't even transfer an account - they make you sign up for a totally new one, so any information you have saved, your customer loyalty, etc, is all gone. Plus a slew of fees for "new customers" (even though I have all my own equipment and didn't even need a tech visit to get set up). I spent well over an hour trying to get the whole thing sorted out but couldn't even get it resolved before needing to go to a meeting. Then they screwed up my auto pay, DIDN'T NOTIFY ME in order to fix it, and charged me a mess of fees for the declined payment and late fees because they didn't bother to tell me the process was no longer working. EVERY other account I have with any other company using auto pay will notify you if a card is declined, and re-run the charges in a few days so you have a chance to fix it, but I guess that's over RCN's head. They eventually waived the declined payment fee, but somehow don't see that notifying a customer is important for avoiding late fees? Super disappointed. Thought they were the last decent provider in Chicago, but this customer service. read more

Terrible installation and pricing. They're currently charging me $26 dollars on top my existing wifi for rental equipment. I've tried supplying my own equipment (I've purchased 3 different models from three different brands) but none of them work with RCN apparently, even though I checked their compatibility guide carefully (DOCSIS 3.1, 32 downstream, etc). Somehow, only RCN's equipment works with RCN. Wifi requires frequent restarts. Customer service mostly incompetent. Do not get RCN if you have any other choice (in my building I do not have any other choice) read more

RCN can fuck off! I'm returning my shit equipment at FedEx, because this is what RCN chooses and I'm just finding out I have to pay for the goddamn box! RCN only pays for the SHIPPING LABEL. Again, RCN can fuck off! read more

I know it's cliche but, I wish I could give ZERO stars. We had Astound/Wave years ago (pre COVID) and it was good. I really wish I never signed up for this service in 2022. It is not the same! Let me tell you why. Last time I had this service it was great customer service with someone that cared and you could actually reach via phone or walk into an office locally. THIS IS NOT THE CASE IN 2023! I signed up for an offer for la ow internet rate for 1 year. This was not honored! My bills can be anywhere from $60-$120/month! The deal was for $25/month!! This is the mort dishonest company ever! I reached out to ask and was brushed off like they have too much business that they could not be bothered with me. Infuriating! The internet service we get is unreliable, costs too much and fluctuates month to month. This was never disclosed to me when I signed up! I am switching back to ATT and THIS SAYS A LOT because ATT is not known for their good customer service, but their internet is a STABLE FIXED cost each month and I do not have to guess how much I will have to pay. I asked Astound if they have an app to monitor my usage and I was told no. Really? I will never ever sign up for this service again so long as I live! Astound is the worst! I even took a survey and wrote quite a bit about my terrible service and bet them $100 they would not contact me. Guess what? No word from them. I won that bet! I bet no one will respond to this negative review because no one cares at Astound. THE WORST!!! Stay far way! read more

If a negative star were possible I would have selected that. Astound acquired wide open west Chicagoland internet and cable services recently. For the past four days we have not had any internet service nor cable. For $200 per month that is criminal. When called Astound to ask, they said "we are working to correct the problem". Tomorrow will be going on fifth day of now service. Stay away. Comcast has a terrible reputation, but now Astound has replaced them. Will be leaving them as soon as I have internet to research replacements. This integration from WOW is a complete mess. Heads need to roll for the massive screw up. read more

Our cable was bought out by RCN effective 2 days ago. Lost cable and internet already. I called to talk to a tech and the phone kept ringing busy. Finally figured out how to fix it myself. Definitely will get a new cable provider. read more

The worst internet service provider I've ever dealt with, they told me one thing and did another and tried to charge me $300 in fees promised to fix it and didn't. This company is a scam and not worth the hassle. I wish I would've never dealt with them. Since I have a large following on social media I'm going to blast how bad the service is and to never deal with RCN ever. read more

We started using RCN over summer as they promote themselves as the only provider in Chicago without data caps. With people working from home, we expect reliable internet. Recently there were 4 outages in as many days and two lasted over an hour. People reported it for various reasons but that prompted us to change providers. I called to disconnect and was told it was cancelled and that I would get an email confirmation within a few minutes. I never did. A couple hours later I did get an account manager calling me asking why I was disconnecting and opted to get vocal and angry when I insisted that the previous agent should've handled this already. I am much happier with AT&T customer service and internet service. read more

I don't normally write reviews, but this is necessary. Had Comcast, was like living in medieval Europe, now have rcn fiber and I feel like it's at least 2015, thanks RCN. Price is literally half Comcast and better service, great job! read more

I have been trying to discontinue service from th company since July. I switched to RCN because they were putting in new cables in my neighborhood and thought I might have better reception than Xfinity. It was OK at first but then it would just stop in the middle of a program. After several calls and line checks, I decided to stop the service in July. It just wasn't working. Then I was told I would need to pay to have someone come and remove the equipment. I asked if I could bring it in and get a final bill. "Denise" said yes. I drove the equipment over August 12 but I could not get a final bill at the store "We don't do that." I got 3 different versions of a bill, over the phone, spoke to several different people, finally "Matthew" said I owed 500.02 cents. I paid $500.02 Aug 31 for something that I hadn't used since July and they resumed billing me this past Oct. NIGHTMARE! They are claiming they are putting my service on hold. Wow, how can you do that when there isn't equipment here. I'm on line right now with a lovely first line person who is trying to get me a supervisor but it seems no one is available. 25 minutes so far, I'm waiting but....I thought let me warn others. I wish I read yelp before I signed up. I can see many other are just as unhappy. read more

2 stars is generous and only because it's Friday. I walked in to return some equipment and was greeted by an overwhelmingly unfriendly lady at the counter. She did cheer up a bit when she had the opportunity to remind me that I forgot the remote though. Who knows, maybe she was just having a bad day. Fast forward to 2 weeks later, my RCN autopay still deducted from my account. I call in and RCN told me my account wasn't closed out properly. They closed it out and I'm waiting for my refund to come in the form of a paper check. How do you accept returned equipment and not close the account out? That's like, step 2 of 2. 1) Accept returned equipment 2) Close account I think the user interface on RCN could use an overhaul, but other than that it was alright. read more

The switchover from WOW has left me along with many others with no internet at home except for hotspot the cell phone. At least its not my business and I did not loose internet until yesterday morning. Many have been without for days. Maybe someday it will start working. Glad I don't work for the company. read more

Extremely disappointed with our initial start of RCN. My boyfriend and I recently moved into a building that requires RCN (apparently it's been a complaint about the building for years, residents are trying to get them to move to Comcast). I tried being as optimist as possible because it was included in our utility package. That said, in the first 3 weeks of being in our apartment we've had to contact RCN 10+ times with server errors, connection errors, failed internet and broken TiVo. Something so simple shouldn't have to be so complicated. We have had technicians come out over 4 times now and there still seems to be problems. The technicians have been very friendly and helpful when here, which is why I'm even giving 2 stars. Outside of that their phone and email support is next to nothing, the prompt doesn't take you to any person besides an operator and it's impossible to find someone to help. If given the option I would truly never pick RCN again and I'm overall disappointed in the lack of quality, professionalism and responsiveness by this company. read more

Astound - Chicago - Try chatting them and it gives you the same generic "can't help" chat. Tried calling, emailing, and chatting - Internet Service Providers Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Similar to many reviews on here about RCN not keeping their scheduled customer appointments. I was stood up twice by RCN. WORST cable company ever. RCN came into my condo apt to install TiVo. None of the TV channels worked after installation (all TV channels line up were incorrect, show info written in Spanish, non-US TV channels, etc). I called RCN and asked for the technician to come back to unit to fix the issues. RCN said technician would come back to my unit to fix the issues by 5pm. As afternoon came and went, no technicians ever came back when RCN assured me on 3 different occasions that a technician would come back to fix the issue. Spoke with a supervisor named Matthew at RCN in the evening and was told a technician would come to my apt to fix the issues next morning between 8am to Noon. Once again, no technician ever came. The supervisor also lied and told me RCN does not have an email address where customers can contact for issue resolution. RCN did a NO CALL, NO SHOW to the scheduled appointments TWICE! I'm stuck with a useless TiVo box. Very bad customer service!!! read more

I had RCN install cable internet in July of 2020. The service technician that came for the install left disconnected cables dangling over my garage and into the yard. They also loosen/loosely installed cables on the side of the building in a manner than obstructs access to the crawl space beneath the rear deck. I've contacted RCN on multiple occasions and spent hours on hold. On each occasion I was told someone would come address the problem however they never showed. I've been trying to get this situation address for over 3 month now to no avail. I'm extremely disappointed that RCN would allow a dangerous situation like this to persist and would not recommend their service to anyone. Updated 11/2/2020: I ended up filing a BBB complaint and someone reached out within a couple days. They had someone out to address the problem within 48 hours. I'm glad this was finally resolved. read more

Wish I could give RCN less than a one star review. I have had one problem after another with them. A technician was supposed to come out to set up phone service and not only did they show up late but then sent the wrong type of technician who admitted to me that due to sending the wrong guy, he had no idea what he was doing. He was here for 2.5 hrs and still was not able to complete the job. I was told I would be contacted first thing the next morning to finish the job but that also did not happen. I had to once again reach out to them and it took another hour to get anyone here after I'd waited around all day. If it weren't for RCN being required in my building, I would switch to any other provider immediately. Even with all of these issues they still charged me as well. CUSTOMER BEWARE!!!!! read more

I moved into a building that offered AT&T or RCN. I opted for RCN in spite of the poor reviews because of the significant difference in price for speed. Mark Williams was awesome to work with, installation was great and on time by a very friendly guy, and speeds and service have been great so far. I only got internet, no television packages. read more

I've had RCN in Chicago for a year now with zero outages, including through this horrible past winter. I have the 50 Mbps a la carte plan for $30/mo with my own modem & router, total charges have been $36/mo the entire year with no surprises like everyone else on here says there are. Not sure what these people have gotten themselves into... Online speed tests say my download speed is even 55 Mbps right now. There was a $1 fee for paying online through the portal that I didn't know about but I called and they waived it for that month, and I switched to a credit card charge from then on. read more

Requested a refund for overpayment on 09/01/22. Was told I should receive ck in mail by 9/16 and if not call back. As of 10/3/22 ck has not been received and when I call back (4 times so far) I get different info about ck being in the mail but no one can tell me the date the check was mailed. Tired of run around and will submit complaint to BBB. Hope they can help read more

Worst worst worst internet ever ! I have been living in my apartment for about 3-4 months now in chicago and by now the internet has went out at least 40-50 times . Every other day the internet stops working . They always say they will send someone over to fix the issue and everytime someone has came they dont do anything to fix it . Im convinced that they are just a bunch of liars and now reading review I will definitely be looking into something else . Do not get this internet service . It is the worst thing in the world . The amount of outages they have in a month is ridiculous. Please save your money and do not use them !!!!'n read more

The current my.rcn.com website is either an embarassing failure of design, or the final indicator of a previously reliable company going the way of Comcast/xfinity. Logged into the site, there is no way to see actual information about the services you are subscribed to. It's like they mistakenly ported the mobile version of the site to the browser, as most normal content is missing and only key actions are available. I should (and have always been) able to see the details of what type of services I'm subscribed to on my account website, and it makes RCN look like a company with a lot to hide when I cannot access this information. The closest I can get is to navigate to the Billing section and download a PDF of a billing statement, where there is a title for the 'Bundled Service' I'm currently subscribed to, with no translation of what that means, no way to see more details, etc. There is not a single contact form on the RCN/Astound websites: not when I'm logged into myRCN, not on the public RCN site, not on the parent company Astound site. All the 'contact us' links on these sites form a loop that never actually offers a way to contact them beside 'chatting' with a bot or calling a telephone number. This company that is either too incompetent to provide a working website, or unwilling to for nefarious reasons; either way, the experience has completely eroded any trust I had in RCN. I was originally a big proponent of RCN, but this horrible failure of customer experience, combined with the fact that prices never stop increasing (with no notice or increase in service provided) has me looking elsewhere. read more

This company gouges their customers, presumably on the premise that it's a pain-in-the-butt for us to change our internet providers. It's like the frog-in-the-frypan, except that the price increases are not incremental; they're sudden, enormous jumps, every year, requiring a phone call to sort things out. In 2020 I got them to come down to $49/month. It doubled a year later (despite another phone call), and now, two years later, it's up to $132. So, time to call again -- but the wait time on their phone lines is over an hour. Come to think of it: time to call their competitors . . . read more

Worst experience with their billing and finance team. Charged me for $93.7 when I closed my account stating that I didn't return a particular box. Called many times to RCN to resolve this matter and they were so adamant and harsh in dealing with me. I do not recommend RCN to anyone. Comcast Customer service is way better. RCN not a good service provider. RCN must waive off my complete outstanding amount as I sent all the equipment had via FedEx. This is a scam by RCN you can see so many google reviews by other customers that whenever a customer closes account RCN would definitely say that they missed a box and charge them high fees for their old equipment. This is a trick they play with most customers and extract money saying that your credit history will be impacted if you don't pay it. Total liars and never trust them. Their license must be cancelled as a cable and internet service provider. Horrible!! read more

So after 4 phone calls on hold for 45 min a piece the internet came back online. So from 8am till about 6pm I was not able to work. The information from every Tech minus the last tech (who actually was able to help) was nothing is wrong with your modem (yet no outbound traffic was passing through). As per the comment by Jackie, if I was not able to get the "promotional price" because I have a promotional price already why wouldn't that have been relayed when I spoke to a representative? It also sounds like if I were to cancel my service then I would be able to qualify for this " new promotion" because I am not under a "contract" . Funny how I can switch to comcast and pay less for a gig than with RCN currently. read more

sis. I work from home and I have had to work on a hotspot three days in a row. Customer service passes you from one person to another with no resolution to the issue. If you ask them to do something you will have to follow up to make sure it's done. Our rep Mark Williams asked us to send over some information so he could help us out. After not hearing from him I followed up with him. He had explained it was not his problem and he passed it to another department. Turns out nobody in the company was doing anything to resolve this issue. We have had two techs come out to try to resolve the issue. The first tech came and did nothing. The second tech found there was an issue with the hardware in the building and told us that it should be fixed within 48ish hours. A week later I found that nobody came here to fix anything and I had to call to bring a tech here. There are no other options for me so I am stuck with this company for the end of the year. I caution you to never put yourself in a position where you need to use this company for your internet, ESPECIALLY if you work from home. read more

I signed up with Astound because their introductory plan for just internet was reasonable. For the first year internet service was impeccable and I never had an issue. Not long after the year was up and my plan price drastically increased, I started experiencing internet outages. I was told I would be charged for a technician to come out which is ridiculous considering the problem is with Astound. I just canceled my service and was told even though it is done remotely they can't do it for another 5 days. Interesting. By the time my bill is due that means I'm paying for a week of internet I'm not even using. I'm so glad to be done with this company. I also think it's ridiculous they don't have outage maps or ways to diagnose issues other than calling. Once you call and tell them you restarted your modem but still have issues, their next step is to just send a tech out and charge you - how is this the only option? read more

So far VERY good in the Ukrainian Neighborhood! I was skeptical to go back to a bigger brand provider, but RCN was speedy in the install. Mauricio was AMAZING! He was patient with my questions, made sure I understood how my router and modem worked, and very respectful of the COVID situation and my personal space. The phone service however is not so good. Agree with the other reviewers of long wait time and not very helpful dispatch. read more

My Housing association switched to this broadband provider six months ago. I never had any issues with my internet connection in the five years since I moved in. I primarily work by consulting over zoom. Ever since this company took over it has been a complete disaster. My internet has completely died three times now. They want 80 bucks to temporarily fix it each time and then it goes out completely again. I have to wait a week to get someone to come over. They want me to pay extra for a service plan so I'm not charged fresh each time for their incompetence. read more

I went with RCN over other providers because it was a little less expensive. I can't even say you get what you pay for. I'm RCN's case, you'll pay have no internet/cable for week long periods. Literally, Ive had no cable or internet for a week and have been sent incompetent representatives. Horrible customer service, horrible internet service (of it works at all), horrible cable platform. Do NOT go with RCN if you'd like services that work! read more

I've had RCN since March and my experience has been pretty crappy. While my installation happened, I had to work so my building manager and the installer were in my unit getting me setup. I came home to find the arm of couch pulled out of socket and just left there and my stack of books of had been knocked over and books were thrown about. (I get it to an extent but I had also cleared a path and just moved in.) And then I discovered the agent that set up my service input my name incorrectly, when I called RCN to have them correct the issue, I was on hold for 35/40 minutes and the representative I spoke with initially stated he couldn't change my name. (OOok...?) After being on hold another 5/10 minutes he was finally able to figure out how to correct my name. (He also made it seem like he was doing me a favor by correcting it.) But I'll never get that hour of my life back. Additionally, the amount they charge to use their equipment is the same amount they charge for their service. Which I'm not completely surprised by as I'm sure most internet companies do this but its still pretty bonkers when you think your bill is going to be $40/45 and it comes out to $85. I'm also paying for the mid-range service that's supposed to be good for streaming and having multiple devices and I get kicked off my internet at least 4 times a day. I tried writing this as fairly as possible so you can make the best choice for yourself and hopefully you'll have a better experience. read more

Twice now my apartments have required RCN only. Not only is the service terrible and it never stays connected but the staff is rude and unreliable. Calls drop and no one ever calls you back and then you get overcharged. Stay away if you use WiFi to work from home! read more

Please repeat after me I I HATE RCN, I HATE RCN. I HATE RCN, I HATE RCN, I HATE RCN, I HATE RCN, I HATE RCN, I HATE RCN, I HATE RCN, I HATE RCN I HATE RCN, I HATE RCN Horrible service!!! I live in a 100 plus condo building. I have asked numerous times to discontinue their service. The building gets a kickback from the idiots so we have to suffer with these dolts. We bring up their shoddy service whenever we can. Tonight I have a problem and have been waiting for service to get on the line for over an hour. Over the years I have had numerous complaints. In other buildings I have used ATT, and Comcast and a couple of other providers. These idiots should not be in business. Please never use this company. You will be very sorry. I'm really sorry to give such a negative response but when you do not the service you need its time q00000 read more

They message that they'd like to resolve the issue. The issue is the service is slow and required constant power cycling and talking to agents. Talking to an agent about power cycling my modem and getting gaslighted about issues is not solving my problem. read more