I called Astound to terminate my service on Dec. 12 2025, and I was told my service would be terminated at the end of the cycle on Dec 26 2026. Fast forward to Jan. 2026, I was still charged for the month of Jan. After calling back on Jan 26. 2026, I was told by a rep that apparently the service was never cancelled, even though they can see I had returned all the equipment already. I was told the rep who received my call in Dec. never actually cancelled the service, so a manager would call me within 48 hours.  It is now 10 days later, on Jan 5. and the rep I spoke to said the service is still not terminated. I still have not gotten a refund. He can't do anything, and needs to speak to a manager to resolve the issue, who never calls back. I have been on the phone for 47 minutes trying to speak to a manager.  My suggestion: AVOID ASTOUND AT ALL COSTS. They will make it impossible to terminate service. Their prices increase for no reason every few months, usually by a few dollars to the point that over the years, it adds up. Additionally, the charge "service fees" on the of the service itself, which was about $18-20 per month. Please go with another internet service provider in your area. read more

So I have been with Astound when they bought WOW internet in Chicago. Now I was assured that I will have the same service with competitive pricing. I even upgraded because I wanted to make sure I had service while working from home. Now two months ago they increased my price by almost 20.00, they went down I believe 8 dollars less but still a 12-14.00 increase per month that takes me over 100.00 a month. Plus no discounts for the fact the internet goes down more frequently. Interesting... Now I called customer care to see if there was something they can do to assist me and the response was "We can't keep giving you all discounts, there is nothing we can do". I figured for a regular customer that you could've acted like you care. Now I am searching for competitive pricing because when I said I will look at other options, the response again was "Well we were glad you was a customer, have a great day". Astound with your customer service talking to people that way, you will lose a lot of customers. I thought I posted this already but wanted to do it before I switch companies, since Astound doesn't care about me being a valued customer/ read more

One of the worst businesses I have ever encountered. I requested multiples times to cancel service and they refused to stop service and kept billing me. To make it even worse, they would prebill so they would bill ahead for months I would not be using. Once I finally had to escalate the situation to a manager they agreed to stop my service and refund me for the troubles- except the manager entered in the numbers wrong and tried to charge me again for double the amount. They then tried to refer me to collections for this amount which was an error on their end. A simple situation that could not even handle properly as a business. Would never recommend this business to anybody with a pulse read more

Their service is good however, they make offers to get you to sign up and then they don't honor their word....John Feehan is the CEO. Not honoring your word is a lack of integrity which reflects back to Mr. Feehan. read more

I went to Astound from Xfinity because Xfinity was 2 much money. I am saving a lot of money with Astound but, apparently I sacrificed a lot of technology in doing so. They have no voicemail app so I get my voicemail the old fashioned way, by using a notification on my phone or dialing my own number. This is a practice from at least 5 years ago. All the major carriers have an app. Their live stream app Astound TV + only works on a few devices. I will not work on my laptop because it is a VERY limited list. I could get live streaming and streaming the entire time I was with Xfinity which was at least 10 years. It was one of their perks I liked. Astound, stop marketing your product as competitive with other carriers when your technology is behind the times. To be fair, plans for cable, cell, internet and home phone are OK. Internet speed is OK. Price is OK but we'll see how they raise the price in the future. read more

I cancelled my service in Oct 2025. Out of the blue, 8 months later, I received an invoice that I will owe a payment for services that had been cancelled. People, please remove your autopay authorization. Astound is a terrible company. Do not sign with Astound formerly RCN, same shiiit. read more

Astound had me wait all day (9 am - 9 pm window) to show up at 9 pm, stay until 11:00 pm and wasn't able to do the job. I was understanding and we rescheduled for a week after. They then proceed to come for the second appointment, didn't even bother using the callbox or ringing the bell and attempted to call me, however I live in a dead zone so it didn't go through. Once the missed call finally hit 10 minutes later, I called back with no answer. I then proceeded to call Astound who told me my technician cancelled on me since there was no response. I then got dismissed and demeaned for an hour by one of their customer service reps who told me I was overreacting and astound could come in one more week to install. I was shocked they wouldn't have the tech come back after just 10 minutes or have them wait a certain amount of time to make sure the customer wasn't home, and they said that the tech probably had other things to do! I guess my appt was only scheduled to be 10 minutes long and they never actually intended to do the installation? That would be the most obvious assumption if he's too busy to drive back ten minutes and needed to leave so quickly. I attempted to escalate and no one called me back. I now have to wait another week to see if they'll actually try to show up. I'm going to look for another fiber provider, and would suggest anybody else avoid astound. I can't imagine what service is like once it's actually installed. read more

My wife and I sent all of our equipment back, and then received a $99 charge saying that we never returned our equipment. We opened a case and after looking into it, the customer service rep confirmed that we were mistakenly charged for "household equipment" and that they would remove the charge for us. They never removed the charge after the case was closed, and we've since tried opening another case but just received a generic response saying that the charge will be removed once our equipment is returned. read more

Astound - Chicago - Internet Service Providers Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I have been a customer of RCN- Astound for 20 years. I find that it often lags around 8:00 PM. But, I was keeping it because it rarely went out all together. But now I just have to find a new ISP. Astound is now charging me $168.00 per month! Last year it was $70.00 and that was after an increase. There are only a few devices online here So I can't imagine paying that much. Plus, they are currently offering a $40.00 for life plan to new customers plus a gift certificate. I called to find out the reason I was increased so much but the agent I spoke with was rude. He lowered it going forward to $120.00 while I search for a different ISP. I guess I know who is financing the deals for new customers! read more

While in my RCN webmail account, I was suddenly kicked back to the Astound homepage. I tried to re-log in, but every combination & permutation of e-mail addy, username and password (even the ones they assigned me) are being rejected. I can't even access my RCN account at all (not just mail--though at least I still have internet, apparently). Tech support via the phone took 2 hours and all they could do was (after trying to assign me passwords) tell me it's a widespread problem with migrating mail servers (webmail & e-mail) to Astound, and issue a case # . Tried live chat--same problem, all they could do was issue a case # and said it could take 24-48 hrs to resolve. (I doubt even 48 hrs would do it). So I want to go to Astound in person for tech support---but their only physical location handles nothing but billing, payments, and equipment pickup & dropoff. I've been their customer ever since 1999! read more

Astound still isn't cutting it. Someone finally came out, but none of the modems worked, so they left their "test router," which I appreciated. What I didn't appreciate was being told to "wait 24 to 48 hours for someone to come back out because a node needed fixing or whatever." Yeah, that node is still broken as hell. At this point I'm convinced Astound has some kind of humiliation kink, because every mistake is more embarrassing than the last and y'all genuinely do not care. And on top of all that, another outage. I swear CenturyLink might actually have one up on you, maybe even Hughes. It's fine though. You'll be scrambling when this bill doesn't get paid at the end of the month. read more

I miss RCN. When you called them, their automated line would recognize you from your phone number. Then they would offer (automated) to send a signal to your cable box. Technicians were free if it was an error in their equipment. On 12/22 (night), A guy I could barely understand said that I would need to pay for a tech to come out. The next day, a completely different interaction (different steps) with a rep who spoke clearly set up a FREE tech visit. My review will change if all goes well even though I lost 2.5 days of service. At 12:14 I got an auto-call stating that the dricver was nearby and to press 2 to confirm appt. At 12:16, I got the exact same call. At 12:39, the tech called me saying that he was half an hour away. Will update... read more

Said there was gift card and never sent it. Have reached out 3 times and no help has been offered to make good on there deals. Would not recommend. read more

Steer clear, if you can. ~5 year customer, and there's been a noticeable decline in overall quality for this provider. Used to be RCN, is now Astound, and I'm starting to suspect that that change is not innocuous and has a lot to do with the way this ISP handles itself now. In the past few months, there's been a notable uptick in outages. We used to be informed about possible outages and reasons, now they're radio silent until you ask, I guess just hoping we won't notice? One rep will say one thing, "Oh yes, there's reports of outages near you." "Well, any ETA on fixes, any other info about the outage?" "No, we have no info." You reach out again later, "No reported outages." "Really, that's contrary to what I was told earlier." "Well there's no reported outages." Meanwhile, downdetector has like 50+ reports around the same time. Like, these reps and techs either do not have information that they reasonably SHOULD have, are all miscommunicating, or worst of all are GASLIGHTING their customers. There's no accountability, there's no transparency, DO NOT expect straightforward, clear, or consistent communication from this company, ever. If the problem is a lack of/overworked staff, hey, Astound, HIRE PEOPLE, PLEASE, AND PAY THEM BETTER. You charge too much to be understaffed and likely replacing people with garbage chat bots or chatgpt or whatever it is these awful companies do to save a nickel these days. You charge too much and can't even consistently provide the speeds and services people pay for and our jobs and lives rely on. You can't even communicate to your customers properly. Also, your recent service patterns sure look a lot like throttling! Why is it that, more and more often, our upload speeds suddenly only improve right after we complain about it! Maybe fix that! Again, 0/10, avoid at all costs. read more

This is day number two that I'm going without internet and I can't even reach us down. But they gonna give me some credit for me. Not having my ServiceNow for 2 days. read more

If I could given them negative stars I would! I paid for their service for years and it was fine, not great, not terrible. The price escalated like crazy though and I switched providers. Then when I got my final bill, they tried to bilk me out of payments I had already made and fail to credit my account when my bank has already posted the payments many days earlier. They then sent me to a sketchy liquor store location to return my equipment and the guys there just laughed and shook their heads. What kind of operation is Astound running? Clearly one that everyone should avoid at all costs. read more

Been at astound for 3 years and I can confidently say that I am having a beer to celebrate after cancelling my service. They were first robbing me for $150 WiFi then after cutting it down after 2 years it is spotty wifi and straight up not working at this very moment (mind you I pay for fiber). read more

Have to receive leaving reliable high-speed service from astound for several months I discontinued service dude will move. As Stamp provided me with a shipping label, which I attached in brought to a FedEx office to return the modem they claim they did not receive the modem so they are going to continue to bill me until I proved that I returned the modem. This is impossible.. I am now being forced to contact the Illinois Attorney General's office to resolve the dispute. read more

Avoid this company!!!! A sales rep went to my foreign grandparents house and convinced them to switch providers because their pricing was cheaper. My grandparents did not know what they were doing and are now trying to switch back and are being told that they cannot be helped, it was my grandparents problem, and are being sent in circles trying to leave. They keep getting told that they will lower the prices but not told HOW to leave. I do not recommend - the company, sales rep, and everyone that we have been in contact with have been extremely unhelpful and rude. read more

If I could give a half star I would. I pay $85 a month after fees and taxes for their gig speed internet. Working from home full time it's pretty crucial to have reliable connection. Not only is it not reliable, but they aren't even reliable to come out and fix the service. Want a refund? Too bad. I will be canceling my service and will never recommend RCN to anyone. This service should cost me MAX $30 a month. It's a complete joke read more

Their service location on Addison has a sign not for the public? Who is it for? I had my bill auto debited. Two other bills came on the same day and theirs was delayed over the weekend. I had an extra $85 fee! My $25 a month sign on has never been that it's been between $38 and $147 every month with fees I've never heard of. No one answers the phone and when they do they click off. read more

So far so good. We just switched over from Comcast for the low prices. Hear it will go up eventually but we'll deal with that later and enjoy the savings for now. :) Customer service has been great so far and installation went smooth. We just have cell and internet with them. read more

It's taken four tries to get someone out to my apartment to set up wifi, and even that's being optimistic, because, at the time of writing, I'm actually still trusting that the technician will show up. First it was a missed appointment. Then when I got it rescheduled for a few days later, they rescheduled me again for an all-day time slot without telling me, so the technician showed up to my apartment when I wasn't even back yet. They *said* it was reassigned to someone else that day, but the other technician never called. And now I'm on my fourth attempt to get wifi, nearly a week after they were first supposed to show up. They're *offering* me an extra free month of wifi to make up, but that's currently a meaningless gesture, until I actually get it set up. EDIT: I don't know how to set my location, but Chicagoland read more

I wish I could give this company 0 stars. My internet goes out at least once a week and takes hours to come back on. EXTREMELY UNRELIABLE. Our internet went out on Monday 3/2 and has not come back on since (it is currently Friday 3/6). The first time I called I told them someone from their company had been out in the morning to fix a wire, I was then told no one was there earlier DESPITE me talking with the employee and also receiving a voicemail confirming the employee was at my home. The second time I called I was told a tech would not be able to come out until Thursday, 3 tech teams came out. No one was able to fix the problem. I am still without internet. 1000% not worth the $250 ish paid per month. I can't recommend AGAINST this company enough. Save yourself the time and frustration and go literally anywhere else. read more

Do not use Astound services!!! I'm currently being charged $80.99 for 110 Mbps. In June 2025 it was $44.99, so my bill increased $36 in one month (July 2025). I called today to get my internet package lowered, there are better deals on their website but I was informed there wasn't anything they could do to lower it. Then I was offered a mobile service which I declined. I later checked my email and saw that they had ignored me and signed me up for mobile anyway. I called back and the rep couldn't see that I was added for mobile so he told me the email was most likely spam. I told him no it wasn't, I gave him all the info that was in the email including the email address, asked him to confirm the account number and he lied and gave me the wrong account number that was not even on the email or my actual internet bill. He still claimed it was spam and that he could see in the notes that I declined the mobile service. After that I was frustrated and told him to transfer me to someone else, he supposedly transferred me to the mobile department, I spoke with Nathan or Nathaniel who was able to see the mobile order and canceled it. However, I haven't received a confirmation email. Since I paid my internet bill already, I'm waiting till the end of the month to cancel my internet because I know they won't refund me. Find a better internet company with competent workers that won't sign you up for services that you declined. UPDATE: I filed a complaint with the FCC and submitted a copy of the mobile email that I received. Next, I will report to the BBB. read more

Awful. Don't use. Bad service. Bad support. Read the reviews the say it all. Customer service is bad.

I requested to cancel service in March. It failed to process on their end. I was billed for months until it finally went through. They refuse to refund me for the unfairly billed amount, saying, "Technically it didn't cancel until Months later." Doesn't help that service frequently went down. Customer service lacks any empathy and understanding read more

They like to rip people off. Plain and simple. ANYWHERE is better- and customer support isnt where it needs to be. 0/10.

Tl;dr - Reliable until very much not. Astound had been decent - internet is not as smooth as expected, but they had been more reliable than other providers in the area. (This is why I'm giving them the second star.) They did surprise us with a $15 jump in prices a few months after joining. Then this morning, we cannot connect to anything. Wifi works, we just cannot actually access the internet. I work from home in software, so this is a pretty significant issue. Customer service reps would "troubleshoot" by resetting our modem remotely (after we had told them that we had already tried this, and that previous reps had also tried it). They lied about when they could send a tech to us - they said it would be in two days, but the appointment was four days out. (Again, this is a critical utility we use for work.) No rep could do anything. No way to talk about waitlists, no compensation, no discounts. Just utter stonewalling. Even after pointing out that we can literally get a new Earthlink installation in only half a day after they could get a tech out, they had nothing to offer. Do not sign up with them. It is sad that services in the area leave so little to be desired, but when Astound fails, they fail hard. read more

If at all possible, use a different ISP. I live in the Rogers Park area of Chicago. My connection drops CONSTANTLY which is a problem since I WFH. When I call customer support, they state no issues, but my neighbors all complain of the same problem. I've run packet tests, and it's 100% on the ISP, and I found out that my connection speed has rarely been what I'm paying for. Highly recommend reporting them to the better business bureau if you haven't already. read more

This is by far the worst customer service experience I've ever had! The representatives were extremely rude, and to make matters worse, I was charged significantly more than what I was originally paying, with no prior notification. I attempted to resolve the issue over the phone with multiple agents, but their only solution was to "dispute the charge through my bank." Despite requesting that my account be canceled, I was charged again for the next month. When I called to find out why, I was yelled at and threatened with being sent to collections if I didn't pay. I was completely shocked by the hostile treatment and didn't even know how to respond. UPDATE: I reached out to Jackie, as she wanted me to, but unfortunately, she was of no help. I ended up paying for two months of internet service--$175.46--for a period when I didn't even use it. Despite following their guidance to dispute the charges, I now find myself receiving letters threatening consequences if I don't pay. After exhausting every option and trying to explain my situation to them, no one was willing to assist me. I finally gave in and paid the amount out of sheer frustration. This has been an incredibly stressful and disappointing experience. I hope this review serves as a warning to others--avoid going through what I did. Their lack of support and understanding is unacceptable. read more

This company is inhuman. My father died and I'm trying to return his Astound equipment. Their online firm won't work, and after an hour on the phone with customer service their only options to me is an $80 equipment return fee, or a hour drive to their office. They are inhuman and could care less about their customers or anyone. read more

Paying for 960mbps for a year but not even getting half the speeds and no help after hours and hours on call with support and 3 technicians coming and looking and 1 year later no resolution read more

Astound - Chicago - Internet Service Providers Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Since the overall rating for Astound on here was terrifyingly low, I thought I would add my experience to the mix. 1. I called to ask about the 'all-in' prices and they were helpful and forthcoming about what the total would be, after fees. 2. I was able to schedule an install for the next day. 3. The rep showed up on time, and was diligent and helpful in using the old existing phone-line conduit to pull the fiber through the walls from the cable room in my building without drilling any new holes anywhere. 4. The speed is somewhat higher than advertised (1000/1000). I'm consistently getting 500-650Mbps second over my (inexpensive) mesh WiFi... vs. 300/25 with cable. Two thumbs up, would recommend. read more

poor internet quality despite paying an extra $30 for 1GB. customer service is poor and and combative even when it's clear that the issue is with their system. calling their 800- support, the automated responder does everything to not send you to an actual person and actually keeps telling you to reboot the router, which I've done already multiple times before calling. i would not recommend t service read more

Astound - Chicago - astound broadband internet speed test - Internet Service Providers Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Genuinely terrible. Consistent outages, and they don't even TRY to get out there in time to fix it. I know this because when I called the support line on their website they refused to work with me to get someone here same day, though when I called my local office it was no problem. Interesting how that works isn't it? I had asked if there was a line for local technicians and they told me no. I asked my building manager for assistance locating someone and they pointed me straight to the local line. I've had consistent outages, once or twice a month happening at random, since the middle of 2024. Each time it's the same thing: when they send technicians out for repairs, they will split lines for other users to fix issues with one. Think of it like your neighbors taking out their trash by dumping it in your living room. The fact that I have to consistently worry about not having home internet (which I rely on for my full time job) because of Astound/RCN's incompetence is baffling. I am only with Astound because their service is part of a utilities package worked into my apartment expenses. I STRONGLY urge anyone with the option to go with a competitor to do so, and rest assured that even if it ends up being more expensive, the chances of you getting your money's worth are astronomically higher. read more

Update on my previous review: Nothing has changed. My internet is out again, the customer service was abysmal, and when I asked for additional information on the status of my internet service, I was simply told no. These people are scammers. Absolutely awful product, and even worse service. They take advantage of their customers in every way possible, and it is completely unacceptable read more

Astound is awful, RCN used to be good. I am moving to somewhere without RCN/Astound service. I've had RCN in the past and moved like this, and it was never a problem, hence why I returned to them when able. Since I scheduled my disconnect (two billing cycles from now), my bill has increased from 62/mo to 131/mo, and my internet has been disconnected once by one of their techs who was servicing another unit in my building. The original scheduling estimate for reconnecting the internet I was paying for was a full 5 days after they disconnected it. I had to spend significant time on the phone to get a reconnect scheduled for the next day. They are also "unable to end my service off cycle," so I'll need to pay this new increased rate through the end of a month I'm mostly not there for. From looking through the reviews here, it looks like service has gone downhill in recent months. If they do come to my area in the future, I won't be considering them as an ISP unless I can see they've really righted their ship. read more

RCN took my old Internet equipment without asking me. The technician came to install the new equipment for my tenant and took my equipment. Now they say I owe $421 for the equipment. The technician never returned it to the warehouse. They opened a case and they are investigating, so far it's been a month. I don't feel I have to pay for this since the guy took it without my permission and stole it or lost it. read more

Unfair Charges & Abusive Customer Service -- Stay Away from Astound I had a terrible experience with Astound. Even though I paid my bill on time, just using a different bank account, they charged me $ 71.49 in unjustified fees, including: ONE-TIME CHARGES This section displays non-monthly charges. These are one time purchases, fees, or adjustments that have been made to your account. Date Description Qty Amount 05/06 Payment Declined 45.49 05/07 Auto Pay Denial Residential 25.00 05/08 Web Payment Processing Fee 1.00 $71.49 When I reached out to customer service to dispute the charges, instead of offering any help or listening to my concerns, they were rude, dismissive, and borderline abusive. Shockingly, they went as far as terminating my service without any notice. This is not how customers should be treated, especially those who are simply trying to pay their bills and resolve a misunderstanding. Their behavior is unacceptable and unprofessional. If you're thinking of using Astound, I strongly recommend looking elsewhere. Their billing practices and customer support are not only unhelpful but also hostile. read more