Super predatory service as a whole, nothing against the workers/customer service call team . There are always random charges added onto the bill to increase your internet price by 15-20 bucks every few months without actually notifying you but sneaking it into the statements. This have happened about 8 times over the course of 5 years I have used them. I would have changed so much sooner if my building took other internet providers but was unfortunate with only having rcn available. Every time I've called to tell them that they increased the prices and I'm really unhappy about it, they miraculously have some promo that brings it back down to original price. ALSO, be warned that you also get charged a modem fee which they don't really disclose until you call to ask about it :) if you are stuck like me, just buy a modem yourself so you can save HUNDREDS of dollars per year and don't be stupid like me. There is even one charge that says construction fee and maintenance fee attached to the bill "separately" that totals your "50$" bill to 91$ :D Overall very awful business practice I hope I could give it 0 stars if I could read more

This review is solely about the misleading billing practices and has nothing to do with this specific location. I have a 1000mbps internet plan with no contract, free modem, and a locked-in price of $45 for two years. However, my bills shows a charge for 1000mbps at $55. I never signed up for a $55 plan, otherwise I will have to get 15000mbps speed instead of 1000mpbs (as it shows on their website) and I have no need for the higher 15000mbps speed. The billing is extremely deceptive. Despite paying $45 plus a $10 auto-pay discount, resulting in a total of $62.40, the statement incorrectly displays a higher amount. The company's explanation for the discrepancy is unconvincing. Also, they come up with nonsense things saying that I paid more these past months because the $10 auto payment, takes a while to kick inn. They will always come up with something. Beware of this company's billing practices. Carefully review your statements to avoid overpayment!!! Shame!!!! read more

RCN - Television Service Providers Near Me - Long Island City, New York

They say they are transparent about their pricing increases and policies, but they are really not! I was miscommunicated by one of their agents through consumer service and I had to be responsible for paying the full price. If you want to be fooled and ripped off, go ahead and use their services. Otherwise, I'd recommend you to look in other directions and providers. Avoid RCN. read more

I called RCN to get the "real" price for one of their Astound broadband offers. Yes, "Astound" all right. "Astoundingly" CROOKED! After "taxes and fees," the final price was more than DOUBLE the advertised price, even after the autopay discount! I can't imagine how bad they must be to deal with once they get their hooks into you. Stay far, far, FAR away from these shysters! read more

I have been a customer for 23 years and my monthly bill just went up $36.00 a month. I was on a promotion until the end of August but this did not matter when I called. I explained that I was a senior and retired but that went in one ear and out the other, said I may have to change providers same response. So these companies today don't care about loyalty it's all about the almighty $$$$$$$$$$$$$ Thank you, Ed Zimmel at 716 652 7262 read more

When I called and scheduled an installation, I was told that I would get a month free. After the installation, they are pretending this is not the case and are trying to charge me every month. read more

I would've give 0 stars if that would be an option. Very rude customer service. I cancelled my service 4 months ago, returned equipment and move to the different address 4 months ago, paid the total, and they are still sending be bills every month asking to pay different amounts. They can't even calculate what I own them, so every month bills goes higher or lover without any logic. I talked to the supervisor Joshua who was very mean, yelled at me, and hang up on me twice. Multiple times rejected to pass the my call to his supervisor or, at least to provide the name of his manager. Very angry and inappropriate behavior from the service team. Hope his boss will be able to listen how he treats customers. Well, I am ex-customer, maybe that's why. Huge mistake! Very unprofessional! read more

do not use astound! i had astound for 1o years and they kept on overcharging me uintil my bill reached $300.00. when i disconnected they wanted to give me back $44.00. i paid them almost $300.00 in advance for the month and they only offered me $44.00 as a credit. stay away! they lied to me about keep the price them same. i was with them for 10 years! read more

I had a great experience with RCN in NYC for several years and recommended it to friends. HOWEVER, when I had to cancel my subscription because RCN didn't service my new building, they charged me for the whole next billing cycle ($100+) even though I can't use it. RIDICULOUS POLICY SO BE WARNED. Obviously I will not recommend them again. read more

This is BY FAR the worst cable business I have interacted within the last 10 years across the U.S. I don't understand how this company still exists in 2022. Apparently, if you switch from their modem to your own, there is a switching cost that wasn't mentioned by any service agent. My monthly bill just randomly increased from $48 to $70 for all random charges. Straight up ridiculous. It took 1.5 hours on the phone to reverse the random charges. read more

They do not tell you when you sign up that they will go up and charge what they want. It's a year later and my bill is slowly increasing.

The saga is over...finally! Friday, I switched to a new provider. I called RCN as soon as my new service was installed to let them know that I would like to terminate my service with them effective immediately, since it was the first day of a new billing cycle with them. After hearing every excuse, and promotion they could possibly think of, they finally got me when they said that if I disconnected the service that day, I could potentially lose my phone number. After the conversation I just had today, I am pretty sure this was a lie, but they hooked me in for the weekend. Fine. I called today to disconnect and after spending 36 minutes on the phone, it's done. But not after hearing how terrible my new provider is and that somehow, they could justify charging me $99 for 4 days of service. They also seemed to think I had service previously-that was the first reason why they said my "pro-rated" bill would be so high. I informed them that I have no intention of paying. I'm not going to name the representative here, since she is probably treated pretty poorly by RCN and this was why she decided to hang up on me after our conversation. I also want to mention that someone else's login details were still attached to my equipment when I recieved it. No one at RCN seemed concerned about this-that I could use the previous customer's account details to login to their Netflix account, since RCN never wiped the equipment. If you decide to try this company out, you've been warned. read more

RCN is clearly throttling their high speed net service that you pay for. Had perfectly usable 5G service with a new modem/router combo a few weeks ago. Now, suddenly, with no honest explanation from service techs, 5G barely works even right in front of the modem. In the next room? Forget it! And their 2.4G is useless. And they won't tell the truth about throttling their bandwith. Bad service. Was happy with them and gate to change, but no service makes keeping them difficult. Be careful. read more

RCN - Watch out! They promise fast internet service but deliver ridiculously slow speeds more often than not. Just be careful before switching. - Television Service Providers Near Me - Long Island City, New York

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I see they changed their name to ASTOUND. The only thing astounding is how they keep increasing their charges, how much my monthly bill is and how much their programming surcharges are (they've gone from zero to an extra $70.24 per month in 6 years! Their Tivo DVR sucks. I can't wait until I feel safe to have a technician in my apartment so I can switch to Spectrum. I called Spectrum and their monthly charge is almost $100 less per month and they have no programming surcharges. read more

Everything about RCN is awful. More expensive than xfinity in the same area. TV pops up loading screen very often and after maybe 30 min of watching just decides to go into standby mode because you haven't interacted with the remote. The Google voice commands they use, make it just that much worse, half the time automatically opening up Youtube with some search that wasn't even close to what you said. Avoid this company at all cost! read more

Really sketchy. They nickle & dime customers and our general experience was just a lot of dishonesty -- heavily focused on upselling you things you don't need, reps leave out critical info, monthly prices randomly changed with no notice (need to be a hawk with the bill), ridiculous equipment fees -- wish I had been warned. Stay away from this company. We asked at time of contract (and in several follow up calls) whether we could use our own modem, instead of paying equipment fee. Was told no, several times. This answer miraculously changed to yes, when we wanted to cancel. We also explicitly asked about length of contract at sign-on price and was told 2 years. This was randomly changed at 1-year. When we called in, the contract length was miraculously supposed to be 2-years. Lots of "mistakes". Clearly support/account managers have financial incentives to upsell and company flat out lies often. read more

New customer waiting for install today, tech calls one time from a 800 number I missed grabbing my phone I call back wait 45 minutes on hold and told I have to reschedule now. This company is unprofessional and should bound for bankruptcy. read more

If I could give negative stars I would. I've received two letters stating how they'll And I quote "Work with residential and small business broadband and voice customers that have been impacted financially by the COVID-19 crisis" Meanwhile my bill has increased 45% (!!) in 1 year. I called and they are no explanations. Time to switch to FIOS to get double the speed for the same price? Probably read more

Just received a 10-page fine-print booklet that began, "important notice regarding changes to RCN customers terms and conditions..." (dated, Nov 30, 2020) Who is going to read this legally-required document? Really!! If RCN wanted us to know about the changes it is making that will have an impact on our service and equipment, then give it to us in a few short bullet points, followed by the detailed booklet. This is a sham. RCN, you know that perhaps a fraction of 1-percent of all your customer will (1) read for these nuanced details, and (2) fully appreciate the impact of these changes. Treat your customers like accounts you want to keep. Look us in the face and tell us what has changed. Enough of these microprint documents that fulfill legal requirements. Why were these rulings passed in the first place, RCN? read more

RCN lies to customers and should not be trusted. I used RCN for a year with no problem so I renewed my plan after speaking with a customer service rep who assured me several times that I would be paying the same amount for the new year of service as I had the first year. My first bill came in 40% higher than my prior bill, so I called back in to inquire about the pricing. The customer service reps were unable to do anything about this and the manager I spoke with also said he could do nothing about the pricing I was guaranteed by a customer service rep. read more

Worst company - they're very deceiving. Keep raising prices every 2-3 months. Cancelled the company rigjt away.

After I canceled RCN service. Two weeks later found I was overcharged, and called customer service. The representative Annette was rude, unhelpful and refused to transfer me to her supervisor. She told me her supervisor would call me back, which they never did. RCN doesn't treat loyal customers fairly. They offer promotional discounts for new customers, and raise existing customer's charges. read more

I know I said I would try to make the best of things, since all my other bridges are burned, but this company blows. Since I have moved, the bill has increased. Yes I realize that this is the punishment all loyal customers get after a few years with a cable provider. And I might not mind, If the service didn't suffer so much. Clearly they are taking their business model from the MTA. I am on the phone with customer service about twice a month. I have had my DVR replaced three times. And I am on the phone with them again (average wait time? 15-20 minutes), probably to make an appointment to get another replacement. This time, I have stopped receiving LOCAL stations. Which would be FREE if I wasn't hooked up to all this bullshit. Is having to redo all your season passes the ultimate first world problem? Maybe. But it's still a pain in the ass. Do have options at this point? No. Just letting you know what your getting into. O shit - did they know I was writing this? My internet just went out. Creepy. read more

I have to agree with others that I simply do not understand the low ratings, particularly when the alternatives include the odious Time Warner. Granted TWC is sitting at 1.5 stars, but for RCN to be only 2 seems a bit... harsh. Most of the reviews here speak to cost and product, so I'll focus on another key element for me: Customer Service. I used RCN for nearly a decade at my previous apartment after switching from Time Warner years before. That was a decision I'll never regret. Internet service will go down from time to time regardless of your choice of provider, and in retrospect, RCN was probably a good bit more reliable than Time Warner. But for me, the real test is how the company handles it when things go wrong. Time Warner's standard customer service response was to arrange an appointment for a tech to come to your home to investigate, generally a week or so away. I might as well just shoot myself in the head if I'm without Internet for a week since I often work from home. I recall maybe 2 or 3 times where Time Warner acknowledged an area outage, but every other time was that stupid bureaucratic response. And of course, every single time this happened, it was an area outage and service came back after a few hours. Contrast that with my experience with RCN, where area outages were far more likely to be acknowledged and service appointments were generally 1-2 days out, not 1-2 *weeks* out. RCN's attitude on the phone was consistently more cheerful and eager to help. In fact, I often compare them to Avis and their "We try harder" attitude. Time Warner? More like the DMV. The only reason I am not using RCN today is that my new building was already wired for FiOS and I didn't want to have to do a new installation. That said, I know RCN well and if Verizon starts acting hinky, I know where I'm headed next. read more

I was a happy cable user and didnt know it... until I moved to the upper east side and my only cable option is Time warner. Ok, RCN can be a little more expensive, but the customer service is AMAZING compared to Time Warner. Actually I don't think you can compare. Every time I called RCN, It was under 5 minutes and the person I spoke to was always helpful. Not so at TWC. The difference at the end of the month? maybe $10 more for RCN and it's worth every penny. read more

BEWARE OF A TRAP I lived in Stuy Town for 1 year before moving to the West Side. I agreed to a 1 year contract on August 30 of 2008 at 1 MBPS. Service was connected at 10 MBPS due to a "typo" by my RCN representative, Brandon. I had this fixed on Sept. 11 after a lengthy round of phone tag with Brandon. I thought, great, this is done, fine price, no problem. Come the end of the contract. I moved away from Stuy Town in May, but kept paying for service through Sept. 5 (and paying for service from TWC at my new place). I returned my modem thinking, at this point thinking I had satisfied my contract. I had even paid through the 11th because I couldn't return my modem in time. Then they issued a refund for the 6 days between the 5th and the 11th. Low and behold, they now claim I'm in breach of contract by 6 days and assign me a $75 fee (less the $2.60 service refund for the 6 days). SUMMARIZING THE TRAP: 1. At the end of contract, if you are paid through the end of the contract and you return your equipment, they will issue a refund and claim a contract violation. 2. A "typo" in the course of setup that you change at a later date is considered a renewal of contract. So, either go with a competitor, or if that's not an option, beware. read more

Well I've ended my service thanks to the end of kick backs to my building's manager. Now all I have to do is return the darn equipment, but if you have a 9 - 5 job, good luck! Why is it I have to speak to 3 people and hold 5 minutes just to find out if their office is open on Veteran's Day? And why is the person who has the answer to that question in another state? And you want me to take a cable box wider than me, modem, and clicker on the subway??? After asking if there was an alternative to dropping it off at their office, I was told they'll mail me a UPS label (which will take 5 - 7 days), but I'll have to get a box. And what if the equipment breaks? "Well, pack it safely," I was told. Let's hear it for customer service....NOT! read more

RCN are a bunch of liars. I have been a customer for over a year. When I changed apartments, they had a technician come over with a more expensive Tivo box than what I requested. They swore up and down that it was the same price. Well, when I received my next bill, it was not the same price, it was almost $10 more per month. I called RCN to complain about the charge and the installation of the wrong equipment. They sincerely apologized, and made an appointment for a technician to come over and change out the box. Well, on my next bill, there was a $49 charge to have the technician come to give me the original box that I requested. I called and complained. It took forever to get anyone to accept responsibility, and to get the charge refunded. They did it reluctantly. RCN gets their business from lying to customers, and deceiving them. I suppose that some people either just decide to pay the extra money because it is too difficult to have it changed to what they asked for. Regarding the service, the internet is ok, and the selection of channels is ok. I just don't think that the service I get, for internet and cable TV, is worth the $113 per month that I am paying. Fortunately for me, there is a new fiber optic provider in the building. That's where I am now. Bye Bye, RCN. Ha ha ha. read more

Just moved into my studio this week, and so far so good. While the cable guy showed up about 4 hours after the latest time I'd been told he'd be at my apartment by, the cable guy himself ended up being really really nice. It wasn't the most pleasant of NYC days, and I was surprised at how sweet and nice he was. He had to do some extra work (go downstairs and rewire my specific unit), since it turned out the tenant before me had used Time Warner. The experience has been good so far. My internet's been SUPER fast, and I'm not even on their premium package. I'm going to leave a star off only because I'm a bit skeptical about cable/internet service in NYC in general, but maybe this is one of those rare cable stories with a happy ending? read more

Who knew there was an ISP worst than Time Warner? Look no further, don't waste a dime with this company. There are always technical and billing issues. Oh, and the technicians they send out NEVER arrive on time and I dont mean 10 minutes late, try hours!!! read more

I give two stars strictly based on their internet service. That is the only saving grace. As for television service. They deserve a zero. Limited channel options, but you knew that going in. Picture quality is good when you actually receive the signal. Too often you are met with a signal unavailable message despite the channel being part of your package. HD feeds lag and are often unwatchable. I cannot stomach TWC , but am seriously considering going back. read more

I used to have Time Warner Cable, and while their customer service was horrible (and RUDE), there weren't many technical issues. We did have a problem w/ the internet connection dropping, though, so I decided it was time to try a different service provider. RCN was my only other option, and I've had them for a few years now. Their customer service is definitely better as far as being nice on the phone, but damn, they are stupid! First, it's rare to get someone that speaks clear english. An accent is one thing, but some people I've tried talking to have such heavy accents I have had to ask "excuse me?" multiple times per conversation. That's frustrating to me AND the agent on the phone! I order a Pay Per View event every month, and the stupid DVR box never lets me do it directly through it. Yeah, it's supposed to, but it always tells me there's some sort of error. So, I have to call tech support, go through the slowest automated phone system ever, and then deal w/ another clueless agent. Once they even told me they had to charge me $5.95 for using them to set up the pay per view! They couldn't seem to understand that I needed them to do it, since their equipment is junk! Now, the DVR box... wow, worst electronic device I've ever used! The interface is extremely sluggish and non-responsive. In fact, Wired.com did a test on DVRs and described it as follows: "Sluggish interface can inspire fits of rage." That is very accurate, and I am not proud to admit that I've smashed the DVR box w/ its own remote several times. Ironically, it always works better just after doing that!! Cable providers in NYC just are not very good. I've lived several places outside of NYC, from NJ to Florida (and many between), and the two providers I've experienced here are by far the worst. Unfortunately, I can't deal w/ RCN anymore and, bite my tongue, I think I'm gonna crawl back to Time Warner w/ my tail between my legs. BTW, Direct TV is available in my area, but my landlord doesn't allow dish installations. Figures... read more

If I could give RCN 0 stars I would. This is by far the worst company I have ever dealt with. They are very tricky - charged me and my roomies over $100 more than they quoted during moving in. The TV is constantly loosing signal/turning grey and had 2 people have to come tighten the wires/change the box within 8 months. We are getting ripped off because we don't even have a phone and had to purchase the phone/TV/Internet as a package. They jack up prices and their customer service is terrible - bad hours/rude. STAY AWAY! read more

Horrible, horrible, horrible. My Internet connection periodically slows down or goes out at random, and I have to call and hold for an unreasonably long time until they fix it. Recently they switched to all digital TV so I needed to get a converter box. I called to have it sent, and they said they would Federal Express it. It never arrived. I had to make about 6 phone calls, several of which required an hour on hold. I ended up having to go to their office to get the box, take it home and install it, and then wait on hold for an hour for them to initialize it over the phone. After all that, I waited another hour, but it STILL doesn't work. I haven't been able to watch my television for two days. Avoid these people. read more

I wish there was an option for 0 stars! RCN is by far the worst cable provider in the universe. Seriously, they overcharged me $150 and threatened to shut off my cable and internet when they just hadn't gotten around to processing my check. Also, surprise surprise there is an early cancellation fee...they are such a pain that they must have to deal with people canceling all the time so they screw you on the back end. I would really like to see how there billing process works also, you think you sign up for one plan and end up paying 130-146 each month...shouldn't it be the same cost each month if you sign up for a plan? I would strongly suggest staying as far away from RCN as you can...it will save you hours of frustration if you don't sign up for them. No one in that company is on the same page either - for a check they "forgot" to put towards your bill you will get 2 calls a day from a different person for the SAME exact problem...and each time you get off the phone with them they say "the problem is handled" I even went as far as faxing them a bank statement once to prove to them that I had paid my bill...the bank had figured out deducting the money but rcn could not figure it out. Pay the extra money to get Time Warner...I promise it is worth it. read more

Pure fraud. I just switched from TWC and the first bill is wrong. I have been on the phone with RCN for over an hour and they are refusing to honor the deal that is on the front page of their website -- $34.99/month for 155mb/s. The customer service representative on the phone - Marsha - says it should be at least $60 and I am lucky to be getting billed for $44.99! Marsha says her internet is down (!) and she can't pull up RCN's website so she can't give me the deal. This besides the awful installation experience where the technician left in the middle for 4 hours to do his other jobs. If RCN can't do the basics I'm just going back to TWC. read more

I've been RCN cable client for about 5 years now. I noticed that my internet bill start going up by 2$ every month or every other month. So I called them and asked why is that. They gave me a better rate because I am a valued customer blah blah. That "special rate" lasted for 2 months and the price went up again. I canceled my service and scheduled Spectrum. One of their reps emailed me and offered to match competitor's price. I was like, ok. That price never appeared on my bill. They LIE, LIE and LIE! read more

So I got this 99 dollar deal at one time...and i just had the total sent each month through bill pay..then i look at the bill and I am in arrears...it seems they jacked the bill up...i didnt wanna deal so I just paid the arrears (an unusual move for me)..so then i look and im in arrears again...im like wtf...so im asking myself, why do I pay $250 a month for cable exactly? So then I asked RCN...patiently..and the women is being really sketchy and finally i just start spazzing...I start to realize that they are probably not just randomly doing this to me but others..so I said, I know you didnt do this and I dont want to discuss it now but please make a note that I am going to review the bills, that I only authorized 99 per month in service and that this is probably something that needs to be investigated...but I asked for nothing and made no threat...i was cordial and attempted to end the phone call with that and instantly she volunteered that my bill could be 160 a month..and changed it...the funny thing is I was already shopping for class action attorneys...not worth my time anymore but maybe its a good idea for you, cause I am sure I wasnt the only one they tried to jerk.... read more

My only guess is the people giving RCN 1 or 2 stars have never had time warner. At my old apartment we had time warner, until we found out we were able to switch to RCN. We did it immediately and our cable bill went down significantly. We also had more channels with RCN and it came with a TIVO, which seems to hold a lot more than the time warner DVR. At my new spot i don't have a choice, so we had to go with time warner. The cable service is just terrible compared to RCN and much more expensive. read more

I have had TWC and RCN each for about ~ 2 years. I have to say I think RCN is a clear winner! I pay for 50MBPS and I do get that. My speedtest.net results are usually in the ballpark of 45-48 MBPS. When I was with TWC, that number would be as low as 30-32MBPS till approx. 45MBPS. I can notice a difference especially when multiple roommates are watching Netflix at the same time. RCN is better than TWC. Do a simple speedtest.net. Don't do it over Wifi, connect your computer directly to the modem and run them both. I assume you RCN will be more reliable than TWC. read more