RCN Queens

No matter what I try to get RCN to stop wasting nature’s resources on me (call RCN, e-​mail RCN, file a request via Catalog Choice, file a complaint via Catalog Choice), I keep on receiving a weekly letter from RCN. This was the reason I chose another cable company when my building stopped providing internet service.

The internet service is good, but here customer service is not. I have no access to my account or Bill — no clue what I owe, by when.

After being with RCN for many years I noticed the bill went up significantly — turns out the increase was over 100%. Speaking with customer service reduced this slightly when switching to digital phone which might be okay except the phone is CONSTANTLY going out and the modem needs to be reset all the time which takes a long time. A lot of $$ for okay service. Could be better

I used to be a victim of Time Warner, but my new building actually has 3 different providers available. I walked into the RCN Queens office and was greeted by the two customer service clerks who were patient and answered my questions and explained the multitude of options and pricing schedules.
In the end I opted for a mid-​priced package that included installation and has no contract. I can cancel at any time if I want to try one of the other providers! The prompt personalized attention and the straight-​forward honest analysis of the fees was a huge relief and what I think sets this company in it’s own class as far as cable providers in NYC.
Maybe I came in at a good time but it certainly seemed like the ladies were nice to the trickle of other customers who came in while I was still making up my mind.
They showed up at my apartment the following morning as scheduled.
My building has fiber optic cables to the basement but the last leg of the line is regular co-​axial cable. If this matters to you make sure to ask about your particular building/​site.

NEVER DO RCN EVER. THEY ARE A RIP-​OFF!
I was promised $ 36 in monthly bill and here is what I receive: more than $ 90 in bills!!:
Monthly Service Charges 34.99
One Time Charges 26.67
Prorated Charges 27.99
Taxes, Surcharges & Fees 1.43
When I asking the representative (I’m still on the phone right now by the way as I type this review!), here is what she is saying to me:
27.99 — prorated is for the carry over.
26.67 — one time charge. Balance from your lapse account.

Okay, the Internet they provide is actually reliable, but the company itself is TERRIBLE and the basic cable package is AWFUL! Several times now I’ve been charged the wrong amount on my bill and had to spend my free time on the phone with customer service to get it fixed. They will charge you hidden fees that they will tell you nothing about. When I’ve been told my bill was increased because of these «hidden fees» I’ve tried looking at the fine print to corroborate these fees and couldn’t find them. Such is the business of Internet and cable I guess!

I had RCN service for the last three years (just canceled because I’m moving to a new building that only has FiOs) and I LOVED it. I never experienced any outage issues with cable or internet and the price was great compared to what you get on TWC.
People below are saying that their bill went up year after year and that they weren’t notified… it clearly says it in the contract if you read what you order. This is pretty typical for a lot of cable companies — they offer a really great low introduction rate and then it goes up each year.
After two years with RCN I removed my cable service and just had internet through them. The customer service rep was very helpful, no arguments trying to get me to stay on board with cable, and he offered me the same low internet rate as if I were a new customer. It was probably the easiest exchange I have ever had with any other cable provider. Canceling the internet when I moved was just as easy…5 minutes on the phone and done.
Overall I really recommend RCN. Compared to TWC, this provider is a dream. Just read your contracts.

Beware — I am still getting bills after closing my account on 3÷24÷15 after moving to Manhattan. RCN confirmed the additional charge in April would be removed, then I still got a new bill for May.

I have RCN cable and Internet. In general, RCN S-U-C-K.s and their internet speed oscillates between good and dead — 9 bytes/​minute. WTF… TW cable is horrible, so RCN isn’t much better. I hate RCN and recommend you look some where else.

They charge extra without you knowing after a year. They claim that they tell me about this but they never spoke to me about it.
They’re very sneaky. My bill is from $ 50 to $ 70 now.
Customer service is not horrible though.

How good is RCN? Pretty good. How is it compared to the only other ISP in Queens? LIGHTNING AND RAINBOWS AND SHOOTING STARS ON A FREAKIN’ UNICORN.
TWC is the other provider, and they are worse than the Great Depression, Stalin and the Potato Famine combined. Even if RCN was terrible, I’d still pick them, because they saved me from TWC.
Thank you for providing average service at a reasonable cost.

The worst cable company you will ever deal with.

Just got RCN installed and everything is working pretty well! It has been very easy to get in touch with customer support and get started. They came exactly when they said they would to install the internet, and so far it’s working perfectly to stream movies. Not sure I can tell the difference between 110mB and the 50mB package right now, but we’ll see how it works out.
The only reason my score is not a 5 is bc of the brief conversation I had with Janet McGibbons this afternoon. She was rude and sounded immediately angry with me for asking a question. After a long day at work, I had to quickly get off the phone so as not to become upset. If she had been my first contact with the company, I may not have pursued service with rcn, so beware.

At first I was really happy with RCN. Last 6 months everything changed.
I noticed that every month they would charge us different amount. 5 $ more, then 10 $, for no reason. My husband called them and they gave him some silly excuse. Can’t remember exactly, but they said something that it’s not up to them, something about taxes, government. BS!
Then internet connection started to break up every few days. I would have to reset the modem, sometimes few times. It would usually help.
It’s so annoying!
Now I’m looking for another provider. Any suggestions?

I used to have a different company and they provide poor customer service and cost twice what I pay now. RCN has the best internet connection I have had at a reasonable price. The install was very professional too. Very reliable and fast connection. Plus, I havent had the annoying sales phone calls I used to get at dinner with my last company, even though I am on the no call lis

Just switched to RCN from Time Warner. Now I get 75Mbps internet for $ 60 a month vs. $ 80 a month for 50Mbps internet. I’m getting about 73Mbps right now which is a bit low considering Time Warner at least always went above advertised and had a constant connection of 56Mbps. I will give a 5 star when their 105Mbps and above service comes out to rival Verizon FiOS.
Speedtest results:
I’d still pay $ 300 a month for 500Mbps FiOS if it came to my area. Area you listening Verizon Astoria?

Let me start off this review by saying that the TV service and internet I have received over the past two years has been great. However, recently I closed my account and opened a new one in my girlfriend’s name to avoid the price increases.
This ended up being a nightmare for both accounts. First of all, I put in a request to close my account 30 days ahead of time. The service rep mistakenly proceeded to shut off my service that same day as I called. That would create much more problems down the road than I could have imagined. But, at the time I figured oh well, people make mistakes. So I waited about 30 minutes on the phone and my service was back up that night.
Fast forward 30 days. Somehow my bill is now over $ 300. Hmm, that’s odd. My normal bill is only $ 120 and I have never missed a payment. I then engage a service rep for about 45 minutes to fix the problem. Basically what happened was that once the service was shut off and reactivated, I was double-​billed in the same month AND the new bill had no promotions (i.e., higher price).
Fast forward 7 more days. I try calling RCN to pay my final balance and it is still wrong. The guy on the phone last week told me that my account would have a credit balance and no further action would be needed on my account. This was not true as the balance was still hundreds of dollars. So I spoke to a supervisor and after about 30 minutes we agreed on a final bill of $ 67. That was totally fine with me because that was the correct number I had thought it should have been in the first place. But why did I have to go through hours of phone calls to settle my account? What a waste of my time when I was simply begging to pay them the correct amount… (Full disclosure — the rep’s name was Dave. The supervisor’s name was Jennifer)
So earlier I mentioned the new service set up in my girlfriend’s name. This pricing was also messed up. I was quoted a price in the $ 90s when I set it up. The bill came and it was $ 118. I spoke to a service rep for about 30 minutes trying to get it straightened out. He assured me the price would be lowered to the $ 90s.
Fast forward 7 days. The bill was still $ 118. I called again and argued for the promo price as discussed in June and July. The supervisor said it was no longer on the website as it was now August. I did have a paper flyer stating the price. I asked if I could email her the flyer. She said no, we only accept faxes. I said well considering that 80% of people 25 and under don’t have home phones, they would not be able to send a fax. I simply cannot believe someone would refuse email evidence in this day and age!!!
Anyways, the supervisor could not give me the promo price that I had secured the previous months. Basically, due to sales rep’s poor service I am now screwed out of $ 20×12 months which is $ 240…On top of the numerous hours I have wasted on the phone.
I will post a follow up as to whether they give me the promo price or not… hoping that they will rectify this situation as I do like the service itself, just not the problem solving abilities of the staff at the call center.

I have RCN for several years and has not had any major problems compare to my previous Internet & cable carrier.
There customer service is helpful and knowledgeable.
I have a bundle service and want to switch to another plan to cut my monthly expense and RCN was cooperative in walking my through the options.
Overall RCN is a great Internet, phone and cable TV carrier.
Their prices are better than the other carriers (at the time of this review).
They even gave me a refund the the outage during Storm Sandy.

I don’t know what Phil’s problem is down below. He loses internet for 8 days? That’s it? RCN deserves one star just for that? People had far worse problems because of the hurricane. A few days without internet or cable isn’t that big of a deal. I too lost RCN service because of the hurricane, lost it for 11 days! I was fortunate to be able to use my boyfriend’s smartphone for internet, and occasionally we went to Starbucks for wireless, and I had internet at my work. But really, it was kind of awesome because we got so much done at home without the distraction! That, and when I called RCN twice about it, they were super nice. They informed me that everyone will be getting back money for the loss of service. So the person below could’ve gotten his money back, but I guess he didn’t care. Wonder if he had other problems with RCN on top of it…
Me? I LOVE RCN! I had Time Warner for so many years and hated it. Slow, service was choppy, expensive, horrible lines at the Time Warner store… I finally switched to RCN last year and couldn’t be happier. Service has always been extraordinarily nice and speedy, it’s super cheap and I get Tivo and more channels than I need, and internet is fast. We finally got our cable and internet back, but unfortunately the cable modem had fried when our power went out. Today I went over to the Woodside RCN and in less than 3 minutes, had a new modem. No line at all. Nice dude at the counter. Sweet. Everything about this storm and losing my service confirmed why I love RCN in the first place, huh!

I came to RCN on Woodside Avenue when I needed a replacement universal remote (the original one didn’t work with initial setup). It was a little out of my way, but I really wanted a remote that day as I was setting everything up in my new apartment so I figured I’d give it a shot rather than wait for someone to come out to me.
I was honestly stunned at the high level of customer service I received from the two ladies at RCN. It’s not often that you walk away feeling like a valued customer when dealing with a cable or other utility company, but they were so polite and helpful it knocked me off my feet. It was well worth the walk and slight inconvenience. They were able to replace my remote on the spot and did it with ZERO bad attitude, and WITH a smile. Not a forced one either, completely genuine.
In general, RCN has always been good to me when dealing with irregularities with my bill or minor service issues, and I’d recommend them to anyone looking for a service provider in the area.