WOW 100mb broadband $24.95/mo You Get What You Pay For

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So the old saying holds true again, you get what you pay for. $24.95/mo for 100mb broadband (cable). Started pausing out, speed testing at as low as 25mb download. Rebooted modem, etc. No joy. Then I checked the modem screens. More than 300,000,000 (million) correctable errors for only 24 hrs of up time since last reboot, and the downstream power levels are above 10 dbmv, with signal-to-noise ratio's @ 37 and 38. Called it in to their 800 number. Truck comes out. Two techs, they are at the utility box in the backyard easement that serves our house plus three others. "It's not your house's drop, your plant is one of the cleanest we've seen." "It's the amplifier right here, noise on 15 internet channels, your neighbors are probably having the same issues..." "We'll have to enter a work order for it to be changed out." "24-48 hrs turn around on that"

That was Sunday afternoon. As of this morning, still broken. Call it in to their 800 number to check status of the work order the first truck was to have entered into system. No record of it. Notes on file state problem was resolved and so am I saying problem still exists? Yes, I am. I'm saying you never fixed our stuff. I'll have to place you on hold. 5 - 10 minutes later: I have a window tomorrow for 8am - 11am, someone will need to be at the address for the truck. But the Sunday techs said it's all in the utility box in the easement. No, we have to re-diagnose everything (i.e. Start Over), someone will need to be at the address.

I got them to agree to have the tech call or text 30 minutes in advance so wife or I can leave work to be there.

$24.95 internet. You get what you pay for. Wide Open West (WOW). Bah.
 
That's actually not a bad price for 25 Mb.

Over +10 dBmv into the modem is not optimal-- an attenuator should be installed to keep it within -10 to +10. SNRs in the high 30s are good, though that is for white noise, if there is a bad amplifier it can be a different kind of noise. Correctable errors don't hurt your speed. Uncorrectable errors should be zero or very close.
 
That's not a bad price for a 100Mbps connection. I pay Comcast $40 for a 50Mbps connection.

I'd push for some kind of break from your cable company like a bill credit for your troubles, if you get TV from WoW as well maybe see if you can get a month of free HBO/Showtime for putting up with them.

Cable companies have to keep their outside plant in tip-top shape or they risk an visit from the FCC/FAA due to radio interference. While the cable companies did some rebanding off the 700/800MHz spectrum 10 years ago when free-to-air TV switched over to DTV, that move was to allow public safety radios to move to the 700MHz band and a few other things.
 
lol I love hearing folks complain when they only have 25mbps or so... try living in Rural Florida where I am, I'm paying $100/month for 10-15mbps on a good day and that is my ONLY option. You might always get what you pay for but you also shouldn't complain because there are others that have it much worse!
 
Originally Posted by racin4ds
lol I love hearing folks complain when they only have 25mbps or so... try living in Rural Florida where I am, I'm paying $100/month for 10-15mbps on a good day and that is my ONLY option. You might always get what you pay for but you also shouldn't complain because there are others that have it much worse!


Yeah and back in the day, we'd have a T1 at 1.5mbps and that was for the whole company with several hundred employees. Before that there was ISDN where you'd be happy to get 128k instead of dial up modem speeds at 28.8k.
 
Originally Posted by racin4ds
lol I love hearing folks complain when they only have 25mbps or so... try living in Rural Florida where I am, I'm paying $100/month for 10-15mbps on a good day and that is my ONLY option. You might always get what you pay for but you also shouldn't complain because there are others that have it much worse!


Also in Rural FL...
Paying $70+/mo for 15mb satellite which actually works out to like 5-10.
I cancelled, pretty much only use phone at home, or can use internet tethering from phone.
 
Dang I pay $65/month for 400mb/s from Charter. Speedtest on my phone shows 447/22.7. Using your own modem and router also helps unless there's a problem on their end.
 
Ha ha! you guys have it so easy. Try being on dial-up for 30 yrs. I'm so far out in the sticks that even cell phones don't work unless I go on a mile hike to the hill behind me.
 
Originally Posted by racin4ds
lol I love hearing folks complain when they only have 25mbps or so... try living in Rural Florida where I am, I'm paying $100/month for 10-15mbps on a good day and that is my ONLY option. You might always get what you pay for but you also shouldn't complain because there are others that have it much worse!

I don't think you get it.... What you are (only) able to get isn't relevant. The OP has the option for 100 mbps internet, pays for it, and has every right and expectation to get what they're paying for.
 
Sounds like normal cable problems to me. Multiple tries until something gets fixed. Price has little to do with it. Local monopoly has everything to do with it.
 
Originally Posted by HangFire
Local monopoly has everything to do with it.

That's often the case but if I'm not mistaken, WOW is typically an "overbuilder", meaning they provide cable TV/internet service in areas with another provider. I don't know where the OP is located other than the midwest, presuming Ohio (??). If it's Columbus, for example, I think wherever WOW is, Spectrum (Time Warner) is as well.
 
I happily pay Xfinity the $80/month for what I thought was 150Mbps but just got knocked to 200Mbps(actually more 245Mbps). Sadly upload sticks at same 5Mbps since like 2003 when I started using them.

The service never goes down which is important to me since I work remotely.

I have never heard great things about another other provider in New England besides Xfinity in terms of reliable service.
 
Originally Posted by hallstevenson
Originally Posted by HangFire
Local monopoly has everything to do with it.

That's often the case but if I'm not mistaken, WOW is typically an "overbuilder", meaning they provide cable TV/internet service in areas with another provider. I don't know where the OP is located other than the midwest, presuming Ohio (??). If it's Columbus, for example, I think wherever WOW is, Spectrum (Time Warner) is as well.


Yes, we have Spectrum in the region as well, plus AT&T I believe has high speed DSL or maybe they're offering gigabit fiber, not sure.

Yesterday I stopped by the WOW local office to let them know I would be changing to Spectrum if WOW isn't interested in fixing broken amps in their utility easement boxes.
 
Originally Posted by nthach
That's not a bad price for a 100Mbps connection. I pay Comcast $40 for a 50Mbps connection.

...


The price is much more then $25 a month for 100Mbps.
He is in the introductory special as a new customer.

We pay $65 for 100 Mbps.
Typical speeds for us over wi-fi on the 5ghz band run 80 to 115 Mbps depending where we are in the house and what device.

2.5 ghz band is around 40 Mbps

Our Spectrum service is rock solid. Very happy with it, still hate the company, but that is my problem. Not happy about the price and zero options to get slower speeds at a lower price.
You dont really need 100 Mbps service but I will admit, its nice, like zero latency too. (then again, I set up my system with my own equipment)
I dont know why I care, my wife company pays for our internet service ... :eek:)
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by alarmguy

You dont really need 100 Mbps service but I will admit, its nice, like zero latency too. (then again, I set up my system with my own equipment)
I dont know why I care, my wife company pays for our internet service ... :eek:)

A friend before he moved up to rural Sonoma County had a 1Gbps fiber service from a local ISP that built their own network to challenge AT&T.

He was getting after TCP/IP overhead(but Pace/2Wire gateways still blow chunks) around 800-900Mbps. It would have been much better.

Another friend has microwave from a local ISP in SF, he pays $40/month but gets 300-400Mbps. The only thing needed was an bridge to the router.
 
Originally Posted by nthach
Originally Posted by alarmguy

You dont really need 100 Mbps service but I will admit, its nice, like zero latency too. (then again, I set up my system with my own equipment)
I dont know why I care, my wife company pays for our internet service ... :eek:)

A friend before he moved up to rural Sonoma County had a 1Gbps fiber service from a local ISP that built their own network to challenge AT&T.

He was getting after TCP/IP overhead(but Pace/2Wire gateways still blow chunks) around 800-900Mbps. It would have been much better.

Another friend has microwave from a local ISP in SF, he pays $40/month but gets 300-400Mbps. The only thing needed was an bridge to the router.


Probably only had gigabit Ethernet. I bet if there was some sort of teaming or two gigabit connections probably would have gotten slightly higher speeds.
 
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