Service improvedby cable firm

To the editor

   RCN has received a lot of bad press lately. In Hunterdon County, the State PUB held unheard of public hearings about RCN’s performance.
   When I received my first flyer about RCN’s new Megaband in Hillsborough, I wrote of my shock at the apparent huge rate increases.
   Kerry of RCN’s marketing staff in Hillsborough read that letter and challenged me. She offered to make our installation the first one here in the far northern reaches. In exchange, she would call us weekly for an evaluation, no holds barred!
   She was leading with her chin on this one. Our phone has been set to speed dial RCN Customer Service because of outages, poor quality, etc. We were almost on a first name basis with the entire customer service staff.
   While waiting for the day of installation, I called my son in Bethlehem, PA. He has three cable companies to choose from! He has great competition over there. He chose RCN all the way including the modem.
   There was no stronger endorsement for me.
   So I arranged for a RCN modem installation with the cable conversion.
   The day of change arrived with a RCN convoy in my driveway.
   The computer expert did his thing to get us online with their modem. But you must have an ethernet card inside your computer!
   The cable guys checked the wiring inside the house and found it adequate for Megaband. They set up the converter and instructed us in the use of the remote.
   Let the test begin!
   We went a whole week without calling RCN Customer Service! The new modem has me on line before I am settled in my chair. And we now have 103 channels to watch. The modem package includes 11 HBO channels.
   If we can’t find anything worth watching on these 114 channels, RCN also offers 45 channels of free music. Rap, Blues, Country, Soul, Easy Listening, Big Bands, Metal, etc.
   But all this cable-modem upgrade at what cost? The RCN bill went up but the AOL bill came down and the Verizon bill stopped.
   The bottom line is that our cable/modem service has improved and expanded and the package cost went down.
   But there are two negatives. The new converter is larger than the old analog one. And the modem is now an external one looking like a shark fin on its side. But it is a great conversation piece at the cocktail parties.

Walter Rodgers
Taylor Drive