Road Runner Lite

[greg_brady]

I called TW to complain about the increase in this months bill (cable went up $5 and RR went up $15).  Apparently, my "promotional" periods are over.

I complained about the high costs of internet and tried to threaten them with DSL and they offered me a new Road Runner Lite service for $26 a month.  They advertise it as 384 down speed and 128 up speed.  

I think i'm going to give it a try - its over a $20 savings a month.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks,

Greg

[Matt Heebner]

I would love a 'lite' version of RR as I rarely use any of the 5 Mbit down, but only 384 down 1-1.5 down would be more what I am looking for. Half price for  about 1/10 the speed I am getting now is too much to pay. Maybe for like $10 a month this would be worth it.

Let me know how you like it.

Matt

[AndrewP]

My friend tried it and it was just very very bad.
Just go with DSL if you can.
I just hope I will be eligible for DSL in my area when my promo RR $34.95 will be up.
Another option - contact Earthlink cable. They have promo for three months and current rate is $41.95.

[mhz40]

You can't even get dedicated 56K dialup for $25/month (dedicated phone line).

[AndrewP]

You can't even get dedicated 56K dialup for $25/month (dedicated phone line).

DSL 1.2MBit is just $14.95 now. It is slower then normal RR, but it is speedy enough. I have it at work and would liked it at home, but SBC can't do it in my home yet. And beleive me, 1.2 vs 384 is very different from 1.2 vs 5. The reason is that PC itself need some time to render the content. So it not so noticable when you compare regular Internet browsing with DSL 1.2 and RR 5.0. Again I am talking only about browsing, and not file downloading. RR is much faster at that, but still DSL speed is very decent at that too.
When you compare DSL 1.2 and RR 384, the difference is very obvious. The PC just renders content much faster than it can get it. So you will notice these slow loading pages almost like using the dial-up connection.
But all depends of what you need faster file downloads or comfortable enough Internet browsing. I prefer better DSL for $14.95 (can't get it yet) then RR fo $34.95

[sp44again]

I just switched from RR to SBC DSL. The surfing is just as fast. I figure all the downloads I do on RR are overnight anyways so who cares about speed. I'm satisfied going from 5 to 1.5 for the money savings.

[StarvingForHDTV]

I recently switched to the $14.95 SBC Yahoo DSL too.  I'm very pleased with the surfing speeds.  I also downloaded some files and that went fine too.  You get three free months of DSL if you show them your cable internet bill.

Uploads are about as slow as they were with cable it seems.

[Jon.Zickermann]

I've had DSL since the 26.95 monthly days  :eek: of a year ago.

Worth every penny.   :wave:

[greg_brady]

Well, I called to cancel my RR today.  I intended on cancelling and looking at the SBC DSL people have been talking about.

The last person i talked to pushed RR lite, which sounds like a poor option for $26.99 - especially compared to DSL.  The guy I talked to at RR today offered me a new promotion at $34.95 a month for the full RR service (not lite version).  This is $5 more than i am paying from my old promotion but i will give it a try.  

Considering that I recently cancelled my SBC phone service, DSL would cost me $14.95 + ~$13 for phone...probably just shy of $30 a month.

I still feel sick about paying $110 a month for Digital Cable, Hi-Def package, HD DVR and High speed internet.  

Thanks for everyone's feedback!

Greg

[gparris]

If you did what I did once upon a time and took my Directv bill with 3 boxes, Premier package and could somehow add it to my RR package (without having the cable discount) and then add the SBC phone bill I had including all my long distance calls being so close to Illinois, it added up to a lot more than I am currently paying with just one TWC bill.
In other words, if you write three smaller checks, the impact of writing a much bigger one, in my case bigger than what I have now, it can get interesting, to say the least...so don't fret...I think you got a good deal without giving up anything and keeping your email addresses, too.

[jkane]

DSL is over $100 a month for me and is only IDSL at 144kb.     I'm 18,750 feet and DSL doesn't go that far at "reasonable" speeds.

[StarvingForHDTV]

I think you got a good deal without giving up anything and keeping your email addresses, too.

Make a permanent address that is not based on your ISP.  Google's Gmail works great with Outlook Express.  I also have a Yahoo address that I use for registrations and anything else that could generate spam.

Once you create those as your permanent email addresses, you are free to switch ISPs with little hassle.

I learned this the hard way........

[PatM]

I called TW to complain about the increase in this months bill (cable went up $5 and RR went up $15).  Apparently, my "promotional" periods are over.

I complained about the high costs of internet and tried to threaten them with DSL and they offered me a new Road Runner Lite service for $26 a month.  They advertise it as 384 down speed and 128 up speed.  

I think i'm going to give it a try - its over a $20 savings a month.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks,

Greg

Is the download speed they quoted KiloBytes or KiloBits.
I have SBC DSL and was quoted a maximum 1500kbps download speed.
On another forum I saw someone complain his download speed with DSL was only 200K.
It turns out  he was looking at his download speed, In his download manager, which was 200K
This was actually in Kilobytes.
8 bits to a Byte.
His actual speed was 1600Kilobits ( 200x8 = 1600)

If you want to check your Down or Up speeds goto:

http://www.dslreports.com/tools

You must have Java enabled to see the results.

My speed to Seattle or LosAngeles averages about 1280-1384 Down with the $14.95 SBC DSL.

If you are talking 384 Kilobytes, that is still double my DSL speed which is 173 Kilobytes down.

[AndrewP]

After yesterday FCC ruling about DSL I decided to check the DSL availability for my home. And, it is magically became available. So, finally made a switch and after August 18 I will be able to say that I am cable free and save another $20 per month (34.95 for RR - 14.95 for DSL = $20).
These $20 will be used for future HD offerings from Dish or DirecTV if they become HD friendly and HD competitive both in chanells selection and price.

 :guitar:

[MoreTorque99]

I know i'm late to the party, but I have had experience with RoadRunner Lite so I wanted to throw my hat in the ring.

My parents tired of paying $35-$45/month (depending on the promo) for internet that he just used for casual web browsing and email.  TWC signed them up for RoadRunner lite with the promise that it would be as fast as SBC DSL.  I had the SBC DSL standard package at the time (now have the pro package) so it was a great comparison.

The RR Lite package was $28/month for something that felt like dial up.  It is absolutely terrible.  I signed them up for $15/month DSL and he is very very happy.  For what he does, there is no noticeable different between DSL and the $45/month RR.

Not many people actually need 6mbps down.