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If your cable TV goes out during the day next week, blame the sun
By adamg on Fri, 02/26/2016 - 12:10pm
RCN is alerting customers they might have brief problems with their TV pictures during the day between Feb. 29 and March 8.
These outages are caused by a phenomenon called "solar satellite interference" or "sun outage." This happens when the sun moves directly behind a TV satellite and interferes with its signal.
What is the impact on service?
TV service, including programs recorded using your DVR, will be interrupted for only a few minutes and will then resume automatically. Internet and Phone services are not affected. ...
The sun outage happens only during the day between 10:30am and 4:45pm (no sun, no interference) and is brief, lasting for a few minutes - from 5 minutes, up to 45 minutes. ...
RCN apologizes for any inconvenience a sun outage may cause. However, solar satellite interference is out of our control. Please be patient and everything will get back to normal.
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Comments
Blame yourslef
For having RCN!
Oh, yeah, it's terrible
Being a customer of a company that actually provides decent service and customer support. That's downright un-American!
How do you like their
How do you like their broadband service?
I'm in the Roslindale/Westie area and have been thinking of cutting the chord from the evil empire.
It's fine
It basically just works (note: Am writing this on my phone because yesterday's lightning storm fried our connection, repair guy shows up this afternoon).
The main thing Comcast has that they don't is WiFi outside your house.
By "WiFi outside your house"
...you mean "WiFi in everyone else's houses".
I'm fine with not supporting that.
This. Aside from having to
This. Aside from having to call and complain every 2 years that the 'promo' rate for my internet connection has expired and having to ask them to lower the price, it just works. And the customer service is always nice. I get a letter every week from Verizon enticing me to join and pay twice as much... nope.
Yup, we just did that, and
Yup, we just did that, and when RCN lowered our rate they also raised our speed!
Once a week I log on to RCN's
Once a week I log on to RCN's website in desperate hopes that they've expanded service to my side of Southie (East of G Street).
I'd rather pay $130/month for RCN's shitty service than $230/month for Comcast's shitty service.
My one caveat about RCN
If you do get their triple service, watch your bill after your introductory offer runs out. It will start creeping up every month, until you notice and have to make the call threatening to switch to Comcast unless they do something about that.
Why?
Please explain what is so bad about RCN....I think that myth that RCN is awful was started years ago. It may have been relevant at the time but their service is second to none for cable providers around here (when you can get it). Certainly the lesser of 3 evils in the Boston area.
Why can't they switch to a
Why can't they switch to a backup satellite for those few minutes?
I am no expert on this, but I
I am no expert on this, but I'd imagine in the complex system that brings us cable TV, there may not be another satellite to use (it is not cheap to put 1 of something in space, to put a second one that will see almost no use would not be cost effective).
Even if there was a backup, I imagine its not as simple as flipping a switch. Since the exact timing of the event isn't known, you would have to wait for it to occur to know to switch, and by the time you've switched everything over, its time to switch it back.
Probably the former
RCN only has around 400k customers in a line between Chicago and Boston, so it's (fairly) regional, and they probably don't have the money/infrastructure to handle that kind of thing. Most of their customer base came from acquiring other cable providers, so they've probably spent most of their infrastructure budget on unifying the systems rather than building up the core infrastructure needs which would probably be overbuilt for their size anyway.
Sounds like the T
Blaming the sun for sub-par service?
The T does that all the time - cold, heat, rain, snow, leaves, oxygen, etc.
Hear! Hear!
Why can't these organizations just disavow the laws of physics and carry on like normal?!
Buncha slackers if you ask me.
Yeah, because running a train
Yeah, because running a train (which the country has been doing for centuries) is so very much like running a satellite.
I loved RCN, but...
...moved to a non-RCN building in mid-January (guess I oughtta change to BackBayScott one of these days), and had to change back to Comcast. Meanwhile,I'm getting a little peeved with RCN, since I still haven't received my refund. Every time I call they need to be reminded of the exact date I cancelled and the exact date I returned the equipment (one day later, in person, at their closest office, which is in Arlington, which is -- by bus -- a lengthy hike!). And every time I've called they say the check is in the mail, to my new address. Well, it hasn't arrived yet.
So, my advice is, go with RCN if you can, but keep very accurate records, pay attention to your bills, and make sure nothing gets past you. You can't necessarily rely on them to be accurate, prompt, or thorough on their own, especially when you're a former customer. Talk about no leverage!
You could try the AG
The Public Information and Assistance Center offers help to consumers. If they don't deal with cable-company wrangling, they can tell you who does. Best of luck.
Thanks, Obama
When Trump is president he'll build a wall to protect our valuable TV satellites AND make the sun pay for it.
Make Low Earth Orbit Great Again
RCN
This is not a problem that RCN, Comcast, etc. have any control over. The satellite feeds are uplinked and controlled by the networks that own the channels. If they choose to uplink the same signal to more than one satellite, which is very expensive, then the cable company could switch to the alternate feed, since satellites in different orbit positions will line up with the sun at different times during the day. Even when there are multiple feeds, it is logistically very difficult to switch satellite feeds multiple times for multiple channels. RCN just chose to notify their customers.