Roadrunner Business Class

Opinion - David Cary Hart

I Don't Get It!

I simply do not understand why anyone would use RR Business Class to host their corporate web site or email. The following is based on Manhattan (NYC). Your mileage may vary.

Cost: “Business Class Express” — Provides “up to” 3Mbps x 768Kbps service with one static IP for $349.95/month. There are less expensive packages but they provide even less speed. It should be noted that upstream at 768Kbps is paltry, if not grossly insufficient.

For half that monthly sum, one could get a dedicated server with 10Mbs x 10Mbs connectivity, UPS and no hardware to worry about. Indeed, unmetered, high speed, virtual dedicated servers are now available for less than one-fourth of what Roadrunner charges.

Reliability: My building was recently rewired. Yet, my digital cable service doesn't work properly about 10% of the time. There are some months when it has been totally down for more than 24 hours at a time. I have to reboot my converter at least every other day. That would seem to portray the overall reliability of cable service, at least in New York and Hudson Valley through Time Warner Cable.

On top of that, customer support is abysmal. Time Warner Cable now has a terrible voice response system that requires having a lengthy conversation with a machine to be put on hold to get to a representative who will ask some of the same questions that the machine asked. We have also received reports that, in some areas, getting a reverse pointer means dealing with a support person who will start with “…and what operating system are you running?” Things go downhill from there and, if you come up with the right incantation, you can expect a reverse pointer about a week later.

Tips On Purchasing Business Class DSL and Cable