Road Runner picks up speed

Time Warner Cable will raise download speeds on its Road Runner broadband service next month by 67 percent, becoming the latest cable network to further open bandwidth for its customers.

Road Runner said Tuesday that it will boost the download speed for its basic subscribers, who pay $45 a month, from 3mbps to 5mbps. Its premium customers, who pay $84.95 a month, will get a boost from 6mbps to 8mbps.

The move comes more than a year after Road Runner's previous speed bump from 2mbps to 3mbps for its basic subscribers.

Time Warner Cable is the latest cable broadband provider to raise its speed as a competitive weapon against the Baby Bell phone companies that offer DSL. For nearly two years, the Bells have slashed subscription prices to as low as $26 a month for their DSL services in an attempt to spark a price war. Cable companies have not budged on their typical $45 a month price, but they have responded by raising download speeds.

In August, Cox Communications raised its basic download speed from 3mbps to 4mbps and boosted its premium tier to 5mbps.

The price war has helped the nation's largest DSL providers--such as Verizon Communications, SBC Communications, Qwest Communications International and BellSouth--add millions of new subscribers every year. But cable providers continue to dominate the market with 61 percent market share despite the Bells' aggressive price cuts and promotions, according to market researcher Leichtman Research Group.

Both sides are battling over customers eager to drop their slower dial-up ISPs for speedier broadband. The companies are scrambling to add new broadband customers and sell them other services such as video programming and voice calling.

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But does this upgrade leave the upload rate untouched?

[iluv9mm]

I'm getting 300kbps - 700kbps, not 5000+ kbps promosed!

In all the speed tests I've tried on my RoadRunner account lately, I'm now getting DSL speeds, not cable modem speeds (it used to be faster before it started being intermittant after a thunderstorm).

The service was intermittant for about a month. Five or so technician house calls later, the final verdict: corroded connections in the backyard junction box - Now, 1) why didn't the first 4 technicians check that???, and 2) Why don't they ping my modem once in a while to see if it's working, so I don't have to call them?

Plus, their call center puts you on hold for about 30 minutes each time, so you'd better have a speakerphone. If I hear that dang phrase "We appoligize for the long delay - your call is inportant to us" once more I'm gonna SCREAM!!! I've probably heard it 500 times since our service started having problems.

[digitalbeachbum]

I too have horrible connection speeds with my cable modem and I'm paying top dollar for the "turbo" roadrunner. The cable blows and the price is too high, but it is still faster than DSL. It's a hard toss up because I'd save 50% on my bill to switch.