Cincinnati Bell Fioptics |
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Consumer reviews about Cincinnati Bell Fioptics |
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CincyBell
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Dec 19, 2011
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Selling a service and not providing it
Hi Boltices,
My name is Katie and I work for Cincinnati Bell. I'm sorry to hear about your experience and we're happy to help switch your email addresses. Please email your account # to [email protected]
Thanks,
Katie
Cincinnati Bell
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S-electrical
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Feb 27, 2012
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Selling a service and not providing it
I was making the switch to Fioptics on Sat. Feb. 26th, the technician came out at noon to do the install, So started my problems. He was at the pole on the road for an hour, then came in the house to install the internet, cable and phone. after spending four hours in my house on sat eve. he said he was done, no information on how things worked, IE, remote control, Email, and channel setup. He was actually on his way out the door, and my wife said our phone was not working. He came back in, brought his tools back out, tested the phone line, said "Uh, it was working an hour ago" I said well it's not now! after another HOUR, he said I need to go down the street and check the main distribution box. He came back 15 min. later, said they would have a different crew repair it Monday morning. Well, this monday morning has come and gone, they say now it will be tommorrow. And my TV, the package I signed up for, $110mo. Well, I'm missing 11 channels I am supposed to have, after calling INDIA, they had me on the phone for 35min. just figuring out who, and where I was!!! This is final !!! I'm sticking with INSIGHT!!! Anyone reading this, DO NOT GO TO CINCINNATI BELL. IT IS A RIP-OFF BIG TIME...
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Harley3
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Jan 22, 2013
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Cincinnati Bell
I made the switch from Time Warner Cable to Cincinnati Fioptics and we have had nothing but issues since. I have called many times, technicians have been to the house and I am not happy with any of the services. You cannot record 2 shows (which we were told we could record 3 and watch one) and watch a show that was previously recorded. Why have the system if you can record and watch shows. Last night we thought we recorded The Following, tonight after work, I thought I was going to enjoy watching this new show, half way thru it asked me if I was to Delete or Not Delete,don't know why it did that but then it wen into part of Castle which came on at 10:00. I don't know what happened to the rest of The Following. I called customer service which is very difficult since they are not in the US and wanted to set up an appointment to have the service and equipment removed so I could have Time Warner back but after trying to get through to the cust. service person what i wanted she told me it would be $89 for them to remove the equipment. Please, Please someone tell me how to get rid of this service. I am so disappointed and frustrated. I just want someone to take care of this. The service is really bad. I wish I had seen the posting above before. Can some one let me know how to get out of this mess without being on the phone again for 40 minutes.
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Qualitydr62
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May 2, 2013
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Cincinnati bell fiberoptics
OMG! I got rid of Time Warner thinking I would be saving some money with getting Cincinnati Bell fiber optics package. Well my service is out at least once a week! I have had MANY technicians to the house for hours at a time replacing routers, modems and boxes and it always goes out again! We have missed so many of our favorite programs that I have quit counting the times it has happened. But Cincinnati Bell demands that the bill be paid on time! Don't think calling customer service will help either. Their call center is in the Phillipeans and just try to get someone who understands what quality service is! It's impossible. I have regretted this decision so please learn from my mistake and don't get Cincinnati Bell!
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bhirschfeld
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Nov 7, 2013
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cincinnati fioptics
We recently (approx. week and a half) switched from time warner to fioptics. I work a lot of hours and my family members tape my shows for me. I have been unable to watch them in my room. It plays like a bad dvd. It works everywhere else in the house. I called yesterday and was told I would receive a call back within two to four hours. I stayed up and waited five hours and did not receive a call back. I called again and they connected me to a supervisor named Alvin. He was very rude and told me that maybe I should switch back to time warner. I even went out and bought a brand new four hundred dollar tv thinking it might be that. This man screamed at me and told me we have to wait almost two weeks for a service call. Is this the way you treat people? Very disappointed and heart broken. No tv for two weeks with a brand new service!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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fiopticsisascam
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Dec 31, 2013
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fioptics is a scam
CB Fioptics is nothing but a financial scam. When they called me with the sales pitch of how much money i would save and broke it down it was at least $75.00 cheaper than Time warner cable. I was so impressed. After they installed it all the troubles began. First was the box itself would not work. When you call you get another country telling you to get new batteries for the remote. First guy comes and puts a sticker on the box to make it so the remote works. Next day still doesn't work correctly. Next guy comes and says first guy put sticker on wrong. Week later no internet which means no TV. One full week I lived without these things. Next guy comes to say it was a faulty router. Now the kicker the bill comes and its $5.00 more than I paid for Time warner WITHOUT any of the premium channels. I called and finally got an american supervisor who was incredibly rude, but still knocked the price back down to what was originally promised. Did let me knwo that September 2014 that price will go back up. I can assue you I will not be with Fioptics in Sept. 2014. I highly suggest you don't sign up either. ITs a pure scam and it sucks on top of it all. Constantly having to reboot etc... Its not faster either as they advertise. I hate it and have huge regrets for switching companies.
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Avid tv Guy
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Mar 23, 2014
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Fipotics Bill
I just received Fioptics about 2 weeks ago and I got my first bill and was stunned! $398.00 for a first month bill. And I have basic service . The first problem I had was after the guy installed everything and he said everything was fine. When he left when I got a phone call the TV would freeze. So I called them up and they had a guy to come over that evening I guess after he did his last route. Another problem I have is the system pauses often. I mean if you are watching a program and someone is talking and you will miss some of what they say. But I'm still shocked on the price of the first bill. Now I see why my co-worker was saying his phone was going to be cut off that weekend. Luckily his income tax check came and he was able to keep it on. I mean if you go to Cincinnati Bell and buy a phone they divide the bill over 3 months. They way they are doing it , I bet they have a lot of disconnects!! A bright side is I like being able to start a program in one room and finish watching where I left off in another room. Whole home dvr service. And it doesn't always record like it says it is either. When I wanted to record a program in the living room I saw that it wasn't a record notation on it. But when I pressed record it said it was already scheduled. So after 35 minutes I was in the bedroom and I saw that it wasn't recording. So I pressed record and now I've missed 35 minutes of content.
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lmbumpass
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May 17, 2014
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Wasting customers' time
I switched from Time Warner to Cincinnati Bell this month. The internet was too slow, so I called back as the technician advised to repartition to 20 mb internet and 30 mb t.v. The technician told me this could be done from the central office and there was no need for anyone to come out. However, even after speaking with a supervisor, they told me someone would have to come out and check my wiring. I scheduled an appt for 8-12 today. They never showed. So after wasting one of my two weekend days, I called them to find out why they never showed, and they said they took care of it from the central office at 10:30 am today. No need for someone to come out. Exactly opposite what the supervisor on the phone told me this week. They wasted my time for nothing. No apologies. Just a bunch of excuses. Wow, the lady just told me they would credit $22 a month of internet service to my account. Thanks. T.V. in my room isn't working, says to contact service provider. I'm overwhelmed at this point by the good service from Cincinnati Bell. Almost as bad as Time Warner charging me for a wireless router I never had.
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katespak
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Mar 11, 2015
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Be Careful About What You Order
My husband and I moved to new construction in the Oakley area of Cincinnati. Since I work from home I ordered the 1 Gig speed for my internet service. We have necessary CAD lines...it's all updated since it's new construction. We are paying $102.99 per month for this service. I have been running Speednet.com and Cincinnati Bell's own speed test...both powered by Ookla since we had this installed 5 months ago. I have never received more than 22 mgs download speed and 20 mgs upload. While I know it won't ever be 1 gig, it certainly seemed slow to me. The wireless service comes in and out. I had my IT person in to make sure my computer wasn't the issue. Before I complained to Cincinnati Bell I wanted to make sure that it wasn't on my end. It's not. I have been on the phone with customer service and technicians to try to get this resolved. They are going to send out another technician to see what is wrong. What I'm most upset about is that we've been paying for a service we have never received. At best we should be paying for the 30 mg at $55 per month. They have refused to give me a refund or a credit on my account.
My advice is make sure you get the service you ordered. Just FYI, The customer service reps will not give you their last names so you can document an adequate letter to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. It's sad that this company probably won't be in business for much longer with alternatives with their customer service and cable TV going by the wayside. If I had a good alternative to internet I would be there.
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DTCincinnati
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May 11, 2015
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$404.then $603 then $582 per month
Monthly bills started going up. Bad customer service. stay away from Cincinnati Hell Fioptics. They charged me $125.00 per month for non returned dvr box then another $125.00 for non return box. They said their system shows that I am not using them. But I am paying $7.99 per month for box rental. My daughter got married and moved out. So the box sat their in her bed room. Then here comes the bill for not using the box. Wow what a ripoff. So every month I get charged $125.00 for not returning the box. This company needs to stop doing business. When I called them they said it was a computer glitch. But for the last three months my bill was over $400.00. They charge you for services that you do not received. So many things wrong with my bill. I will go back to Time Warner.
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Bell Is Lying
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May 27, 2015
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i work for them
I work for them the tv problems and over billing are par for the course. If you think the service is bad try working for them. They are lying to you about the service. It barely works and rarely works correctly. After an install we have to spend hours trying to figure out why it isn't working, the problems are in the system and not usually in the home. We use the cheapest routers, cheapest stb's, When these issues have been brought up to management they just blow it off and tell you that there is nothing they can do about it. most of the problem is account and provisioning , tons of saturation FTTN ( too many customers out of the Cross connect ) FTTH is out of the fdh and they are overburdened also. They know it and don't care. Norwood has had on demand issues for two years, no fix yet, Moto ONTS always cause freezing. They sell products in apartment buildings that they know wont work. The management team and the engineers are incompetent. I am looking for another job. I really have a problem working for a company who tells their employees to not discuss the problems in the system with the frustrated customers who are paying for the service that will. Hey they still pay out bonuses to mgmt though! Do yourself a favor pay a little more and steer clear of Fioptics.
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ohiocablexpert
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Jul 9, 2015
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Poor customer service and fioptics never wotks right
I have nothing good to say about Cincinnati Bell and their poor services. Like the reviewer earlier who works for them said their fioptics doesnt work right and they know it but could care less and wont do anything to fix it. Personally, i have had so many problems with my cable freezing up, my HD channels pixelating, dvr box not working right, my internet speeds being a lot slower than what im paying for, etc. Their customer service is a joke to-they are all foreigners in India or the Phillipines who dont have a clue as to what is going on, they are rude and you cant understand a word they say, and they can never help you. They are so scripted. Bell might be a few dollars cheaper than Time Warner but the problems arent worth it. i do not recommend them at all.
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wesolowskipaul
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Sep 7, 2015
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Poor equipment, poor service
We've had Cincinnati Bell Fiber Optics for about 1.5 months and for the 3rd time it's out. They (call center "support") go through the same fix routine and when that one script doesn't work, want me to stay home for half a day so they can send someone out (again) to fix it. First time was faulty splitter (keep reading). 2nd time the repair man said I just wasn't given proper restart instructions (after storm) and that was also probably the problem the 1st time. This time I tried to modify a preference (how the guide appears on the screen) and the box won't restart fully after the auto reboot. On top of that, after the big change in the user interface (around 8/10/15) the user interface for on demand video is horrible. It takes way too many clicks and so much time to get to channels toward the end of the alphabet. The list of suspended (partially watched) shows disappeared with the 8/10 "upgrade" one now has to re-navigate through the entire on demand menu to get back to the show. It really wasn't thought through at all. Unstable equipment. Terrible customer service. Terrible user interface. About ready to go back to Time Warner or look at dish.
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daisiesmom
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Oct 14, 2015
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Poor customer service
In our experience on about 3 separate problems, customer service through the Cincinnati Bell Customer Service number is non-existent. The people on that line, don't know anything and can't help you with anything. You get nothing but run-around and no answers and the feeling that they could care less about whether or not you continue being a customer. The last time I dealt with them I had close to $250 in monthly services and they didn't care if I cancelled it all. I asked to speak to a manager and was put on hold, then told they were not available. When I asked to get the person's name I was speaking to they would only give a first name or just initials. If you call that number it is nothing but a guaranteed waste of time.
If you need customer service, I've found it best to try to get help through the Social Media folks on Facebook. They are wonderful. Also, I found a tremendous amount of help and great customer service at my local store in Kenwood.
Be careful if you have a landline on the same account with your internet/TV and you want to port the landline to a cell phone. We did that and on a Friday afternoon all of a sudden without any warning from Cinti Bell, our fioptics TV and internet went out. We called them and they said they could not turn it back on. We've been customers for 20+ years and we were treated as a new install. We had to schedule service to come out and do a new install. So we were without TV and internet all weekend which isn't great when you have teens.
When we don't have to deal with customer service we have been happy with their Fioptics TV and internet package. My only complaint with it is that I have to call to renegotiate the prices because they bump up after what used to be a year. The last time I called to renegotiate prices it seemed like it jumped up again 6 mos. later.
If there was a better option, we would drop them, simply based on their poor customer service. And yes, we have had Time Warner Cable in the past and they are just as bad.
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[email protected]
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Oct 17, 2015
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Costumer Service sucks so does service
I had my fioptics installed August 20, 2015. On August 24th after the entire system cut off and rebooted I had no sound coming from one of my set top boxes and my internet would not stay connected which meant none of my services worked. I called and reported the issue and was told it would 30 days before a tech could come and address the issue. I rebooted the system manually and dealt with the gliches until the 27th of August when it crashed again. I was told a tech would be out of September 12th. After taking the day off work and sitting at home all day because I had and 8am-12pm appointment time and recieved a call that they would not be able to keep that time but would be to me as soon as possible a tech never showed up. I called again and had the situation transfered to an account specialist and was given an appointment of October 1. Well the tech showed this time but nothing was done. He walked through my house looked at the boxes and router and then returned to my livingroom where he informed me he didnt know what was causing the issues but take the broken set top box to a Cincinnati Bell store for replacement.
Well here I am 16 days later waiting on them to credit my account for the three months of no service and I am being bounced from person to person most of whom dont speak or understand English. I was on the phone with reps all day yesterday from 2:30pm until well after 10pm last night. I was finally transfered to a rep here in the US and he noted the account with instructions for them on how to get into the system and issue the credits. I call back today and nothing is being done again yet they keep asking do I want to pay my 333.00 bill. Ummmmmm NO I am not paying that bill until the credits are posted to my account because I am not paying for services I did not have.
Seriously how hard is it to get in the system issue the credit and be done with the whole thing. The best part is they keep asking me how much of a credit I feel I deserve. how about one for 333.00, since the tv, phone and internet have not worked properly the entire 3 months the service has been hooked up. Really should have just stayed with the direct tv bundle from Cincinnati Bell because I had no issues at all getting them to send a tech or addressing problem.
Best part is I am on the phone right now as I am typin this and they are still bouncing me from person to person. I am so sick of Cincinnati Bell and their stupid run around trying to talk in circles like their customers are idiots. Who in their right mind is going to pay for something they did not recieve?
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ajshoe
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Dec 1, 2015
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fioptics service is horrible
Have had service since June 2015. Internet service is good. The tv service is not good. Have a DVR in one location that is not close to what the competition is. No slow motion, program guide is a joke, and all music channels crackle (there is no fix for this). The customer service dept is absolutely horrible - some of the reps can't speak fluid English while the technicians are rude and don't care about there product. If you visit another state and use another service - FIOPTICS just plain sucks. Better off with over the air channels and fioptics internet.
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[email protected]
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Dec 7, 2015
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Contact the PUC to get a response--but still doesn't really work
Cincinnati Bell Fioptics sucks. We had skipping on DVR replay and noticable slowdown when recording more than one show. My father was so upset that football games would freeze in the middle of a play, he ordered DirectTV. No problem with that service. Finally, I got sick of pixelated recordings, I had a tech come out. He told me it was the box, but they wouldn't give us an updated box because our area all had to be on the old box. I escalated to a supervisor. Same answer--I was told the company would go bankrupt if it swapped out all the boxes with defective software, so we'd just have to deal with the jumping/leaping/pixelating recordings until Fioptics got around to updating our area's equipment. I complained to the FCC, the PUC, the Consumer Protection Agency, the Attorney General of Kentucky, and the mayor of my town, stating that Cincinnati Fioptics was charging people in my area for a service it knew it could not provide. The PUC got attention, and a tech came out to replace our box with the new, supposedly wonderful Entone box. Okay. The first day I recorded two shows--they pixellated. Then I recorded a third show--it was great. Then, overnight, Fioptics' system "slipped," and I no longer had full DVR. After two hours on the phone and two reboots, the DVR worked--for 24 hours. Now I can't fastforward, pause, or rewind on live TV--all DVR functions. A few programs have recorded. I'm not optimistic what I will find. Cincinnati Bell needs to work out how to be a 21st century company, rather than operating as if they are providing service in the age of the dinosaurs. Otherwise, it will go the way of the dinosaurs.
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ohiocablexpert
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Dec 11, 2015
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Problem after Problem With Fioptics
I don't even know where to begin with the problems Ive had with Cincinnati Bell and their horrible Fioptics (Crapoptics) internet and cable service. Like the previous reviewer, ive complained to the BBB, and PUCO and it hasn't done any good. They just don't care about their customers, and they have the cheapest used equipment which breaks down constantly. Im sure though their CEO and top execs will still get their ridiculous year end bonuses though. First of all, their customer service is non-existent. If you call them, you cant understand a word they say and vice versa. They are all scripted foreigners who can never help you. Plus they are rude and will pass you from person to person. Its ridiculous. Ive been put on hold for 25 minutes before and passed to 4 different people. As for the internet, it is very unreliable and will go down about every other day. Its usually during evening hours. You never get the speed you are paying for either. Its always slow and the network is congested a lot. They claim fiber is faster. Well, that isnt true. Gigalife.... ha what a joke. The cable is just as bad. The HD channels are always freezing up or pixelating. The 720p channels are not clear at all especially like FX or Fox Sports 1. The sound doesnt always match what is on the screen. My dvr box won't even record a whole show. It takes a long time for the guide and menu to load also. It goes out a lot. For reliability, id give them a 1 out of 10. I do not recommend them at all because its obvious these problems will never be fixed right.
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ohiocablexpert
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Dec 25, 2015
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Very Unreliable Service and they don't care
The Cincinnati Bell Fioptics service is bad in every way. Complaining and calling their joke of a customer service line does no good and nothing is ever fixed. You can't understand what any of them are saying and vice versa. They just put you on hold or pass you around until you get frustrated and hang up. The service is so unreliable that literally everyday, something goes wrong with my internet or cable. Whether it is the cable channels feeezing up or not loading, dvr boxes not working, pixelating picture, bad picture quality, or the internet going down at random, slower than usual speeds and network congestion, etc. They can't seem to get anything right or fixed properly. The MusicChoice channels constantly jump and stutter but they wont fix it. Then, you pay for that kind of horrific service when you can go to Time Warner to get reliable service for the same price. Not to mention, Bell never adds new channels to their lineup. Instead, it takes them away. Avoid them!
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Gabeincincy
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Jan 9, 2016
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Frequent Outages and Unreliable service
**Buyer Beware** whatever you do, don't get Cincinnati Bell's Fioptics internet and cable service. It is a waste of money and you will have nothing but problems. I just switched back to Time Warner after only having Fioptics for 3 months. I couldnt deal with the incompetence of their customer service department, and the problems with cable and Internet anymore. The main thing is that there are a lot of outages that occur, and its normally for several hours at a time. Just this past week, my internet and cable went down for the third time in 3 months. Also, they keep taking channels away and never add any new ones even if customers request them. My bill was wrong for two months in a row and was higher than what the salesperson told me it would be. I just found out they are raising modem fees now. When you call them, you can't get anything accomplished due to them all being foreign and hard to understand. Like other people have said, the cable channels do jump and freeze up a lot. Mine did to. They won't fix it because its been happening to a lot of people for a while. The internet isn't reliable either-I get buffering messages all the time and my wifi just disconnects at random. I recommend finding another ISP or go with satellite.
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cableman29oh
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Jan 24, 2016
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Worst customer service and nothing improves
Cincinnati Bell has the worst customer service of any cable and internet company I've ever dealt with. I do not recommend their services at all. You might save some money versus Time Warner or Directv but the savings sure arent worth it. The company can't do anything right and their products are outdated and subpar. They can't even fix their problems correctly the first time. Customer service is in India or the Philippines and you can't understand what any of them say. It took me 4 different phone calls and 6 different people to have my bill corrected and credited. Then they are rude and unhelpful. They will put you on hold many times to. They always ask you to repeat things. My internet always cuts out during evening hours and is usually slower than what I should be getting, even after I reset my modem. The fiber network is quite congested and overloaded. The cable boxes always show R1 packet loss and high amounts of max Jitter which cause problems with some of my HD channels freezing up and other channels taking a while to load. This is a commin priblem with Fioptics. Scrolling through channels is not smooth at all and the screen will jump. A lot of times, the sound won't match what is on the screen. Services are not reliable.
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Didthishappen?
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Feb 8, 2016
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Cincinnati Bell literally cut our TW co-ax
I have to type this on my cell phone since we will be waiting almost 5 weeks to get NEW TW co-ax dug to our house. We had TW before and switched to FiOptics for the speed for a year. Didn't get the 30 Mbps we paid for. Now we've decided it was time to cut the cord and go to just internet service and figured why not TWC since it's installed out there and we can bring our own modem? So with CB cancelled at midnight last night we welcome the TWC guy today 9 AM. He goes looking for the co-ax and finds what he says he finds a few times a week--the TW co-ax cut apart, clipped off for no functional reason. Now we could call CB and ask them to re-up us for the interim... Would you? We won't. Anyone else get this treatment by their FiOptics installer?
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rbm
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Feb 19, 2016
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FIOPTICS IS TERRIBLE
On Feb 18, 2016 Fioptics TV went down. When it came back up several hours later with an entirely different interface, we still could not use the service because a password was required but not provided. Today the information channel is still not working and we have to guess at how to use the new interface. Certain parts of the interface still require the not provided password. The worst part though was that Cincy Bell remotely erased our dvr hard drives to install their "upgrade". This of course erased all of our saved shows and setup for for future recording. Also this was done without prior notification. Where is the information about using the new interface? It's just TV, but can you imagine these "engineers" working on airplanes, bridges or critical medical equipment?
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cvgman
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Mar 2, 2016
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Had the sales guy at my door today
Cincinnati Bell disrupted my TWC for the entire day today while they completed Fioptics cable installations at the street. Finally at 4:15 this afternoon, I was able to access my internet and within 10 mins the sales guy from Cincinnati Bell was knocking at my door. Nice guy...very polite. When I explained to him that I left Cincinnati Bell for everything due to poor customer service, billing issues etc. he apologized and told me that their new CEO was totally focused on customer service and satisfaction. He assured me that things had changed and that with the pricing I could save a lot of money with a switch from Time Warner. After reading all of these horrible reviews about the product and the recurring customer service problems, I'm no longer considering a switch...Thanks to all for sharing your experiences...they reminded me why I left Cincinnati Bell's services a couple of years back and these reviews will have saved me a lot of aggrevation. Cincinnati Bell, get your act together. Poor quality product and poor customer support cannot be tolerated when we have a choice about service providers.
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tsunderman
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Mar 8, 2016
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Terrible software update!
I spent 30 years managing an IT department for a large manufaturing company. If we would have ever rolled out any software update without being almost 100% sure it was going to work I would have been unemployed a long time ago. I would not have been able to make enough money be enjoying my retirement like I am now. If Cincinnati Bell does not get their act together soon they will be out of the Fioptics TV business soon. What a disaster.
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