TW Cable does go out every once in a great while, but they usually get it fixed quickly. The most annoying thing about them is the automated process you have to go through to get a live person on the phone.

I'm not in NYC, instead living in the SE, but have Time Warner and absolutely hate, hate, HATE them. They bought a former local company, supposedly "upgraded" services in the whole community and ever since my internet and cable service has been absolutely horrrible. Customer service is awful and repeated calls to them haven't helped. They've come out multiple times to supposedly *fix* the problems, but my service is still awful.

I'm in WNY and would have to agree with what Daily Nuance says about Time Warner. Same thing happened here, they bought adelphia and ever since we have had unending problems - and we are far from the only ones. There is not an option for DSL where we live, which may account for the crap service they provide, so unfortunately it seems like we are stuck.

My neighbour.

@Rick - LOL

We use cablevision and I hate them. hate hate hate. Is there any decent internet provider out there? I'm starting to think not.

all cable will go out sometimes. most isps will offer a business plan for internet access. they tend to fix those first. try checking those out.

I've had them both, they both suck.

I can't wait for FIOS because as kdka said I've had them both.

We used Time Warner for several years (Fiance is a film maker/writer & all around tech geek) and it would crap out constantly and thier customer service was on par with a third world country. We switched to Verizon DSL about 18 months ago and have cut down on the headaches in a BIG way. I think our DSL has crapped out maybe 4-5 times in 1 months as opposed to 4-5 times a week from Time Warner.

oh and we paid for the more expensive premium Time Warner service that's supposed to give you more bandwidth...total joke.

I used to have Verizon DSL, and it never worked. TWC is frustrating sometimes, but I've had a lot better luck with the service. Once you get to the right person, their help desk is much more knowledgeable too. However, they are not helpful at all when it comes to hardware -- they think that's the purview of whoever the Internet provider is (Roadrunner or Earthlink).

I've used TWC and Cablevision. They both cop out sometimes, and I can't decide which one is better (worse). They're decent though. I've actually received excellent tech support from Cablevision - much better than Time Warner.

To get to a customer service rep when you call Time Warner, just don't respond to the voice prompts. The automated lady starts to sound a little annoyed "excuse me, I did not hear what you said" and then transfers you. Also check http://gethuman.com/ for a list of shortcuts to get to real humans at a whole list of companies.

Hate Time Warner...we have that roadrunner internet service and it SUCKS. Sometimes it'll take 5-10 to load a page and this happens 4-5 times weekly. Already had 5 technicians come out. Will fix for a short time and then revert back. Anyone have any reccommendations for forest hills, ny?

Joesky, it is worth asking the next technician specifically if anyone could be hooking into your cable. This happened to someone I know--they were connecting into her line somehow from outside the building and it slowed down her internet service.

I have Time Warner and find them better than Verizon was; fewer, if any, outages, and more flexible scheduling if there is a problem. Verizon only seemed to be available during M-F, ( to 5.

Time Warner blows. When I lived in Park Slope, I worked from home every Friday. And Every Friday the Roadrunner cable went down.

When we moved to Prospect Heights we had to change to Cablevision (known as "Ghettovision" in these parts) and I expected the worst. So I have adjusted to life without BBC America and the Style Network. But Optimum Online has been great (even my Roadrunner repair guy sang it's praises) and in 4 years our internet service has never been down. We even switched out our phone's LAN line to VoIP. No complaints here.

i don't know how uncommon it is, but when i lived in new york (financial district) we couldn't get verizon for whatever reason and so we went with covad ( http://www.covad.com ) which had practically no downtime and no issues. i could absolutely recommend it with a clear conscience...

Direct TV kicks ass. I can't get it where I live now because there's a mountainside to the south, and a dish needs a southern exposure, but I had it for 3 years before I moved. The reception was fantastic, I think I got every channel on the planet, and the service only zonked out once, during a fierce snowstorm. (The company further endeared itself to me on that occasion when the I called and the rep told me in a whisper to brush the snow off the dish and spray it with Pam.) I now have Rockland Cable, and even typing their name makes me see red. . . .

I've been happy with TWCNYC in Harlem, but if I were running a business I'd pay for that and DSL simultaneously, and just switch off when there's a problem. It's a small additional expense.

I'm over in LA, but I hate TW. I had nothing but problems with them for over 2 years. My service would go down at least once a month and stay down for a week at a time because they couldn't schedule service appointments any sooner. I finally cancelled my service in October and I am still waiting on a refund check for a partial month of service. Their customer service has not been helpful.