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Review by nunya See Profile

  • Location: Wentzville, Saint Charles, MO, USA
  • Cost: $75 per month
Good speeds. Not much else.
Foreign Tech / Cust. service - hard to understand, install fee, expensive
Charter's new management is wrecking the company.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)

I ordered the 10/1 package bundled with video services. This is not my first dance with Charter. We've had a very tumultuous relationship for the last 18 years (I actually used to work there many, many moons ago). I requested a "Pole Only" installation this time due to various quality problems with installs in the past.

I supplied my own Motorola SB6120 rather than rent. When I called to get the modem activated, I had a very difficult time understanding the fellow on the other end. He kept wanting to schedule a tech appointment. I finally got everything going via Charters online services.

The speeds I'm receiving are near +/- the advertised speeds. Ping times seem to be a little longer than my DSL service, but shouldn't affect VoIP. This is day 1, so I will update later.

***

Update: I got my first bill and it wasn't as described on the phone. I was also told by other members that 10/1 is actually 10/2 now. So I posted in the "Charter Direct" forum (just regarding the speed) and received an almost instant response. It looks like everything is squared away. I bumped my "Tech support" rating up to *3* from a *1* based solely on the Charter support made available through this site.

***

Update: 3/7/11

It was about the time for my bill to magically increase after a one year term. I was able to post on Charter Direct here on BBR and get fixed back to a similar price point. No calling and waiting on hold to reach the right department. No trying to decipher foreign tech support.

For Charter having this tool available on BBR, I have raised my "tech support" rating.

***

Update 12/06/11

Got an upload increase. Speeds are good. I've had 2 major outages this year that were due to hardware failures in the OSP, one lasting 24 hours. The only major complaint I have with Charter at this time is their usage caps.

***

10/06/12

Earlier this year, I canceled the TV portion of the service and upgraded to 100/5 for $60/mo. The only reason I went with the 100/5 package is because of the usage caps. Otherwise 30 would have been fine for me. I'm very disappointed in Charters new pricing system and modem policy (I own my own modem and like it that way). From what I can gather, My bill will be increasing to around $100 / mo. when my term expires. I also understand that there is no longer any pricing flexibility for existing customers, so it looks like I'll have to consider different options in the near future.

I have had several outages since my last update. Some only lasting minutes, others lasting hours. One was caused by a contract installer working on the neighbors house.

***

Update 3/16/13

Last month, Charter arbitrarily raised my bill 1/2 way through our agreement. I decided to downgrade to the 30/4 plan. It's quite clear that Charter is essentially "chasing" customers off of the 100/5 plan by any means they see fit to use. I'm very disappointed in the ways Charter has changed since coming under new management.

I'm taking away stars for connection reliability, tech support, and value. Since Charter decided to eradicate all forms of tech support except call-in, they don't deserve a decent rating. The service is losing value as well.

***

Update 5/13/14

Taking away a star for value since Charter is now charging $55 for basic internet service. They've done nothing to try and add value to the service in exchange for across the board price increases.

***

Update 12/27/14

Yet another price increase from Charter. It seems like semi-annual price increases are the norm for this company. Now at $60 / month, a 20% price increase in less than a year.

***

Update 02/12/15

Charter internet service has peen plagued with local outages recently. It seems to be something up the road at the MUX. I always see them there when it goes down. I had a 6 hour outage earlier this week and a 1 hour outage last night. For $60, their reliability should be much better.

***

Update 08/2018

Moved into a new subdivision with Charter Spectrum cable as the only broadband option (at that time). Even though it's a brand new subdivision, and the pedestal is 75' from my house, they didn't like my address and refused to install. I had to schedule a powow with the builder, developer, and charter engineerign to get them to install the service. The meeting consisted of standing in my back yard and everyone saying, "Wow, this is dumb". Yes, the service was on, and other houses were already connected to the tap. Still took 2 months for them to bury the drop.

***

Update 03/2022

After horrible service for years, I fired Spectrum and went with Verizon 5G home internet -> faster, cheaper, and more reliable than Charter Spectrum. Charter decided to put me through billing hell after I canceled their terrible service. It to BBB intervention to get it resolved and keep it out of court.

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member for 23.2 years, 7207 visits, last login: 1.1 years ago
updated 1.1 years ago

kherr
Premium Member
join:2000-09-04
Collinsville, IL

kherr

Premium Member

Thanks for the warning

I'm from Collinsville also, thanks for the "word' on Charter. I was going to hookup as a temporary feed if I can ever get rid of Fastpoint (chapter 11). I think I'll just go back to dail up until I can get reconnected.Earthlink was my next choice. Even though I,m 5200' from the CO, I don't qualify for line sharing. I'm going to spend the extra $$$ and get SDSL from Speakeasy, if I can ever get my line released !!

nnya
@charter-stl.com

nnya

Anon

Re: Thanks for the warning

I've heard nothing but good things about speakeasy. When I called them they were very helpfull and informed. They were just a little too pricey for me. Also, just about anybody in Collinsville can get DSL unless you live out toward Maryville (beltline/keebler road area). Ameritech tech says most pairs within close proximity to downtown are not loaded.
kherr
Premium Member
join:2000-09-04
Collinsville, IL

kherr

Premium Member

Re: Thanks for the warning

Your right about Speakeasy being pricey, but I've got load coils and bridge taps on my regular phone line, so ADSL and RADSL is out. Covad only does these on line sharing. I wish I could go ADSL. My only other option is go with Ameritech and see if they'll condition the line. Then as RadioDoc says, give them the boot within 30 days, and call Earthlink to resubmit the order with Covad, with a freshly conditioned line. What gets me is I can easily walk to the durn CO. Being at 5200' , I'm only getting a consistent 185k - 240k feed. Really sucks. I've got a separate data line now, so SDSL is my only hope. It took 4+ months to get my current data line working. Covad's first field tech that came out on a vendor meet says my biggest problem is a junction box on a pole just around the corner from me. It would be a shame if a car ran it down !! Between that and 40 year old cables, I'm screwed !! I hope Earthlink works for you, and you get 1.2m or better download. Something like that is something I can only dream of.

Kevin
Oh BTW, my uncle lives across the street from the CO. He's using ISDN and didn't even know about DSL being in town. I told him to go for broke - VDSL. Isn't that like 25m +.
System

Anon

CharterPipeline down the Pipes

i subscribed to charter pipeline about 5 months ago in Sheboygan Wisconsin ... at first i had problems staying online... for an always online kinda thing it sucked.... now that that is fixed (4 months later) i cant connect to any chat servers... unless it has an option to get away from a firewall... well cable modems are not supposed to be firewalled... and they tell me that it is not.... also at first i had AWESOME speed with everything surfing downloading uploading ect... now it is extremely slow... sometimes my phone line is faster... very sad... and finally they MIGHT have gotten the email thing fixed... i pay 45.00 a month for this crap that dont work half the time... cant wait till dsl gets here

nnya
@charter-stl.com

nnya

Anon

Re: CharterPipeline down the Pipes

I almost broke down into tears of joy when I found out DSL was available here. I was so desperate to get ANYTHING better than this cable modem, I almost got DirectPC. I don't know if I could make it if I had to go back to dialup, but I was even considering that.

jordan3757
join:2000-08-19
Kingsport, TN

jordan3757

Member

Sounds all too familiar

>THEN, my speeds plumeted about 50k per month. Now they are sitting at or below 400kbps - often dipping below the minimum 256k speed I am paying for. In the beginning, I was at 1.5 mbps.

Dang that sounds WAY too familiar! And they never acknowledge a problem!

>Another problem is how the cable co. connects to an internet backbone. You can have all the bandwidth you want to your house, but if they have a slow connection to the internet from the cable co. headend, your out of luck. Thats probably what happened to me.

Well said! That's EXACTLY THE PROBLEM WE HAVE! Glad to know it's not just me in a way, but it's sad that others have this problem..

>The email server is always having problems. Some times it is down for days in a row. When you call cust. svc.,they wont give you a straight answer. At times, they have been downright rude.

Our mail server is EXTREMELY slow and is down more than it's up. The customer service people have no idea what is going on, and they are more often rude than nice.

All in all, your problems completely echo mine. Sad that Charter has let themselves go down the tube.
--
Pissed off with Charter Pipeline? Live in the Northeast Tennessee area? Join other pissed off users in the Angry Charter Users Group. Subscribe now!

nunya
LXI 483
MVM
join:2000-12-23
O Fallon, MO
·Charter

nunya

MVM

Charter Update

DSL wont be installed for another two weeks. In the meantime my cable modem speeds have dropped even further. At times, less than 56k. These people are making AOL look good. Thats REALLY hard to do. I'm on the computer too much anyway. Maybe I'll take an 'internet break'. It is taking longer to download a page than it did with dialup. In fact, if I had a dialup number to use, I would put my modem back in service for the time being. Tried to call customer service, ETERNAL hold time. I gave up. Maybe there is an areawide problem. BE FOREWARNED !!!

Charter Pipeline is more like a kinked drinking straw (with a hole in it).
[text was edited by author 2001-01-11 22:59:54]

Data Raider
@charter-stl.com

Data Raider

Anon

Charter Pipeline

I also live in Collinsville. I went with charter pipeline when they first started advertising a 2 way service in the area (their origional equipment was for a 1 way cable modem). The installation was done on time, and everything was going great for a while. Now it seems like if other people in the area are using their modem, I don't loose bandwidth, I just get droped. I have complained to charter several times, but they always just tell me to disconnect everything from the cable modem for an hour or so and then hook everything back up and this will solve the problem. It never worked. And as for a static IP, BS. Ever time I have been disconnected from their service, I am given a new ip when I finally reconnect.

cork1958
Cork
Premium Member
join:2000-02-26

cork1958

Premium Member

Bummer!

I see from your profile you're in the midwest. At least you're not dealing with those problems out in California. Of course that doesn't make any difference. Poor service is poor service. Good luck on who ever you hook up with.

Charter has been rock solid for me for over 4 years!!
davidstjohn3
join:2005-03-23
Brooklyn, CT

davidstjohn3

Member

Re: Bummer!

I currently have charter pipeline and I have had nothing but problems starting at the begining why my upstream power soared to 56 dBmV I was dropping offline so much It felt like i didnt even have the internet, Now My download speeds are cut in half in 1 week they went from 3.3 MB to 1.27 MB . They are saying It is a good enough connection and there isnt anything they can do? I just dont understand how they can charge 40.00 dollars a month and say its worth it. Talking to the technitions on the phone was painfull with them say it's spyware when I know it isnt and I just installed a new copy of XP Pro. All i get is I see your signals are looking very good from here sir. I will be getting sbc dsl as soon as it gets here that never gave me a single problem...
Feramors
join:2010-05-07
Saint Louis, MO

Feramors

Member

Speed

It should be 16/2.

Charter's speeds are: 8/1, 16/2, 25/3, and 60/5.
zed2608
Premium Member
join:2007-09-30
Cleveland, TN

zed2608

Premium Member

Re: Speed

yeah charter doubled upload speed a fews months back then last month upped the download speed on all tiers

bruisingfour
@68.184.244.x

bruisingfour

Anon

you didn't mention...

Your price will only increase for one of two reasons, you agree to a plan change, or your contract states a price increase which happens at the 12 & 24 month marks. You also didn't mention that between May and Decembers post where you talk about a 20% price increase that your internet went from 30Mbps d/l (from your post) to a 100 Mbps d/l (from your speed test). Seems likecyou got some value for the price increase.

techie02
@71.11.1.x

techie02

Anon

Re: you didn't mention...

That is not correct. There was an annual price hike for internet services for 2015. So if he wasn't on a promo then yes his price did increase.

cork1958
Cork
Premium Member
join:2000-02-26

cork1958 to bruisingfour

Premium Member

to bruisingfour
After being with Charter for 17+ years, I just about know when the annual increase is coming before ever getting any letter or anything.

It's a given that it's coming every year though.

Can't wait for them to start charging for modem's again and start adding the below the line charges like there's no tomorrow. You KNOW that's coming also!
wispalord
join:2007-09-20
Farmington, MO

wispalord

Member

Re: you didn't mention...

I have business his fir 5 years and have 6 drops they always remain at 65 for 100/5 and a extra 20 for 8 block ips, though they told me any new ip blocks are 25$ now so no business don't change it must be something in the residential contracts, I always get English ppl when I call and fixed with in a hour in stl market in affton its extremely stable