 Review by Rampage522 
UPDATED: 1.1 years ago
member for 8.1 years, 2286 visits, last login: 4 days ago
 Birmingham,Jefferson,AL
 $35 per month
 about 3 days
 AT&T
 "No-hassle setup, very good speed for the money"
 "Email tech support is lacking (phone support much better but often long hold times)"
 "I recommend it to anyone who can get it, very reliable service"
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(ratings match consensus)
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9/26/08 - Since my last review, I've added Charter HD DVR service (with Moxi) and Charter telephone, as well as bumped my Internet speed to 10/1 to take advantage of a 12-month promotion. Under this promotion, my total for all services before taxes is supposed to be around $130/month. The Internet portion of this is $35.
I get the Internet speeds I pay for consistently, the phone service is fine, and I love my Moxi DVR. It has some quirks, but I think it's really slick especially on HD. By the way, that Motorola SB5100 I purchased 5 years ago (below) is still going strong.
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12/5/03 - just moved to Vestavia Hills in the 35216 ZIP code. After some miscommunication issues between the main office and the installer, I was put back online 5 days after moving in with all new cable lines from the pole and throughout the house. NOTE: The installers were great and went out of their way to fulfill my installation requests!
Speeds and signal levels at my new location are outstanding, around 1960 kbps downstream and 128 kbps upstream. Everything is looking great so far!
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10/14/03 - Now enjoying the "Thank you" package of 2MB/128K and getting great speeds around the 1.8 mb range for downstream. I also purchased an SB5100 modem in May and had it provisioned for use with Charter - very happy with the new modem and the speed of the reprovisioning. Also, no more modem rental fee! No complaints.
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1/7/03 - upgrade from Bronze to Silver, and got a package discount that didn't require changes to TV service - total bill is almost the same as it was before! Downstream and upstream speeds meet or exceed advertised rates. Plus the customer service rep at Charter went the extra mile for me by digging up the package price (even followed up with a phone call later in the day confirming the package). I'm very pleased.
Also prior minor mail problems have pretty much disappeared.
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Well here it is, May of 2002. The only updates I have are that I am still on the same service plan and my service is still as advertised (actually better than advertised according to mutliple independent speed tests). There have been a couple of email problems crop up, where mail didn't come through for a day or two, but these were system-wide issues and everything was resolved. Also 2 minor outages resolved in less than 24 hours...again, these were not specific to my setup but affected my local area.
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I've had Charter Pipeline for just over a year, and I've been quite pleased with it. It appears the service is much more reliable in my area (central Alabama) than some I've read about. I've recommended this service to 4 others who live within 60 miles of me, and they also have had good results.
I am on the "cheapo" plan, and I always get slightly higher than my guaranteed bandwidth. 2 others I know who are on the top-end plan also get speeds in excess of their guaranteed speeds on a consistent basis.
The only complaint I have ever had is the lack of customer service provided in email tech support. On the few occasions I have submitted an question via email, I was basically brushed off. However, when I call the local tech support reps on the phone I always get good service and intelligent answers. No one talks down to me or assumes I'm a newbie (I'm not), and all problems I've called about have been resolved on the spot.
Service is cheaper than my old dialup ISP + an extra phoneline, so I win with the wife.  Speed is great. No real complaints.
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