Review by plattypus1 
UPDATED: 154 days ago
member for 4.5 years, 313 visits, last login: 154 days ago
 Riverside,Riverside,CA
 $39 per month
 about 1 days
 "Fastest connection in the area, reliable as all hell"
 "Customer service is eh."
 "Speed freaks rejoice!"
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Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
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Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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*****Update, 6/08/2009*****
I don't still work for Charter. I won't go into why. My opinion of their customer service centers hasn't changed a bit, and my opinion of the company itself is low. However, the technical aspects of this service remain fantastic. As long as it's installed properly (and mine is), you should have reliable, speedy service. I'm still running 10/1, but there's a new 16/2 tier available if you really want to upgrade.
*****Update, 2/18/2007*****
Well, as of July of last year we've been running along with the new Charter 10/1 tier. I'm now working for Charter, so I'm fortunate enough to receive those services for $20 a month. However, the retail price is $79.99 and noted in the review. We have had two outages caused by Charter problems, one was five minutes, the other two hours. However, the two hour outage was due to a node-level problem at 2300 at night, so getting it fixed that fast was quite impressive. Kudos to the system tech on call. Long story short, we've got the fastest internet available in Riverside, and it's been nothing short of rock-solid.
*****Update, 12/14/2005*****
Charter performed an upgrade to our system around the end of November. I've heard bad things about the other side of Blaine St, but here I've been getting within 200k of rated line speed 24/7. Charter, I've added those points back. 
I heartily recommend Charter as an alternative to the absolutely horrid mess that is (SBC) AT&T DSL here.
*****Update, 10/24/2005*****
Okay, I waited 'till my tech visit to post this update. Two weeks ago ('round the 10th) I was getting extremely, extremely (~400Kbps) slow speeds during peak hours, with pretty bad latency as well. While the problem has not gone away, it has gotten better, I usually don't drop below 1Mbps and ~35ms latency to google. I'm not as happy about Charter as I was in my previous update, I docked 'em a couple of points... but they're still a good provider, especially if you don't want local phone service.
*****Update, 10/5/2005*****
I was waiting to update this until the students moved back in to my area. (I live near a large university, and had the service installed over the summer, and hence was apprehensive about overselling on the node during the school year.) Charter's still great. I have had only one outage so far, and that was when lightning struck a nearby power pole. It wasn't an excuse, I could see and smell the flaming pole...
Speeds are always above 2.5Mbps/230Kbps. Oh, and did I mention that they gave me a promo package that, with my TV service, makes my internet around $20/month? Yeah.
Charter has been nothing short of excellent in providing my internet service, I'd recommend them to anyone.
*****Original review*****
I was using SBC Yahoo! DSL in my last apartment, and it started out okay but went downhill fast, plus it required a landline phone which is nothing short of useless to my wife and I. So I looked in to Charter. It annoyed me that their web site wouldn't tell me the normal monthly price, even though they sure touted their $26.95 for three months offer... I found out that it's $39.95 w/ $3 for the modem lease for their 3Mbps down/256K up service. I called them up and, while I transferred my CATV service to the new place, added the internet service on my account. Set up an appointment for 07/08, the day we moved in, at 1500. The installer showed up at 1300. I was a bit apprehensive because my wife's Windows box wasn't unpacked yet, and most ISP's won't touch Linux if their lives depended on it. Simply wasn't an issue, installed the service with my Linux laptop. Guy was simply awesome. The connection here has been nothing less than 2.6Mbps/230Kbps at any time I tested it, day or night, which is surprising because I've heard my area is horribly oversold. Tech support and customer service are there 24/7, and they speak English. (gasp!) Oh, and they bundled my cable service, movie channels and internet at a great rate, so I'm very happy about that. So yeah, Charter could up the speed ante, but compared to other offerings in this area they're excellent. (By the way, Dynamic IP, modem doesn't even have a brand name on it, I think that's all the questions answered.)
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