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Member review of Charter Pipeline


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read 1861 reviews (700 positive) (746 negative)
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Six Month Rating

Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:


$66 per month avg ($14 to $170)

Speed test results 3 year trend
Review by airshark See Profile
UPDATED: 236 days ago
member for 5.4 years, 1518 visits, last login: a few hours ago


Hollister,San Benito,CA
$79 per month
about 60 days
"Only choice in town."
"Terrible phone tech support. Neglectful of this area.OVERSOLD NETWORK!!!!"
"Using it because I don't have any other choice. Monopoly."
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings well below consensus)

    It took me over two months to get an installation planned for my new home in Hollister, CA. After receiving no response to my requests for help I ended up flagging down a Charter tech off of the street one day. He was very helpful and polite and he installed my cable modem on the spot. Since then, I've had decent latency, a reliable connection, I'm topping out my advertised speed of 3mbps.

    Problems: Charters DNS servers are absolutely terrible..plan on using third-party DNS. Everywhere in every other town in proximity of me is at a minimum of 6mbps (cable) and 3mbps (DSL). EVERY other company has been raising speed and lowering prices. Charter has been promising 5mbps for some time now...but it doesn't seem like it will ever really happen. Price has gone up for same service. It really feels like Charter could care less about what their customers want. I can get a different answer every time I call and speak to a different CSR.

    On the BBR Forums...it always seems as if there is some anonymous poster telling all of us to "Shut Up" and stop complaining about Charter. I say that they may be company "Shills" sticking their noses where they probably shouldn't be.

    It also seems as if the California (especially Northern CA) market is almost an afterthought to Charter. Middle-of-nowhere towns get speed upgrades and no one can give us any info about upgrades in the future. I wish they would just up and sell us to another Cable company already.

    UPDATE: 7/18/06: Oregon and Southern/Central California have gotten speed upgrades. One hour south of Silicon Valley here and we're still stuck at 3/256. Ridiculous.

    UPDATE: 4/17/07: Now on the 10/1 package for almost six months. Speed is AWESOME, price is NOT. $79.99 for 10/1 w/o cable service is just silly. Too bad I'm too much of a nerd to pass it up.

    UPDATE: 5/22/07: Not receiving rated line speeds except for @2AM with same excellent modem levels. Used to be provisioned for 10+...called in to ask a question and got re-provisioned for 9+. They "Accidentally" re-provisioned my modem to 5Meg a few months ago, had to call in to get it changed back. Unrelated---Terrible slowdowns are now occurring. Repeated calls to India tech support and my frustration grows. No one(almost) knows what a ping is, all insist on "helping" me troubleshoot my computer instead of addressing a backbone issue. Promised calls back, none received. Refuse to offer me a service credit (except the one India tech support woman who "noted" it on my account.) My next call in could find no record of any such note. I have gone from a happy customer to a hateful one. *****CHARTER*****UPGRADE YOUR BACKBONE CAPACITY AND ROUTING IN CALIFORNIA! STOP BLAMING OUR PC's AND IGNORING US!!!!!!!!

    UPDATE: 2/19/08: Charter finally re-routed our traffic in this area to bypass a congested router in Sacramento California. That helped with speeds for a week or so. Now, the most my 10/1 package maxes out at is 3/.7 from daylight hours until at least midnight, sometimes till 2-3AM. Pings and tracerts show regional area network congestion and Charter refuses to listen to my repeated phone calls for help. ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY the WORST ISP I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH. I drove to the Gilroy, CA office last week hoping to complain to someone in person..but GUESS WHAT???? THEIR OFFICE HAS BEEN SHUT DOWN! If I could give my review "star" rating below a 20% I would. I hope that somewhere down the line, Hollister, CA will have a comparable alternative for broadband internet.

    Followup comments:
    view ALL 11 comments
    stridr69

    join:2003-05-19
    San Luis Obispo, CA

    edit:
    January 5th, @10:32PM

    $54 for HSI??!!

    Dang! Thats way over priced. Even if you don't subscribe to Charter's TV offerings, thats STILL too much money for 3/256 a month.
    Can you get DSL?
    Do you have Charter Cable TV? You get a break w/HSI even if you have basic cable thru Charter.
    5/512 we'll NEVER see where I live(San Luis Obispo, CA).
    That's okay though, in 6 months I'll have better options.
    Hopefully you will too, airshark.
    permalink · 2006-01-05 22:32:06 · Reply to this

    airshark
    --... ...-- -.. . -. -.... .-.. -.--
    Premium
    join:2003-05-20
    Hollister, CA
    ·Charter Pipeline

    Re: $54 for HSI??!!

    No Cable TV (Satellite). I would switch to Charter if they would get off their collective a$$e$ and supply an HD feed here! I could get DSL (Slowest Plan), but my working for another telecom company has me left with a ton of negative opinions about SBC. I have Vonage and absolutley ZERO SBC services or cables running into my home.
    permalink · 2006-01-09 02:52:56 · Reply to this
    FFTL

    join:2004-04-15
    Hollister, CA
    clubs:

    Re: $54 for HSI??!!

    Hey I live in Hollister and for $40/m im getting 4mb/2mb from PCWI (Its a WISP) It is pretty reliable you should check it out.
    permalink · 2006-03-23 01:26:20 · Reply to this

    airshark
    --... ...-- -.. . -. -.... .-.. -.--
    Premium
    join:2003-05-20
    Hollister, CA

    Re: $54 for HSI??!!

    What kind of latency do you get? This is an issue for me since I use VOIP exclusively as well as the fact that I frequently stream media from home to work.
    permalink · 2006-03-23 03:40:05 · Reply to this
    FFTL

    join:2004-04-15
    Hollister, CA
    clubs:    		 While playing MMORPGS I average 15-30ms.
    permalink · 2006-03-24 00:24:08 · Reply to this
    Billion3

    join:2006-02-19
    Hollister, CA
    edit:
    April 6th, @11:27PM

    Charter in Hollister

    I can't agree with you more. I also live in Hollister. Charter's monopoly makes us put up with horrible service. Have you noticed your connection speed for the last month. Mine dipped to 4x dial-up last night.
    permalink · 2006-04-06 23:26:27 · Reply to this
    htc1596

    join:2006-04-16
    Morgan Hill, CA
    ·Charter Pipeline

    Charter in Morgan Hill

    I've also had problems with my charter broadband service. I have the 3/256 service at $50 per month. I frequently get slow connection speeds (e.g., 400 mbps). I've called charter several times for service and they still haven't figured it out. Latest diagnosis is excessive noise on my lines. I didn't know about Charter's financial problems. That's interesting. I'm jealous of my sister in Redwood City who pays around $40 for 4 mbps ...
    permalink · 2006-04-16 20:52:27 · Reply to this
    htc1596

    join:2006-04-16
    Morgan Hill, CA
    ·Charter Pipeline

    Re: Charter in Morgan Hill

    During the past month charter's service in morgan hill has improved significantly. I don't appear to be getting the bandwidth slow downs that i was experiencing before. Also, my ping rate has consistently been excellent. Not sure what charter has been doing but i hope they keep it up!
    permalink · 2006-05-01 13:23:15 · Reply to this

    airshark
    --... ...-- -.. . -. -.... .-.. -.--
    Premium
    join:2003-05-20
    Hollister, CA

    Speeds?

    Anyone hearing ANYTHING at all about Northern California Speed Upgrades?
    permalink · 2006-06-15 03:35:09 · Reply to this
    squirrel6

    join:2006-06-18
    Redding, CA

    Re: Speeds?

    I work on the utility poles for Charter and heard 7mb & 10mb by next 2007.
    permalink · 2006-06-18 10:12:15 · Reply to this
    Rooke

    join:2004-10-27
    Redding, CA

    		 I live up near Redding in Shasta Co., and Charter has been advertising 10Mbs. I've currently got the minimum 384/128Kbs which for my needs is OK, and the thruput/service is decent, but I'm hoping if they open up 10Mbs then maybe 3Mbs will become the new minimum. ( But I ain't gonna count on it. )
    permalink · 2006-08-25 17:28:19 · Reply to this
    plattypus1

    join:2005-04-08
    Riverside, CA
    ·Charter VOIP
    ·Charter Pipeline

    Talk to a tech/local office.

    Hey, I'm a charter tech in socal. Our CSR's may just be doing their job, but they don't know a backbone from a hole in the ground. Go to your local office, bring some printouts and ask to speak to a technical supervisor. It might take a while but you'll get results.
    permalink · 2007-07-09 22:22:49 · Reply to this

    airshark
    --... ...-- -.. . -. -.... .-.. -.--
    Premium
    join:2003-05-20
    Hollister, CA

    Re: Talk to a tech/local office.

    Thanks for the advice. I'll have to try that sometime. Again, thanks for the helpful response.
    permalink · 2007-07-21 01:05:15 · Reply to this

    Carlos

    @charter.com

    I don't understand

    I don't get why all the negative comments. I get consistent 10/1 at anytime of the day in Turlock, CA. I guess it could be there is plenty of competition from ATT. Their customer service is iffy but I hate ATT with a passion so I will more than gladly pay the $59.99 for Charter 10/1
    permalink · 2007-08-31 16:56:11 · Reply to this

    airshark
    --... ...-- -.. . -. -.... .-.. -.--
    Premium
    join:2003-05-20
    Hollister, CA

    Re: I don't understand

    Just because you have had a great experience where you live does not mean that Charter has it's game together where I live. For 79.99 I expect at least marginally acceptable service and support.
    permalink · 2007-08-31 19:23:32 · Reply to this

    AdamC831

    @charter.com

    thank you

    I live in hollister also. i give this review an A+ for accuracy.
    permalink · 2007-09-15 17:45:07 · Reply to this

    IWLoneWolf

    join:2005-12-09
    Dallas, OR
    ·Charter Pipeline
    ·Qwest.net

    review

    Yep and just cause you have a bad connection or bad experience does not mean every Charter customer every where does ether .There can be ISP that do great where you are at that are no good where some one else is.There really is no 100% great ISP every where
    permalink · 2008-02-21 00:56:39 · Reply to this

    airshark
    --... ...-- -.. . -. -.... .-.. -.--
    Premium
    join:2003-05-20
    Hollister, CA

    Re: review

    Posted rebuttal on your review at: »Review of Charter Pipeline by IWLoneWolf
    permalink · 2008-02-21 03:28:33 · Reply to this

    IWLoneWolf

    join:2005-12-09
    Dallas, OR
    ·Charter Pipeline
    ·Qwest.net

    edit:
    February 22nd, @04:39PM

    Re: review

    Yes and the rest of my point is my review will mostly apply to people near me as yours to people near you ,Yes should have made that more clear and I did not mean to say your review or opinion was wrong .Sorry if I gave that impression. The fact is that because there is some compation hear is why ISP are working to make there service better.Charter has been coming out of a bad financial problems and they do have new leadership. They have started to do upgrades in many areas and in time may fix the problem areas as well.The reason my service is so good is every thing locally that has to do with Internet service is pretty much new.Like one Charter user said that they might go to another ISP like DSL service and if in the future charter or another cable company offered an improved service they would give them a try.I really hope we all see greater improvements in the hole infrastructure of the internet because every time you connect to different sites for downloads ,browsing or to perhaps a game server if one does on line gaming .The routing may take you through other ISP nodes that do a very poor job.I hope you have a better experience in the future weather with a different ISP or Charter for I went though a lot of trouble with my old ISP before Charter offered Internet service here.I remember just a few years ago I do not believe I could find any positive reviews on Charter and now there is at least some ,I look forward to seeing if you ether find improvements in your service or end up with an new ISP that works better for you there.
    permalink · 2008-02-21 18:49:14 · Print · Reply to this
    Forums » comments on review of Charter Pipeline

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