Review by crazyk4952 Location: united state Cost: $76 per month fast internet speed and minimal downtime Customer Service reps lie reliable, but don't trust anything they say

Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money: (ratings match consensus)

11/16/11:

ORDERING:
I have had Charter internet service for a little over six months and I am pretty happy. When I placed the install order online, it stated that I could only get 30Mbps at my location, so this is what I ordered. I was able to sign up for service with no contract required.

INSTALL:
For the install, the tech was on time and very professional. He ran the wires under the house and he did a good job on the install. After he left, I noticed that my modem was resetting every 15 minutes. I was using an old DOCSIS 2.0 modem that I had purchased several years ago. I headed to the local Charter office and leased a UBEE DOCSIS 3.0 modem. Also, I found out that my area is eligible for the 60Mbps service, so I upgraded at the office. I activated the new modem and have not had a problem ever since.

During the last six months, I have had NO downtime. I also get very close to the advertised speeds.

CAPS:
The 60Mb down/5Mb up tier has a 500GB monthly cap. (most of the other tiers have a 250GB cap) I have not hit this cap yet, but I believe you get three warnings before your service is terminated. This cap seems a little low for such a high speed tier. With so many sites streaming HD video (Netflix, Hulu, Youtube, etc), this limit could be exceeded easily. Also, Charter does not provide a tool for monitoring your bandwidth, so you are on your own for keeping track (a router with DDWRT firmware is your friend here).

In my area, no other ISP offers speeds even close to 60Mbps, so I am very happy that Charter does.

CRITICISMS:
-When I first signed up, the modem rental fee was $5. They increased it to $7 without any notice whatsoever, it was just increased on the bill.
-As soon as I moved to my new location, I was bothered several times per week with ads in the mail and telephone calls trying to get me to "upgrade" to one of their bundles. It took several phone calls and several weeks to get them to stop! This was extremely annoying and I almost cancelled my service because of it.
-I wish to purchase a Motorola DOCSIS 3.0 modem to save myself the rental fee, but many people report that the current version of the firmware for this modem that Charter uses does not work very well. I am not going to sacrifice reliability, so I have to wait until they update their firmware for the Motorola cable modems.

11/16/11 Edit:

After suggestions from the Charter forums, I rebooted my cable modem and did a speed test. It seems that Charter is upgrading their 60Mbps tier to 100Mbps!!

06/04/12 Update:

Since writing the above review, I have purchased a Motorola SB6121 DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem to save me the $7/month modem lease fee. Charter automatically upgraded the firmware to version 1.0.6.1 a few days after I activated it on the network.

I have had zero problems and have been very happy with my speed.

12/13/12 update:

Well it seems that they've raised prices for those that are not currently under a contract. I believe that their new price for the 100Mb tier is $120/month plus an uncalled-for $200 installation fee.

The new CEO has also gotten rid of the support on social media and the private forum here on DSLReports. This is a bad move since these support reps were extremely knowledgable (unlike the reps on the phone and at my local office). If I am still in a Charter area after my 2 year contract is up, I will not continue with my 100Mb internet due to price.

02/16/13 Update:

I have a 24 month price guarantee for internet service. However, the price they are charging me for 100Mb internet just increased by $15/month. They claim that the price lock is for basic internet only and not for add-ons (like the 100 Mb upgrade). This is not what I agreed to and they refuse to change the price back to the amount that I was paying.

How does the price for internet increase by so much when the cost of bandwidth keeps decreasing?

compuguybna join:2009-06-17 Nashville, TN compuguybna Member 2013-Feb-18 3:42 pm when? Depends on when you signed your 24 month price guarantee. they don't offer contracts or price guarantees any longer. 2013-Feb-18 3:42 pm: · hey mods ·
	crazyk4952 Premium Member join:2002-02-04 united state Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite Ubiquiti UniFi AP-LR Polycom VVX300 crazyk4952 Premium Member 2013-Feb-18 3:54 pm Re: when? said by compuguybna: Depends on when you signed your 24 month price guarantee. they don't offer contracts or price guarantees any longer. I signed up for the 24 month price guarantee in 05/12. This was shortly before they stopped offering contracts. 2013-Feb-18 3:54 pm: · hey mods ·
		compuguybna join:2009-06-17 Nashville, TN compuguybna Member 2013-Feb-18 9:17 pm Re: when? that was about the same time I did. I signed up for a two year price guar on the OLD plan (15/3).....then they converted to 30 with the free modem. I switched the day after. They allowed me to stay in my price guar for the remaining months in my contract. 2013-Feb-18 9:17 pm: · hey mods ·
			crazyk4952 Premium Member join:2002-02-04 united state Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite Ubiquiti UniFi AP-LR Polycom VVX300 crazyk4952 Premium Member 2013-Feb-18 9:47 pm Re: when? said by compuguybna: that was about the same time I did. I signed up for a two year price guar on the OLD plan (15/3).....then they converted to 30 with the free modem. I switched the day after. They allowed me to stay in my price guar for the remaining months in my contract. They said that I could keep my old 24 month price guar. If I did this and changed to the 30/4 plan, I would pay $45/month. Otherwise, they could change me to the current pricing for the 30/4 plan ($55/month) and my contract would be cancelled automatically without penalty. 2013-Feb-18 9:47 pm: · hey mods ·
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