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Review by shagin8703  - Location: Saint Louis,Saint Louis,MO
- Cost: $55 per month
- Install: about 7 days
Good "Best speed in this price range, far better than AT&T U-Verse, which isn't available here"
Bad "Occasional slowdowns, resolved by rebooting cable modem each time"
Overall "Good speed at a reasonable price, no problem so far with customer service"
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Getting consistently better than 30 mbps on SpeedTest, which is a huge upgrade from previous 1.5 mbps AT&T DSL, which I had between 1999-2010, and was the fastest option offered by AT&T at this location. I got tired of waiting for AT&T U-Verse, which never was made available here, and came to find out that U-Verse was not price- or speed-competitive with this Charter offering. This is definitely the way to go, until we see Google Fiber, or some other such high speed offering. I've dealt with Charter before for cable TV, and am not a fan of that. This is only for broadband internet service.
Note: The low-end AT&T DSL 1.5 mbps service cost me $20/mo, and AT&T landline phone service cost me $42/mo. As I was formerly an AT&T employee, I received my landline phone service for free. When I got laid off, I lost this discount. I decided to switch to the higher-speed Charter offering to replace DSL, which I was about to do anyway, and purchased a VOIP device (OBIhai 110) to replaced the local phone service, utilizing Google Voice.
I remembered the vice-president in charge of the programming group that I once worked for at AT&T making the statement in a big departmental meeting, "VOIP will never amount to anything in the foreseeable future". That was in 2006. I guess he didn't foresee the future very well.
member for 2.9 years, 7 visits, last login: 4 days ago
lodged 4 days ago
Comments:
| Review by kbowman - Location: Pasadena,Los Angeles,CA
- Cost: $120 per month
Good "Reliable, Customer Service, Speed"
Bad "DVR, Technology Advancement"
Overall "I don't hate them"
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I have had Charter for over 10 years and haven't really had any major issues. If I do have a problem they have no problem sending a tech out. Charter has replaced the main line to my house twice in the past few years at no charge and added boosters when needed.
They are slow to roll out new services. The DVR they have is bad. Out-dated guide and menus, no online management support and only has 2 tuners. At one point they had Moxi boxes which were great but I heard they had too many issues with them and stopped supporting them. I was excited for their Tivo box but who knows if/when that will come out (Fort Worth you are lucky). The boxes they have now are a huge step backwards. Luckily I can get cablecards.
I used to have speed issues with my modem during high traffic times but once I switched to a docis 3 modem they have been solved. Youtube also maxes out my connection unlike a lot of carriers these days. Ping times have been good as well. Also I have not had any issues with bandwidth caps.
Recently they have not been as easy to negotiate with. I used to be able to get great pricing but not so much this last time around. I guess they realize they are a monopoly now. ATT can't compete even with Uverse which isn't available for me and have had before in another location. I have thought about satellite but I would lose my cablecard and have to put a dish on my house plus its not any cheaper.
I would recommend them for internet service and for most people TV as well.
Update 9/28/2013- Well the speed issues came back. After contacting support 5 times in 7 days and having guys come out to my house to fix the issue I had to contact the CEO's office in order to get it fixed. I was then upgraded to 8 downstream channels and I am back!
member for 2.9 years, 363 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 6 days ago
Comments:
 | | service I been trying to get a service date. Charter calls me and puts me on hold for 10 min and still no person to talk to. THiS DEPARTMENT WITH ITS AUTOMATIVE SYSTEM STINKS | |
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| Review by rahlquist - Location: Villa Rica,Carroll,GA
- Cost: $70 per month
- Install: about 5 days
Good "Connection is faster than anything else we can get. "
Bad "Installer was not familiar with DirecTV equipment."
Overall "Be wary."
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I have to say I was warned there would be problems but I only have had two issues so far. One the installer had to disconnect some of the connections from my DirecTV equipment at the POI outside in order to tone out the jacks to find the one for the room I wanted the modem in. In the processes he hooked the cable with the Power Inserter for my setup to the wrong port rendering my setup dead. I didn't realize this till after he left because he asked me top power all the DirecTV stuff off and unplug it so it wouldn't interfere with his toning process. So my fault for not testing before he left, after I realized this I called him back and asked him to return, he was already on another job so I told him I could wait, meanwhile I powered up my power inserter and went out and checked the cables, found the right one, hooked it back to the right port and everything worked. I then contacted him and told him I'd fixed it and he didn't need to come back.
Secondly was the misscharges. Before I ordered I came here and got a quote of;
- 2 year service agreement @ $29.99/mo for 8/1 Base Package
- 12 months free 16/2 HSI Plus Upgrade ($10/mo after)
- $5/mo Modem Lease
Installation is $35.
So I jumped on it. When the Bill arrived it was
$54.99 for service
$25.00- credit
$10 Plus Upgrade
$5 modem rental
$49.99 install
I posted about this over in the direct forum here and they corrected it, but its a shame it was ever wrong in the first place.
UPDATE:
tl;dr their customer service is AWFUL.
Please see my threads »[HSI] *RANT* Charter Business Internet and »[HSI] For gods sake whats it take to get good service
member for 11.9 years, 1817 visits, last login: 1 days ago
updated 9 days ago
Comments:
| Review by megarock - Location: Pacific,Franklin,MO
- Cost: $45 per month
- Install: about 1 days
Good "Speeds are amazing when it works. "
Bad "Tech support is pretty much nonexistent now."
Overall "I've given up. I'm switching to business class in hopes of getting something that actually works. "
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Been a Charter customer since they bought out AT & T's cable operations in St. Louis City. Since the city initially built and wired the system then sold it to AT & T who did everything they could to wreck it and make it worthless when Charter originally took over things they were rocky for quite a few years. Bad equipment, constant outages... and that was with nothing more than analog TV service.
Through the years I watched Charter upgrade and build out every wealthy neighborhood first then slowly work their way to us 'poor' city folks who paid the same dollar amount on their bills. The City was the last to get internet and digital services and for quite some time they never worked right.
Eventually though Charter improved. Over the years speeds have improved, reliability is better and I don't get the horrible evening congestion like I used to. After moving out of the City and into Franklin County I entered an area where Charter completely built the system from the ground up. 100 Mbps service, HDTV, phone.... however it is the only game in town unless you go with an even more expensive and even less reliable wireless company (we have two) that service the area. AT & T won't service my area - too far from the CO.
In the past two years that Charter's new system has been in place I have had no less than 30 tech visits. Everything works fine for several months then collapses into something absolutely unusable. Until recently I was able to contact a tech via DSLReports and get the issue fixed in a few days and could skip much of the red tape in getting things dealt with.
This last visit was just horrible. My upload vanished (0.03mb, should be 4.0 mb), then my download went haywire. As usual without being able to reach out to someone who had the foggiest idea what they were doing the first tech to show up was a subcontractor. He never tested from the tap, never inspected any outside or inside wiring and never once tested speeds from their own equipment. He had no idea what the lights on the modem meant or how to even access basic functions on a computer.
Needless to say the problem was not only left unfixed but made much worse. My internet basically ceased to operate. After finding the number to corporate escalations I got an actual Charter tech who came out, looked everything over and as it always is - nothing at all wrong with my inside wiring. Swapped modem anyway, still nothing. Lineman comes out, still nothing. Senior tech comes out... this is nearly a week later... and as I had told them all along..found the problem right at the tap in a few minutes.
When Charter wasn't skimping on support costs an issue like this would have been resolved in one trip. Instead I went a week without functioning internet and ended up having to kill my cell data just to access basic stuff. The costs keep going up, there is now much to nothing in package offerings - take 30 or 100 or shove off and they absolutely cut you off right at the package rate...you rarely see anything beyond that and generally several meg short. Ping times have increased dramatically (used to get 10ms, now it's around 55ms).
I sure wish there was an alternative because Tom Rutledge is destroying Charter all over again just as they were getting close to being a decent company. Right now Charter is about as bad as it's ever been and if you have a choice...ANY CHOICE...take it. Tom is going to run the company into the ground then take his golden parachute and move on just like he tried to do with Cablevision.
Update: 5/13:
As usual when Charter's internet works it's great. I am locked and rarely ever exceed the 30mb limit of the plan and so far there have been no notable outages since the last one which luckily for me happened right after they got rid of the UMatter team and instantly turned into a monumental headache that took nearly three weeks to get resolved even though once they send out the proper tech things moved quickly - getting a CSR over the phone to do anything but read from a script is next to impossible. Even after three techs visited and all said there was nothing at all wrong inside my building they continued to send in-home techs and not a wireline tech because the issue was DEFINITELY outside like it always is.
The service itself has been pretty solid since the last repairs were made but that never lasts more than five months or so...and we're near that again. Expect the next update to be the service down for weeks again.
Update 9/25/2013:
Right on time. The six month cycle has arrived. The problem this time is Escalations is no longer there and the social media department shuttered. Only support is now the script reading monkey's that work on the residential side. Signal levels are all over the place, modem blanks out for no reason multiple times a day. Same problem that comes around twice a year. I can no longer take it but since Charter is the only game here I'm switching over to business class for an extra $20 just to get real support and have a tech show up that actually cares a little about fixing the issue.
This chapter is closed
member for 12.2 years, 403 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 10 days ago
Comments:
ZAero
join:2011-07-27
Catawissa, MO | Any knowledge? Hey Megarock, i live probably super close near you as i too have the same location 63015 Catawissa Franklin County MO
But i cant get charter at all? and i was wonder how you got the knowledge of when too get it, i have BrownDog Wireless, and its not good at all for the stuff i want to do, Online Gaming Etc. With NO responses on Email through customer support or anything and major packet loss issues, its getting un irritable, so if you could let me know i would appreciate it.
-Zach | |
| | Reviews:
 ·Charter
| Re: Any knowledge? I had Brown Dog...they were at best functional and most of the time not even that. I was in Lake Serene and got service as soon as it came down the road but not sure what areas it covers or if they only fed the subdivisions and not some of the outer areas. There is also Bays (they are in Pacific too) and while the price is a bit higher than Brown Dog their service is better as it's on a motorola network and more stable.
But as far as I know most of Catawissa that was being served by any Charter cable (including analog) should now be able to get HSI. | |
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| Review by BinaryXtreme - Location: Sparks,Washoe,NV
- Cost: $169 per month (12 month contract)
Good "No down time, extremely reliable Phone, Internet, and Television!"
Bad "Expensive"
Overall "Extremely reliable cable, phone, and internet but expensive."
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I've had Charter as my internet provider for over ten years now. When I first started it was a nightmare. In Reno Nevada there was always down times that could go hours to days. Connection speeds were horrific at times. I mean phone connection slow. I moved to Yakima Washington and it was better but not by much. Slowly it got better while I was living in Washington and could go for a month or two with no outages but speeds were very up and down.
I moved back to Sparks Nevada almost eight years ago and what a change. I spent five years in an apartment and had very few down time and speeds were very near advertised. I bought a home almost three years ago in Sparks and service has been rock solid. In almost three years we've had maybe two down times. I'm just amazed how much better and solid the network has gotten.
I now have phone, internet, and television with three DVRs and love it. I had one DVR go bad but Charter brought a new one out in two days. They set it up and was on their way and no problems since. Now I have the television package that has the HBO, Movie Channel, Showtime, etc, most of the high definition channels with the NFL channel which I love. My internet package is 30 Mbps down and 4Mbps up.
What I wish for is more affordable rates. I pay $168.69 per month guaranteed no price increase for a year. I think that's expensive. I'd also like to be able to tape more shows on my DVR that just two at a time. You can't tape two shows and watch a third at the same time. By the way, I use my own modem, a Linksys WRT54gs, with a Linksys router model E2100L and they work fantastic. I hope Charter keeps improving as they've done for years.
Update: 9/24/13
Service has been solid but there have been a couple of outages in the past few months. They were cleared up rather quickly. Wish I had more upload speed but am very satisfied with 30Mbps I have for downloads. I do want to state that for some reason I have been accused of being a Charter employee because of my mostly favorable personal reviews. I am handicapped and have been unemployed for over a decade now.
member for 93 days, 22 visits, last login: 2 days ago
updated 11 days ago
Comments:
| | Charter in Reno sucks (don't buy the fake reviews here) The poster must work for charter. I live in Reno and have just had both my internet and tv go up and down for hours at a time over the last 3 days. Customer service always blames your computer until the end of the diag and then say "oh we have reports of an outage in your area" after jerking you around for 1/2 hour. Their support is based out of India and they can't even pronounce common sir names. Over 3 years I have had to replace 3 modems and 2 dvrs. The service is almost never at 75% of their rated capacity. The only thing the poster got right is that it is overpriced. | |
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| Review by vaxvms - Location: Worcester,Worcester,MA
- Cost: $120 per month
- Install: about 7 days
Good "The technicians that come to my place have been great."
Bad "Telephone support sucks. Many CSRs are mindless script readers. Cable box updates happen during prime time."
Overall "I _was_ very happy but Charter has worked hard to change that."
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Ordering service was quick and pleasant.
Installation was good. Installer did what I asked without hassle. Arrived when scheduled.
I HAD to get Charter phone service - Verizon service was a big problem. It's been fine.
I have my own modem and router so I don't have any Charter hardware.
I haven't had to use tech support yet.
update April 2008
Phone support is useless. 1) When I had a problem and called support the person wasn't interested in hearing my problem. The operator just wanted my name and address to send a tech. 2) One day my connection dropped. After waiting 2 hours I called support asking if there was a problem. They weren't aware of any problems and told me there must be a large area without service and I happened to be the first to report it. Not the case.
Techs visiting my home have found and fixed problems quickly. These fixes have been simple. I hop not-so-simple problems are resolved quickly.
update: July 2008
Phone support is still useless. Techs sent out to fix hardware problems have been knowledgable and make quick work of diagnosing and replacing broken hardware. The time to get a tech to my home has been very fast. Scheduled a visit on a Saturday morning and tech arrived in 4 hours.
Update January 2009
Things are slacking off. There have been many times where the net connection will drop a few times in a short period. No real pattern to when the connection drops. It doesn't take long to come back but it's more than just annoying when there's 3 or 4 dropped connections in a hour.
I've given up on calling tech support and the standard "There's an outage in your area. We don't know when it'll be fixed." response. Cable service has vanished a few times in the past couple months.
Update April 2009
Outages of all 3 services is becoming more common; at least once a month. Typically service is out for more than 4 hours. Calls to support require I give them my name, phone number, account number, address, and more before they tell me the standard "There's an outage in your area. We don't know when it'll be fixed." response. When service is restored it's back for less than an hour before it goes out again for half an hour. The "new" SA box I got had to be replaced after 3 months.
Update Oct 2009
Service has started dropping out sporatically in rainy weather. When it was happening last(?) year they replaced their box on the utility pole that had become full of water. Literally full of water. Techs were at the neighbor's house this week. Shortly after they arrived my service went out. It's been flickering ever since. Talked to the techs before they left. The techs said the neighbor was having problems with their 'net connection but they could find no problem. Powerboost was introduced a couple days ago.
Update Nov 2010
Network service has been stable.
Update Jun 2011
Phone support is still completely clueless to the real world.
A couple extended outages over the past couple months
Update November 2011
Home service: N/C
I work in downtown Worcester. We have Charter business service. When things are working they work well. When there are problems it can be a nightmare. But that seems to be the case with any service that is provided using wires in downtown Worcester.
Update July 2012
When service works, it's great. When there's a problem phone support is USELESS. For example: I call and report a problem. Tech support says there's no outage in the area. I ask Could it be I'm the first person to be reporting a problem? Support person response is NO YOU COULDN'T ' BE. Then a minute later tells me there is a problem in your area.
Upgrading from service I currently have to the new minimal service will cost me $15/month. Lord I wish there was some other provider available here.
ARRRRG!
30 minutes later
When service is out, phone support is LESS THAN USELESS
10/14/2012
Again I say
Charter phone support sucks farts out of dead dogs butts
both home and business service.
5/18/2013
Yet again I say
Charter phone support sucks farts out of dead dogs butts, both home and business service. 4 out of 5 CSR are completely ignorant and useles.
I've been forced to 30/4 service. I don't need or want 30/4 15/3 would be great. But Charter has declared that to be NFG. The only good thing to say about the required 30/4 service is getting a DOCSIS 3 modem from them.
9/2013
The new 2 option internet service sucks. Charter's offering of 100Mbps or 30Mbps combined with their attitude of 'You don't like it? Then go f*ck yourself' is ridiculous. What's next a 2 package tv offering? You can gave All channels and offerings for $500/month or basic plus a bunch of channels you'll never watch for $150/month.
Cable TV - updates to the software/firmware in the cable box have been happening while I'm watching TV. The show video&audio disappear when a blue screen pops up announcing an update. After the update finishes the show returns. These interruptions have been happening between 8 & 10 PM.
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When my package deal ended and internet became 2 choices with no package deals ever again I called Charter to see what I could get. I had to speak with 3 ignorant persons before I got to 1 who knew what he was talking about. One of the persons I spoke with told me the price for internet service would never change. What? What do you mean it'll never change? Are you telling me the cost will never go up? The price will never change sir but there will be adjustments made to cover costs to provide the service. So I'll be paying more for the service. No sir the cost will never change.
member for 8.6 years, 3744 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 13 days ago
Comments:
| | try this have someone come and check your house for noise. if you have been having that many problems with your phone and internet, then most likely that is what it is. if you can get a charter tech to your house most likely he will understand what you are talking about. | |
| | | useless So they are not useless then? Good. 3 | |
| | | Review Hey - I'm in the Tri-Cities too. After fighting a losing battle with Verizon for many years, bagged 'em and got Charter Cable Internet. Wow!! Super-fast 15Mb/sec down, 3 Mb/sec upload. Had it a year now and only two outages the whole time. One tech support to my house, went well and fixed the problem. Started at $19.99 a month - has kept creeping up now to about $30.00. My only complaint! | |
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| Review by jopfef - Location: Saint Louis,Saint Louis,MO
- Cost: $85 per month
- Install: about 1 days
Good "Fast internet speed, and it's rock solid."
Bad "No longer an employee; shelling out for services now. Ouch!"
Overall "Can't beat the speed!"
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9-20-13: Yes, I still live in my little house in the woods, and I still have my Charter services. I'm on a fixed income now, so dropped the 100 megs for the internet to the 30megs; funny part was that I didn't see that big a change, but it saved me a boatload of money! TV is still just the Select service; all I ever watch are my cop shows, so it's not worth paying for anything else. No DVR box, just an HD box. I don't ever have any problems with internet speed; I have the tap in my back yard, and usually run at 40-45 megs. *grin* Sometimes there is pixelating on the TV, but not any internet issues. Still happy with my services, but am seriously considering trying an antenna and going OTA; not sure it will work with all the trees around here -- but I am on the top of a hill. That remains to be seen on trying it; it would save some money, but the increase in price for just internet makes me think it might not be worth it.
AT&T has been sending me a bunch of literature in the mail lately, but I'm not interested at all. They don't even come close to the internet speed that Charter provides, so I'm not changing.
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2-10-2013: I still live in my little house in the woods, and still have my Charter services. Unfortunately, I'm retired now, so have to shell out for Charter, so that's a bite in the butt; services are NOT cheap. I'm spoiled with the 100 megs for the internet so will continue to pay for it, but dropped my TV down to just the Select service; all I ever watch are my cop shows, so it's not worth paying for anything else. Also got rid of the DVR box and now have just an HD box; no sense in paying for those services either. Had yet another round with the bad signals a couple of weeks ago, along with pixelating on the TV. A Charter tech working outside informed me that there was an issue with all the wiring up here on the hill. Took them all day, but they have the problem resolved now, and all is well again.
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7-15-2012: Still living in my little house in the woods, and still have my Charter services. Still running at 100 megs, although the squirrels did finally do in the line running down the pole a couple of weeks ago. A wonderful tech named Danny came out and replaced the line, it's buried to the house once again, and my service is back running at blasting speeds again! Just internet and TV, as usual, and I've actually watched TV a little bit more lately. With the Olympics about to debut, I know I'll have the TV on alot more while that's going on, particularly the Equestrian part. Looking forward to kicking back and watching things in London! Very happy with my Charter services!
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12-7-2011: Pearl Harbor Day! 70 years ago, this year. Wow.... No change in the housing situation, and still no change in my Charter services. Just internet and TV, and am happy with both, even though I don't turn on the TV that often. I've had a running battle with the squirrels this year though! Four tech visits this year so far, due to the little buggers chewing the line where it runs down the pole and gets buried to the house. Too bad I can't discharge a weapon within the county limits! I gave myself a birthday present this year and upgraded to the 60 megs -- WOW!!! And then, unbeknownst to me, down the pike came the upgrades, so I'm blasting along at 100 megs now!!! Speedtest from from the head end has me at 98 megs, and Speedtest dot net has me at 89.7 megs -- can't beat that with a big stick! *grin* Very happy with my Charter internet, and my TV, on the rare occasions that I turn it on.
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3-9-2011: No change in the housing situation, and no change in my Charter services. Still have the internet and TV services, and still not much of a TV watcher, even though I have all the services as a Charter employee. Maybe one of these days. *grin* I'm an avid computer junkie and put the internet service to plenty of good use, and thoroughly enjoy having my 25 megs here at home. One of these days I might actually consider making the jump to Ultra. Who knows??? 
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5-26-2010: Still living in the little house in the woods on top of a very big hill -- and Charter is still my provider, since I'm an employee. I got the auto-upgrade to 25 megs, and now have a ubee Docsis 3.0 modem installed here; leasing it from Charter until prices come down a bit, and then I'll purchase my own. I was having a problem with slow speeds, until I got smart and changed the DNS servers; running like a scared rabbit now! *grin* Still have just the TV and the internet service, and I should probably dump the TV connection; even with a nice flat-panel here, I hardly ever watch TV. And still using my BlackBerry phone so don't need a house phone.
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11-17-2009: Moved this fall, to a little house in the woods on top of a very big hill -- and had Charter re-installed the day I moved in. Install tech looked at the outside line after he couldn't get a good signal, said it was badly damaged, and then saw the squirrels running around in the trees. *grin* He immediately ran a new line and arranged to have it buried this time, to prevent any more damage from my friendly little "neighbors". Bury crew was here the next day, and no problems with any connections at all. Still have just the TV and the internet service; not paying for phone service as I pay a ton of money every month to have my BlackBerry phone and need it more than I need a house phone. Still running at 20 megs with no problems, and very happy to have the service on top of this hill; wasn't sure Charter was up here when I moved, but happy that they are!
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5-5-2009: Still have Charter cable installed, and still working for Charter. The only problem I've had was a 9-day delay in getting the outside line put back up when a boom truck went by and pulled it down (had the boom partway up). Due to the stupidity of the person who took my call, the work order was entered incorrectly, and it took NINE DAYS for a tech to get out here and restring it. Once that was done, no problems.
I'm now running at 20 megs, and it's great! Today, just for fun, I installed Windows 7 RC 1, and it's running on Charter. Way better than Vista, and my laptop is hitting top speeds now. Very pleased with that, and will probably upgrade when the final release comes out.
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9-23-2008: Well, it's back to Charter cable for services again. I moved in June, and the DSL that was available here absolutely sucked on speed. So out the door with it. I'm a Charter employee, so had the TV and the internet installed, and it's running just fine. I jumped to 16 megs for the internet, and it's awesome! AT&T doesn't have anything close to that, needless to say. The only problem I had was when a boom truck drove by with its boom up, and snagged both the Charter line and the electrical line coming into my house. Utility company was here in less than 30 minutes. Even with all my ranting and raving, it still took Charter NINE days to get the line put back up. Disgraceful.
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9-13-2007: I'm still gone from Charter, but that will probably change within the next few months. I'm in the process of looking for a home to purchase, and depending on the availability of cable being there, plan to have Charter installed again. It'll be free this time around -- it's one of the perks of being an employee. *grin* I find it quite humorous that my current living situation dictates that even though I work for Charter, I have AT&T DSL at home. I did just upgrade to the 6 megs on the DSL, to see if it's any good; I'll know when the new modem gets here -- I'm running the DSL here on an old 5360!
I'm NOT a fan of the bundle setup that Charter is offering. I don't own a television, haven't owned one in years, and see no need to own one. I also don't need a phone, since I depend exclusively on my cell phone. The phone line here is used strictly for the DSL line; there isn't even a phone hooked up to it. So I don't know how that will fall out if and when it comes time to install Charter again. Time will tell!
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It's been awhile since I posted an update and there have been some changes, so here goes. I'm gone from Charter even though I loved the speeds that I got; very consistent, as tested with the tools here at DSLR. I was on a special rate at Charter for the last several years. Not only did I lose that rate ($26/month), but I went straight from it to the new rate of $58/month -- and that's just for Internet service!!! I don't have cable TV here, so that was just too rich for my blood. Called Charter and cancelled the service, effective the day of the new rate hike, and called AT&T and ordered DSL.
My Linksys BEFCMU10 modem is packed away for another day. I'm currently house-shopping, and it will most likely be put to use again after I move. For the time being, I'm using an old Speedstream 5360 that I had lying around here; it does the job admirably well, and is hooked to my Linksys router before branching out to my systems.
I was very unhappy with the massive increase in price with Charter. I still think they have the best speed in town, although I'm not at all interested in their 6meg offering. I am sad to depart from them, but have to do what's best financially right now. I think those prices for naked internet are ridiculous. :-(
member for 12.5 years, 5328 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 14 days ago
Comments:
| Review by frankie10 - Location: Temple City,Los Angeles,CA
- Cost: $200 per month
Good "Great internet when it works. TV services seem behind other companies/outdated."
Bad "If you have a problem, you wil probably never get it fixed."
Overall "I recommended Charter back in the day, but not anymore. Fast internet, but support is horrible if you have an issue."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I've had Charter internet and TV since 2003, so I am a LONG time customer. Had a few issues here and here with techs coming out to my house, but nothing major. Internet was a dream - reliable and fast. My only complaint then would be that TV services seem outdated and behind other companies (even the cable boxes seem old).
Since June 2013, maybe even before, my life with Charter has been a hair pulling experience... TV cuts out constantly (sound cuts out, black squares, freezing picture, and cutting out completely). Internet is no longer reliable - its fast when it works, but very frustrating when it reboots all day. Modem log is full EVERY DAY with reboots and errors. Had techs out to my house 3 times since June 2013, they replaced the drop, splitters, and connections. The last time a tech came out, he literally told me there is nothing further he could do (really?) and gave me a managers number. After harassing his manager almost every day when there was outages multiple times per day, he gave me a ticket number and a intermittent problems number. It has been over a month with THIS number now, and still no resolution. He has told me that there are problems in the area, but they once again can not find a problem...
I would no longer recommend Charter - when it works, its great, when it doesn't work, it most likely will never work again... I did not realize how bad customer support/techs are with this company because I had minimal contact with them since 2003. Now, I can not even enjoy my weekends off with some TV/gaming. I pay 200+ a month, and of course I do not mind if there is a few problems, but when you pay this much money, I think it is reasonable to expect a resolution with problems much quicker than 4 months. I will also be sending my complaint to the BBB, and since I am no longer in contract, canceling their service if this issue is not fixed within the month.
member for 3.1 years, 4 visits, last login: 15 days ago
updated 20 days ago
Comments:
| Review by Nathan12 - Location: Middleton,Dane,WI
- Cost: $212 per month (month by month)
- Install: about 12 days
Good "nothing is good about charter"
Bad "they had so many problems wasn't installed for 5 days after it was supposed to"
Overall "Do not trust this company with your credit card information."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings well below consensus)
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New review:
I've had charter services since they bought out the other companies in my area over a decade ago. They have a complete monopoly in my area. The price has gone up and up and up and up every few months. Lately the internet has been so bad I am astonished I was even able to post this review. The speed never reaches the advertised speed, and getting through a download or trying to stream a movie is next to impossible with all of the packet loss and interruptions in service. Once you are locked into their service you will be up-charged over and over again all while being spammed with advertisements about how cheap their services are(you will never get their advertised price I pay over 2x what they advertise on tv for the same or less service than the advertisements). When I call to ask why can't I get the price that you advertise I can get on tv? Charter's response, after being on hold for almost an hour, is this: "That is only for New Customers". So me a 10+ year loyal customer who has paid over 20,000$ in bills to this Company am not eligible for reduced rates that THEY ADVERTISE ON TV. How ridiculous is that? They advertise the EXACT same service that I currently get: 30mb internet/ Basic HD TV / Unlimited Home Phone for 90$/mo (29.99/mo per service) yet I pay 212$/mo for that exact same service. And no I am not confused, This deal is supposedly not a "limited time offer" from charter, and you don't have to sign up for a 2 year contract to supposedly get that price. And in fact at one time I only paid 90$/mo for the exact same service I get now, but the longer you are with them the more the price goes up and up and up even if you don't change anything on your end. In just the past 2 years my bills have gone from 150$/mo skyrocketing to 212$/mo and during that span I dropped premium channels like starz etc yet the price still WENT UP.
This is a very old review so I thought I would update things a bit.
I signed up for charter pipeline thinking this isn't going to be good this is going to be horrid, from reading what all of you have said. And at first it was as bad as everyone said it would be. The day they sent idiot number one was on the 20th of November like he was supposed to come. he fiddled in the basement for almost 3 hours then fiddled in the garage for an hour and said "it ain't gonna work yet I'll be back tomorrow" not telling when, or if i should be home. So i was home almost all of the next day except for about 40min when i went out for lunch figuring it wouldn't be a bad time to go. When i get back there is a little red light on my message machine that says " you weren't there so i guess I'll be there tomorrow again - charter" next day i receive no call he doesn't come same as next day so i call them and they send a guy out the next day idiot number 4(this includes the 3 stooges who i talked on the phone with) he comes in and says well i cant seem to get enough signal, even though were using the good line, the orange line that's some good line. I'm like ok that's good now install it. about 3 hours later a different guy comes in plugs it in and were good to go except speed sucks. I get 200 down 70up so i called him(the actual guy who did it amazingly) he flipped a switch and i get 800down/250up more then the 768down/128up i pay for so i am very pleased.
well its a few months later now and the one thing charter had that was good has gone sour. For the past 2 months the service has periodically gone down when it pleased.(usually in the middle of the day or after 12) today it was having some trouble getting going and i was getting 5% packet loss with a pretty 2000 ping. Not only that i couldn't even make it too my first hop. Then it came back for about 20 minutes where it shut out completely for a while. It's mostly back now but who knows for how long. It's too bad they have such a monopoly =(
ps: price has gone up 5$ a month.
come on dsl come on!
member for 11.7 years, 134 visits, last login: 23 days ago
updated 23 days ago
Comments:
| Review by Xenomorph - Location: Saint Louis,Saint Louis,MO
- Cost: $58 per month
Good "Speed is great - *IF* your connection even works."
Bad "If your connection is having problems, good luck getting it fixed."
Overall "You're in for a world of hurt if something isn't right. Look elsewhere!!!"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings well below consensus)
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Update, Summer of 2013:
BEWARE OF CHARTER!
Keep an eye on your stuff: their employees may steal things from your home if you let them in.
A few months back, a Charter employee asked to come in, installed a new modem without permission and stole *my* cable modem that I purchased without being noticed. Charter then had the gall to start charging a modem rental fee!
After getting a new modem rental fee on bill after bill, I finally noticed the cable modem was a different one, and the one I purchased was gone.
Tip: Make sure you write down your modem's MAC address, model, serial, or any other identifiable information.
Original review:
Long story short: I signed up for service, it sometimes didn't work, and Charter made my hair fall out. I fought with Charter for months, and I had to contact the Better Business Bureau before anything was fixed.
If your Charter connection works. GOOD! If not, you may have a LOT of trouble getting it to work.
Summer of 2011:
At random times in the day, I had 1300+ ms ping & 40% packet loss. Web browsing and streaming video worked. But online games? Forget about it!
Charter sent out a dozen different techs, each apparently only qualified to check a certain thing (some went up a ladder to check the link, some said they weren't allowed to go up a ladder). They kept scheduling and re-scheduling appointments, causing me to miss a lot of work. Then they would just tell me they "don't know" why the service didn't work right. My modem was logging thousands of T3 and other "critical" errors that was kicking me offline, but the Charter techs would always tell me that my line was "crystal clear". No line noise, and no reason for T3 errors.
They tried different modems, different routers, different cables, and even filtering out TV signals. They just basically tried random things to see if anything would get my connection to work.
I would still get disconnected, every day. So I called them to complain, every day.
Charter then sent me an "AS-IS" letter telling me to stop calling to complain about service outages. They said they would no longer try to fix my connection.
I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau due to service issues and getting the INSULTING "as-is" letter. The BBB contacted Charter, and immediately Charter brought more techs out to my house. The BBB listed something like a thousand *recent* complaints against Charter due to poor service.
It was only after Charter was contacted by the BBB that they seemed to really interested in fixing things. They ran all new lines to my house and replaced nodes and other stuff outside. After fighting with them for half a year, my connection suddenly cleared up.
member for 13.3 years, 1439 visits, last login: 3 days ago
updated 25 days ago
Comments:
stridr69
join:2003-05-19
San Luis Obispo, CA
1 edit | Just had this happen to me Total packet loss around 10:57 thru 11:05 this morning. | |
| | | so true Hit the nail right on the head with that one. Great when it's working, but apparently, absolutely impossible for them to keep it working. Not that I expect perfection, but at least a reasonably good amount of time working for the amount of downtime. A few hours of f-up time a week would be a good week for them, which is pretty pathetic. Luckily it's usually only my tv and not internet. | |
| Reviews:
·Charter
| call and ask for a line quality check, and drop replacement I was having some of the same issues in my apartment, until i called and requested they check my line quality, and drop from the pole. The drop from the pole was RG59(which has not been used in 50+years, and the cable in the building was the same. They ran a new drop and split(RG4 from the pole to the split, and rg4 in the building.), and all issues were fixed. you have to be specific on what you request when they send a service tech out, because they schedule the techs time based on that, and the tech cannot be late to the next appointment(they get penalized pay). Ask them to re-run the drop, and visit the charter direct forums, they will set it up for you. it could also be your modem, so ask for a new one, and if the tech does not take it out of the box on site, its not new. | |
| | zennyrpg
join:2010-01-22
San Luis Obispo, CA | Re: call and ask for a line quality check, and drop replacement This is just sad. They are supposed to be experts in fixing your internet. If you have to figure all this out yourself then what, exactly, is THEIR job?
I've had problems with charter too. I finally got frustrated and went to the charter direct forums and the person cleared the issue remotely in a day or two (something about load balancing?). But every once in a while (every couple of months) my internet freaks out for a couple of days and I get packet loss. It's very frustrating. | |
|
 Crash GordonDrive It Like You Stole It
join:2004-06-08
Smyrna, GA
·Charter
1 edit | Charter works for me Sounds similar to my issues with AT&T (complaints to the FCC, BBB and several other agencies). Switched back to Charter on 3/3/2011 for phone and internet service (after leaving them for DirecTV/Bellsouth DSL in 2003). No major problems (nobody is perfect, neither are their service(s)). Compared to AT&T it's a night and day difference for me. Charter has dealt with the few minor issues I've had (mainly phone) quickly. I even have a SB6120 with the 1.0.2.4 FW (that so many complain about) with no issues. YMMV
To the OP, if your other option for a ISP is AT&T. Good luck to ya, hopefully you'll have better luck than I did. I certainly am with Charter. | |
| | Reviews:
·Charter
| Re: Charter works for me I had AT&T DSL for over 8 years. There were a few interruptions. Maybe one a year. After a few calls, things were worked out in less than a week, usually just a day. Speed wasn't the greatest. I had everything from 256 Kbps up to 6 Mbps.
With Charter, I've had 5 Mbps to 20 Mbps connections, but there are DAILY connection problems.
AT&T = 1 problem a year.
Charter = 365 problems a year ... dozens of service calls, loss of computer use for family members, no home phone, no streaming movies, no online games.
Yeah, I can hit 35 Mbps with Speedboost and get sustained 2.2 MB/sec downloads with Charter - but only when it works. How do I know when it will work? I don't. It's all random.
I'll take AT&T's slower 6 Mbps service over this. AT&T isn't an option where I live.
--
»xenomorph.net/ | |
| | | Reviews:
·Charter
| Re: Charter works for me I live in Crestwood, a suburb of St. Louis, and I am distant enough from AT&T's CO that the max download speed I can get is 1.5 meg. As you can imagine, I see a lot of start/stop buffering when I try to stream video. AT&T has been promising U-Verse for years, and I signed up for notification emails, but it's been a no-show, and now I hear that AT&T has stopped the build-out on the VRAD infrastructure that allows for U-Verse DSL. It may be a long time before I see the U-Verse speed. My only alternatives are Charter and Clear 4G, but I've had dealings with Charter before -- they have a reputation for downtime, which I haven't had much of with AT&T, and Charter's customer service sucks. Charter would be a faster alternative, when it works, but I'm only paying $20/month for AT&T's slow DSL. I don't love AT&T -- I used to work for them as an IT guy until 2 years ago, and they laid me and a lot of others off, and gave our jobs to our Indian friends. Thanks a pantload, AT&T! | |
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|  dbslayerPremium
join:2009-08-18
Covington, LA
·Charter
| Re: Charter works for me - me too I had DSL with AT&T/Bellsouth for about 8 years and it was great. I've now been with Charter for about 2 years and it is great too. Just lucky maybe and I hope I don't jinx myself with this post.
Anyway, I would not even be with Charter if it were not for the Charter Direct forum and the excellent support they provide. Long story but my install was terrible until Charter Direct helped out.
I think I would move if all I had is what the OP has. Good luck to you. | |
|
stridr69
join:2003-05-19
San Luis Obispo, CA | "You're FIRED!" Yep-did the Donald Trump bit to Charter internet on July 12th. Back to ATT's DSL service(dry loop Elite plan). Nice having RELIABLE internet 24/7. Gotta give kudos to the Charter Direct folks-they tried their best. Unfortunately it's the local Charter service here in the 93401 that's garbage. I was told that I have a bad node where I live( have a local IT desk phone # and the person's name too!) from the local IT tech person. Unbelievable!
Needless to say I filed a complaint with the city of San Luis Obispo as well as the BBB about this. Nothing will probably happen, but I sure feel better that I "pitched my bitch" about lousy internet service from Charter.  | |
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