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Review by AMDUSER See Profile

  • Location: Merrill, Lincoln, WI, USA
  • Cost: $41 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 3 days
The service works..
I had to pay for the install.. I was hoping for a free install :(
The service works at an affordable price..
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)

************* Service Update July 10, 2018 **************
Had Charter installed September, 2017. Tech was late. Got $20 credit. . No general issues to report.
Did have a free speed upgrade from 60 Meg / 5 Meg to 100 Meg / 10 Meg.. getting 120 + Meg / 12 Meg in December.



*********************September 2017*******************************
Switched back from Frontier.. should have stayed with Charter! For full details, please read my review of Frontier >> »Review of Frontier Communications by AMDUSER

************* Service Update July 31, 2016 **************
The service is slow.. really slow. My old 56k modem is faster!. .. And has less buffering! I believe Charter oversold this area. Speedtest indicated 30kbps download / 1.15 Meg upload. :O
See screenshot below.. It also explains why Netflix was taking a while to load..

************* New Service May,5 2016 **************
Called up Charter on 5/2 for an appointment for 5/5 to have the 60 Meg service installed. The tech (contractor) arrived early, and had to install a new cable outlet. After that, cleaned up the cable box where the service drop is located, and proceeded to install an Arris TM 1602 eMTA. Service tested at rated speed.. and signal levels appear to be good at this time. Called up Charter to switch to a Cisco DPC3216 eMTA that I own (same 16 channel chipset at Arris 6183..).
Charter got that up and running shortly..

Will update if any changes to price / service later....

**************************************************************
This Space intentionally left blank.. as the review that was here was 11 years old..

************* Update October 2005 **************[Last update]
I recently moved several days ago, and dropped Charter Pipeline 384/128 internet access.
[I also had cable tv setup at the new location and the install tech was 15 minutes late for an install between 8 am- 10 am :-( .]

/Switched to Verizon Online DSL... will write that review later.

************* Update May, 2005 **************
Charter raised the bill a few months ago, [the promotional package we were on expired].
As a result, the Charter Digital cable [small]TM[/small] was dumped in favor of analog cable. [It saved about $20 / month before taxes and fees.]

The 384k cable internet works, it hasn't had any problems as of late.
Intrestingly enough however, Verizon 3/768 DSL just became available a few months ago for the same price as the 384k bundled rate. [~$30]

[Old Part of Review]
I signed up for service in November of 2001 a few months after Charter finished installing the equipment to offer cable internet. It was the 256 /128 plan + digital cable to save $10 off the cable bill. At first when the technician installed cable internet & the "supposed" digital cable. The cable internet did not initially connect, but the digital cable box did work. A trip to the where the connection is feed into the house, the tech. then changed the connectors on the cables. The Charter tech. then installed the latest version of Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer 6 slowed down Windows Me as well as caused error messages.

The Good -
After that, the green light on the Motorla surfboard cable modem turned on. The service was quite reliable, ( no disconnects, low ping times) for about 6-7 months w/o any major problems. Summer of 2002 came around, and the city was doing some work in the alley, near the pole. The city workers, it appears, had damaged the cable line when they were plowing the alley preparing it for new gravel. :-( The line was basically cut as the cable guy said it was 3-4 feet of excess cable was basically pulled up. ) The service was out for about 6 hours. Called Charter, they sent a tech out who came and fixed it, as well as credited for the service outage.

The Bad -
A while after they fixed the cable line, they began to heavly advertise for the cable internet as well as the digital cable services. The internet service on the node, slowed down as the speads eventually dropped a little bit as the ping times increased. It evenually leveled off, and Charter eventually obtained more bandwith for the node. The connection at this point was still reliable.

- The Ugly !!!
Eventually over a peroid of 4-6 months they signed up quite a few customers, and
the cable modem then started to lose sync and have frequent disconnects started happening. After I checked the the modem for the signal level, etc. it was obvious that it had dropped. At this point almost everyone in the immediate area had signed up. The modem has started having more frequent disconnects lately and the service becomes annoying when it does work but then disconnects while using the internet service.

OVERALL RATING:
Charter is reliable for the cable tv. The cable internet service needs improvement ( more reliablity) because of the frequent disconnects.

****** UPDATE *******
Charters Internet service has improved as of late. The cable internet has not been disconnecting nearly as often as it has been. [ Nice improvement]

****** UPDATE ******* October
Charter upgraded the cable network in the area,and recently rolled out the 2 Meg promotion package which works great even though paying for 256K/128 .

****** UPDATE *******
Well, the free promotion to 2 Meg promotion is over at the start of April. It was nice while it lasted, dropping the connection speed back to 384K to save some money.

Also replaced the Motorala Surfboard 4200 with a linksys cable modem to avoid rental fees.

Looked into getting Charter Digital phone service which is available in the area a month ago- couldn't have it itstalled, the technician said it requires a basement to where some cabling from the pole would be hooked up.

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member for 20.8 years, 4116 visits, last login: 332 days ago
updated 5.7 years ago

Eractionizr
join:2003-04-11
Wausau, WI

Eractionizr

Member

i agree

They should improve their service so there arent as many disconnects =\. I live in Wausau over by Wausau West and there aren't very many people in my neighborhood that have charter pipeline, yet, mine disconnects all the time.
cecil573
join:2002-11-11
Sikeston, MO

cecil573

Member

about your speed and disconnects

I must agree with the two of you on some points. Yes, the more people that get online the slower your connection gets. The reason this happens is because the bandwidth is shared between users. But, you should not slow down that much. The system is designed so that even if every customer in your node was on at the same time that the system would still work up to 95% of the promised speed (atleast that's what it use to be). So if you are getting disconnected, it's not due to the amount of users online at that time, it's because of the actual cable signal. Your cable modem sends a signal to the headend requesting info back. If for some reason the attenuation on your cable line is very high(bad inside wiring or outside) then the modem will not operate and will begin to cycle. Cable attenuation is also affected by the temperature. Colder weather will make your modem work better. So watch the times that your modem is cycling. If it is at the hottest point of the day then more than likely you have some bad wiring somewhere. This is just a friendly not from a former Charter employee. I hate the company, but the technology is awesome. If you have any questions you can e-mail me at cramey@bigrivertelephone.com
Adgun
join:2003-06-06
Rocky Face, GA

Adgun

Member

Re: about your speed and disconnects

95% ??? haha
Where I live (north Ga.) it is 75% of promised speed. . . and even then you only get about 20% in reality, and 3-4 hours of each day it cuts off. Funny thing though, you always have to pay 100% of the cable bill. I would pillage charter if given the chance.
ZSmith18
join:2003-07-16
Ripon, CA

ZSmith18 to cecil573

Member

to cecil573
Haha so would I. I ordered the silver pipeline and it was great for a few months, then, as the story says, they started advertising. The only difference in my case is that it didn't get better. My pings are high, and fluctuate to even higher (from 200-1000 ping to a local server) during peak hours. I've called the techs 1000 times, all they can say is "reset the modem, blah blah, didn't work? We'll send someone out" and the idiot they send out doesn't know left from right and can't even figure out why it's not working properly. If only I qualified for DSL...

bobhhsgsg
join:2002-08-03
Birmingham, AL

bobhhsgsg

Member

I don't know...

Where I lived (in Birmingham, AL) the service was very unreliable and poor. I was talking to one tech and he said that the node I was sharing was a T-1, but when it came to speeds, my connection only reached 754 Kbps (That was the Gold package, so I dropped to the lower Silver package and it stayed the same...) Charter is good if you want basic cable TV. Anything else, like digital cable or Internet is where you run into problems...
Mr Natural
join:2003-03-30
Hallandale, FL

Mr Natural

Member

Re: I don't know...

Strange but I get 1500/128 for gold at $25. Of course I use their digital tv service. No problems. I live in South Fla and there are lots of choices, so maybe this has something to do with the good connect and service.

bobhhsgsg
join:2002-08-03
Birmingham, AL

bobhhsgsg

Member

Are you sure that's not a "promotional" package? All of us in Bham got a letter saying that our promotional deal was going to expire at the end of this month (I never even knew I had a promotional price). They then wanted to charge full price for Pipeline (Gold I believe is $65)...

Bad timing since I was already looking at DirecTV.
Redwing30
join:2003-07-17
Traverse City, MI

Redwing30 to bobhhsgsg

Member

to bobhhsgsg
said by bobhhsgsg:
Where I lived (in Birmingham, AL) the service was very unreliable and poor.
Unreliable meaning? What are you basing that on? Dial-up? Explain...

I was talking to one tech and he said that the node I was sharing was a T-1,
Ok, that makes absolutely no sense. "the node I was sharing was a T-1." Common! Considering that the Cable Speeds are able to far exceed the 1.5/1.5 limits of a T-1 there is no way a serious tech would have said it was a T-1 line you were on. I could go on but I'll keep it simple.

but when it came to speeds, my connection only reached 754 Kbps
My educated guess here is your modem was incorrectly provisioned at the Silver Level (768/128)when you signed up for service, even though you were paying for the gold package (1.5/128)

(That was the Gold package, so I dropped to the lower Silver package and it stayed the same...)
This goes to prove what I just said.

bobhhsgsg
join:2002-08-03
Birmingham, AL

bobhhsgsg

Member

Re: I don't know...

said by Redwing30:
said by bobhhsgsg:
Where I lived (in Birmingham, AL) the service was very unreliable and poor.
Unreliable meaning? What are you basing that on? Dial-up? Explain...

I was talking to one tech and he said that the node I was sharing was a T-1,
Ok, that makes absolutely no sense. "the node I was sharing was a T-1." Common! Considering that the Cable Speeds are able to far exceed the 1.5/1.5 limits of a T-1 there is no way a serious tech would have said it was a T-1 line you were on. I could go on but I'll keep it simple.

but when it came to speeds, my connection only reached 754 Kbps
My educated guess here is your modem was incorrectly provisioned at the Silver Level (768/128)when you signed up for service, even though you were paying for the gold package (1.5/128)

(That was the Gold package, so I dropped to the lower Silver package and it stayed the same...)
This goes to prove what I just said.

Well thanks for your comments. Here are my responses:

1. It was unreliable compaired to other broadband ISPs I had like Adelphia and RoadRunner.

2. The tech said that, but I really think I wasn't transfered to level 2 support like the rep said. Could of been another rep claiming to be a level 2 tech.

3. I don't really care about my speeds anymore since I switched to DSL. Charter also still owes me $46 dollars for cancellation - it's been several months now...
Redwing30
join:2003-07-17
Traverse City, MI

Redwing30

Member

Re: I don't know...

said by bobhhsgsg:

Well thanks for your comments. Here are my responses:

1. It was unreliable compaired to other broadband ISPs I had like Adelphia and RoadRunner.

2. The tech said that, but I really think I wasn't transfered to level 2 support like the rep said. Could of been another rep claiming to be a level 2 tech.

3. I don't really care about my speeds anymore since I switched to DSL. Charter also still owes me $46 dollars for cancellation - it's been several months now...
I was just curious. I provide Level 2 support for part of the Great Lakes Division. I am sorry for the problems you have encountered. I see the behind the scenes workings of what happens here, and I can say without a doubt that the group I work with tries our darndest to make the customer happy. When your a national company it's fair to say that you cannot make everyone happy, altho I know here in this office we do our best. It's human nature though to complain, and some do it more then others. *Not directed at you* In support thats all we hear. Most complaints are valid and fixed quickly, some are just incoherent ramblings from someone that has nothing better to do then pick up the phone and make their feelings heard. I am sorry that your post was not one of utter jubilation, but I thank you for posting anyway. It helps me do my job that much better.

Till next time,
Red
Eractionizr
join:2003-04-11
Wausau, WI

Eractionizr

Member

Better

Haven't had any disconnects in about 5-6 months now, running smooth as ever =D...also got charter digital phone service, and very inexpensive for what you get, but now it sucks when cable goes out because - no tv, no internet, no phone (can't call to complain or report it until I get a new cellphone!)

Review by surfinsam See Profile

  • Location: SoCal
  • Cost: $142 per month
Good download speeds, reliable
Terrible pricing, awful customer service
Even the good customer service reps don't have the power to fix anything.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)

Only reason I'm on this plan is because I was misinformed before porting my phone from a L-TWC package, something they've admitted to and offered inadequate solutions to fix. I dropped down to the basics: Spectrum TV Select and Internet. I would've gone with ultra but unfortunately while the tech could get a 16x4 modem to work on the plan, he couldn't close the work order with it installed and all the 24x8 modems they supply are Puma 6. My price includes a $25 discount on internet for 12 months because of my past troubles and I have 2 STB's on the account @$7/ea. I have a DCX3400 for my DVR, a DCX3200 for another room, as well as a Roku in the spare room. The modem is a Technicolor(Cisco) DPC3216. Overall I'm upset over how much I'd have to pay to get my upload speed and missing channels back and am planning to switch to at&t shortly in light of their recent bundle price changes.

member for 6.8 years, 3756 visits, last login: a few minutes ago
lodged 5.7 years ago


Anon934e8
@rr.com

Anon934e8

Anon

Modem

I had recently upgraded to their 400/20 plan, I had received a uBee modem that does not have the puma 6 chipset. It's currently not listed on their "approved" list, however it's going to be (shortly?). If you were to call or visit your local spectrum office, they may be able to help you.
surfinsam
join:2017-06-09
SoCal

surfinsam

Member

Re: Modem

Could you tell me the model # you have?

Anon934e8
@rr.com

Anon934e8

Anon

Re: Modem

By looking on the sticker I believe this is the model # E3U12V1 or it's PC20. It's docsis 3.1, and has been reliable. I hope this is helpful.
Anon934e8

Anon934e8

Anon

Re: Modem

Quick update I just checked on their site, it is E31U2V1, It has been approved, it is now on their list of supported modems.
surfinsam
join:2017-06-09
SoCal

surfinsam

Member

Re: Modem

They gave you a 3.1 modem for a non gig install?

Anon934e8
@rr.com

Anon934e8

Anon

Re: Modem

Yes, I had talked to a technician who had said I could swap the modem just by going to my local spectrum office. He had recommend the ubee (after mentioning the puma 6 issue). Luckily at the time my local office had some.

However I did encounter an issue with my router shortly after. Essentially when using my routers real mac address the internet would not connect. But when spoofing it to match that of the modem I had received it did.
I would recommend looking for a feature called mac spoofing or mac cloning on your router if you encounter a similar issue.

I had contacted spectrum about the mac address issue, tldr of what multiple employees had said is your router is broken pls rent one from us
animal07
join:2018-07-06
Columbia, SC

animal07 to surfinsam

Member

to surfinsam
I just replaced my Arris SB6121 which was acting funny (after suffering through a decade of storms at our new house) with a Cable company supplied modem E31U2V1, at the local Spectrum store. I only have a 100/10 service but this thing rocks. Not as good as the Linksys modem (CM3024) I returned after it started suffering Puma 6 issues... but it maintains 115 Mbps speeds Really well. Now if only I could get the User name/password to get into diagnostic pages!

Review by psdp See Profile

  • Location: Yuma, Yuma, AZ, USA
  • Cost: $98 per month
Service is quick
They keep raising rates and cutting local channels
If there was another cable option, we'd do it
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)

My mom has had the same Standard cable for years, decades really. No special channels, just the Standard bundle. Under Time Warner it was about $65ish/month. Since Spectrum has taken over, her monthly bill for the exact same service has continued to climb. Two months ago, they even cut the NBC and CBS channels without even negotiating (the City of Yuma is even involved as they gave no notice). As of the latest bill, it has now gone up to $98/month— for Standard Cable— and they even raised the local broadcast fees, again, yet STILL won't add the NBS and CBS stations back. If any sort of competition was allowed, or if I lived closer to physically spend a few weeks (and many random other days) teaching her how to stream everything, we'd dump them (well, we'd be stuck with them for internet in that case, but she'd at least get to watch her shows). This is the only entertainment my mom has though, and she doesn't want a dish, so she's stuck with them, and Spectrum knows it.

(I pay my mom's cable bill for her, so I'm very well aware enough to write this review on her behalf)

member for 13.1 years, 922 visits, last login: 242 days ago
lodged 6 years ago

brad152
join:2006-07-27
Chicago, IL

brad152

Member

As much as i hate Spectrum..

Spectrum Select ("base" package - what I have at my house) is $64.99

If she needs a box, it's $6.99 as well (i'd suggest, as she'd get a lot more channels).. There's no way unless you kept the grandfathered TWC plan that you are paying $98 JUST for TV with standard cable.
psdp
join:2011-01-20
Cedar Rapids, IA

psdp

Member

Re: As much as i hate Spectrum..

Last month and this month, copied directly off of Page 2 of the bill:
Digital Adapter & Remote: $4.99
Standard TV: $75.99
Fees & Charges: $5.47
Broadcast TV Fee: $8.85
Sports Programming Fee: $2.70

And she may have been grandfathered originally before the formal takeover, but they've taken all of that away (TWC was when she was paying $65ish), and it's the exact same service and channels she's always had. Oh, minus NBC and CBS, which they still won't bring back 2 months later. So, yeah, there's totally a way she could be paying $98/month JUST for TV with standard cable.
brad152
join:2006-07-27
Chicago, IL

brad152

Member

Re: As much as i hate Spectrum..

Then call and revert to rack rate SPP

You'll get $10-20/mo off and an actual cable box

Review by Colors5 See Profile

  • Location: Red Bluff, Tehama, CA, USA
  • Cost: $65 per month
  • Install: about 12 days
Speeds are often close to advertised speeds.
Outdated mentality. They bring the service down for repairs/testing too casually and don't take outages seriously enough.
Decent speed. Technicians are rude, pushy, invasive a-holes. WAY too much down time and laughably bad system for reporting it.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)

Speed:

Speeds are often close to advertised speeds.

Downtime:

Charter has an outdated view of Internet service for residential customers. They view it more as a convenience & entertainment service rather than as the utility it has become. Because of this mentality, they bring down the service for testing & repairs too casually and don't take legitimate outages (from storms & such) seriously enough. They regularly bring down the service for hours at a time (usually about six hours and usually during the early morning), and outages from storms are usually not handled for 12-48 hours. Additionally, the modems provided by Charter are often unable to reconnect to the service after it's been restored unless the customer completely disconnects the modem for a few minutes then reconnects it, and most customers don't know to do this.

The Technicians:

The local installation/service technicians are incompetent, rude, pushy, invasive, macho a-holes. I nearly had to kick one off my property because his attitude was so far out of line. Picture guys who aspired to be corrupt bully cops but couldn't make the force. I've spoken with my family, friends and neighbors about them. Virtually all had bad experiences to report.

Throttling:

Charter monitors how much bandwidth you're using and how you're using it. If they don't like how much you're using or how you're using it, they'll start throttling your connection.

Reporting down service:

If you call to report that your service is down (whether it was brought down intentionally by Charter or by a storm), you'll get an automated system that asks for your account information then runs you through the time-consuming idiot test (is your modem plugged in?, etc). After you get through the idiot test, instead of giving you the option to simply report that your service is down, you're either forwarded to a live person or told to call back during a time when one will be available. The live person essentially has no information about anything and has no ability to record/report that your service is down. They are capable of three things: (1) asking for your account information, (2) going through the idiot test with you again and (3) scheduling an appointment for a technician to come to your house.

At one point my service was down for several days because a technician, without telling me, had put a filter on my line (at the pole) because he suspected there was line noise coming from my house (turns out there wasn't) and he installed the wrong type of filter so it completely blocked my service. When I eventually called and got through to a live person, she had no information about the technician messing with my line. I only found out when a second technician showed up two days later, found the filter and told me what happened.

Conclusion:

All things considered, the cost of service, in my opinion, is about double what it's worth. If there's another choice in your area, give it a try. Unfortunately, I only have Charter and AT&T to choose from and AT&T is even worse.

member for 8.2 years, 2 visits, last login: 5.3 years ago
updated 6 years ago


Review by NotAjitPai See Profile

  • Location: Burleson, Johnson, TX, USA
  • Cost: $250 per month
  • Install: about 2 days
Best service to my address
Expensive, signal issues are the norm, tech support rarely has any idea what they're talking about, bad equipment
If better service were available to me, I'd jump ship in a heartbeat.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)

I have Spectrum TV (Silver, Tier 2, three DVRs), Normal internet (100 up, 10 down...all that's available), and Voice.

My mother is older and moved into our house. She wanted regular TV with a bunch of channels, and a land line which we had ditched some years ago. So I called up charter and ordered more TV stuff, some DVRs, and the phone. It is extremely expensive now, but hey, my mom deserves to get what she wants. The upgrade process was painless.

The DVRs are a decade old, at least. They are stand alone units...can't record a show and watch it in another room or anything like that. I like to watch baseball and they only broadcast FSSW in 720p for some reason. On top of that it glitches out a lot. Anyway the DVRs are Explorer 8640HDC with a really bad guide.

Last time I was having connectivity issues they gave me a new router off the books. It's a SageMCom something or other. I'll be replacing it soon. The modem is an ARRIS...not sure of the model number.

I've had Charter/Spectrum internet for years. There are definitely periods where it works fine, and if it's working fine I get higher than advertised speeds usually. Like 122 down, 14 up. Ping times are usually in the 8-10ms range. But there are times when everything goes to hell and it's a pain to get fixed. Usually I'll start losing upload speed. Then if I can't get anyone out here to actually fix it, the upload speed will drop to the sub 1Mbps range while download speeds are up and down. If they fail to fix it and the problems continue, it will get to the point where the internet is unusable. Complete outages have been rare (knock on wood), thankfully, but these signal problems are not and the first tech rarely gets anything done. It usually takes a week to straighten it out, but sometimes longer. I've had crappy internet from Dec 10, 2017 all the way up the very end of February and finally, for now, things are working well.

100/10 is as fast as I can get. I'm really looking forward to having the option to upgrade. 100 down is fast enough but 10 up is not. Plus, if they upgrade their equipment maybe the connection will get better. One can hope.

There are good things about Charter/Spectrum. You don't have to wait on the phone forever to talk to a tech support person. Also, when they roll a truck they give you a 1 hour window, not this "we'll be there sometime between 8 am and 6 pm" nonsense. And generally it's just good that they exist, even if it is expensive and unreliable. My only other option is ATT DSL.

I almost forgot. The Spectrum website is very slow, and many features just don't work. Now it could be that I have lots of privacy extensions and about:config tweaks in my Firefox profile, but I cannot check the land line's voicemail on the desktop computer anymore. The site says all my equipment as "unknown", which happened recently. It's also more difficult than it should be to compare the different TV plans.

But even with all the complaints I'm still glad to have Charter over ATT. That's life in a local duopoly.

member for 6 years, 42 visits, last login: 5.1 years ago
lodged 6 years ago


Review by Bluethunder See Profile

  • Location: Duncan, Spartanburg, SC, USA
  • Cost: $74 per month
  • Install: about 999 days
Internet generally works
Too ignorant to provision Spectrum choice
High price for HSI only
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)

Don't bother trying Spectrum Stream or Spectrum choice. After 24 hours, they still can't get my account active, and just keep trying to up-sell to regular cable TV. It's no wonder they are bleeding video customers like mad. They don't want my money!

member for 24.3 years, 4986 visits, last login: 1.6 years ago
updated 6 years ago


cork1958
Cork
Premium Member
join:2000-02-26

cork1958

Premium Member

Really that bad?

Is Charter REALLY that bad down that way? That sounds worse than the stories coming out of CA.!! If that's possible!!

You do call and get credited for the down time, don't you?

Bluethunder
Thunder PC
join:1999-12-05
Duncan, SC

Bluethunder

Member

Re: Really that bad?

They said they would credit it, but we will see. Yesterday was the first day in 9 day I was up most of the day. I only had 80minutes down time yesterday.
AT11
join:2003-03-05
Sedalia, MO

AT11

Member

Re: Really that bad?

Is the TV working or is it just the Internet? Are they working on lines in your area?

If it's the internet that is totally unacceptable and someone ought to get walking papers.

Bluethunder
Thunder PC
join:1999-12-05
Duncan, SC
Netgear CM600
Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X
Asus RT-AC68

1 edit

Bluethunder

Member

Re: Really that bad?

I don't have Charter TV service, and will not ever have it again due to the constant outages, terrible picture quality, and analog signal on lower channels. I don't know if Video is working or not. My satellite service has been down for all of maybe 30 minutes total in the past 5-6 years, plus it's a lot cheaper. It would be silly for me to get cable TV.

I can't say as to if they are working on the lines in my area or not because they won't tell me.

It was 8 days total with 15-20 hours a day down, only 80 minutes down on the ninth day, and the tenth day was OK. Calling the trouble center gets the typical "we don't care, but it will be back up some time between now and next year" attitude.

I found it particularly funny that towards the end of the 8 day outage span, Charter called me trying to sell me their telephone service. The sales person couldn't quite figure out my hysterical laughing when they first told me what they were pushing.
mdog41
join:2001-12-15
Cowpens, SC

mdog41

Member

Charter upstate SC

I have it and it is never down. I have the 10 meg service and ALWAYS get at least 9.3 on the down and over 900K up. My power has been out 3 times in the last year and my phone worked until power was restored. I guess that means Charter is more reliable than Duke power.

Bluethunder
Thunder PC
join:1999-12-05
Duncan, SC
Netgear CM600
Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X
Asus RT-AC68

Bluethunder

Member

Re: Charter upstate SC

As per my latest update, they have been great lately. Things started looking up after the 8-9 day outage. Somehow I managed to get synced at 11273000bps down and 1049bps up. I typically get 10.4-10.5 down from reliable speed tests/pulling headers off newsgroups, and 990+ on the upstream.






Review by gvoyager94 See Profile

  • Location: Tampa, Hillsborough, FL, USA
  • Cost: $143 per month
  • Install: about 3 days
usually works
Sloooow
Wish there was something else available.
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public: Pathetic - Had Bright House (aka T-W Roadrunner) for years and the service was generally good. Since it went from Bright House to Charter-Spectrum, the speeds have continuously gotten worse. Paying for 50/5 - usually see about 30/2-3. Changed to my own modem about a year ago, and it helped with the speed, but now the service just keeps getting slower. I can see the cable junction box out my back window (across the yard), and it looks like a grizzly attacked it. Cover is off..wires poking out everywhere...ugh!

The rates went up at the year's beginning about the same time the service began getting worse...go figure.

member for 6 years, 2 visits, last login: 289 days ago
lodged 6 years ago


Review by pumpkinhead7 See Profile

  • Location: Clarksburg, Harrison, WV, USA
  • Cost: $65 per month
Speed
Price and pretty much everything else
Pricing sucks, time warner was so much better priced
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TV Prices are terrible, once spectrum took over my market pretty much everyone saw a $50+ increase in their bill for the same crappy service. Their DVR are embarrassingly out of date (2007) this company is a shining example of why people are cord cutting.

member for 21.8 years, 1128 visits, last login: 104 days ago
lodged 6.1 years ago







Review by don544 See Profile

  • Location: Ortonville, Oakland, MI, USA
  • Cost: $40 per month
  • Install: about 5 days
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This is not Ortonville it is Goodrich 48438.

Worst service ever and it is in the Entire zip code area. Unfortunately there is this or Charter DSL. I would laugh if I were not already crying. My cell service has better reliability and speeds than this and that is in a lousy cell area. Constant outages, constant drops and incomplete connections. A download for W.O.W. took over 24 hours and then did not work because of drops. I ended up taking my machine down to a friends house in Comcast area, done in 5 minutes with no problems.

As I said this is a territory wide problem as I have gone to other homes and business in area and they all have the same problem. Time for a class action I guess.

Equipment has all been changed out a few times and tried in other cable company areas, no problems so we know it is the company and the service.

member for 21 years, 117 visits, last login: 2.4 years ago
updated 6.1 years ago

etaadmin
join:2002-01-17
united state

etaadmin

Member

Confused?

What do you mean by Charter DSL? I understand Charter offers DOCSIS cable and not DSL which is a telco service.

How big was your download for it to take 24 hours? There must be a reason for your problems I can't believe the problem is city wide.

Review by EinNYC1 See Profile

  • Location: Flushing, Queens, NY, USA
  • Cost: $40 per month
Spectrum is AWFUL. Totally unreliable. Never know when going to have internet outage.
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I have internet-only with Spectrum, for $39.99/month. I have phone service with another company. I thank G-d for that. I would hate to rely on Spectrum for telephone service. It's bad enough to rely on them for connecting to the internet.

I started out with Time Warner as my ISP, with whom I had no problems except for mediocre speeds. Time Warner sold the business to Spectrum, which is a Charter company. Therefore, since my internet cables and such were already installed by Time Warner, I cannot comment on how Spectrum handled the process.

I have my own modem, an Arris Surfboard SBG6400, which was suggested by Time Warner as a modem which would work with their service.

Spectrum in NYC has had FOUR outages, lasting for hours, over the last month and a half. The last one affected so many NYC residents, it made the front page of a local newspaper. Some of the outages were due to vandalism by disgruntled electrical union employees, which demonstrates to me that Spectrum managers are third-rate at best. Tonight's 2 hour outage was claimed to be "maintenance". The rep on the telephone claimed that customers had been notified before the "maintenance". I sure was not notified.

As my father would have said, Spectrum is about as reliable as a broken arm. This number of outages in such a short time, affecting thousands of people in the NYC area, is not acceptable. If there is another reliable internet company offering service in NYC, I will look for it. When my internet service was supplied by Time Warner, it would be unusual to have an outage more than perhaps once a year. But Spectrum? SPECTRUM TOTALLY STINKS. BTW, can you imagine having your telephone service supplied by Spectrum, and not be able to phone for help in an emergency, thanks to their latest "outage"??

member for 9.6 years, 10 visits, last login: 2.1 years ago
updated 6.1 years ago