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I started out with Bresnan, which transitioned to Optimum West, and then to Charter. Brennan was a good provider but their system was falling behind some. When they sold out to Optimum I was stoked. They did make some improvements, but before they ever really fulfilled their potential they sold out to Charter. I was not happy. However, now that I have a good amount of time with them, I can truthly say they have really upgraded the area. My Internet speeds stay right at 65Mb on the 60Mb tier for download and 4.3Mb on the upload, which is advertised as 5Mb. »[Cable Speed test: 65.73/4.35 44 ms] »testmy.net/db/yQYucdLD2. ··· J8QzfWBX »speedof.me/show.php?img= ··· 9017.png The modem is a Cisco DCP3208 and the stats stay stable on the connection. The telephone service is good but shy on some of the features that we had under Bresnan and especially Optimum. They have some improvements scheduled to come online in March 2016. I have the Gold pkg for tv, which has been stable for the most part. Their customer service has declined somewhat with the changes from Bresnan to Optimum to Charter. If the user knows what he is doing it is ok. For the average user it can be a problem sometimes. The only real competition here is Century Link so they're the best thing in this area. member for 22.1 years, 11375 visits, last login: 1 day ago updated 3.8 years ago
I have the Spectrum 400/20 mbps service at my place in Tillamook. Spectrum provided a E31U2V1 DOCSIS 3.1 modem. Speed tests using SpeedTest.net to nearby high capacity test servers are giving 450/22 mbps speeds, and ping times under load remain reasonably low. I've had few or no service interruptions in the last year, so overall, service quality has been top-notch. $80/month for the high speed service with no data cap seems like a reasonable price as well. member for 3.9 years, 6 visits, last login: 2.1 years ago lodged 3.8 years ago
Spectrum delivers 200/10 most of the time. However, the network starts working intermittently between the same hours for weeks at a time. Currently during COVID-19, the network always dies between 4pm to 7pm. When it comes to pricing, Spectrum is awful compared to TWC. At least TWC gave loyalty discounts, Spectrum refuses to provide any discounts and has been raising the prices every few months. member for 3.8 years, driveby review (so far) lodged 3.8 years ago
The best speeds in my area that I know of, but still wish they were higher. member for 3.9 years, 10 visits, last login: 3.6 years ago lodged 3.8 years ago
I have had cable TV/internet/phone service with Charter-Spectrum for >12 years at three residences in the same area. I currently receive the Spectrum "ultra" tier internet service as part of a package for $50/mo + tax, fees. The price is ok, the service is generally reliable. My current provider equipment is an Arris TM1602. Customer service in terms of resolving connectivity or other issues over the years has been marginal to poor. We have had particular issues with the phone service. For example, each time we have moved, we were made to create a new account and change phone numbers. Sometimes the phone service is unavailable even though we have tv and internet connectivity. caller ID is a joke, little to no attempt is made to keep databases updated. On the plus side, Spectrum offers nomorobo for phone services. This radically cuts down on nuisance calls. Internet connectivity options available in the California central coast include charter cable, att dsl, satellite, resellers of cable & dsl, and point-to-point wireless in some locations. If there is coax to your house, this is easily the best local option. Basic diagnostic and troubleshooting skills are helpful, as their tech support leaves something to be desired. member for 21.3 years, 4 visits, last login: 3.7 years ago lodged 3.9 years ago
NOTE: in our area "Charter Cable" services are marketed under the brand name "Spectrum." So I use the term "Spectrum" here. Due to coronavirus outbreak, two of our kids had to return home from college and the third one -- a high school student -- had her classes cancelled. All switched to this whole "remote learning" thing and our DSL ISP, although perfect for my wife and me, cannot provided adequate bandwidth. No problem, right? Called Spectrum ISP on March 18th (Wed.) The sales rep (James) was very helpful in setting up the account. His supervisor (Kimberly) was also very nice and professional in helping us bundle Voice+Internet. We received the modem a few days later (March 21st), as promised, but this is when things started going downhill as it would not connect to Spectrum network. Called Spectrum customer service the same day we received the equipment. Tara (tech support rep) was professional and courteous, but could not troubleshoot the issue from her end. She scheduled us for a technician visit on Tuesday, March 24th. The technician arrived on time. He said his name was "Freddy." He was not rude or anything, but well... I just wish things would turn out differently. Freddy looked at the cable leading from the street pole to our house, said that it was damaged, seemed pretty unhappy about it, and said something to the extent "you should have let us know this was an installation job." I was very apologetic. This is the first time I heard this term. I said that I don't know what "installation job" means and that I honestly regret if it changes what needs to be done. Freddy then said that people who signed us up should have known better "instead of worrying about their commissions" (for some reason he felt very strongly about this and mentioned it several times). He looked at the wiring in our house, disconnected the wall plate that carries coaxial cable, Ethernet, and phone jacks, did some sort of testing, then informed me that the wiring in our house is old and wrong, and needs to be redone. At some point, while trying to sound consoling (I think) he noted that we still have a working DSL connection, that Spectrum now "has an open ticket for this area," and that "people [Spectrum customers] are not getting the internet speeds they expect anyway." He said that we must change coaxial wiring in our home and then give Spectrum a call afterwards for another technician visit. Then he left, leaving the dismounted wall plate only partially screwed to the wall with a coaxial cable unattached to inside of the wall socket adapter. One of my kids and I reconnected the coaxial cable to the back of the wall socket and, on advice of Freddy from Spectrum, I started calling local electricians about rewiring the house despite the fact that it is wired for Ethernet, phone, and coaxial cable. Two electricians said they could not come out till late next week and one laughed, in a good-natured sort of way, saying: "You really want me to rip out the existing cable out of your walls and attach the new one to the street pole that has no working connection to the network?" Good point, I thought. I called Spectrum and explained the problems we are having with installation. They sent another guy on Friday, March 27th. Really nice guy, but unfortunately his schedule was so busy, that he could only come towards the end of his workday, when it was already dark. He said that the work was placed under the wrong work-type. That it should have been scheduled as a "reconnection job" and that there is nothing he could do except reschedule it for following week. OK. I then spoke with Marcel at Spectrum dispatch, who got me a tech visit -- our THIRD (!) -- for Monday, March 30th, 1-2 p.m. This THIRD tech (Michael) left about 20 minutes before I sat down to write this. As it turned out, this time we not only got the wrong job, but also the wrong tech. Michael does not work for Spectrum. He is an independent contractor who helps Spectrum with minor issues, like "rescue modem hookup" (the way our job was listed in his cue), not repairing damaged connections between customers' houses and street poles carrying Spectrum network cables or figuring out how exactly the customer's house is wired with coaxial cable. See? (Did I mention that the house IS wired for phone/voice, Ethernet, and coaxial? I did? Twice? Sorry...) Now what? It's been almost two weeks since I contacted Spectrum. I have a Spectrum modem box sitting next to me as I type this. I dread the next 2 hours that I need to spend on hold listening to the robotic voice telling me that my "call is very important to us" just to get a return label and cancel the whole arrangement. Does anyone have any ideas? = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = UPDATE. Last night had our FOURTH visit from Charter/Spectrum technicians. This time there were two: a technician and a supervisor. Both were very nice, professional and competent. The connection at the level of the street pole got fixed and, as it turned out, contrary to the unequivocal conclusion of the first Spectrum tech, we did not need to REwire the entire house. I am truly grateful to the two guys who helped us yesterday. So, here are the results: -- It took an extra day and a bit of time on hold with Spectrum Customer Support to establish the functional phone service. The tech was very helpful. This had something to do with a thing called "porting." (Don't ask. I have no idea what that means.) -- The main phone hookup (i.e. phone + answering machine) cannot be located just anywhere in the house (as it was with DSL); it must be in the same room as the DOCIS modem. This is a pretty inconvenient as we can no longer have our answering machine in the same place we had it for years. It has to be where the computer and the modem are. DOES ANYONE HAVE A SUGGESTION FOR THIS ??? -- The usual configuration [wall socket] ----> [modem] ----> [desktop computer] does not work, as it does not generate the IP address. Functional configuration is [wall socket] ----> [modem] ----> [Wi-Fi ROUTER] ----> [desktop computer]. As the Spectrum technician explained before he left: the Spectrum modem cannot be used on its own; it requires a router to generate an IP address. -- Average download speed: ~ 35-50 Mbps (advertised 200 Mbps) -- Average upload speed: ~ 0.3 Mbps -- Time it took to get the service: 13 days -- Unresolved problems: yes. Attachments: member for 10 years, 16 visits, last login: 3.9 years ago updated 3.9 years ago
I'm in west central Georgia with 2 options for ISP, Windstream and Charter. I don't subscribe to any sort of TV or Phone service, only Internet. I chose Windstream first because, frankly, they have people on the phones who understand how to communicate over the phone. The problem was that Windstream couldn't deliver the goods (service), and I don't mean just a little off, I mean I was without useable service more often than I had service for 6 months. So, I switched to Charter. It was painful trying to get the service as the 'Direct' forum here had just been terminated (along with all the rest of the online department), I couldn't get the service ordered online for some reason (didn't recognize my address) and trying to do it over the phone was downright painful. Eventually, I made the 60 mile drive to the closest office.. Twice, because the renters that were in my home prior to my purchase had run up a big bill, and they wouldn't turn it on to this address without a copy of my deed. *rolls eyes* It was a headache and reminded me of why I went with Windstream in the first place. But once the order was made, I was live in 7 days. The tech called at the beginning of his "window" and told me he wouldn't make it to me till near the end of the "window", which was nice. He did the one simple outside connection, provisioned the modem and was on his way in 30 minutes. Since that time I have not had one problem that could be attributed to Charter. The service has worked exactly as advertised, and actually I'm receiving more than the 30Mbps on DL (38Mbps consistently through the day and over the course of weeks). I do Dread the day when I have to call in for support, Charter has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that their phone reps are incapable of doing even the most simple of tasks. And to me, the measure of a company is how they handle things when they go SNAFU, not that things can go right for awhile. Also not so pleased with the company trying to pass bills in the state of GA that would stop any other ISP from being able to develop and offer competition (including a municipal option) ~ but Windstream was in on that too. My bottom line right now is that I hate the politics of the company, feel that their front-line support (telephone) is beyond worthless but they're providing me service where my one other option wouldn't/couldn't. It's certainly a case of the lesser of 2 evils and I won't hesitate to jump ship if a viable alternative presents itself. *************************************** 11 month update For me to be happier with this service requires nit-picking. The worst of those nits are that my service, on about 3 occasions, has gone flaky for a couple hours. On one occasion I had complete DL bandwidth but next to no Upload and that played havoc on use. 2 other times one of my devices (there are 7 in my house) would constantly loose connection to either the router, or the internet ~ but my main HTPC (the only wired device) never had issues with playing Netflix through these. There have been a couple other issues, but a reboot of the modem cured them and are to be expected from time to time. The next nit is that I'd much rather be using my own modem and router. I tried running my router with their modem, but they did NOT play well together and I saw nothing but drastic reduction in speed (running custom firmware, tweaked to the moon to try and fix the issue, stock, standard customs, nothing helped). I want more control of what's going on than they allow. I haven't had issues with billing, it's just plain right. I haven't bothered with calling support because there's been no real need. Frankly, I haven't contacted them at ALL since the initial setup. They may fall flat on their face in that area, but I wouldn't know. Hope I never DO know, and even so, this service is infinitely better than Windstream, being the only other local ISP option outside of the heavily capped and expensive LTE services. ------------------------------------------------- I'm about 2.5 year in at this point The above 11 month update is still pretty much spot on, there are only little things here and there (rarely) that I can find issue with. The weird UL issue vanished when I changed homes (moved about 1.5 miles), so I'm thinking it was either the run to the house or the modem (canceled that account, opened one in my wife's name to get the discount again). And in that same process they started charging for the router, but wouldn't take their old one back, so I hacked it (if you have a WNDR3800CH, openwrt is the only game in town) to add the functionality I'd wanted earlier. All in all, I really can't complain about the service. It's solid, reliable, more than I need/use while providing overhead for growth. Sure, I'd rather pay less but given my 2 options, it's a no-brainer to stick with Charter. --------------------------------------------------- Well, as the saying goes "anyone can run a good business when everything's running smooth, but the real test in how they handle the bad times". Charter, you couldn't possibly fail worse. 3/10/2020 my internet starts going down randomly, 5 minutes at a pop with the Worst of times showing 3~5 minutes between outages (so down more than half the time) and the best going an hour between outages. Make a call, get a tech the next day who shrugs and says it's not on my end and he'll escalate and that someone should be calling me. I wait through a week of this, giving them the benefit of the doubt. Then COVID-19, call hold times hit 50~60 minutes so it is Extra miserable to be dealing with this... but I call, and hold. They send out another tech who says the can't find Anything wrong. More outages, another hour long call, phone person says they SEE line outages at my modem despite the in-person tech claiming nothing wrong. 2 more techs who claim nothing wrong but replace the modem. That bought me 3~4 hours before the problems started again. Called, waited another hour on hold, got the CS to push me to a supervisor who simply hung up on me (thankfully the CS setup the next tech already). Tech shows up and says he can see all sorts of line issues, replaces a few pieces (that were less than a year old) and leaves... this time the outage was solid for hours, managed 80 minutes on hold this go-round... Then I wondered why the heck I was putting so much effort into this. I have another option, sure I'm spending about the same per month for Vastly less throughput, but I don't NEED 200mbps. So I used my phone to order the replacement. Charter simply failed to step up, over 3 weeks, and fix their sh!t. The "notes" recorded that I hear were all incomplete and downright Wrong. the on-site techs put in the minimum effort, essentially "phoning it in" since it's apparently not a straightforward issue ~ and the phone techs were beyond worthless. An hour of wait time for "yup, your modem is out, I'll send a tech" `well, no sh!t my modem is out and I need a tech. I'm sure sometime in the future Windstream will piss me off (again) and I'll be back to Charter, but I can't stomach them anymore at this point. member for 19.7 years, 3933 visits, last login: 316 days ago updated 3.9 years ago
Received Spectrum 200Mb package with tv. Never once have I seen 200. Best has been 145. Usually around 80-95. Install was self-install. Not an issue since I have done installs with dsl and fios. Arris TM1602 router-no wifi!! Had to get my own-Netgear. Would have gotten Fios if avilable-had it for 10 yrs until I moved where its not available. Soon as I get avalability for a fibre based provider I will ditch Spectrum. Its almost comical that I can tell when my neighbors are using internet because my connection just stalls......................... member for 4 years, 7 visits, last login: 3.9 years ago lodged 4 years ago
no negative issues with internet services however cable tv is another story. But they allow roku access so i don't have to rent 5 more boxes. member for 23.4 years, 380 visits, last login: 4 years ago updated 4 years ago
member for 4.7 years, 2702 visits, last login: a few hours ago updated 4 years ago
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