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Review by SCLUCAS 
member for 123 days, 5 visits, last login: 4 days ago
updated 4 days ago
 Wilbraham,Hampden,MA
 $65 per month- (12 month contract)
 "On-site technicians are good." "Off-site support, connection reliability and costs are unacceptable." "If I had other choices, I wouldn't choose Charter."
| Pre Sales information:
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(ratings below consensus)
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I live in a town (Wilbraham, MA) that made a 10-year, exclusive Cable/Internet deal with Charter. As a result, Charter holds a monopoly position on Cable/Internet for the town. Only other options are satellite for Cable, and small DSL providers for internet.
The biggest complaint I have is connectivity reliability. I run the fastest - 30mbps service that Charter offers. I get no where near this level of service (ethernet or wireless). What is totally unacceptable are the daily drops in service. Every single day (weekdays and weekends), our internet service goes out right around 3 PM until 8-9PM. I've been told this is due to peak bandwidth usage that occurs when students get out of school and max out network. While this makes some sense, it is totally unacceptable. This is clearly a Charter, infrastructure issue. If I use my Verizon 4G wireless card at the same time the Charter service is down, I have no issues at all.
I'm not left with any other alternatives, other than use my wireless card, and pay for that service on top of the Charter ISP. Very frustrating, but I am out of other options.
Comments:
 Reviews:
 ·Charter
| Good Luck I'm 8+ months into a similar problem with Charter in my neighborhood. I've had 14 technicians out to my house -- all of them found that there was no problem in my house, of course. I've gotten to the regional supervisor, who confirms that there's a capacity problem in my neighborhood. He keeps promising that it will be fixed by a certain date...then, when that date comes and goes, he explains that there was some complication and sets a new date.
My suggestion is to keep calling them, preferably EVERY time you have a problem. Hammer them for refunds and hammer them to fix the problem. | |
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Review by neilcar
member for 160 days, 12 visits, last login: 4 days ago
updated 5 days ago
- Stanley,Gaston,NC
- $80 per month
- "When it's up, it works"
- "Poor reliability, poor support, poor service"
- "If I had another choice, I would take it"
| Pre Sales information:
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I've had Charter for 7+ years now. Unfortunately, in my neighborhood, low-speed DSL is the only alternative so I don't have an actual choice.
When Charter is up, I have reasonably reliable service and throughput; however, about every six months, I have a problem (either I lose my connection intermittently or my throughput stinks -- I'm getting ~1-2Mbps right now with a ton of dropped frames).
When I have a problem, technical support is useless. Their tech support is limited to:
1. Restart your modem.
2. Restart your computer (Charter apparently doesn't understand ipconfig /release /renew -- "You have to restart your computer to get the new settings, sir.")
3. Oh, you're hooked up to a router? Well, unplug that and plug directly into the modem. Now, reboot the modem again. And your computer.
4. That's not it? Well, disable the firewall on your computer. (Of course that's unsafe. Do it anyway -- it could be the problem.)
5. No? Oh, well, clear out your cookies and temporary internet cache.
6. That didn't fix it? Well, we'll have to send a technician out. Of course, they're only available while you're at work.
Every time I have a problem, I end up going through this cycle 2-3 times before somebody finally fixes the problem. The problem is never in my premises -- it's always a network problem. And it always requires me to go back through this song and dance repeatedly, come home from the office to meet them repeatedly, and generally waste my time to troubleshoot their network.
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2012-11-11 update
Charter has now sent 4 people to my house and another 3 line techs. They still haven't fixed the problem.
On the plus side, my phone calls now get auto-escalated. When I enter my phone number into the automated system, it automatically says "Let me transfer you to somebody", then transfers me to a tech that isn't using their script. So, at least now, I can tell them that they're still failing in a fraction of the time.
2012-12-14 update
Technician #10 came out today. He arrived with no knowledge about what my problem was or what work had been done by the previous 9 guys. He said "Oh, well, if the problem isn't happening right now and normally happens later in the day, I guess we'll just reschedule this" and left.
2013-03-25 The problems continue. At this point, I have had fourteen different Charter technicians out to the house. I'm in touch with Nathan, the local service supervisor.
Nathan promised that capacity for my neighborhood would be fixed/increased on March 8th. I'm guessing nobody is surprised that this hasn't happened.
Called Nathan on the following Friday. Oh, yeah, that's a lot more difficult than he thought it would be. But he would like to send one of his technicians out so that he has a paper trail so that he can give me credit on my account when this is finally fixed. By March 28th, he's sure.
Guy comes out to house. Points out that the neighbors at the end of the street have an unburied cable running across their yard and this is probably my problem. (No, guy, this is because they, too, keep having problems and one of the guys who came out to their house thought it might be that cable EVEN THOUGH IT'S NOT.) Guy assures me that getting this cable buried, which he is going to go ask somebody to do RIGHT NOW, will fix my problem.
Y'all can see the fallacy of the cable company promising me anything, right?
Then, on Saturday, Charter calls me to ask me to upgrade my Internet connectivity. No, really, Jennifer tells me, "did you know that you could get 30Mbps for less than you're currently paying for 20Mbps?" I explained to Jennifer that she was trying to sell me something that she clearly DID NOT actually possess. This degenerated for awhile into defining fraud and determining whether it applied to this offer.
Tonight, I have a conference call at 2200, something that I would normally do over Voice-over-IP. So...my current download speed is running around 400Kbps. I called to complain and, apparently, offended the young lady I talked to when I questioned how unplugging the coax would help.
"It makes it request a new IP address, sir. *huff*"
"Ummm, no, it doesn't. Power cycling the modem does that."
"*huff* It makes it get a _better_ IP address, then."
"Is there a DHCP DISCOVER option for 'better IP address' that I'm unaware of?"
"*huffhuffhuff* Sir, I told you what it does. I'm not going to argue about it."
At some point, I'm going to see what it would cost to run 20 miles of coax to anywhere that I could get Internet connectivity from somebody else.
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2013-04-03 Update
In spite of Nathan, the local supervisor, promising that capacity upgrades would be done on 2013-03-28, I'm still seeing slow speeds during primetime hours. I called Nathan again on Monday and his explanation was that the work _he_ was responsible for was done but there was additional work ongoing and he didn't know when it would be finished.
Yesterday, he promised me that the person responsible for the other work was going to be in town today and that they were going to draw up a plan to get me/my neighborhood temporary relief. He's supposed to call me again today to confirm what these plans are and when they'll be complete.
This is the third round of promises from Nathan -- he promised 2013-03-08, then 2013-03-28, and now I'm promised some unknown date in the future.
Comments:
Reviews:
 ·DIRECTV
| Seems to be SOP for them when problem is clearly THEIRS! I have noticed this too, instead of denying a Charter network issue, like they always seem to do, and waste their own time and money sending a tech out to our homes which solves nothing, why not just be honest and professional by informing the customer about the reality of the situation. I can promise you that I am much more understanding of such issues when they arise then being lied to about where the problem is. Honestly is the best policy. | |
| |  ch
@charter.com | Re: Seems to be SOP for them when problem is clearly THEIRS! Charter has funny rules as far as that goes in regards to sending a system technician out to fix the main lines or network. They require a normal technician to go out first, get the readings and then they can setup to have a system technician come out and fix whatever outside issue is causing it to happen. If we would, we would gladly schedule line techs to come out in customer service when you call in but unfortunately we're locked down as far as that goes. | |
| | | Reviews:
·Charter
| Re: Seems to be SOP for them when problem is clearly THEIRS! "Charter has funny rules about providing quality service to their customer. We find it more important to waste your time so that we can save money."
If you have to use 'rules' as an explanation to me for why you can't solve my problem more quickly and with less interruption, then your rules aren't helping you provide customer service. They're helping you save money at my expense. | |
| | | | Reviews:
·Charter
| Re: Seems to be SOP for them when problem is clearly THEIRS! said by neilcar:"Charter has funny rules about providing quality service to their customer. We find it more important to waste your time so that we can save money."
If you have to use 'rules' as an explanation to me for why you can't solve my problem more quickly and with less interruption, then your rules aren't helping you provide customer service. They're helping you save money at my expense.
This is just about my feeling. Its ok, their lack of response and inability to correct their issues is goint to cost them 130.00 a month from me. I'm unfortunately stuck using them for HSI, but as for TV, I'm off to Direct TV, | |
| | | | rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | In any business there are procedures that are designed to govern how things operate. If we consider your comments with respect to the medical field, does it make sense to create a flock of general practitioners who are also heart surgeons? Would you want to pay a heart surgeon to prescribe cold medicine or steroids for some kind of inflammation/allergic reaction? I'm certainly not saying a general practitioner isn't a smart cookie but they have "front line" role and they defer to specialists after they make some kind of initial diagnosis.
I understand this takes longer to get things fixed but all businesses address problems with those most likely to fix them. That means the front-line tech is generally able to solve problems and the 20% of calls where they cannot, it does inconvenience the customer but I don't think it's rational to expect someone who can trench a new wire, install new pole hardware, replace a pedestal amp, tune the neighborhood segment and diagnose inside wiring problems. That's probably several different roles and specialists within the tech services group and it would be difficult train and staff a "do it all" tech. For one, the guy who specializes in more difficult tasks, likely doesn't want to bother listening to grandma describe what's going wrong with her cable TV picture. If he/she had to put up with customers all day, he'd probably leave and do something else. | |
| | | | | | | Re: Seems to be SOP for them when problem is clearly THEIRS! Many businesses empower their employees to do a lot in the name of customer service. Cable companies however have decided it's better to centralize support and have "customers" only talk to tier-1 support which the company treats as mind-numbed robots incapable of independent thought. They're simply given scripts to follow with respect to customers. Many times they're not even in this country and most likely India.
I'd like to see a cable company allow a customer to talk to tier 2 and above support at tier 1's discretion if they even have another level. What's the point of sending a tech to a place over and over again if it's obviously a line problem that the tech can't fix. I've had techs forced to come over when the local office was aware that an outage was scheduled maintenance. I guess it's cheaper to abuse the subcontracted techs and hire phone monkeys than to pay for somebody to do real troubleshooting.
What really should happen is the support should again be decentralized and at the local office. The local guys always know more about what's happening with their system and could provide better support than what we're now getting. | |
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| | OMG What a Frustrating Call So the Charter service for Internet has gone back to choppy and inconsistent as usual. I have to flip flop between AT&T and Charter as a regular course of business. Each lasts about three months before deciding my patronage isn't worth the trouble to actually keep me connected.
Of course, both corporations claim the problem is with my D-Link router. Of course they run me through the same nonsense that they run everyone through. You know, 1. restart your computer, 2. power cycle modem, 3. oh you have a router, please connect directly to the router, 4. we can't help you if you don't comply, 5. I convince them to reset the modem (again) 6. magically online again without changing anything on my end 7. argue with them about where the fault is, again, and again, and again, and again...
This time I connected to the Louisville Kentucky call center and ended up talking with Megan. She was incapable of understanding that I was using a router that was hardwired to a gigabit network. She insisted that I was connecting wirelessly. I don't really think she even knew what TCP/IP stood for. Really, she was that clueless.
About halfway through the call I hear someone else's voice coaching her on what to say (all of which was designed to get me off the phone and plant responsibility on D-Link and not Charter). I didn't play. I demanded to speak with the person actually giving me the information and asked him, his name was Karl, why they were playing games when the problem is clearly not on my end.
He said something along the lines relative to me unplugging the router and connecting wirelessly and I interrupted him to remind him that I didn't change anything, and I wasn't connecting wirelessly. He was unphased. He just continued talking right over me and ignoring everything I had to say.
I'm hoping his supervisor, Fred (supposedly) will be in tomorrow so I can give him an earful and see about maybe getting some reliability for the price I'm paying. He didn't give me a direct number so I'm hoping I can find the guy through the corporate number.
If I could get the 100MB/s anywhere else (or faster) I'd jump ship and never look back. But every time I head to AT&T, they pull the same games. Currently Charter has the faster offering so here I am. I resent that I'm only allowed two choices. Prices would be lower and services would be higher if they actually had real competition. | |
| | | Ex charter tech 2012-11-11 update
Charter has now sent 4 people to my house and another 3 line techs. They still haven't fixed the problem.
On the plus side, my phone calls now get auto-escalated. When I enter my phone number into the automated system, it automatically says "Let me transfer you to somebody", then transfers me to a tech that isn't using their script. So, at least now, I can tell them that they're still failing in a fraction of the time.
2012-12-14 update
Technician #10 came out today. He arrived with no knowledge about what my problem was or what work had been done by the previous 9 guys. He said "Oh, well, if the problem isn't happening right now and normally happens later in the day, I guess we'll just reschedule this" and left.
When I worked as a lead tech all we could do is just setup techs. We know the issue isn't at the house we know its on the line. However per policy we setup a tech he goes out sets up a line tech that line tech then go's OHHH we need to fix this asks his supervisor if it's in budget he goes ya /na and that's how it gets fixed. I watch many people be down intermittently for months because the email back from the area is waiting for budget next year to fix this issue.
Some areas are different but, the ones that used to be able to get into the cmts and find these issues are all but, gone from charter. Charter has managers looking for bonuses and anyone that talks out against something is then forced to quit or wrongfully terminated. Good luck on getting the issue fixed ever since outage management was moved from Kentucky the new team just doesn't know how to find intermittent issues to peoples homes.
One more thing. When we lost the outage management to the new guys they asked us why Alabama was having issues. I told them dns. Next day I come in they asked night shift again where the calls are coming from and why Alabama has half the state calling in. I said dns. The response from them whats dns? Good luck! | |
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Review by armed
member for 12.4 years, 3051 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 7 days ago
- Carson City,Carson City,NV
- $164 per month
- "Its fast when it wants to be"
- "Night time speeds are very bad"
- "Its was great for awhile but night time speed drops have devalued the service"
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Speed ordered is 30MBs down. But it is all over the place... highest was 42 and lowest was 2 MBs..
Got triple play replacing ATT landline and DSL. Total cost with TV and phone including taxes is $164/month. Thats a $15/month savings with faster speed.
The phone and TV are fine but Internet is not all that stable yet.
Update: The Interent stability is fixed and the speed is in the low 40'sMps. I'm happy.
Oh, I got their free cloud storage service. 10 TB and no cost because we went triple play. I like that service... a lot!
Update 4/1/13: Ever since install the night time speed has been less than the 30 MBs (mostly about 10-15-MBs) but the last month I see drastic speed cuts at night. Most nights it drops to 2 MBs and sometimes down to 1.5MBs. I didn't complain before because the speed was at least 50% faster than my old DSL. But these new low speeds are a drag and its time to start squeaking like an ungreased wheel, 
Oh, the unlimited online backup is history for new subscribers now... but it was very slow for uploads anyway.
Comments:
| | 10TB? How can one have 10TB cloud storage? the bandwidth cap is 250GB a month.... | |
| | Reviews:
·Charter
| Re: 10TB? You know they don't seem to be enforcing it. One rep said they won't on this. I don't know but its way beyond my needs anyway. I have all my music and pictures backed up there and my wife's documents. Total about about 40 gigs so far. Its not an issue for me as I won't exceed 250 gigs a month anyway.
Last night I backed up my Garmin GPS at about 6 gigs. It took about 5 hrs since upload is much slower( 4Mps). So up loading 10 TB would be a time problem. LOL
It so far is a nice surprise that I didn't expect much from. Their program seems to work well and it even has the storage cloud acting like a system drive so you can drag and drop files into it and it automatically uploads it. Plus they have an automatic backup program that works much like windows automatic backup.
It is serving as my redundant off site backup that I have been looking for. And with Triple play it free to boot.
Here's how it shows in the Windows Explorer window:
BTW I used to read you a lot when you were active on the Millinium board. | |
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| |  Slow Charter speed
Fast forward to Jan 2013. No interrnet. Squirrels? Yes. Technician replaced 5 ft of cable that had (10) squirrel bites in it.
I am still convinced another section has been on the squirrels' dinner plate. | |
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Review by FXDI
member for 14 days, 1 visits, last login: 5 days ago
lodged 14 days ago
- Smithfield,Isle Of Wight,VA
- $50 per month
- "Not much ..."
- "Internet service unusable during evenings & weekends"
- "Not worth paying for if you need evening or weekend internet access."
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We have 30Mbps internet service and phone having recently disconnected cable TV service due to constant price increases from Charter. Internet may be the next to go as speeds over the last month and a half have steadily declined during the evening hours and weekends. Speeds during the day remain between 20 & 30 Mbps but between 5 and 11 pm drop to 1 to 3 Mbps with lots of packet loss. Multiple calls to Charter & several service visits have failed to resolve the problem although they have admitted the problem is not in our home or neighborhood but affects a larger area. One of the techs who came out (twice) told me he had seen a company memo that the slow speeds in our area were from having too many subscribers for their infrastructure. My last call to charter confirmed what they called a "head problem" but they refused to speculate when the issue would be resolved.
Comments:
Reviews:
·Charter
| Your neighborhood is oversubscribed? Hey, mine too! I'm in the same boat -- I'm about eight months into the latest problem. Unfortunately, in my area, there's not another serious Internet provider...
My suggestion is to call in every time you have a problem. Keep hammering on them, over and over and over. I'm not sure it'll actually solve your problem (it hasn't for me, yet)... | |
| | Reviews:
·Charter
| Re: Your neighborhood is oversubscribed? Hey, mine too! Been calling weekly with little results. I've been promised follow-up multiple times with no result ... when I call back they claim they did follow-up. I'm beginning to think Charter's primary corporate value is dishonesty. Today they said they are "monitoring" the issue and are aware of it but have no projected solution. They laughed at me when I asked if I should contact the BBB or the FCC. I'm tempted to canvass my neighborhood; they've credited me $40 for slow speed ... maybe if every family in my area called and demanded the same they'd get off their duffs. They get a few more weeks and I'll pull the plug on their internet and phone service like I did for TV. | |
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Review by alfonzotan
member for 4 years, 20 visits, last login: 15 days ago
updated 15 days ago
- Smyrna,Cobb,GA
- $39 per month
- (12 month contract)
 about 3 days- "Fast, installation not a hassle"
- "Alleged d/l caps, pricing is ridiculous, service drops in bad weather"
- "It's cable."
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I've had Charter HSI in the past, and went back to them recently after AT&T DSL pissed me off one too many times. Pricing is $29/month for 16-megabit service; it goes up to something like $67 after that... Given that ATT is advertising $19.99/month for dry-line 8Mbps DSL, Charter can either keep me at the $29 price or lose me back to DSL once the intro rate expires--and Charter, you can forget charging a $10 fee for not having cable TV. I'm not paying it.
Installation was simple, two (very polite) bubbas came out to do the hookup. They checked the signal level at my modem and added a line booster, and stuck around while I did a couple of speed tests. No complaints, but free installation (I talked Charter down from $50 to $25) would have been nice. Speeds have varied depending on the test server from 12 Mpbs to 23 Mbps(!), and unlike AT&T, I haven't had a service dropout yet.
From what I understand Charter isn't enforcing their published download caps. If they ever start, they'll lose me that day.
UPDATE: Only took four days before I remembered why I dropped Charter... one thunderstorm rolls through last night, and bam, no service for several hours. Calling "support," got me through to a foreign country and a drone who wanted me to go through the whole reconnect-the-modem goat rope. I called back, got an American, reported the outage without further incident. Service was back up this morning. Entertainingly, my DirecTV signal was 5x5 the whole time...
UPDATE: After two years with a fixed-price deal, the price went up to $57/month for 15 megs. Called to tell them that was too much, got an incredibly rude rep who basically told me to take it or leave it. She's definitely from the old school of cable no-service. Called back the next day, different rep (with actual manners) offered me $39/month for 30 megs (which is now the current low end). I almost dropped them for a month to get the $29 newbie deal, but figured it wasn't worth the hassle to go back and forth to the even-worse phone company DSL.
Interestingly, given Charter's recent "you must use our modem" policy, the second rep made no effort to send me one, and was happy to notate all over my account that I'm still using my own hardware (which she'd already checked as compatible with my current service). We'll see how well that works out when I eventually drop them again. The last time, several years ago, I got nastygrams and threatening calls for months telling me to return a rented modem when I'd never rented one in the first place...
Comments:
zed2608Premium
join:2007-09-30
Cleveland, TN
kudos:1 | call and ask about price gurentee you can lock in 29.99 price for 2 years | |
| | | | Re: call and ask about price gurentee Yeah, they mentioned that, but they want an ETF. No thanks. | |
| | zed2608Premium
join:2007-09-30
Cleveland, TN
kudos:1 | the etf is 75 dollors and its prorated it beats paying the full price but suit yourself | |
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zed2608Premium
join:2007-09-30
Cleveland, TN
kudos:1
1 edit | when you call in to it say cancel service to the machine instead of saying internet truble your get to person who speaks english in no time
ask them to put note on account about outage and then when outage is cleared call back and you will 90 plus percent of time get a credit for it | |
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Review by megarock
member for 11.7 years, 370 visits, last login: 6 days ago
updated 22 days ago
- Pacific,Franklin,MO
- $29 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 1 days
- "No speed issues, decent package price"
- "I think your tech actually works for AT&T..."
- "Billing issues and now no support via any social media = F rating."
| Pre Sales information:
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(ratings well below consensus)
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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.
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Review by Ocdman2
member for 23 days, 0 visits, last login: 23 days ago
lodged 23 days ago
- Mcdonough,Henry,GA
- $165 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 7 days
- "Unreliable speeds, frequent drops"
- "Use as last option"
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The issues I have experienced
The sales speed is 15mbs, I never have hit that speed. I usually average 7mbs, but frequently run closer to 3mbs. When calling charter, it's the same script...lets unplug your router, we must restart your computer... Never any real concern or technical review.
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 Review by nunya
member for 12.2 years, 5249 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 23 days ago
- O Fallon,Saint Charles,MO
- $55 per month
- "Good speeds. Not much else."
- "Foreign Tech / Cust. service - hard to understand, install fee"
- "Charters new management is wrecking the company."
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I ordered the 10/1 package bundled with video services. This is not my first dance with Charter. We've had a very tumultuous relationship for the last 18 years (I actually used to work there many, many moons ago). I requested a "Pole Only" installation this time due to various quality problems with installs in the past.
I supplied my own Motorola SB6120 rather than rent. When I called to get the modem activated, I had a very difficult time understanding the fellow on the other end. He kept wanting to schedule a tech appointment. I finally got everything going via Charters online services.
The speeds I'm receiving are near +/- the advertised speeds. Ping times seem to be a little longer than my DSL service, but shouldn't affect VoIP. This is day 1, so I will update later.
***
Update: I got my first bill and it wasn't as described on the phone. I was also told by other members that 10/1 is actually 10/2 now. So I posted in the "Charter Direct" forum (just regarding the speed) and received an almost instant response. It looks like everything is squared away. I bumped my "Tech support" rating up to *3* from a *1* based solely on the Charter support made available through this site.
***
Update: 3/7/11
It was about the time for my bill to magically increase after a one year term. I was able to post on Charter Direct here on BBR and get fixed back to a similar price point. No calling and waiting on hold to reach the right department. No trying to decipher foreign tech support.
For Charter having this tool available on BBR, I have raised my "tech support" rating.
***
Update 12/06/11
Got an upload increase. Speeds are good. I've had 2 major outages this year that were due to hardware failures in the OSP, one lasting 24 hours. The only major complaint I have with Charter at this time is their usage caps.
***
10/06/12
Earlier this year, I canceled the TV portion of the service and upgraded to 100/5 for $60/mo. I'm happy with the service at this price. The only reason I went with the 100/5 package is because of the usage caps. Otherwise 30 would have been fine for me. I'm very disappointed in Charters new pricing system and modem policy (I own my own modem and like it that way). From what I can gather, My bill will be increasing to around $100 / mo. when my term expires. I also understand that there is no longer any pricing flexibility for existing customers, so it looks like I'll have to consider different options in the near future.
I have had several outages since my last update. Some only lasting minutes, others lasting hours. One was caused by a contract installer working on the neighbors house.
***
Update 3/16/13
Last month, Charter arbitrarily raised my bill 1/2 way through our agreement. I decided to downgrade to the 30/4 plan. It's quite clear that Charter is essentially "chasing" customers off of the 100/5 plan by any means they see fit to use. I'm very disappointed in the ways Charter has changed since coming under new management.
I'm taking away stars for connection reliability, tech support, and value. Since Charter decided to eradicate all forms of tech support except call-in, they don't deserve a decent rating. The service is losing value as well.
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Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
 Review by Killa200
member for 7.3 years, 2000 visits, last login: a few minutes ago
updated 38 days ago
- Southeast TN
- $74 per month
- (24 month contract)
- about 10 days
- "100 meg service for 74.99 was a great offer."
- "Peak time slow downs, and the company doesn't know how to follow a binding contract!"
- "Pay what you pay now, and expect no guarantees no matter what your told."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
Today was my last day on the old billing cycle before the 100meg tier jumped up by $15.
I was on a 24month price guarantee that had my base rate at $34.99 a month, but since that only affects the base rate, my bill was going to go up anyways. Called in to drop my service down to 30 meg because honestly, $75 a month is the max i felt the 100 meg service in this area was worth. She processed my downgrade, and just like that I was told it instantly nulled my 24 month guarantee, and that i would now have to pay the base rate of 54.99 a month which is the current pricing for 30 meg service.
Have to love how the customer is the only one that has to follow the contract you sign into.... maybe I should send them a bill for them terminating the contract early?
Comments:
| next page (previous review)
 Review by Xenomorph
member for 12.8 years, 1432 visits, last login: 5 days ago
updated 38 days ago
- Saint Louis,Saint Louis,MO
- $58 per month
- "Speed is great - *IF* your connection even works."
- "If your connection is having problems, good luck getting it fixed."
- "You're in for a world of hurt if something isn't right."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings well below consensus)
|
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.
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
| |
| 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/ | |
| | | | | 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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Any knowledge?
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