ke4pym
join:2004-07-24
Charlotte, NC
 ·Verizon BroadbandA..
 ·Packet8
 ·RoadRunner Cable
1 edit | [TWC] Help - inside contacts TWC - Charlotte
Does anyone have any inside contacts at TWC - Charlotte?
In September, TWC put a new trunk down at the street. After my connection was switched over to this new trunk, my download speeds went down hill (upload isn't affected).
I started calling in early October and had techs come out. This was on again, off again until late January when I started noticing a trend of speed reduction as the day got cooler.
Since March I have had 3 or 4 lead techs come out. In early April the line to my home was replaced to deal with signal loss. Once that was fixed, a packet loss problem was identified. I had another tech out this past Friday (and I have another one scheduled to come out on Wednesday).
They keep telling me the line crew comes out and finds nothing. Which, at the time of day they come out, they won't find anything. My connection speed is fine from 3am until around 5:30pm. After that, it is all down hill. So, the line crew closes the call as though nothing happened.
Last night, at around 8:30pm I had a 512/470 speed test (on a line that is supposed to be 10/512).
When the techs do come out, they test the line at the pedistal. Normally, they tell me, they like to see a 0.2% (or less) packet loss. On Friday night, we were seeing 2% and I was getting around 1.7Mbps down.
I have asked repeatedly to speak with management and so far my pleas have been denied.
I managed to get a supervisor's name and number but so far he's not returned my calls.
I am to the point where I am ready to ditch TWC. However, I have no alternative for broadband other than my Verizon card. And that isn't supposed to be used full time. I could call AT&T. But because I'm so far away from the CO the best they tell me I can get is about 2-3Mbps for around $60/mo (including land line). |
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scots
Can we have Twinkies?
Premium
join:1999-12-06
Raleigh, NC
 ·AT&T U-Verse
·ooma
·RoadRunner Cable
·AT&T CallVantage
4 edits | Try what I did here in Raleigh...
I had a problem a few years ago where my internet would go completely out every time it rained or was really damp outside. I then found out the same thing was happening to my neighbor at the exact same times. I called and called and called. They replaced my modem, the line from the pole to my house, all the wiring inside my house, and it still kept happening. Usually by the time a tech would come out (which was normally a day or more after I called) it would be working fine again.
I finally got totally fed up with the whole situation after it went on for over a year. I went to the web site for the Raleigh/Durham (now Eastern Carolina) division and looked for every single e-mail address I could find anywhere on the site. I sent an e-mail to every e-mail address I could find and even made up a few just to see if they'd go anywhere...help@, support@, info@, webmaster@, security@, etc. I also included the sales rep and some other people that my work dealt with at the time for our business account with TWC. In the e-mail I gave exact details with dates and everything (I had been keeping a "journal") from the time the problems had started until the current time. I threatened them with contacting the BBB, the City of Raleigh franchise authority, the NC Attorney General's Consumer Protection division, the FCC, the FTC, and any other office or acronym I could think of that had even the slightest to do with cable TV, broadcasting, consumer protection, etc if they didn't have the problem fixed within one week's time.
Within 30 minutes (or might have been even quicker) I had 3 or 4 people from the Raleigh TWC office all trying to call me at the same time, and one of them was a tech that was on his way to my house right then and wanted to know what street he needed to turn on off the main road to get to my house. That was while I was on my lunch break from work, and I think they had the problem fixed by the end of the day if I recall correctly. I later found out that my e-mail had made its way up to the vice president of the Raleigh/Durham TWC division. The problem was at the main line coming into my neighborhood, which they apparently had failed to check before then. My connection and speeds have been rock solid since that time. |
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ke4pym
join:2004-07-24
Charlotte, NC | I will do that, thank you for the tip!
I have another tech coming out tonight. Hopefully, I'll get lucky and they'll be able to fix the problem. |
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scots
Can we have Twinkies?
Premium
join:1999-12-06
Raleigh, NC | No problem...and obviously, you would send your e-mails (if your problem isn't fixed tonight and it gets to that point) to people at the Charlotte division rather than the Eastern Carolina (Raleigh) division. |
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e36
@rr.com
| I'm having similar problems with services as well. Laggy picture and audio on cable and internet has started going in and out. Have had several techs out and they say it has to be the main box as there is nothing wrong in our home. They'll send a mainline tech to look and I dont hear anything else and nothing is fixed just moves to another channel, so I call and continue the process again finally gave up in OCT. Internet going out was the last straw for us. Modem seems fine as well. TWC customer service is awful. I had one CSR act like a supervisor yesterday. I didnt find out until I called back looking for a regional or national number to complain about charlotte division in general as this has gone on for so long. When a real supervisor came on and realized that the supervisor that I talked to last time was actually the CSR and that she never transfered me. They are sending another tech out tomorrow but I expect nothing to be fixed. Already plan on dropping cable and now looking into windstream. Some of the problems have gone on since installation about a year and half or more. They even double charged us $800 one month and took me 3 months to get it cleared up. Called during a funeral I told them the charges are false and I'm at a funeral they refused to hang up and wanted my credit number to pay and then they would let me go. I hung up on them and filed a complaint after. Our installer actually forgot his appointment and didnt show up until 9 that night. TWC has been nothing but problems for us since day one. Should have canceled long ago but my family has used them since cable came out it was all I knew. Now that windtsream may have faster speeds I'm defiantly looking into them. The new cable menu isnt all that good ether defiantly preferred the passport menu over this new one. Thats my story if in charlotte stay away for TWC. |
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xxTRAGEDYxx
join:2008-03-14
Kannapolis, NC
 ·Windstream
·RoadRunner Cable
| Windstream "MAY" have faster speeds?? NO, Windstream "DOES" have faster speeds. One of their packages have faster upstream & downstream speeds. and the other just has faster upstream speeds. Although, it does depend on where you live, and where you're at in regards to the dslam..but still faster nonetheless..and it's
C H E A P E R too!!! |
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ke4pym
join:2004-07-24
Charlotte, NC
·Verizon BroadbandA..
·Packet8
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to ke4pym
Yeah, Windstream isn't exactly going to help me.
They don't service this area. Plus the DeathStar says I can only get something on the order of 1.5Mbps because I'm so far away from the CO. Then I have to pay for phone service that I wouldn't use on top of that.
Anyway, tech came out, found packet loss all the way back up to the main road. Allegedly they were going to fix it by Saturday. Still, nothing.
Fired off an email to every email address I could find. Most of them bounced. Support made it through and got a reply.
I just did a speed test off their server and got a whopping 959kbps.
Not sure what it is about the day cooling off. But it is horking something up wonderfully. |
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xxTRAGEDYxx
join:2008-03-14
Kannapolis, NC
·Windstream
·RoadRunner Cable
| whats the deathstar?? What part of Clt do you live. Off of what main road?? It doesn't matter if you're far from the CO, if theres a RT somewhere closer.
You should go to WS's site & put in your number. If it says you qualify, you can probably get better speeds than with RR. The WS site is a little inaccurate. |
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ke4pym
join:2004-07-24
Charlotte, NC
·Verizon BroadbandA..
·Packet8
·RoadRunner Cable
| said by xxTRAGEDYxx  :whats the deathstar?? What part of Clt do you live. Off of what main road?? It doesn't matter if you're far from the CO, if theres a RT somewhere closer. You should go to WS's site & put in your number. If it says you qualify, you can probably get better speeds than with RR. The WS site is a little inaccurate. AT&T (the DeathStar) services Charlotte for DSL. I doubt they'll let Windstream on their network.
The last time I called them, they told me I was some 52k wire feet from the closest terminal and my speeds would be very limited.
I doubt things have changed much. I am in NW Charlotte. |
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xxTRAGEDYxx
join:2008-03-14
Kannapolis, NC | Arrowood rd., Tom Short, Tuckaseegee... Yeah, thats not in WS territory..Sorry bro.. Well, TWC up-ed their dl speeds, and they'e going to up the upload before this years out, so.. stick with them.. |
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ke4pym
join:2004-07-24
Charlotte, NC
·Verizon BroadbandA..
·Packet8
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to ke4pym
The problem continues. The line techs closed the ticket out after finding no problems. He allegedly watched the line for an hour from 6p-7p and found no problems. BS. I was online from 6p-7p last night and it sucked.
A speed test from their server came back with a little under 2Mbps (one from here came back at 1.7Mbps).
Called and finally spoke to a manager. He stated that he was going to get in contact with the dept heads of the line techs and field techs and have them both out here at the same time. |
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ke4pym
join:2004-07-24
Charlotte, NC | reply to xxTRAGEDYxx
Checked in with Speakeasy today. Best they can do to my location is a T1. Guy said I was 41,000 feet from the closest terminal.
Called the DeathStar and they can only get me 1.5Mbps for $40/mo.
Looks like I'm really hosed. |
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scots
Can we have Twinkies?
Premium
join:1999-12-06
Raleigh, NC
·AT&T U-Verse
·ooma
·RoadRunner Cable
·AT&T CallVantage
1 edit | reply to ke4pym
said by ke4pym :Then I have to pay for phone service that I wouldn't use on top of that. You don't have to pay for phone service to get DSL from AT&T anymore. You can get just DSL and nothing else. They call it FastAccess DSL Direct. That doesn't help with your distance from the CO though. |
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ke4pym
join:2004-07-24
Charlotte, NC | Yes, that is true now. I was really supprised to see they've changed their ways. I was impressed.
I'm in the city limits. But talking to them you'd think I was out in the middle of nowhere. |
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ke4pym
join:2004-07-24
Charlotte, NC | reply to ke4pym
For those following my saga -
Got a call from TWC today. They're going to replace the entire node for my neighborhood. They plan to have it done in about a week.
They issued credit through mid-next month. |
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ke4pym
join:2004-07-24
Charlotte, NC
·Verizon BroadbandA..
·Packet8
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to ke4pym
Another update....
They replaced the node last night. No dice. Still having problems.
TWC help desk called me this evening to ask if the problem was better. I said no, same problem after doing a couple speed tests.
30 seconds after hanging up with them, my neighbor calls - there are 2 bucket trucks in my yard. A 3rd one had pulled up as I was walking out. Super nice set of folks.
They hooked their trusty scope up to my side of the tap and said it looks good! Its not working? They ask me. Nope. So, they sit there for awhile (they were here almost an hour and 45 minutes).
Sure enough, problems start showing up. The scope lights up like a christmas tree. So, one of the guys goes and replaces something in the node with a newer style doo-hicky. I don't remember what it is.
He comes back, they told me I couldn't get a cleaner signal if my cable modem was plugged directly into the node. And asked me to run more speed tests. I do. 5Mbps, 2.6Mbps, 4.4Mbps and a 1.2Mbps result get returned.
Uploads are always in the 450-495kbps range (I have 10/512).
So, they go back to their laptops after thinking for awhile and start looking at the statistics for my node.
Wow! You'd think someone would have looked at this before. SNR is good. But packet loss is through the roof. 8-10% (they strive for 0.2%). Node is 95% utilized during the hours of 1800 - 0400. And there were several other problems they were pointing out to me that I can't remember.
There are about 200 cable modems on my segment of the node and they're all having the same problem. You'd think someone else would call in to bitch. But they haven't.
One of the guys asks me when I started noticing this problem. I said September of last year.
He looked at me funny and pulled the charts up from September of last year. Yup! He exclaims. Here's the day it started! Heh. He said its taken this long to get us out here? I said yeah!
Anyway. There is a situation that will complicate the repair. They've just built a new hub about 4 miles down the street. That hub is due to go live next week. The guys out here today said that it may not really get fixed until they get into the new hub (the current one is in a shack and has anchient equipment in it). New shiny one is loaded with lots of fancy hardware (to also support SDV - I asked!).
However, they're putting the 3rd shift folks on with the spectrum analyzer tonight. That will help them determine if it is something as simple as someone stealing cable or if something is overloaded.
So ... hopefully ... in the next 2 - 3 weeks this should come to an end.
It can't come soon enough. I will be so happy to have this monkey off my back.
I'll post more when I have it. |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC | Good luck and please keep us informed. |
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ke4pym
join:2004-07-24
Charlotte, NC
·Verizon BroadbandA..
·Packet8
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to ke4pym
Got another call today from the VP of Tech Ops at TWC (we also spoke on Friday).
Didn't get a chance to speak with him today. But did get a VM that they completed some work that was planned for later in the month (turning up the new hub perhaps?).
I don't want to speak too soon. But I've been seeing steadier speed tests this evening. Coming in at around 8900 - 9200. Could be slightly better, but at this point, I'm happy.
Hopefully it will last. |
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ke4pym
join:2004-07-24
Charlotte, NC
·Verizon BroadbandA..
·Packet8
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to ke4pym
Time to put this problem to bed. F I N A L L Y!
2 days of excellent speed tests. Called and spoke with afore mentioned VP.
He flat admitted that they have no excuse for why this went on so long.
Not sure what they did to deal with the problem. However, he said they are bringing the new hub online around the end of the month. He said if I see any problems to call him directly.
I find it amazing that I'm the only one in my immediate community who uses the net enough to not notice the issues. Guess it proves the squeeky wheel DOES finally (after almost 10 months) get taken care of. |
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