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anon anon
@charter.com

anon anon to BlakePaulson

Anon

to BlakePaulson

Re: Been awhile since Charter increased speeds

said by BlakePaulson:

I think the average user would like to lower their bill.

I'm still on a promo until may so I've got 15/3 right now. Perfectly speedy, does everything I need, no caps (at least enforced) as our node doesn't appear to be oversold.

I don't care for 30/4 internet... I'd be happy with 10/2 or even 10/1 for $25 a month but 30/4 for $49.99 a month... c'mon

We all see it for what it is... a pure money grab. With the lower tiers people who didn't use the internet much were paying little amounts. Now people who barely use the internet are paying almost $50 a month just to have internet (not like there's any real competition around here.)

It's stupid but it is what it is I guess.

Gee a business trying to make money. Shocking. Listen this is beating a dead horse. If offering a lower tier plan for $30 will make Charter more money they will do it. If they offer a $30 plan and half their 30 meg plan customers drop down to the lower plan then Cahrter LOSES money A LOT of money. WHY would a business do that? What is the inentive? You wouldn't do it if you owned a business now would you? Of course not.

As I said if a lower speed tier brings in more revenue then yeah it will be done. But you have to ask yourself, will it? Are enough for 3 Meg and 15 meg customers leaving that having a $30 plan brings them back and doesn't canibalize their 30 emg customer base? I can't answer that and neither can anyone posting here.

At the end of the day no company is obligated to do something just to be nice. Sounds harsh but it's the truth.

In my area at&t offers 1.5 Mbps for $28 or 3 Mbps for $33. So would a 2 Mbps tier for $30 satisfy you? I think not. Even though it's competitive with what at&t offers.

mmainprize
join:2001-12-06
Houghton Lake, MI

mmainprize

Member

said by anon anon :

said by BlakePaulson:

I think the average user would like to lower their bill.

I'm still on a promo until may so I've got 15/3 right now. Perfectly speedy, does everything I need, no caps (at least enforced) as our node doesn't appear to be oversold.

I don't care for 30/4 internet... I'd be happy with 10/2 or even 10/1 for $25 a month but 30/4 for $49.99 a month... c'mon

We all see it for what it is... a pure money grab. With the lower tiers people who didn't use the internet much were paying little amounts. Now people who barely use the internet are paying almost $50 a month just to have internet (not like there's any real competition around here.)

It's stupid but it is what it is I guess.

Gee a business trying to make money. Shocking. Listen this is beating a dead horse. If offering a lower tier plan for $30 will make Charter more money they will do it. If they offer a $30 plan and half their 30 meg plan customers drop down to the lower plan then Cahrter LOSES money A LOT of money. WHY would a business do that? What is the inentive? You wouldn't do it if you owned a business now would you? Of course not.

As I said if a lower speed tier brings in more revenue then yeah it will be done. But you have to ask yourself, will it? Are enough for 3 Meg and 15 meg customers leaving that having a $30 plan brings them back and doesn't canibalize their 30 emg customer base? I can't answer that and neither can anyone posting here.

At the end of the day no company is obligated to do something just to be nice. Sounds harsh but it's the truth.

In my area at&t offers 1.5 Mbps for $28 or 3 Mbps for $33. So would a 2 Mbps tier for $30 satisfy you? I think not. Even though it's competitive with what at&t offers.

We3ll you keep thinging that way while many customer drop internet altogether.
For that same $50 bucks you can get Phone and Data service over wireless. For the customer that want internet at home also a low price tier would be fine.

Your logic just proves his point of a money grab.

anon anon
@charter.com

anon anon

Anon

said by mmainprize:

For that same $50 bucks you can get Phone and Data service over wireless. For the customer that want internet at home also a low price tier would be fine.

WHERE?
BlakePaulson
join:2008-08-06
Alexandria, MN

BlakePaulson

Member

said by anon anon :

said by mmainprize:

For that same $50 bucks you can get Phone and Data service over wireless. For the customer that want internet at home also a low price tier would be fine.

WHERE?

He's talking about over cell phone. If I didn't watch so much netflix and hulu I wouldn't even need home internet because most of my usage is done on a phone anyway...

Yes, I can switch to centurylink and pay for 1.5 or 3 meg internet.

The thing is that charter used to offer lower packages for a lower price, or contracts to keep things at a decent rate.

Charter has the ability to offer lower bandwidth, for a lower price, and make more money than they currently make off of us at the $49.99 price (IE they can offer slower speeds, lower caps, and make good money.)

Instead they're losing customers who will pay ANYTHING less than $49.99 for internet because they don't care about speeds (IE grandma's, older folks.) They aren't going to pay $49.99 just to check the weather. If someone else has a lower price, even if it's just a few dollars cheaper, why pay that extra when they won't need it?

So instead of charter making some money on these types of customers by offering lower tiers, charter is making no money.

Kind of stupid when you think of how inexpensive it is to actually provide bandwidth. Maybe one day they'll get it.

anon anon
@charter.com

anon anon

Anon

said by BlakePaulson:

He's talking about over cell phone.

You're not getting it for $50. And they have extremely low caps and high overages.

The thing is that charter used to offer lower packages for a lower price, or contracts to keep things at a decent rate.

And Big Macs used to be a quarter.

Charter has the ability to offer lower bandwidth, for a lower price, and make more money than they currently make off of us at the $49.99 price (IE they can offer slower speeds, lower caps, and make good money.)

You have inside knowledge of Chater's finances? And unless you have a ton of Charter stock you don't have any skin in the game to say what "good money" is for Charter.

Instead they're losing customers who will pay ANYTHING less than $49.99 for internet because they don't care about speeds (IE grandma's, older folks.) They aren't going to pay $49.99 just to check the weather. If someone else has a lower price, even if it's just a few dollars cheaper, why pay that extra when they won't need it?

So instead of charter making some money on these types of customers by offering lower tiers, charter is making no money.

OK say by having a lower tier say $30 they gain 500,000 custoemrs, BUT 1 million go from 30 Meg to the lower tier.

500,000 X $30=$15 million
1,000,000 X-$20 =-$20 million

Charter LOSES $5 million.

Now even if you assume it's only 500,000 then Charter would gain $5 million. But that's gross income not NET. Charter's net income could be next to nothing. In other words not worth the hassel. Once again Charter has these numbers not me or you.

Kind of stupid when you think of how inexpensive it is to actually provide bandwidth. Maybe one day they'll get it.

If they are making more money the way they do it now it's not stupid. As I said if offering a lower tier is better financially they will do it. I'm not sure what is so hard to get. I guess we'll see when their quartely report comes out.
Balplanman
join:2006-08-30
Newtown, CT

Balplanman

Member

As you say, you don't have numbers. Assuming that Charter has reliable numbers is also speculation on your part. It could just as well be a seat of the pants decision by the new leader to make his mark.

In November 2012 our 2 year deal with Charter ran out so rates were going from $117 to $147 for TV and internet. Charter was hard nosed about this increase. We moved to Uverse for $108. Two months later Charter called and offered a deal for a similar price (but fewer TV channels). Based on this, my guess is that Charter is getting some pushback from people like me who have an option.

Charter loses a lot more when a customer drops them than when a customer changes tiers - seems like they should notice when some customers have options, especially when a customer comes to their office and shows them those options (as I did).

With Uverse we upgraded the number of TV channels considerably but lowered the internet from 15/3 to 12/1.5 at a monthly total of $108.

Internet seems about the same, Vonage phone works better(clearer audio), TV has more channels, DVR is easier to use. So far we're happy -- time will tell if it was a good move but the cost difference made it hard to resist. We weren't unhappy with Charter's service, just the cost.

mmainprize
join:2001-12-06
Houghton Lake, MI

mmainprize to anon anon

Member

to anon anon
said by anon anon :

said by mmainprize:

For that same $50 bucks you can get Phone and Data service over wireless. For the customer that want internet at home also a low price tier would be fine.

WHERE?

ANYWHERE, it is wireless.

Just watch some TV you will see the ads, now that half of all channel time is ads.

anon anon
@charter.com

anon anon

Anon

said by mmainprize:

said by anon anon :

said by mmainprize:

For that same $50 bucks you can get Phone and Data service over wireless. For the customer that want internet at home also a low price tier would be fine.

WHERE?

ANYWHERE, it is wireless.

Just watch some TV you will see the ads, now that half of all channel time is ads.

You can 4G LTE speeds and at least 250 GB cap for $50 a month AND cell service. Who has this now? What cell company is this?
anon anon

anon anon to Balplanman

Anon

to Balplanman
said by Balplanman:

As you say, you don't have numbers. Assuming that Charter has reliable numbers is also speculation on your part. It could just as well be a seat of the pants decision by the new leader to make his mark.

In November 2012 our 2 year deal with Charter ran out so rates were going from $117 to $147 for TV and internet. Charter was hard nosed about this increase. We moved to Uverse for $108. Two months later Charter called and offered a deal for a similar price (but fewer TV channels). Based on this, my guess is that Charter is getting some pushback from people like me who have an option.

Charter loses a lot more when a customer drops them than when a customer changes tiers - seems like they should notice when some customers have options, especially when a customer comes to their office and shows them those options (as I did).

With Uverse we upgraded the number of TV channels considerably but lowered the internet from 15/3 to 12/1.5 at a monthly total of $108.

Internet seems about the same, Vonage phone works better(clearer audio), TV has more channels, DVR is easier to use. So far we're happy -- time will tell if it was a good move but the cost difference made it hard to resist. We weren't unhappy with Charter's service, just the cost.

So what you are saying you had a 2 year promo which you KNEW would end because after all it's a "2 YEAR" promo so it's kind of obvious it has a time limit. But now despite this knowledge for 2 years you are upset Charter doesn't continue to give you a PROMO price forever? If I was Charter I'd stop doing promos all together since the large amount of customers that don't seem to understand the definition of PROMO.

Burger King has a promo for a month where Whoppers are 55 cents. When the promo ends I don't see any outrage that they don't continue to selll Whoppers for that price. I wonder why the disconnect?

cork1958
Cork
Premium Member
join:2000-02-26

cork1958 to anon anon

Premium Member

to anon anon
Can't reply!

Edit:
Hmm? It worked that time.
cork1958

cork1958 to anon anon

Premium Member

to anon anon
For once I agree with you, as we all know who you are, anon anon!

I wish Charter would quit doing promo's also. I always figured if they can do those prices for anyone for 2 years, as they obviously must not be losing money on the deal, why not just make that the regular price for everyone for 2 years WITHOUT raising prices twice a year?!

Never have played that promo hopping game with them myself, but now that they have such limited choices on HSI, I might could start considering playing that ISP hopping game!
Balplanman
join:2006-08-30
Newtown, CT

Balplanman to anon anon

Member

to anon anon
We live 1 mile from the Charter office so for near 15 years we've been going there when our promo runs out and they've given us a new promo deal. The employees told us that was how things worked so we did it. Most of this time Charter was the only option.

Last time around there was a Uverse option, which I pointed out, but they said they could no longer offer promo rates. So, rather than accept a 26% increase we changed to Uverse and got a 7% decrease. From my perspective this was purely a business decision - I wasn't upset or outraged.

A few weeks later Charter called and offered the same rate we are getting for Uverse and also offered to cover the ATT contract cancellation fee if we returned as a customer. This week I received a Charter promo offer in the mail with even better rates.

My post was simply a response to your description of how Charter would lose money by offering promos to existing customers. To me, it seems clear that Charter would have done better by offering me a promo when I asked. The offers they've made since support this.

To extend your 55 cent Whopper example, I'd expect it to be difficult to make sales after raising the price of Whoppers to 80 cents when customers can get a Big Mac for 50 cents

anon anon
@charter.com

anon anon

Anon

said by Balplanman:

Last time around there was a Uverse option, which I pointed out, but they said they could no longer offer promo rates. So, rather than accept a 26% increase we changed to Uverse and got a 7% decrease. From my perspective this was purely a business decision - I wasn't upset or outraged.

Sure and you realize your U-verse pricing was also a promotion and when that ended you would not get that extended.

Fact is in my area 12 Mbps U-verse is $48 a month( non promo ) and 18 Mbps Uverse( if you can get it ) is $53 a month. Sorry Charter's 30 meg for $50 is better than either. Why would I pay $3 MORE per month for 40% LESS speed? And a $2 per month savings isn't worth a 60% reduction in speed either.

A few weeks later Charter called and offered the same rate we are getting for Uverse and also offered to cover the ATT contract cancellation fee if we returned as a customer. This week I received a Charter promo offer in the mail with even better rates.

A few weeks? Well of course. After 30 days of not being a customer you are eligble for promo pricing again. You didn't get special treatment. Charter had had that policy for YEARS.

GENERAL DISCLAIMER©2013 Charter Communications, Inc. Offers are valid for a limited time only, to qualifying residential customers who have not subscribed to applicable services within the previous 30 days and have no outstanding obligation to Charter. Standard rates apply after promotion.

My post was simply a response to your description of how Charter would lose money by offering promos to existing customers. To me, it seems clear that Charter would have done better by offering me a promo when I asked. The offers they've made since support this.

Nope, because most people won't do what you do and will just deal with the price increase.

OK say you have 100 customers getting $30 promo That's $3000 a month for those 100 customers. Now say promo ends and the price goes back up to $50. Now let's say 30% of those customers leave. Charter still has 70 customers paying $50 a month which is $3500. A 17% INCREASE in income.

And even if 40% left you'd be at the same $3000 but Charter is better off because they have 40% less customers to deal with which means reduced costs. Now it's doubtful 30% will leave let alone 40%.

To extend your 55 cent Whopper example, I'd expect it to be difficult to make sales after raising the price of Whoppers to 80 cents when customers can get a Big Mac for 50 cents

Except Burger King raised the price back to $3 not 80 cents and they still sell well.

norton
join:2005-08-03
Howard City, MI

norton to Balplanman

Member

to Balplanman
++
Balplanman
join:2006-08-30
Newtown, CT

Balplanman to anon anon

Member

to anon anon
said by anon anon :

Sure and you realize your U-verse pricing was also a promotion and when that ended you would not get that extended.

Fact is in my area 12 Mbps U-verse is $48 a month( non promo ) and 18 Mbps Uverse( if you can get it ) is $53 a month. Sorry Charter's 30 meg for $50 is better than either. Why would I pay $3 MORE per month for 40% LESS speed? And a $2 per month savings isn't worth a 60% reduction in speed either.

OK say you have 100 customers getting $30 promo That's $3000 a month for those 100 customers. Now say promo ends and the price goes back up to $50. Now let's say 30% of those customers leave. Charter still has 70 customers paying $50 a month which is $3500. A 17% INCREASE in income.

And even if 40% left you'd be at the same $3000 but Charter is better off because they have 40% less customers to deal with which means reduced costs. Now it's doubtful 30% will leave let alone 40%.

I agree it would be irrational for you to spend more to get less. But you're talking a couple dollars difference per month - I wouldn't change for that saving either.

I don't understand why you think I should not take advantage of a promo that saves me $39 per month and delivers equivalent service. If this means I must switch back and forth between ATT and Charter yearly to continue to get promo pricing (which Charter used to provide continuously if you asked) then I can (and will) do that.

You can make up straw man examples that "prove" your point but that doesn't work when you use the real numbers that Charter supplied to me. My street is short, just 10 houses, and I've talked to a few of my neighbors who asked how ATT is working out for me. They're interested because Charter's recent rate increase got their attention. So far, two neighbors said they intend to switch to ATT when their Charter contract runs out. This supports your 30% number - but it could increase because when an ATT truck shows up other neighbors will notice (small town USA).

For my street with 10 people, using Charter's promo rate of $117 they would collect 10*117=$1170 month. If all 10 paid the new rate then they would get 10*147=$1470 per mo. If 3 of us drop Charter (as seems likely) then Charter gets: 7*147=$1029 per mo. So, Charter loses $1170-1029=$141 per month on my street over simply extending their promo.

That is, using your 30% expected drop rate and Charter's actual numbers, Charter loses about 12% vs maintaining their promo rate.

anon anon
@charter.com

anon anon

Anon

said by Balplanman:

I don't understand why you think I should not take advantage of a promo that saves me $39 per month and delivers equivalent service.

I didn't say you shouldn't I am making you aware those savings are temporay not permanent and at&t just like Charter won't extent your promo. At that time are you going to be on the u-verse boards posting about how it would be better for at&t just to extend your promo? If not why not?

You can make up straw man examples that "prove" your point but that doesn't work when you use the real numbers that Charter supplied to me. My street is short, just 10 houses, and I've talked to a few of my neighbors who asked how ATT is working out for me. They're interested because Charter's recent rate increase got their attention. So far, two neighbors said they intend to switch to ATT when their Charter contract runs out. This supports your 30% number - but it could increase because when an ATT truck shows up other neighbors will notice (small town USA).

For my street with 10 people, using Charter's promo rate of $117 they would collect 10*117=$1170 month. If all 10 paid the new rate then they would get 10*147=$1470 per mo. If 3 of us drop Charter (as seems likely) then Charter gets: 7*147=$1029 per mo. So, Charter loses $1170-1029=$141 per month on my street over simply extending their promo.

That is, using your 30% expected drop rate and Charter's actual numbers, Charter loses about 12% vs maintaining their promo rate.

And once their promos for at&t end they'll come back to Charter because they'll be eligible for Charter promos again which makes Charter far cheaper than at&t's regular pricing. Just like at&t's promo pricing is cheaper than Charter's regular pricing.

If playing musical ISPs every year is how one saves $20 a month then well that's their decision. Personally I think I would find some other way to save $20 a month. Constantly switching ISPs seems a bit of a pain in the behind.

cork1958
Cork
Premium Member
join:2000-02-26

cork1958 to Balplanman

Premium Member

to Balplanman
said by Balplanman:

said by anon anon :

Sure and you realize your U-verse pricing was also a promotion and when that ended you would not get that extended.

Fact is in my area 12 Mbps U-verse is $48 a month( non promo ) and 18 Mbps Uverse( if you can get it ) is $53 a month. Sorry Charter's 30 meg for $50 is better than either. Why would I pay $3 MORE per month for 40% LESS speed? And a $2 per month savings isn't worth a 60% reduction in speed either.

OK say you have 100 customers getting $30 promo That's $3000 a month for those 100 customers. Now say promo ends and the price goes back up to $50. Now let's say 30% of those customers leave. Charter still has 70 customers paying $50 a month which is $3500. A 17% INCREASE in income.

And even if 40% left you'd be at the same $3000 but Charter is better off because they have 40% less customers to deal with which means reduced costs. Now it's doubtful 30% will leave let alone 40%.

I agree it would be irrational for you to spend more to get less. But you're talking a couple dollars difference per month - I wouldn't change for that saving either.

I don't understand why you think I should not take advantage of a promo that saves me $39 per month and delivers equivalent service. If this means I must switch back and forth between ATT and Charter yearly to continue to get promo pricing (which Charter used to provide continuously if you asked) then I can (and will) do that.

You can make up straw man examples that "prove" your point but that doesn't work when you use the real numbers that Charter supplied to me. My street is short, just 10 houses, and I've talked to a few of my neighbors who asked how ATT is working out for me. They're interested because Charter's recent rate increase got their attention. So far, two neighbors said they intend to switch to ATT when their Charter contract runs out. This supports your 30% number - but it could increase because when an ATT truck shows up other neighbors will notice (small town USA).

For my street with 10 people, using Charter's promo rate of $117 they would collect 10*117=$1170 month. If all 10 paid the new rate then they would get 10*147=$1470 per mo. If 3 of us drop Charter (as seems likely) then Charter gets: 7*147=$1029 per mo. So, Charter loses $1170-1029=$141 per month on my street over simply extending their promo.

That is, using your 30% expected drop rate and Charter's actual numbers, Charter loses about 12% vs maintaining their promo rate.

If you can save $39 a month for a year, which equals $468, which will pay for the first 9 months, at roughly $50 a month, of you signing back up for Charter after AT&T's promo ends, why WOULDN'T you go for it?

I know if I could get Uverse here and not have to use their phone line, I WOULD be playing the ISP hopping game. I probably would do this right now, if I knew for sure I could get Frontiers advertised speed of 25M download and if they still had dry DSL.

It's no more of a hassle, which is debatable as we all know what calling Charter is like, than calling Charter all the time to play that promo hopping game!
15444104 (banned)
join:2012-06-11

15444104 (banned) to anon anon

Member

to anon anon
said by anon anon :

If playing musical ISPs every year is how one saves $20 a month then well that's their decision. Personally I think I would find some other way to save $20 a month. Constantly switching ISPs seems a bit of a pain in the behind.

Well you see 20$/ mo may seem like NOTHING to CEOs at ATT and Charter, BUT for the ordinary joe it adds up to quite a bit over a year or more. So folks MUST play that idiotic game whether they like it or not IF they want the internet and want to be able to stay within a budget.

The fact is that the economy still is TERRIBLE for MOST consumers.

anon anon
@charter.com

anon anon

Anon

said by 15444104:

Well you see 20$/ mo may seem like NOTHING to CEOs at ATT and Charter, BUT for the ordinary joe it adds up to quite a bit over a year or more. So folks MUST play that idiotic game whether they like it or not IF they want the internet and want to be able to stay within a budget.

The fact is that the economy still is TERRIBLE for MOST consumers.

OK so say Charter now just makes the $50 tier $30. Would people then expect Charter to offer a promo price still? And thus that promo price would have to be less than $30. And wouldn't those same people expect to keep that new promo price forever because after all $30 is just too expensive? Are you saying if hcarter lowere the price to $30 you would be quiet and never complain about the price again nor would you expect promo pricing?

By the way 25 Meg used to be $75 a month 5 years ago, then 30 meg was $58 now it's $50. Some how people are being ripped off even though speeds and pricing have dropped.

You know McDonald's should offer Big Macs for $1 all the time. I would go a lot more often if they did. I don't now how they expect regular people to pay $3 for a Big Mac. Stupid greedy McDonald's CEOs. Sure it's easy for THEM to pay $3 they're rich!
15444104 (banned)
join:2012-06-11

15444104 (banned)

Member

said by anon anon :


OK so say Charter now just makes the $50 tier $30. Would people then expect Charter to offer a promo price still?

No, because at 30$/mo that 30mb tier would be a FANTASTIC value and would drive a LOT of volume business which would still allow charter to make a tidy profit.

Are you saying if Charter lowered the price to $30 you would be quiet and never complain about the price again nor would you expect promo pricing?

YES!

The reason why is that if that 30/mo was the everyday regular price without a contract it would be a very good deal without all the promo nonsense! You know Charter would gain a LOT of good will if they would break the habit of the promo nonsense and just offer a very good value oriented everyday price with NO STRINGS ATTACHED.

Now of course I don't want or need 30mb and would prefer that they still offered a 3mb tier at 20/mo. But I would be more willing to stay with Charter if they were willing to be aware of different needs and requirements for different household budgets.

cork1958
Cork
Premium Member
join:2000-02-26

1 edit

cork1958

Premium Member

I could not have answered that response any better myself, horseathalt7!!

Must eat out at McDonalds and Burger King every night also, to always be comparing those rotten apples to rotted oranges!