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infotime
join:2004-09-08
Louisville, KY

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Modem ownership and move to Time Warner - Louisville, KY

I've been noticing some changes recently.

- a few clients who have the original Insight phone service with a box on the outside of the house have had Insight come and upgrade them to the newer style service where the Internet modem and phone modem are one unit. Both instances they've gotten a new Arris device that does it all - Internet, phone, router, wireless.

- a few people I know have had a sudden new charge added to their bill for a modem rental. Happened to my inlaws, think it was $3.95 add on where they were not paying anything to rent a modem before. Also happened to my Mom who had the economy plan for $10 / month. I see a charge for modem rental where I'm pretty sure I gave them a modem. Not 100% sure the rental charge is new - may have been on there a while.

- there's been talk here about you not being allowed to provide your own modem, but that may just be for the higher speed tiers of 30 and 50.

- also hear talk about switching Internet speeds to TWC speeds which are apparently different.

Can anyone help clarify what's going on with all of these changes?
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viewwin2
join:2004-10-02
Bowling Green, KY

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Re: Modem ownership and move to Time Warner

Show how is it legal to begin charging a lease fee for something owned by the customer?

OSUGoose
join:2007-12-27
Columbus, OH

OSUGoose

Member

Its a glitch, ICOMS doesn't know billing wise when they added this charge that some a customer owned, at least that what I was told.
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infotime
join:2004-09-08
Louisville, KY

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Re: Modem ownership and move to Time Warner

This is getting pretty upsetting.

How can a company suddenly start charging you a rental fee for something that you presumably own?

For the last 9 or 10 years that I can recall it seemed that Insight would give you a modem when you signed up. They may have even used the language of "you get a free modem". I don't recall stories of anyone having to turn in their modem when they moved or cancelled service. At any given time I've got about 5-6 modems that clients have given me. No one ever mentioned Insight asking for them back.

My current modem is an Arris Telephony model that I got around 2007 when I had Insight VoIP phone service. I cancelled that service in 2008 or 2009. In 2010 I moved. Insight gave me a new modem and a wireless router. Soon after moving I switched the modem to the Arris so I'd have one with a built-in battery and have been using it ever since. I'm not 100% sure, but I think I got a new account when I moved.

So I call the other night to ask about the rental charge. The agent said I was using their modem and that they were instituting a rental charge effective January 1! If I didn't like it I could turn that one in and use my own. I thought it was mine?

My mother and my mother-in-law have both been hit with this charge. I can't remember 100% if their current modems were provided by me or not. It's hard to fight.

I understand that companies need to raise prices from time to time. But this modem rental charge is the most underhanded, weaselly shyster move I've seen in a long time.

I've been a loyal, long time user and champion for Insight. I've recommended it to 100s of people and got lots of them to sign up because I felt their Internet was better than Bellsouth / AT&Ts. However, I spent a good hour on AT&T's U-verse site last night and am seriously considering switching.
smashcraft
Premium Member
join:2011-06-15
Louisville, KY

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smashcraft

Premium Member

Hi Info Time.

I had the same problems with the modem rentals, etc. I remember them putting a modem charge on my bill for 6 months that equalled to about 50.00 over the six month period when I first signed up for service. I began being charged a modem rental fee for something I thought I owned, but they were not willing to budge. I had the 2.0 telephone service and was told that I could not change out the modem as they do not support any customer owned telephony modems. I fixed that problem. I went to Bellsouth Landline for about 22.95 a month after taxes for local service only with CallerID and Call WaitingID. I purchased my own motorola modem and turned in the modem they said that they owned. They now began to credit me for the previous month's modem fee and removed the charge to my account.

I have had AT&T Uverse before and they do the same thing with the modem rental. When I had them it was about 4.00 a month with no option to purchase at all since your telephone, television and internet come out of the Uverse Gateway.

I would bite the bullet and go ahead and purchase your own modem and just return theirs. You can get a APC battery backup for your modem.

I have been feeling that the customer service with Insight has been declining, but I am still choosing to keep their internet service for the time being. It is still cheaper than Uverse for the type of speeds that I get. I will tell you from previous experience that AT&T customer service is worse by a number I cannot even magnify. Since I have Bellsouth Landline with At&T, it is a separate department from Uverse and they are fine. I had billing nightmares with Uverse, but they might have fixed their problems.

I would just weigh all of your options and would recommend purchasing your own modem with Insight for a while and see what happens. In the end, I think you will be happier. Just my opinion.
jpatton1979
join:2011-08-10
Louisville, KY
Pace 5268AC
Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway Pro
Ubiquiti UniFi UAP-AC-PRO

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Re: Modem ownership and move to Time Warner - Louisville, KY

Like OSUGoose said, it's a glitch in the billing system. Call Insight and tell them. Escalate to a supervisor/manager if you have to.

- As of right now Insight will not let a customer provide their own modem for any of the DOCSIS3 speed tiers (30.0 and 50.0), even if you have a modem that's on TWC's approved list for their D3 tiers (Turbo, Extreme, & Ultimate).

- When I first started using Insight you were charged $5/month for 12 months for the modem, then you owned it ($60 total).

- I've heard Insight is upgrading a lot of their customers to the Phone 2.0 service, which requires the all-in-one modem. Perhaps this is what's happening.

- Once Insight has been fully absorbed by TWC I think everything will be the same across the board (i.e. we will have the same speeds as TWC)
cgar
join:2006-06-26
Lewis Center, OH

cgar

Member

On my bill it shows Insight Phone 2.0 but I have seperate phone modems and internet modems.

Does anyone have more info on the combo unit? Does it include wireless? It would be nice to get rid of my wireless router.

OSUGoose
join:2007-12-27
Columbus, OH

OSUGoose

Member

We probably wont get that in Columbus until everything is switched. Reason being was that Phone was on a different network the Internet since we have RR here.

kywirelessgu
Premium Member
join:2004-01-25
Nicholasville, KY

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I had this 3.95 added to my account this month. I just bought my own modem a couple months ago so I was wondering why I needed to pay this fee. Support said it was because I hadn't returned my old modem yet. The modem I've had for 5 years. She said as soon as I return it to the office they'll take the charge off.

What kind of bullshit is this? I thought I paid for the modem over the first 12 months of having internet service, why am I being charged a lease fee for a modem I bought 5 years ago and don't even use anymore? Now I gotta find time to go drop this thing off at their office all the way across town.

I feel like I'm being scammed.
kywirelessgu

kywirelessgu

Premium Member

So I just called back and they magically lost the records for when I signed up ~7 years ago. Evidently they wipe out anything older than a certain date. They can see the balance (I was paying $40 a month at the time) but no more details than that. So since there's no evidence I bought my modem I'm going to get charged the lease fee until I return it.

I've been very loyal to Insight, going back to when they were called @home, but this might be enough to get me to switch to Windstream. At $54 a month for 10.0 I think it might be cheaper anyway.

OSUGoose
join:2007-12-27
Columbus, OH

OSUGoose

Member

I'm sort of confused, did you have a Insight provided modem that you never turned in? And are now using one you bought elsewhere? Just trying to follow.

kywirelessgu
Premium Member
join:2004-01-25
Nicholasville, KY

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Honestly I don't remember if I paid for the original modem or not, but regardless it was 7 years ago. To now start charging me a lease on a 7 year old modem is retarded.

I purchased a new modem about two months ago. I assumed I owned the old one, so I did not turn it in.

They say they mailed out a warning this was coming, but I don't know how they expect me to spot a legitimate mailing when they send so much junk mail.

I ended up just taking it back to the office. It was messed up anyway, which is why I purchased a new modem.

Now tonight I can't break 5.0 Mbps on speedtest.net. Streaming video won't play smoothly. Periods of limited connectivity. I'm getting tired of shit service during peak hours.

10.0....sure.
»www.speedtest.net/result ··· 1288.png
jfkaufman
join:2001-03-09
Louisville, KY

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I had this pop up on my bill also. When I called to find out why, I had to verify my modem. The modem they were charging me for was the one I purchased in 2000, a US Robotic 3Com modem that hadn't worked in 5 years that I had relplaced with the Linksys I am currently using. Needless to say they took this charge off of my account.
Apparently there is a glitch in the system.
I am about to get rid of my phone service with them because I am sure that they will want to charge me a monthly rental fee to have the Voip modem. I keep getting calls to tell me I need to change my phone service as they are getting rid of the older "box on the house" service.

motorola870
join:2008-12-07
Arlington, TX

motorola870

Member

said by jfkaufman:

I had this pop up on my bill also. When I called to find out why, I had to verify my modem. The modem they were charging me for was the one I purchased in 2000, a US Robotic 3Com modem that hadn't worked in 5 years that I had relplaced with the Linksys I am currently using. Needless to say they took this charge off of my account.
Apparently there is a glitch in the system.
I am about to get rid of my phone service with them because I am sure that they will want to charge me a monthly rental fee to have the Voip modem. I keep getting calls to tell me I need to change my phone service as they are getting rid of the older "box on the house" service.

the VoIP modems are free in TWC territories if they only service phone and not internet

DevilOnE
Fozzie the buttplug, Vu the shitkicker
Premium Member
join:2003-12-12
Evansville, IN

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Click for full size
A couple yrs ago i was having line modem issues and Insightbb came and replaced my Motorola SB modem with some small white square modem. Not got charged for it at all.

TWC said they would be transferring over this month or April but i still have basic phone.
pianoman4
join:2013-04-10
Florence, KY

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Re: Modem ownership and move to Time Warner

I spoke with an Insight computer tech. He said to purchase a Netgear or an Arris that is telephone compatible. They are sold at staples, office depot, best buy, walmart, etc. I'll find out soon whether this is true. I am not paying lease fee for a modem.

DevilOnE
Fozzie the buttplug, Vu the shitkicker
Premium Member
join:2003-12-12
Evansville, IN

DevilOnE

Premium Member

said by pianoman4:

I spoke with an Insight computer tech. He said to purchase a Netgear or an Arris that is telephone compatible. They are sold at staples, office depot, best buy, walmart, etc. I'll find out soon whether this is true. I am not paying lease fee for a modem.

When you find out, post the net gear model number.