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rd1144
join:2009-02-26
Denver, NC

rd1144

Member

Charter Digital "Spectrum" and Speed Upgrades - Residential

I live in the Hickory, NC area and I received my digital upgrade information in the mail last night. They are going all digital in my area next month. They are providing customers 1 STB or 1 CableCard for 12 months if you already have a STB or CC or 2 free STB's for 12 months if you dont have any right now.

The letter also said to tune into Channel 11 (Analog) to get more information. On that infomercial it mentioned Charter will be doubling internet speed towards the end of this year (dont know if that means end of 2013 or 2014). Additionally I dont know if doubling speeds means both on download and upload? I hope they double the upload, that is needed. Anyhow, I recorded the infomercial with my phone (sorry for the bad quality) and put it on YouTube, here:

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· a_player

gzt7d8
Aliens live amongst us
Premium Member
join:2001-07-13
Traverse City, MI

gzt7d8

Premium Member

Well I have Charter but it is in No Man's Land, I'd be lucky to see this by the end of 2014. I'd love to have doubled speeds, it might eventually get me to what I'm paying for right now.

Color me..............skeptical.
browncoat
join:2008-12-02
Montgomery, AL

browncoat to rd1144

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to rd1144
While they are technically doubling the internet speed, the 30 meg service will be the standard now. They are changing the basic 15 to be the basic 30. Big whoop. If you are paying for 30 now, you're still going to get 30. If you are paying for 100, you won't be getting 200.

They told me in my area I'll be getting this by the end of March 2014 (which probably means 11:59 PM December 31st 2014), along with 50-60 channels converted to HD. Which probably means more shopping channels, more religious channels, more channels where people redecorate each others homes.
markopoleo
join:2003-04-02
Bonne Terre, MO

markopoleo

Member

They never offered 15meg in my area, 30meg was standard for the long time. Maybe this is for his market only, but if his market is 30meg, this is significant upgrade.
browncoat
join:2008-12-02
Montgomery, AL

browncoat

Member

The sales rep made a point to say they are doubling internet speed in my area when I asked about that. She said the speed would be doubled in my area to 30 meg. Doubling it to what I already get. I think the 30 meg service is standard. I guess I'm confused as to why they are making out like this is a big deal, calling what I already get an upgrade.
rd1144
join:2009-02-26
Denver, NC

rd1144

Member

My Area has been 30 meg for some time. If you check out the business class speed upgrade post, they say they are doubling from 30 meg to 60 meg soon.
moes
Premium Member
join:2009-11-15
Cedar City, UT

moes to rd1144

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to rd1144
Just got a new modem from them today, the tech told me, that all plans will be 30mbit and nothing lower and to expect higher speed for the top tier (30mbit right now). so well see. this area has 70 analog channels left and a cluster of system tied together, because of being bought so many times.

mixdup
join:2003-06-28
Alpharetta, GA

mixdup to rd1144

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to rd1144
Part of their deal with the FCC regarding their cablecard waiver was that they would go fully digital in 100% of their markets and push 100mbit broadband to some higher percentage of their footprint than it is now.

30/60/100 seems to be decent enough speeds. Sure, it's not Google speeds, but honestly the vast majority don't need that. I'm a tech type that works from home and I don't need that.

What I *do* need is at the very least 10-15 megabits upstream to go along with that 100 megabits downstream.
rd1144
join:2009-02-26
Denver, NC

rd1144

Member

I agree, I hope they miniumally double the upload from 4 Meg to 8 Meg while they are at it. It is painfully slow to upload HD YouTube videos right now. 10-15 Meg would be nice but I doubt it will happen soon.
Os
join:2011-01-26
US

Os to rd1144

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to rd1144
Since they're advertising 200+ HD channels now, and none of the markets have seen this (the all digital markets thus far have ranged from 150 to 185), I'm curious to see what channels will be added.

If they send it via mailings, please post it here. I'd like to see it. It hasn't been updated as of yet on the Charter Digital Now website for St. Louis or for points further east than Asheville in NC. According to the site, the long neglected Eastern NC and Suffolk, VA systems are included in this digital conversion. Those areas never got SDV, and only have 30-40 HD channels at best, some have none.

mixdup
join:2003-06-28
Alpharetta, GA

mixdup

Member

Here's a list of the channels LA has after the switch to all digital:
»www.myaccount.charter.co ··· ?ID=3318

Here's the list for Texas:
»connect.charter.com/digi ··· ical.pdf

Last night I went to Zap2it.com and they already have the new lineups for South Carolina and Michigan available if you put in a local zip code and pick the rebuild option.

Fort Worth is missing some channels that LA has, like BBC World News. The SC and MI lineups appeared to match the LA lineup (they had BBC World News for example)

I did a little digging and Fort Worth has RFDTV, whereas SC and LA don't, so I guess they are doing some regional variation. I hope when it makes it around to Birmingham we get the LA lineup and not the Fort Worth lineup
Os
join:2011-01-26
US

Os

Member

I've seen all these, one of the new MI lineups (Mount Pleasant) launches Encore Classic HD, Encore Suspense HD, MoviePlex HD, GAC HD, INSP HD, Daystar HD, ShopHQ HD, Jewelry TV HD and FamilyNet HD, but those wouldn't get anyone to 200, so that means more launches have to be coming.

cork1958
Cork
Premium Member
join:2000-02-26

cork1958 to rd1144

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to rd1144
So,
How long do you think it will take Charter to drop the 30meg plan altogether and FORCE people to pay more for something they don't need or can't afford, again?
rd1144
join:2009-02-26
Denver, NC

rd1144

Member

New HD Channels Added from the all-digital upgrade, this does not include existing HD stations. A lot of the premium channels they added the West signal, which i really don't count because I already had the HD East signal available. But hey they have Playboy TV in HD now!

Basic HD:
QVC HD
HSN HD
CSPAN HD
Univision HD
TV GUIDE HD
Jewelery TV HD
TBN HD
INSP HD
Expanded Basic HD
SportSouthHD
Regional Sports Extra Games HD
CSS Sports HD
Charter Select HD
IndiePlex HD
RetroPlex HD
Movie Plex HD
Digital Tier 1 HD
Family Net HD
Digital Tier 2 HD
BBC World News HD
UP HD
Digi Tier 2 HD/Latino View HD
UniMas HD
Digital View/Charter Select HD
Bloomberg HD
Hallmark Movie Channel HD
Digital View/Digi Tier 1 HD
The Hub HD
Sprout HD
Nick Jr. HD
ShopHQ HD
Nicktoons Network HD
Military Channel HD
Fox Business Network HD
Fusion HD
ReelzChannel HD
GAC HD
Digital View Plus/Digi Tier 1 HD
Fuse HD
TV One HD
BBC America HD
FX Movie Channel HD
Sundance HD
Digital View Plus/Digi Tier 2 HD
AWE HD
Digital View/Digi Tier 1 HD, Sports View/Digi Tier 2 HD
Fox Sports 2 HD
Latino View HD
Fox Deportes HD
Sports View/Digi Tier 2
ESPNews HD
WFN HD
Outdoor Channel HD
Sportsman Channel HD
Mav TV HD
FXX HD
HD Premium
HBO HD - West
HBO 2 HD - West
HBO Signature HD - West
HBO Family HD - West
HBO Comedy HD - East & West
HBO Zone HD - East & West
HBO Latino HD - East & West
Cinemax HD - West
MoreMax HD - West
ActionMax HD - West
ThrillerMax HD - East & West
5StarMax HD - East
MovieMax HD - East
OuterMax HD - East
Max Latino HD - East
Showtime HD - West
Showtime 2 HD - West
Showtime Showcase HD - West
Showtime Beyond HD - East
Showtime Extreme HD - West
Showtime Women HD - East
Showtime Next HD - East
The Movie Channel HD - West
The Movie Channel Xtra HD - West
Starz HD - West
Starz Comedy HD - East
Starz Edge HD - East
Encore HD - West
Encore Action HD - East
Encore Classic HD - East
Encore Suspense HD - East
Encore Drama HD - East
Epix HD - West
Playboy TV HD

mixdup
join:2003-06-28
Alpharetta, GA

mixdup to cork1958

Member

to cork1958
said by cork1958:

So,
How long do you think it will take Charter to drop the 30meg plan altogether and FORCE people to pay more for something they don't need or can't afford, again?

Internet access isn't Obamacare, no one is forcing you to buy anything. Feel free to cancel or move to an alternative. Also feel free to stop parroting the same complaints over and over and over.
cryptic1911
join:2010-01-24
Willimantic, CT

cryptic1911

Member

mixdup: You took the words right out of my mouth.. so goddamn tired of seeing cork1958 reply to EVERY thread about speed increases, complaining that he doesn't want anything more, and that noone else should ever need anything that fast.

mixdup
join:2003-06-28
Alpharetta, GA

mixdup to rd1144

Member

to rd1144
Back on topic,

That list of HD additions fills in the few gaps that I miss since I dropped DirecTV. Given that I'm spending about $80 less than I was when I had DirecTV, I'll take it. Even a few channels in there DirecTV doesn't have. Not quite as good as Time Warner/Bright House, they have basically the best channel lineup of any video company, but it's worlds better from where Charter was in my area 2 years ago.
armed
join:2000-10-20

armed to mixdup

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to mixdup
+1

oneoone
join:2010-01-20
North Hollywood, CA

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can't wait til they go all digital in my area and add those HD's. Hopefully sooner than later for my area.
15444104 (banned)
join:2012-06-11

15444104 (banned) to cork1958

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to cork1958
said by cork1958:

So,
How long do you think it will take Charter to drop the 30meg plan altogether and FORCE people to pay more for something they don't need or can't afford, again?

My thoughts exactly.

They essentially forced all customers (that want to have internet, in many markets) to bend over and accept the
30/4 plan, and the price increases because that is the ONLY plan they really have now (not counting the nebulous 100 Mb tier LOL)

So it wouldn't surprise me if Charter forces an "upgrade" to say 50 or 60 and of course the prerequisite price increase as well. If they do in fact do this I bet they will have a flood of customers leaving unless they give out deals to existing customers like they have with the 30/4 plan they forced on customers last year.