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shreezbot
Premium Member
join:2014-04-28
USA

shreezbot

Premium Member

I think I'm about done with Charter in Pelham, AL

I've been struggling with issues with my Charter internet for over 2 years now and I think I'm about to just give up and switch to AT&T Uverse and swallow the slower speeds as much as it pains me. After 2 years of speeds dropping to nothing after 7:00 PM and not getting better until after midnight, and technicians coming out and telling me they can't do anything because they can't see a problem, I don't see where I have a choice. I was told to wait for the Spectrum upgrade (I think to shut me up and get me to stop calling) and after the upgrade, I'm just having different problems. Now, instead of just being slow between 7:00 and midnight, it is just randomly slow all the time now. Also, my latency is horrible all the time now. The best ping time I usually get is well over half a second. I've had so many technicians out to my house, I just don't know what to do anymore. They just keep telling me the same things over and over. "There isn't anything we can do if we don't see a problem from here, but report it to the headend and see if they see anything here." I even had one guy tell me "The only problem is, they don't ever listen to us, so that probably won't even do any good, but you can keep trying." The amount of time I've taken off of work only to have technicians tell me there isn't anything they can do is nauseating.

As a last ditch effort, I've sent a letter to my state Attorney General's Office, and to the FCC, as well as filed an official complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. I don't know if it will do any good, but it is worth a try at this point. I've also given a letter with all of the pertinent information to all of my neighbors who are having problems as well so they can do the same. I just don't think Charter should be charging people this much money for internet and then not providing the advertised service.

Other than the actions that I've taken above, do you guys see anything else possible that I can do to get this issue solved for me and my neighbors once and for all? I feel like my only choices are sometimes-fast-but-sometimes-slow-and-unstable internet or slow internet.

JimE
Premium Member
join:2003-06-11
Belleville, IL

JimE

Premium Member

I service was randomly slow for a couple of weeks before and after the upgrade. And I've seen similar reports from others in different areas experiencing the same. After which, service has been rock steady. I should also note that service was solid before the upgrades as well. So the upgrades were most likely the cause of my service issues.

Having said that, your initial trouble during prime time (ie: 7pm - midnight) sounds like an oversubscribed node. The most you are likely to get from Charter for that issue is an acknowledgement of that being the cause.

Are you using a newer modem and is there channel bonding in your area? That could help a bit.
shreezbot
Premium Member
join:2014-04-28
USA

shreezbot

Premium Member

Yes, I'm using a new modem (I've had a half dozen or so installed here, including a business class). There is 8 channel bonding in my area, and i have 16 channels available. I've been told by a couple of technicians that there are only about 350 people on my node, so it shouldn't be oversubscribed as they regularly have over 600 people on a node.

I've been told by a few different technicians after the upgrade that they have had a lot of problems in the area after the Spectrum upgrade, but that they have been unable to convince the engineers at the headend that there is a problem. I'm just wondering what it would take to convince them since they apparently don't listen to the technicians...

defiant
Former Charter lackey
join:2013-03-22
Monroe, MI
ARRIS TM1602
Asus RT-AC68
Netgear WNDR3700v4

defiant

Member

said by shreezbot:

I'm just wondering what it would take to convince them since they apparently don't listen to the technicians...

It could easily be the other way around, also...

Do you know if there are others in your area experiencing similar issues?

Modems
@96.35.11.x

Modems to shreezbot

Anon

to shreezbot
Same thing happened to my internet. Before spectrum, Internet was not bad. Low pings. After spectrum, Internet went to crap. High pings and up and down speeds. Changed out 3 new modems and 3 techs came out to check it out. Nothing worked. Even got a new router. Net gear 3700 to an asus rt-68u. Still the same problem. I live about 60 miles from the headend. My routes have also changed. Checked by doing a tracert. Paths now have way higher pings than before. What could be going on?

shreezbot
Premium Member
join:2014-04-28
USA

1 edit

shreezbot to defiant

Premium Member

to defiant
said by defiant:

It could easily be the other way around, also...

Do you know if there are others in your area experiencing similar issues?

That may very well be the case. All I know is that no-one at Charter seems to be communicating from what I can tell.

All of my neighbors with whom I've spoken who are using Charter are having similar issues. They aren't as acutely aware of it as I am, because none of them work from home like I do, but they have all experience slow speeds when they are trying to do things like Netflix or youtube or anything that needs a bit of bandwidth.
NeverEnough
join:2014-07-22
Birmingham, AL

NeverEnough to shreezbot

Member

to shreezbot
Strange you have problems during off peak hours. That area has been crap after the Spectrum roll out during peak hours. Random brief outages, and basically unusable during peak hours.

Charter used to very reliable and stable, but not after Spectrum. I can get 1mbps or 64mbps. I used to get a stable 32mbps.

Overpriced garbage, but that is probably true for all companies.

cork1958
Cork
Premium Member
join:2000-02-26

cork1958

Premium Member

said by NeverEnough:

Overpriced garbage, but that is probably true for all companies.

Don't know about that garbage part, but definitely over priced, especially for what bandwidth cost now a days!

Have to give OP credit for having patience if this has been going on for over 2 years though!
shreezbot
Premium Member
join:2014-04-28
USA

shreezbot to NeverEnough

Premium Member

to NeverEnough
said by NeverEnough:

I can get 1mbps or 64mbps. I used to get a stable 32mbps.

Pretty much my issue also except for my primetime issues before Spectrum rolled out. My problem now is that it is getting worse. Even when I go into the office, I'm constantly getting text messages from my wife who works from home saying "the internet is horribly slow again, I can't even get the speedtest page to load at all right now." If she had her way, we'd already be on U-Verse, but I just haven't been able to stomach 18 mbps down 1 mbps up yet, especially since my neighbors with U-Verse report that their service isn't much better.
said by cork1958:

Have to give OP credit for having patience if this has been going on for over 2 years though!

Not so much patience as it is my only other option is internet speeds from over a decade ago. This is starting to get so bad that it is an issue for me working from home though, so soon enough I may have no choice...

cork1958
Cork
Premium Member
join:2000-02-26

cork1958

Premium Member

said by shreezbot:

Not so much patience as it is my only other option is internet speeds from over a decade ago. This is starting to get so bad that it is an issue for me working from home though, so soon enough I may have no choice...

Yeah,
I knew patience wasn't the word I really wanted but didn't really have much of a choice there either!

At least you have the option of U-Verse and not some wanna be pretend HSI thing called Frontier, like I do here!! That's not really an option for me either as I'm not going to be forced to have their landline and the cost, just because they don't offer dry DSL here anymore.

So far though, after 17 years of Charter, I can't complain the least about the service really, but sure can and do complain about their business practices!
Expand your moderator at work
shreezbot
Premium Member
join:2014-04-28
USA

shreezbot to cork1958

Premium Member

to cork1958

Re: I think I'm about done with Charter in Pelham, AL

said by cork1958:

I can't complain the least about the service really, but sure can and do complain about their business practices!

I guess that is my biggest problem really. If you happen to be in an area where service is good, then you are golden, but if you are in a small neighborhood like I am, with only 360 or so people on your node, you're small potatoes, and they don't really have much incentive to fix your problems. Especially when only a few of those people work from home on a regular basis and notice how horrible their internet service is on a daily basis. Hundreds of calls, e-mails, complaints, and nothing has been or likely will be done. I thought calling every single day and reporting the issues would get some attention, but they seem to be determined to ignore the issues...
shreezbot

shreezbot

Premium Member

Oh, I almost forgot, I filed an official report with the BBB also. I'll be sure to keep you guys updated as to whether or not the issues get resolved...

My wife and I both work from home, so I have no choice but to give them another couple of weeks to sort this out and I have to switch to DSL. My neighbors are saying they are considering doing the same if it isn't sorted.
emak0
join:2009-08-28

emak0 to shreezbot

Member

to shreezbot
I'm having severe internet issues in b'ham today...anyone else
gbrown
join:2006-11-30
Pelham, AL

gbrown to shreezbot

Member

to shreezbot
I had a few problems after the upgrades but only for about a week, haven't noticed since then.
emak0
join:2009-08-28

emak0 to shreezbot

Member

to shreezbot
I've been having packet loss for 12+ hours now
Jazzemt
join:2009-02-12
USA

Jazzemt to shreezbot

Member

to shreezbot
Call the Corporate Escalations line.
shreezbot
Premium Member
join:2014-04-28
USA

shreezbot

Premium Member

I've talked to Customer Retention several times and have been promised that things would be address and they wouldn't. All they do is send out ANOTHER technician, make me miss another day of work, and promise me a credit on my account that surprisingly (sarcasm) never shows up...

defiant
Former Charter lackey
join:2013-03-22
Monroe, MI

defiant

Member

Sounds like it's time to contact your local franchise authority.