deceive
join:2001-09-09
Carrollton, GA
1 edit |  [Connectivity] Charter VS Bellsouth DSL (help plea
I'm moving into a new apartment that has Charter cable, and also has Bellsouth's DSL available. I've heard a few negatives about Charter from other friends, but would like to know from the people in the forums that are more educated about Charter's product. I don't wish to buy a phoneline and waste the extra money on a DSL product, but If I have to, then I will.
My question:
I do a lot of gaming, so latency is more important than throughput, and I would like to know if I would experience better results on Bellsouth's network, or Charter. Latency is important, but so is uptime, reliability and speed to a certain degree.
*edit*
I live in West Georgia, in the Carrollton area.
Thanks,
Nathan |
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plattypus1
join:2005-04-08
Riverside, CA
 ·Charter Pipeline
| Re: [Connectivity] Charter VS Bellsouth DSL (help
I'm on the other side of the country from you, but I had the same situation- I use my cellphone and didn't want to have to get an SBC landline for DSL.
Cable will on average provide better latency, and often better downstream bandwidth than DSL, just because of the technology. If you're a gamer, cable is first choice.
Oh, and I've heard better things about Charter back east than I've heard about them in Cali, and my connection personally has been much, much better than expected. So if the trend continues, you should get excellent service. Also, I've found Charter to be much more responsive customer-service-wise than the phone company. And I can't imagine one baby bell is that different from another. |
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statecop
Premium
join:2002-09-16
Beverly Hills, CA
1 edit | reply to deceive
Re: [Connectivity] Charter VS Bellsouth DSL (help plea
That is an easy choice...but to avoid being a troll I just sent you a PM. You may take the time to read this gamers horor story with charter. I went to BSFA about 3 years ago or a little less while the ping maybe 5-10ms slower it is more stable.
I will add that I have friends in TX who have great service with charter and report none of the problem I had. To be completely fair I havent been a charter customer for almost 3 years so they could have got it fixed but I heard from other people in the area it is pretty much the same.
I think it depends on the area you live. I would ask gamers in your city if you want to know for sure. My bets are on DSL.
Just my two cents... |
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Bama_chtr
join:2005-06-05
Helena, AL
| Re: [Connectivity] Charter VS Bellsouth DSL (help
I am one of the network engineers for your area. If you send me the MAC addresses of the customers that you spoke of having problems, I will investigate.
deceive - there are going to be customers that hate Charter and customers that hate BellSouth. There are also going to be customers that LOVE both. I would recommend that you make your own judgment. I work for Charter so there is some partiality here, but I would not get locked into a contract with BellSouth without trying Charter first.
Regards,
--
Charter Network Engineer - Alabama |
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deceive
join:2001-09-09
Carrollton, GA
| Bama_chtr,
Thanks for the reply, but those people are long gone as they have all graduated and moved on. They didn't have any major issues, it was mostly complaints about congestion problems in the evening and outages. I did end up settling on BSFA though, mostly because they are about to come out with a 6mb package in a month or so, and I was able to get a phone line for only 18 bucks, which isn't too bad. If I don't have good response times at all, I may still give Charter a try with the free trial though.
Thanks again,
Nathan |
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Bama_chtr
join:2005-06-05
Helena, AL | Good luck Nathan
When I was mentioning people with problems I was speaking to statecop, as I am an engineer for his area.
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Charter Network Engineer - Alabama |
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deceive
join:2001-09-09
Carrollton, GA | Ah, my apologies, and thanks! |
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statecop
Premium
join:2002-09-16
Beverly Hills, CA
| reply to Bama_chtr
Bama_chtr,
The people I was talking about was just other computer geeks you bump into at the computer/electronic stores and strike up conversations. If I see them again I will mention to them to come here. I will hand you guys one thing...It is nice Charter lets you guys come here and post! That is very helpfull. The charter customers are lucky to have people on your level that actually cares enough to post here! My hats off to you sir!
deceive,
Bama_chtr has one valid point about them not having a contract if you do want to try them. That was the reason I went with them first. If I do not qaulify for the new 6 MB package with BSFA and Charter comes out with something better and cheaper I *MAY* try them again on a trail basis. It is just hard to pull me away from BSFA now that I have had such good service and met some of their upper level people.
--
Visit the-armory.net and try our 32 player dedicated BF: Vietnam Server 69.93.1.186 port 15567 |
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pit_viper
1 Shot, 1 Kill, No Remorse, I Decide
join:2002-07-24
Play_Hockey | reply to deceive
Re: [Connectivity] Charter VS Bellsouth DSL (help plea
Cable -- No Contract!!
Try it first |
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nozero
Eschew Obfuscation
Premium,MVM,ExMod 2003-06
join:1999-12-29
InnerSanctum
clubs: | reply to statecop
Re: [Connectivity] Charter VS Bellsouth DSL (help
And if you do go to switch from cable to DSL or whatever, DEMAND a trial period. You damn sure don't want to be locked into a contract with any service that you may not be happy with. |
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mwmcclure1
join:2005-02-15
Greer, SC
| reply to pit_viper
Re: [Connectivity] Charter VS Bellsouth DSL (help plea
I don't know where this "contract" stuff is coming from but BellSouth does not require a contract for DSL service. If you opt not to purchase their modem and then cancel your service, they want their modem back or you pay the $75 cost of the modem.
Period.
- Mark |
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nozero
Eschew Obfuscation
Premium,MVM,ExMod 2003-06
join:1999-12-29
InnerSanctum
clubs: | The contract requirements may vary by location. |
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Newegg
Supreme Ideology
join:2004-11-14
Atlanta, GA
1 edit | reply to statecop
Re: [Connectivity] Charter VS Bellsouth DSL (help
BS also puts people on interleave or whatever it's called and they get high pings but BS does offer 6Mbits DSL now so it's faster than Charter and cheaper without including the land line and fees in the price.
So if you need the land line and you can get faster speed than 3Mbits or 5Mbits I would go with BS.
You can try both and cancel which ever is worse.
--
Bill Maher happens to be my hero. |
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jandrew01
join:2005-05-17
Opelika, AL
| reply to deceive
Re: [Connectivity] Charter VS Bellsouth DSL (help plea
I have both. I have had Bellsouth Fast Access for over 3 years. I have had charter for a week. I have done the test on both services. I notice higher ping times on Bellsouth Fast Access.
I have Bellsouth Extreme 3MB service. It is very reliable. Never had a time that I couldn't connect. I have a Charter packaged plan that included 3MB service. I live in the AUBURN area.
Charter's upload speed is supposed to be lower than the upload speed for Bellsouth. So far, that has been the only negative. To be honest, in online gaming, I have not noticed the difference.
My only concern for Charter is....when I experience outages, I will not have a connection to the internet. There have been too many times when I see a few interruptions while casually watching TV. Those same interruptions will give me INSTANT losses on some online games that I like to play.
Charter's High Speed Internet seems faster...I guess the low pings help with that. Bellsouth's DSL Extreme can advertise higher speeds but I don't see it in real world applications.
I don't know which I will choose at the end of the month. In a perfect world, I would send both services to my router but..... I'm not going to pay for both services, so a choice has to be made.
If Bellsouth could keep me from pinging (between the 80-110 range) anything higher than 80...I would gladly stay. |
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deceive
join:2001-09-09
Carrollton, GA
1 edit | reply to deceive
Re: [Connectivity] Charter VS Bellsouth DSL (help
Just an update:
I never did get around to giving Charter HSI a trial yet. I may still down the road, but probably not for awhile. My BS DSL 3Mb service has been excellent now that I've worked out some kinks. I was initially being put on a "noise profile" (interleave connection mode) causing excess latencies and erratic download speeds, but I have since got that fixed. My line has been 100% up, latencies of about 30-45ms on most EC servers I frequent, and I always have a constant 2.98Mb down on my downloads no matter what time it is. Now I can't wait for the 6Mb package to come out. In all, it will be hard to knock me from Bellsouth's excellent service. |
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techware_fx
Chief CrazyBare
join:2003-12-17
Easley, SC
clubs:
·Charter Pipeline
| reply to mwmcclure1
Re: [Connectivity] Charter VS Bellsouth DSL (help plea
You have 30 days from the initial hookup to return the modem or they charge you for the modem. (BS DSL)
You have 30 days from the initial hookup to return the "prize" like the cheap mp3 player or digital camera or you pay full retail price. $150 and $200.
You have 30 days to return all packaging, wrappers, phone splitters, packaging popcorn (every piece is counted), masking tape, oh and the "gateway", network cards or you will be charged $150
So basically if you get it all back within the FIRST 30 days your fine. After of course paying shipping and handling, and you damn well get insurance cause it might just "disappear".
If NOT, your looking at $75+$200+$150 =$425 plus the first month of service, which at 12 midnight after the 30th day turns into two months, non pro rated which means you could end up owing them close to $500 for 31 days of service.
Nice eh?
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GunMod |
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