dslreports logo
 story category
New Charter Speeds November 1?
16/2Mbps tier coming very soon...

Charter has been testing a 16Mbps/2Mbps tier in Texas for some time, and now users in several markets are saying that Charter customer support representatives have told them the company will be shaking up their broadband speeds starting November 1. These are the current speeds and prices for Charter broadband, though they do tend to vary depending on how competitive a market is:

quote:
•Charter HSI 3.0: 3 Mbps/256kbps : $39.99-$54.99

•Charter HSI 5.0: 5Mbps/512kbps : $51.99-$59.99

•Charter HSI 10.0: 10Mbps/1Mbps : $69.99-$79.99


According to the CSRs, Charter's 3Mbps tier will be bumped to 5Mbps, the 5Mbps service will be upgraded to 10Mbps service, and the company's 10Mbps tier will be boosted to 16/2Mbps. No word yet on whether prices will change -- though Texas 16Mbps trial participants say Charter is charging them $69.99 for the service bundled with basic TV, and $79.99 without TV.

Given Charter's financial condition, we'll assume these speeds will pop up slowly and in competitive markets first. We've fired off an inquiry to our contacts at Charter and will update you if and when we get confirmation.
view:
topics flat nest 

ztmike
Mark for moderation
Premium Member
join:2001-08-02
La Porte, IN

ztmike

Premium Member

Comcast as always will follow NOT lead.

Yet Comcast seems like the VERY last one to upgrade speeds.. Props to Charter to up their speeds when even their in financial trouble.

To think that CC is making record profits and still hasn't upped their speeds for their markets besides FiOS areas is pretty unfair.
yay_son
join:2005-04-16
Monterey Park, CA

yay_son

Member

Re: Comcast as always will follow NOT lead.

at least Comcast will deliver the speeds of what you are paying for. Charter on the other hand .. well .. come visit the Charter forums.
markopoleo
join:2003-04-02
Bonne Terre, MO

markopoleo

Member

Re: Comcast as always will follow NOT lead.

said by yay_son:

at least Comcast will deliver the speeds of what you are paying for. Charter on the other hand .. well .. come visit the Charter forums.
More like visit Charter customers complaints from mostly California.

RussGA
@uslec.net

RussGA

Anon

Re: Comcast as always will follow NOT lead.

Actually, I'm in GA and had to speak to support about the shoddy speeds I was getting on my 5MB account. They said they are only expected to give 70% of their promised speeds and they consider that acceptable.

When I was with CC before this new Apt, I was on the 8MB account but they had totally unlocked my connection and I was getting insane speeds, like 18MB down. The same site, speedtest.net says I had near 3.5MB on my 5MB account.

So I complained to customer service and asked them why I should be happy with 70% when I'm paying 100% of the bill and the CSR bumped my to the 10MB line speed without charging me more. So I guess if you're in GA, want the 10MB speed NOW, and not wait till Charter gets around to it, then call the CSR and ask them about it.

Now my speeds are more reasonable and hover around 8-9.5MB down.
LowRider
join:2006-06-23
Dallas, GA

LowRider to markopoleo

Member

to markopoleo
said by markopoleo:

said by yay_son:

at least Comcast will deliver the speeds of what you are paying for. Charter on the other hand .. well .. come visit the Charter forums.
More like visit Charter customers complaints from mostly California.
Yea Cali is about the only one that get complaints
Big Dawg 23
join:2002-03-27
Northfield, MN

Big Dawg 23 to yay_son

Member

to yay_son
I will state it again. I have Charter and love it. I get my advertised speeds all day long unless a temp outage. Outages are rare. Yes I understand, I am in the minority but not everyone is unhappy with there services.

gattaca
Premium Member
join:2003-05-28
USA

gattaca to ztmike

Premium Member

to ztmike
If you were a Charter subscriber, you would realize what a terrible thing it is to say "props to Charter."

Seriously, though, there's a reason Charter is in financial trouble: they're incompetent. Sure, you might be provisioned for a very high speed, but as experience in my town shows, you'll be lucky to achieve half that on a good day. Charter consistently rates towards the bottom of customer satisfaction surveys for a reason.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536

Premium Member

Re: Comcast as always will follow NOT lead.

said by gattaca:

If you were a Charter subscriber, you would realize what a terrible thing it is to say "props to Charter."

Seriously, though, there's a reason Charter is in financial trouble: they're incompetent. Sure, you might be provisioned for a very high speed, but as experience in my town shows, you'll be lucky to achieve half that on a good day. Charter consistently rates at the bottom of customer satisfaction surveys for a reason.
There, i fixed it for you

houkouonchi
join:2002-07-22
Ontario, CA

houkouonchi to gattaca

Member

to gattaca
said by gattaca:

If you were a Charter subscriber, you would realize what a terrible thing it is to say "props to Charter."

Seriously, though, there's a reason Charter is in financial trouble: they're incompetent. Sure, you might be provisioned for a very high speed, but as experience in my town shows, you'll be lucky to achieve half that on a good day. Charter consistently rates towards the bottom of customer satisfaction surveys for a reason.
Seriously! I had 10mb/1mb for like 7 months. It was good for the first 1 months where I saw 10mb/1mb 24/7 but then speed started getting worse and worse during peak hours where I would see 300ms latency and packetloss. They are just too oversubscribed and too incompetent to fix their issues. When I was seeing my download speed go below my upload speed during peak hours (upload was always awesome) I finally decided to drop charter and get 2 more phone lines and 2 more DSL lines instead (Before I was using both Charter and DSL). My 3x 6016/768k ADSL lines are far superior to when I had one DSL line + charter which was supposed to be the same approximate speed. I get about 5.35 megabits (after ATM overhead) on all 3 lines 24/7 regardless of time. Not only that but level1 peering and low latency routes.

Charter pinged 70ms to my colo'd server and DSL Extreme gets 9ms. F*%& you charter!

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5 to ztmike

Premium Member

to ztmike
said by ztmike:

To think that CC is making record profits and still hasn't upped their speeds for their markets besides FiOS areas is pretty unfair.
They did up their speeds for 95% of users with downstream and upstream powerboost. For those who need very high speeds for very large files and for extended periods, buy a business account.

Cabal
Premium Member
join:2007-01-21

Cabal to ztmike

Premium Member

to ztmike
Charter is doing what Comcast did a year ago. In the world I live in, that's called "following."

cork1958
Cork
Premium Member
join:2000-02-26

cork1958

Premium Member

Re: Comcast as always will follow NOT lead.

said by Cabal:

Charter is doing what Comcast did a year ago. In the world I live in, that's called "following."
Hmm? That's more like the way I thought it went. Charter is the slacker between Comcast and themselves.

Have no particular need for that kind of speed. Actually, no need for that kind of price!!

I've been happily surfing along on the "free" 5MB upgrade since they did that for us some time ago, and I can EASILY say "props" to Charter for the entire 7 years I've been with them starting out at the mega fast speed of 256/128!!
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned) to ztmike

Member

to ztmike
said by ztmike:

Yet Comcast seems like the VERY last one to upgrade speeds.. Props to Charter to up their speeds when even their in financial trouble.

To think that CC is making record profits and still hasn't upped their speeds for their markets besides FiOS areas is pretty unfair.
Actually Charter is. Four years ago I had a friend that lived in Comcast territory and his HSI top speed was 1.5 Mbps I lived in Charter territory and we just got bumped to 3 Mbps to speed. Over the next 5 years Comcast went from 1.5 to 3 to 4 to 6 to 8 meanwhile Charter didn't do crap until late last year. Even Bellsouth was offering 6 Mbps for several months before Charter finally bumped up speeds.

djrobx
Premium Member
join:2000-05-31
Reno, NV

djrobx to ztmike

Premium Member

to ztmike
Time Warner isn't exactly racing to get 15/2 speeds out. At least Comcast seems to make somewhat of an effort to consistently deliver things across their footprint. Here in LA, Time Warner gives differnet speeds depending on your zip code! For the premium tier, generally only FIOS areas are 15/2. Most of the rest are 10/1. Some areas are still stuck on 8/512!

matt314159
Premium Member
join:2006-01-18
Orange City, IA

1 edit

matt314159

Premium Member

This is exactly what they told me

The information in the news article is exactly what they told me several days ago when I phoned in. The CSR knew exactly what I was talking about, and seemed pretty confident when she told me November 1st.

I don't have FIOS in my town, but the surrounding towns do, so I think I'll be in one of the lucky packs who get upgraded first. w00t!

DHRacer
Tech Monkey
join:2000-10-10
Lake Arrowhead, CA

DHRacer

Member

Re: This is exactly what they told me

If FIOS isn't in your town, why would Charter care about competing with FIOS in areas they might not be in? (I'm just asking, not accusing or insulting.)

I don't know if your "surrounding towns" get service by Charter as well, but if they do, expect to see it for them and not you. Ther is no need to roll out speed increases that in their view, are a lousy investment since there is nothing to compete with.

Don't forget, customer is second to money...

If you think you have it bad, I'm up in the mountains surrounded by vacation homes and no one cares about HSI. Heck, even the incumbent Telco (VZ) isn't even seemingly interested in offering DSL beyond a very small footprint. I'd guess it's the crappy old mountain telco lines that won't support DSL, even if the CO does, but they aren't in any hurry to put in upgrades around here.

I'm surprised Charter offers 10/1 up here...

matt314159
Premium Member
join:2006-01-18
Orange City, IA

matt314159

Premium Member

Re: This is exactly what they told me

From an areal view, our tri-city (maybe city is too grand a word for what we have) area looks like one city. Two of the three towns already have fios, and our town is sure to get it pretty soon. When charter rolled out the 10/1, we were right there with the first of the rollouts. I'm confident that we'll be part of the 16/2 rollout.

dav0r
translate
Premium Member
join:2003-06-15
Albertville, MN

dav0r to DHRacer

Premium Member

to DHRacer
Topology dictates this... people bone out over TV so they can hit two birds with one stone more cheaply than mono-tiered service providers. Gotta be cheaper to deploy cable... seems that they get to more remote areas in all cases.
shoan
join:2006-02-27
Benton, AR

shoan

Member

still nothing in my area

and yet they still have nothing but digital cable in my area without vod, digital phone or internet. Why wont you guys just sell our area off and stop holding us back

ghostpainter
I Write for the Apocalypse
MVM
join:2002-05-25
Rancho Cucamonga, CA

ghostpainter

MVM

They must be trying to keep us happy.....

Here in Southern California, charter seems to be making an effort to keep us happy.

Down times are very rare once again and customer service is once again in English and in country.

As for speeds, we had a preview of 5MB for two months and I am once more back down to 3MB service, but it is consistent.

No rumors here about up grades, but that would not surprise me...I haven't started any yet.

DHRacer
Tech Monkey
join:2000-10-10
Lake Arrowhead, CA

DHRacer

Member

Raise speeds, drop the price

I have the 10/1 tier, which I'm probably not even utilizing to its fullest even now.

So heck with the speed increase. I'd like to see them "reset" the tier pricing, putting 16/2 at what 10/1 is priced at, and moving 10/1 to the 5/512 price point and so forth.

Charter already doesn't compete on price, so I don't know how offering a 16/2 package at even more money than the 10/1 is now is going to get them anything...

I'd like to see Charter start competing on price, even if they can "compete on speed" so easily. I pay way more for my 10/1 than [I think it should be priced at. I could have bought two 3/768 DSL lines for about the same price and used a dual-wan port router!
markopoleo
join:2003-04-02
Bonne Terre, MO

markopoleo

Member

Re: Raise speeds, drop the price

Well those on 10meg service are more than likely in it for just the upload increase itself. I'm in it for streaming HD movies and TV shows. 5meg service gave me buffering, could not take it :P

DHRacer
Tech Monkey
join:2000-10-10
Lake Arrowhead, CA

DHRacer

Member

Re: Raise speeds, drop the price

The only reason I'm on the 10/1 tier is for the upload that is as close to equivalent as I can get to my old DSL (last location) speed of 768 (upload). I didn't really care about the 3M down on the old DSL account (it was nice, I did like it, and it was fast enough for most things) but to have the 10 down right now seems to be going to waste at the moment.

I use the upload for telecommuting and uploading work product which benefits more from the 1 up with Charter than the 10 down does.

PhonePower
Premium Member
join:2007-07-20
Winnetka, CA

PhonePower

Premium Member

Sure makes 6 Meg DSL Attractive

at $34.95 6 Meg DSL is a GREAT deal.
HyPeRbAnD
join:2006-01-07
Stow, MA

HyPeRbAnD

Member

Massachsetts $49.99per month for 16/2 for 12 months

Massachusetts, Grafton/Westborough area.

wdoa
join:2001-10-16
Spencer, MA

wdoa

Member

Re: Massachsetts $49.99per month for 16/2 for 12 months

Both Grafton and Westborough have Verizon FIOS. It seems if you are in an area though w/o FIOS you can rot in hell as far as both Charter and Verizon are concerned. I'm in Spencer and while there is DSL in parts of Spencer there is no FIOS and no plans for FIOS, hence Charter gouges like crazy for their internet service.
HyPeRbAnD
join:2006-01-07
Stow, MA

HyPeRbAnD

Member

Re: Massachsetts $49.99per month for 16/2 for 12 months

said by wdoa:

Both Grafton and Westborough have Verizon FIOS. It seems if you are in an area though w/o FIOS you can rot in hell as far as both Charter and Verizon are concerned. I'm in Spencer and while there is DSL in parts of Spencer there is no FIOS and no plans for FIOS, hence Charter gouges like crazy for their internet service.
Yeah I know what you mean, however not every area around Grafton has FiOS, but that price is available.

I look at this way at least they are doing upgrades and not just sitting with the 3meg package..

Flibbetigibbet

Anon

Don't forget to ask for cheaper service

I just went through my annual gripe-for-a-better-rate call to Charter. A year ago when they raised rates (Smyrna, GA) to $54.99 for 3Mbps (plus $10 if you don't have their crapware video "service"), I called in and threatened to switch to BellSouth. It was an idle threat; I haven't had a landline in years and one was still required for DSL back then, but Charter didn't know that. Retention gave me $39.99/month for a year at 5Mbps with a stern threat that I wouldn't get another "promotional rate" again when that year was over. "That will be Charter's problem," I replied, "Not mine."

So the year just ran out, and I get a bill for $59.99/month "service." I call to ask for another discount and get turned down by the first rep, then I ask to be sent over to the disconnect folks (and this time, with naked DSL a reality, the threat to go to now-AT&T wasn't idle). Right on the script, the retention rep offers me $39.99 for another year of 5Mbps. I accept, and save myself $240 in one phone call.

So, moral of the story, don't put up with Charter's pricing. Tell them you'll need a competitive rate if they actually want your business, or you'll cut 'em off. Most likely you'll get a (much) better deal.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536

Premium Member

Re: Don't forget to ask for cheaper service

said by Flibbetigibbet :

Right on the script, the retention rep offers me $39.99 for another year of 5Mbps. I accept, and save myself $240 in one phone call.
Good going but even though you saved some money, its STILL charters lackluster service you're getting!

Flibbetigibbet

Anon

Re: Don't forget to ask for cheaper service

That's a very good point, and far be it from me to be a Charter cheerleader. The only advantage Charter really has right now is not having lame Comcast-ish upload limits.

KoRnGtL15
Premium Member
join:2007-01-04
Grants Pass, OR

KoRnGtL15

Premium Member

Question for you guys.......

Im on there 3mb plan with a 5mb preview until 1/08. Here is the kicker. I told them when the preview is up. I want to stay on the 5mb plan. So my question is. Since I said to go ahead and do that. Will they bump me up to the 10mb service? Will I have to wait until 1/08 for the 10mb?
whocares0
Premium Member
join:2003-07-26
..

whocares0

Premium Member

so Does that mean,

IF someone signs up with Castrate,( I mean comcast) for 2 years,will Comcast allow the customer to OWN the modem.reciever? even friend "L" who has "'basic" comcast is looking for a new cable company.

••••

mrkygeek
@charter.com

mrkygeek

Anon

Charter warp speed...

Charter own test »speedtest.mn.charter.com/
TCP/Web100 Network Diagnostic Tool v5.2.1e
running 10s outbound test (upload) . . . . . 286.52Kb/s
running 10s inbound test (download) . . . . . . 155.07kb/s

Your speed is 2.81 times faster than 56Kb dialup
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

1 recommendation

88615298 (banned)

Member

Re: Charter warp speed...

same test

running 10s outbound test (upload) . . . . . 974.92Kb/s
running 10s inbound test (download) . . . . . . 10.20Mb/s

Your speed is 185.56 times faster than 56Kb dialup

KoRnGtL15
Premium Member
join:2007-01-04
Grants Pass, OR

KoRnGtL15 to mrkygeek

Premium Member

to mrkygeek
Does Charter have a speed test for the Oregon area? Im in the Grants Pass part.
bufbarnaby
join:2002-01-06
Riverside, CA

bufbarnaby

Member

Charter problems?

I`m in Southern California and just got the 5mbps/512k HSI...and it`s early afternoon , and i`m getting my full speed. No complaints yet (crosses fingers).