Charter Internet?

[JonInMiddleGA]

I searched some of the previous threads, only saw one that was really Charter specific & it was from like 7 years ago ... I suspect things may have changed a bit since then.


Considering a switch to Charter (from AT&T DSL) for internet service*. 30mbps max/27mbps guaranteed min has a lot of appeal over the current max 6mpbs I can get from AT&T (and have had for years). Can't get higher from AT&T because I'm in some sort of black hole that can't get uVerse.

Having never had a single good experience with any cable company in my entire life my main concern with them is reliability. My work is too 'net dependent for me to endure multi-day outages or really even frequent outages period.

My other concern- which I'd have with any change I guess - is getting modem/router/devices to all play together nicely AND to do so consistently w/out constant hands-on effort.

Speak up FOFC, am I about to make a mistake I'll regret for years to come?

*this is strictly for internet service, not touching the TV or anything phone or anything else they offer

[JonInMiddleGA]

Oh, costs.

Pricing for the first 12 months is the same $29.95 I've been paying.
Climbs to $44.95 after that, which is kinda iffy to me.

plus $3/month router lease charge (doesn't sound unreasonable to me, tbh)
And a one-time $39.95 router activation fee, which I think sucks but what can ya do?

[SackAttack]

Unless it's contractual you can probably talk to customer retention at the end of the first year and get a rate better than $44.95/month, for whatever that's worth.

[cartman]

For consumer internet, there isn't a whole lot of difference between the various cable Internet companies. If this is work-critical, you might look into the business class offerings from the companies. I've had a business account at my house since I moved in, and it has been running great. When you do have issues, you get routed to guys who know what is up, not people reading off of a script. It does cost at least 2-3X per month more, but in my opinion it is well worth the extra charge.

[JonInMiddleGA]

It does cost at least 2-3X per month more, but in my opinion it is well worth the extra charge.

If business ever gets that good for me again, I'll almost certainly agree with you. Right now, raising costs just ain't an option unfortunately (I'm scuffling bad enough with the costs I've got)

[Atocep]

Most have a 30 day guarantee. If you don't like it you pay nothing. Keep an eye on your speeds and everything for 30 days and you should have a decent idea of what to expect from there.

As mentioned, after 12 months call them up and mention concern about your bill going up and quote the rate of another company and they'll get you a better deal. All of these companies have deals they can offer in situations like that.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Soooo .... maybe this isn't a bad thing to look at further then I guess.

I don't like change, this probably comes as no big shock to any FOFC regulars. But if there aren't any huge red flags then this almost starts to seem like a no-brainer.

[Izulde]

I've never had a problem with cable internet anywhere I've lived, personally.

[MizzouRah]

We switched to charter about 4 months ago, but we got the bundle.. internet, TV and phone. Internet is fantastic and when I test it from time to time it's typically in the 40 Mbps range.

[RainMaker]

My question is does the Mbps really matter that much for typical use? I get if someone is downloading a ton of stuff, but won't the 6 Mbps handle your basic web use and video streaming just fine? Would Jon really notice a difference?

[Matthean]

My parents have charter and seem to be happy with it.

[sterlingice]

The $40 fee is kindof a pain. In essence, it bumps you up another $4 a month for the first 12 months or is an incentive not to change too quickly as someone else will charge some other starting fee or so you can aggregate out the charge over a longer period.

Our whole internet/tv pricing structure is a joke. You only have a couple of competitors in the entire market and aside from reasonable introductory rates, prices irrationally go up. Either I have to waste 3 hours of my time every 6-12 months badgering some poor bastard at a call center who is making near minimum wage to get an arbitrary discount or I get a "complacency" increase.

SI

[Easy Mac]

Charter works fine. It's been a few months since an outage. Their cable tv is worthless, but the Internet is generally fast. When there is a problem, its pretty much pointless to call their help. I've been trying to get a cable card working for 4 months, and they have yet to solve it over the phone. Then their people never actually make their appointment, and they refuse to refund me the money for the cable card I can't use.

But in my area, the only Internet choices I have are Charter or DSL. FIOS and Uverse have both said they have no interest in coming to my side of town, so not much I can do but pay for Charter.

[panerd]

I have charter internet and have had no problems with the quality of the product or the customer service. I used to be a television customer a while ago and couldn't say the same thing about them but no problems with the internet side of things. (and I agree with sackattack that I just call every 12 months and reduce my rate down the $39.99)

[lungs]

I don't have Charter but live in a Charter area. Lots of people bitch about them, but that seems to be true everywhere, no matter who has the monopoly on the area.

[tarcone]

I have Charter and love it. I have had them for several years and am still paying the $29.95. I need to upgrade but my "contract" isnt up (by contract, I mean price guarantee). At the end of the 1 year, call them and they will work with you getting you cheaper service.

I have not had any problems with their service. Everything works in my house. Wii, 2 laptops, 2 phones. Im sure I could get more, but havent yet. It is very hands off.

I hate cable but am very impressed with this internet service. I highly recommend them.

You will get mailings and the occasional phone call about bundling. But thats the only negative and isnt that bad.

[FBPro]

Have had Charter for several years, changed from ATT better price and MUCH faster product!!

[CU Tiger]

I'll leve this here...Jon (or anyone else) if needed give me a buzz I've done a bunch of work for charter over the years...and have important peoples home numbers on file :)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thanks to all for the feedback.

Seems pretty clear that I need to pursue this further (including making sure that AT&T doesn't rape me for trying to unbundle some stuff).

[MizzouRah]

My question is does the Mbps really matter that much for typical use? I get if someone is downloading a ton of stuff, but won't the 6 Mbps handle your basic web use and video streaming just fine? Would Jon really notice a difference?

YES.. of course I went from 3 to 30 and it's HUGE.

Charter's customer service is excellent too.

[RainMaker]

Funny charter story for me. I had them about 10 years ago when I was living in Minnesota. One day my internet just stops. Call them up and they tell me I was running a botnet or spam mailer or something. Obviously my computer had acquired a virus of some sort and was being used as a zombie machine.

Anyways, this guy didn't believe me. I had to explain to him for 10 minutes that I didn't know enough about computers to pull that off. At some point he turned it back on but he seemed adamant that I was doing something shady.

[MizzouRah]

They just increased our internet speed from 30M to 100M at no extra cost.. wow.. talk about blazing speed. :)

[Brian Swartz]

Guess my experience is different from the others. I have Charter only because there are no other reasonable options where I live. It's been very inconsistent and in my opinion their customer service is absolutely horrible, by far the worst of any company I've ever dealt with in any business. They also apparently have a policy of constantly harassing those who don't get the full 'Triple Play' package -- we do internet only.

[MizzouRah]

They also apparently have a policy of constantly harassing those who don't get the full 'Triple Play' package -- we do internet only.

This is the only thing that pisses me off about Charter. They have called at LEAST 10 times wanting us to get their TV. We had it and didn't like it so we cancelled and went with Direct TV.

I've told them each time to put some notes in my account that says we are happy with internet and phone and are NOT going to get their TV.

If you don't answer, they call all day long. I just pick up now and say, "We are happy with Direct TV" and then hang up.