Charter Communications

Reviews 3

NI

Nicholas Peiffer

Charter never ceases to amaze me at how bad they are. We only get internet from Charter but we wouldnt even do that if there was another real option. Our internet speed has been up and down for years. At our previous apartment we had 4 techs come out, several days of internet outage, customer service blaming our router, and little to no solutions (our router was not the problem). Currently we continue to have almost every other day extremely slow internet speeds. The annoying part about it is when we call customer service our internet speeds miraculously return to normal speeds, but regress shortly after our call ends. It often feels sketchy like Charter slows our connection until we complain then restore it until we hang up only to slow it down again. Today we went directly to the Charter store in Fitchburg because our monthly rate increased with no warnings. The employee told us they stopped the rate of $29.99 but didnt say why that rate was discontinued and that our new rate was $44.99 AND that after a year our rate would climb again to $59.99 (completely unreasonable prices when there is no improvement in services. Id be much more understanding of a price increase if it meant better quality.) Prior to this sudden increase we had been able to get the $29.99 rate for several years albeit by playing a game of cancelling our service only to renew and be eligible again for it. He proceeded to try and upsell us on their NEW streaming service despite us being there complaining of our crappy internet. We arranged for a tech to come out today between 6 pm and 7 pm. We waited, got a automated confirmation of the tech visit an hour before 6, time rolled on and now 7:22 PM I finally get a call from Charter that our tech was delayed on a previous job. The woman on the phone apologized that she was relaying this information so late and that the tech would be another 15 to 20 minutes. I hope I wont end up waiting another hour before they call again apologizing. UPDATE: Tech showed up and until further testing may have solved the problem we were experiencing. According to him it was noise causing issues despite our service indicating a steady stream. Upon asking why they cant test for noise when talking to customer service on the phone he informed me that he has actually asked his supervisor this very same thing and still isnt sure why they dont do it but knows it is doable since he is able to identify noise using his work phone without actually physically connecting to our modem. With this concludes that we are now 2 of 6 with techs being successful solving our issues and customer servise is 0 of 1000 solving our issues. What really frustrates me about Charter is the fact that there really isnt anything better. In Madison you have 2 options, 1 of which varies on your location. You have Charter or AT&T (or TDS instead of AT&T depending on your location). Both AT&T and TDS charge as much or more for their internet services as Charter but for considerably less speed and AT&T even stated their services go up $10/month every year. Everyone you talk to in Madison and probably any charter customer would agree that Charter is horrible but the best or only option available. So despite all the crap my girlfriend and I go through with Charter they sadly are the lesser of 3 evils and they know it so they get away with some shady actions, flawed customer service, and expensive rates. I read an article recently stating how cable companies like Charter and Comcast even avoid competing with each other so they can take advantage of the market. This has the feeling of monopolization but legally they get away with it because AT&T and TDS exist but are completely unrealistic and undesired options. Is there any hope out there or are we forever trapped under the weight of Charter and Comcast?

JO

John Eberhardt

Great service, good people. So I disagree. I live near Madison, Wisconsin so I guess the people here may be better at service? I am a network Engineer and work with networks all the time. Charter (and cable companies in general) uses a "shared pipe" system. I do not see how they can guarantee speeds at all times no matter what they claim. You will get best results only when no one else is on the wire with you and the server that you are trying to download from/upload to is close on the network. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I am on the 20 meg plan as well also (used speakeasy for speedtest), and right now at 3 pm in the afternoon in my home office I am getting 18-20 down (3 tries) , 3.1 to 3.2 up from Chicago and 12 to 13 down and 3.1 to 3.2 up from Seattle. Chicago is always the best today, I got a solid 20 down on several tests. I can understand them wanting you to use their speed test as it makes a big difference where the server is that you are testing from (latency and hops will slow you down). +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ As for service, I have had one cable modem blow during a lightning storm in 2007 and the second one is starting to fail (DNS dies intermittently). Every time I call them they seem fine. Hold time is short and the people are cordial and friendly. The techs came right out when the modem failed (now they want me to bring the modem to their office myself and swap it out, times change with bad times) and replaced it and all the coax and they didnt need to do all that. They did this all during a cold rain storm at night on the weekend. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ They are 10 times better than my experiences with the Time Warner people were when I lived in Milwaukee (at least I have something to compare them to). The techs were slow and I was always on hold forever when I called them. When I finally got through they were fine, just took all my day. Then techs would come out during a four hour window and then never show up. I had to take off work to get stood up- nice touch. When they finally figured out that the modem was bad, I had to bring it in to the Mayfair office even though a tech was right there he had no spares (what kind of crap is that?) the charter techs had a spare with them as they are a common failure point. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++Summary: Time Warner = bad, Charter= good. ATT= in between (dad and mom used them until switched to Time Warner)++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++Regards,+++++ JCE

A

Anonymous User

Used Charter for a couple of years. Just ditched them and I couldnt be happier. Shortly after we first started with Charter our connection went out, took them days to send someone out and it turned out theyd disconnected us for no reason at all. Thanks Charter. Fast forward to the recent past when our bill went up, I called up to try and get a new promotional rate because Im no paying $60 for internet that bombs out briefly a couple times a day. They said they couldnt do anything better than their listed rate. After that I decided to downgrade to their lowest speed for the time being in order to save some money. When I called up to do so they transferred me to retentions and magically they offered me a better rate. Turned out they were lying and there was an additional charge on top of that because I wasnt bundling serviced (I have no interest in rotting my brain out watching cable TV or having a phone that I cant take with me in my pocket), when I complained and asked for the original rate the supervisor did not apologize and said the last person I talked to must have assumed I knew about the extra fee. When I told her I wanted the original rate she said there was nothing she could do, what is the point of having a retentions department if the best they can do is what is listed on the website? Finally I organized DSL with AT&T which was simple and easy and did not require a visit for installation. I just plugged the DSL modem in and called customer service who guided me through the set up. When I called to cancel with Charter they offered me the original rate but Im pretty sure it would have been the same thing again. After calling to disconnect I got several calls from Charter trying to get my business back if perhaps they offered me a really good rate but by that point theyd managed to blow whatever shred of credibility they had left in my mind. Since I dont trust their billing practices I had no interest in continuing business with them any longer and am now much happier for it!

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