Charter HDTV - Page 95

Good evening,

I will need to get some account information from you so I can make sure this is escalated properly. Can you send me the address, and phone number associated with your account via PM?

Thanks,

Jeremy

Why is it that Charter's on-line ordering system is so deceptive in selecting what is available? No choice for CableCARD. No selection for internet speed.

I assume they want you to CALL if you want cable card service. They'd probably get a ton of people requesting cable card service online that didn't have the proper equipment because they didn't know what a cable card was just that it was cheaper than a box.

As far as internet speeds. Well they have TWO speeds now. 30 meg for $50( non promo price ) and 100 meg for $110( non-promo ). Were you actually interested in 100 meg?

100 meg would be nice but that is rather spendy. So is the 30 meg actually. What about people that don't want to or cant spend $50/mo for internet. How about 10 meg for $30 or something like that. I know that Charter's pricing is better than the next option around here per meg but some people just cannot afford it and will chose to save a little money and get internet elsewhere even if it is much slower because they aren't heavy users and just use it to surf the internet and check email. 3 megs for $38 on Uverse is much slower but still costs $12/mo less and if you're struggling to get by that $12 can make a difference.

Charter should offer slower speeds at less money as they risk losing customers due to this.

Let me also say that Uverse U200 with 3 meg internet off promo is $15/mo cheaper than Charter's equivalent. Where's someone on a budget going to go for their services? Of course if you're a CableCARD user then Charter is still cheaper if you want a DVR. A $20/mo fee just to have a DVR is REAL STEEP, especially if you only have one TV as some people do.
Edited by Sammy2 - 8/5/12 at 6:32am

You do realize that before the price changes 15 meg was $48 a month and that's if you had your own modem. If not then it was $55. So actually the new 30 meg price is cheaper or the same price than the old 15 meg. They did have a 3 meg tier that few customers actually had. So most Charter internet customers are in fact paying LESS not more. Charter won't lose many customers if any and those they lose weren't making much ROI for them anyways.

I got on 30 meg mainly for the 250 cap, the 100 GB cap on the 15 meg tier wasn't going to cut it. Otherwise I would have dropped to 15 meg. Now I don't have to since new 30 meg is essentially the same price as the old 15 meg.(not that I could drop now anyways but you get my meaning ). So old 30 meg pricing was $58 a month plus $7 if you rented your modem. So that was $65, new price $50 total. Includes modem. That's either an $8 or $15 saving for those that are on 30 meg. Only customers getting "screwed" are those on the 3 meg tier or the 100 meg tier. That's very small % of Charter's internet customers.

The go with u-verse then. Problem solved. Also if you compared apples to apples Charter is cheaper. At&t wants $53 a month for 18 meg internet Charter gives me 30 meg for $50. If I COULD get it. I can't even though I live in town.12 meg is $48 a month. At&t doesn't even offer U-verse TV in my area.

Once again MOST customers are actually saving money. Old pricing 4 DVRs was $60 a month now it's $40. 3 DVRs were $45 now they're $35. 2 DVRs in both cases is $30. Yes 1 DVR is more since it's $25 instead of $15. If that's the only box you had. The more you have the more you save just like any business. Price a Big Mac by itself. Then price it a value meal. It's cheaper in the value meal.

Not to sound harsh but Charter is in business to make money not be a charity. That's the reality. If you can find cheaper alternative go for them. I suspect most can't because Charter is about as cheap as you get. As I said under new pricing most customers are paying less over old pricing.

There's no point in comparing to the old pricing because it isn't available. I'm on the legacy 3 meg and use an HTPC with a CableCARD tuner to avoid the DVR "taxes". What I'm saying is people on budget can do better price-wise because Charter no longer offers lower tier internet. I consider myself lucky to get internet for $25/mo. If I were getting internet now I might choose the competition but am sticking with Charter because it is a better deal than Uverse in my set-up.

There IS a point because too many people complain and claim they are getting price increase which that is blatantly false.

Once again if you have better options by all means go with them. You're not the CEO of Charter. If you were then you could give everything out for free or almost free. By the way They do offer 30 meg for 12 months at $30 a month. By the way are you going to the u-verse board and complaining about their prices since they are higher than what you are paying now? Nope.

Maybe Charter will offer a lower speed cheaper tier at some point. I think right now they want everyone off Docsis 2.0 modems first and get everyone on the same few modems. This is why they are offering modems for free. It's easier and cheaper to maintain the network when you're not having to deal with dozens of different modems. This new system has been around what not even 6 weeks. Can you cut them a bit of slack and see if after maybe say 6 months to a year they start offering more speed/pricing options? It's going to take time to phase everyone in since Charter is being nice and is letting people like you keep you're speed and pricing and modem. They could have just cut you off. It's just like analog TV, instead of being like Comcast and just getting rid of analog on everything but basic Charter keeps it going for all the luddites out there. That's why it took years for us to get the same HD everyone has had. So if anything Charter is treating you very well.

Why do you think I'm complaining about pricing? All I am saying is that some people may choose the competition if they are on a limited budget and need to watch every penny. Charter may have left some of these people behind. If you don't need multiple DVR's and only use the internet to check email and surf the web, Charter has left you out price-wise.

BTW, I have my own DOCIS3 modem and hope to keep it. I like having my own equipment and don't mind buying it and maintaining it.

I am posting this to hopefully garner the attention of Umatter2Charter in hopes that they can pass this on to upper management; if management is purposfully trying to rid themselves of lower tier customers for whatever reason then I suppose it doesn't matter. The digital divide widens with this move. The infrastructure is there. It doesn't cost any more to deliver 3 meg internet but Charter doesn't provide it.
Edited by Sammy2 - 8/6/12 at 7:34am

Good Morning,

We appreciate the feedback and will submit it. At this time there are no plans for making changes to the new pricing structure.

Thanks,

Dylan

Thanks Dylan!

For me, the new pricing will give me a $5/mo price break when my promo ends so long as I can keep my legacy internet at $25/mo, otherwise if I switch to a new TV package and have to get the 30 meg internet at $50/mo it results in a $20/mo increase. Some people may re-consider but I'm happy with the service. Hopefully I can change just the TV package and keep the legacy internet but we'll see where that stands in December when I come off my current promo.

Dylan, can you confirm this is the case? Can one change just the TV package and keep the old internet package?

Sorry that I couldn't post anything, I've had visitors for the past week that demanded all of my attention (5 grandbabies).

Having tracked, as much as possible given the above, this is what I've found:

Monday 7-23: just after 1am, 10:45 am and 11:05 am
Friday 7-27: 12:20 pm
Thursday 8-2: once in the morning (forgot to document the time) and 7:04pm
Monday 8-6: 1:03 am and 11:06 am

I will continue documenting since I may have missed transmissions last week and there may be a pattern. Thank you for your help.
Sheila

Good Afternoon,

Yes, you can just switch one line of business (except phone) over if you wish. Are you looking to do so? If so, please send a PM with the PIN/Security Code and we'll be happy to look into it for you!

Thanks,

Dylan

Good Afternoon,

Thank you! I am going to get this over to local and have them investigate. I will update just as soon as we hear back!

Thanks,

Dylan

Thanks. Plan to eventually, but not for a while. At least you've confirmed I can have the best of both worlds when the time comes.

If the current pricing is available in November when my promo expires I'll be doing that too.

Actually it does cost more because all modems have to be provisioned for the proper speed and caps. It's obvious that uses more resources to manage 3 speeds and 3 caps than it does 2 speeds and 2 caps. As I said give Charter time with the new system. 10 years ago Charter had something like 5 or 6 speeds then dropped to 2 speeds. Well then they eventually went back up to 5. So because they dropped back to 2 doesn't mean it will stay there.

Good Afternoon,

I got a response from local. The tests were not done in error but it was not an EAS test either. Here is the response from local:

"The frequent testing is/was part of the new Integrated Public Alert Warning System (IPAWS) which is control by FEMA. There was a couple of weeks of constant daily national testing that was being conducted by FEMA that would have affected all people in the United States.

We schedule our normal EAS testing overnight once a week between 12am and 5am. There is also a once monthly test that will get pushed by the state which normally happens during the daytime.

Hope this information helps!
"

Thanks,

Dylan

UMatter2Charter..

Can you confirm this?

One other thing that might affect the number of EAS tests you see. Each individual broadcast station conducts their own weekly test as part of FCC requirements. Cable systems also conduct one weekly test and then there are the Required Monthly Tests and new IPAWS tests -- so depending on which stations you're watching and when, you could receive multiple EAS tests in a week's time.

Good Afternoon,

We currently offer the speed tiers that we believe provide the most value to our customers and improve their on-line experience. We listened to feedback from many of our customers regarding our packages and promotions and reworked them to match that demand. As far as the cost for maintaining a multitude of packages, BCF68 has some solid logic; however, I cannot confirm that research was conducted on that topic.

Thanks,

Dylan

Thanks.

What happened to USA on-demand programs? It appears that they haven't been updated in more than a week and none of the most recent episodes from last week are available. Is this a charter or NBC decision that prefers we watch the Olympics rather than on-demand programming? Kind of frustrating because it is my only option to watch USA in HD since live USA is not transmitted by Charter in HD in my area.

Good Morning,

OnDemand content is added as quickly as we can once we receive it from the network.

Thanks,

Dylan

So I should just assume it is NBC holding back the USA programming? You can't check to see whether this is a glitch or intentional on NBC's part?

I apologize if I was unclear, I did not state that NBC was holding back content or that you should assume as such, I did state that we do post the content as quickly as we can once we receive it. I am not showing any indication of an issue but will contact the local headend to doublecheck. I will post back just as soon as I get a response!

Thanks,

Dylan

I never experienced so much testing with Directv.

Helps what? 3+ times a week, multiple times a day is driving me crazy. I found myself looking at Directv's offerings today. When I changed back to Charter earlier this year, I thought that I'd be able to stay for at least a year or two but the reasons not to are building quickly. If my Charter cannot get MSNBC into the HD section by the end of the year....

Good afternoon,

I am very sorry you feel that way, but the tests were conducted to test a new system for weather emergencies as the message from Dylan stated. I am sorry that you are wanting to leave us, but we have no control over these tests. I completely understand the frustration of having your programming interrupted, and I apologize for any inconvenience these interruptions caused you. If you have any other questions please let us know.

Thanks,

Jeremy

Hi Umatter:
I would like to request some channels for the Duluth, MN (55812) area:
CBS Sports Network HD
NHL Network HD
NBA TV HD
IFC HD
ESPN3D

I would also like to request WatchESPN access for Charter subscribers. I would be willing to pay for the sports pack if all of the channels in it are offered in HD, but as it stands I don't see it being worth the money. My parents live in a Comcast area and have access to all of those channels listed and WatchESPN. It is always disappointing going back to school (and back to Charter) knowing I won't have access to some of my favorite channels in HD. Please fix this!

Thanks,
Dan