Charter HDTV - Page 102

Expanded Basic is a part of all the new packages: charter.com/tvpackages

Umatter,
My 24 mo. price guarantee ended and I was told that Charter did not offer that anymore and that I would be in a different pricing structure, I am Gold and bundle phone and internet and my bill is going up because Charter now bundles a sports package, which I do not care about, and Epix, which I may never use, and ups the speed on internet to 30Megs. I can understand price increases but why am I being made to pay for something i'll probably never use? The difference is not small. My bill is going up by about $20-$25 a month, I don't know exactly because I haven't received a non pro-rated bill yet. What was $175-181 is going to $205-210.
Additionally I was told that my current modem would not be able to handle the increase in speed, a Motorola Surfboard that was purchased not two years ago and that Charter was mailing me a new one that would, supposedly for free. I did two speedtests from two different sites and got anywhere from 21 to 30 Mbps with the old one. I am reluctant to use the newer one for fear that, at the least, there will be no difference, or most, that I will be charged a monthly rental. I bought my first modem for $200 back in 1999 since break even was less than two years and now would be even less.

I guess my questions are why the need to add channels that cannot be removed unless I downgrade to Silver and lose half of my other premiums and raise my bill to boot. What was extra (Epix) is now being forced upon me as well as Sports. I am sure I am playing plenty for all those ESPN's I don't watch either so having a sports package for "free" does not make me a happy consumer.
And, will that new Cisco modem really make that much difference? And are you going to start charging me a rental fee?

Hi Mylan,

We understand the importance of value and getting exactly the service you need. We will be more than happy to review all of your options now that your 24 mo. price guarantee is ending. Please send us a PM with some account info so we can look into this.

Thank you,
Abby

Actually he's in a situation I, and probably others, will also face in the coming months. It would be nice if you responded publicly.

For some it is better to roll over their previous plan. For some the new packages work better. You can actually look at the current pricing plans and compare them to the plan you have after it is off promo. Mine happens in December and so long as I can keep the internet I have now I save $5 if I switch. If not I'll stick with what I have.

Mylan if your nodem is docsis3 you can continue to use it but Charter won't give you a credit for it. As far as the TV packages go make sure you're comparing current pricing with the non promo pricing from before July. The promos don't last forever.

Well I went and checked the modem and it is only docsis 2 rated so I might get a speed bump with the newer one, still I don't want to find I am leasing it. I would rather buy it and be done with it. I'll install it later and report the results.
Sammy I guess the reason I am unhappy is because Charter decided to change their packages and stuff them with unneeded programming. I no longer have the option of getting Epix, i have it and are paying more for it. The same goes for the sports package. Price increases are inevitable but we are talking possibly 15% more. I was perfectly happy to be locked into a 24 mo. contract, Charter wins because they retain a customer and I win because I get the discount. Since that is no longer the case I realize I have options.

I wasn't aware I could roll over the previous plan. The Charter rep certainly didn't indicate that. Actually, he was like a Best Buy salesman asking me how I use internet, how many televisions do I have and suggesting that I needed an additional box on the bedroom tv that rarely gets watched and that now I am getting more channels for "free" . Under the ruse of being helpful and understanding my needs he was trying to upsell me and I did not appreciate it. I hung up the phone thinking "what the hell just happened?".

Don't waste your time with them. Work with the UMatter2Charter team. Trust me.

You can roll your existing package but have to pay the full, pre-promo, price for it.

BTW, UMatter, the links for the current price list seems to have changed. Can you re-post that please. Thanks.

Okay, current pricing is here.

Maybe you can get Select and add what you want ala carte?
Edited by Sammy2 - 10/30/12 at 8:29am

It is possible, i'll run the figures and see where I stand. Thanks for the pricing chart Sammy2.

Mylan,

You only need docsis 3.0 for speeds over 30MB. If your plan isn't any faster, there is no benefit.

Yeah, Charter isn't very forthcoming with that info but it is in either your July or August or maybe even September bill too. I forget which. It seems they really don't want to make it easy to make an informed decision about paying for their service but that is par for the course with all telecoms.

OK,
so Umatter Abby did get back with me on pricing and looking at it, it is still somewhat confusing but the new package does contain more and comes in at about $9.00 less expensive. Worst of all though, it seems as though my bill is going up by about $16 for the same package as I had except I do get Epix.
Moving from the old 15Meg internet to the new 30Meg seems like a no brainer because the difference is only two bucks.

Remember you're coming off promo so it would have gone up anyhow.

Bah, nobody ever pays full price for cable tv.

Charter is sure trying. If you are successful in obtaining a promo extension drop me a PM. If not switch the UVerse or FiOS?

It most certainingly seems as though I will though as I go through these "negositions" with Charter.....

Umatter2Charter: any status update?

Good afternoon,

We escalated this concern today, and we are still working on a release to make the SATA ports active. Unfortunately, at this time we have not been given an ETA, but we have made strides in the right direction. I wish I could give you a solid timeframe, but one does not exist at this point. However, we hope to have more information in a couple weeks to provide to everyone. As soon as we get more information we'll get it out to you.

Thanks,

Jeremy

787 and 788 showed up last night. Looks like I'll be watching the Lakers tonight. Oh Yeah!

What are Charter Upload Speeds?

For residential service, Charter lists on the website that it is up to 30 Mbps for download. I know that no one does sync speeds, so what is the upload, or outgoing speed? And why is that spec not listed? It is a vital part of internet service.

According to http://www.charter.com/speed, it's:

Ultra 100: 100 down, 5 up
Plus: 30 down, 4 up

I just installed the new modem Charter sends out with the plus 30Meg service and it does seem like I have gotten a fairly decent speed increase. I am, however, getting varied readings depending on which speed test website I visit.
Speakeasy was showing 21 Meg down and 4 up and speedtest.net had 35.25 down and 5 up. I think before speakeasy had me at 15 down and 4 up while speedtest.net measured me at 21 down and 4 up and that is with a wired connection to a desktop computer.
I just checked wi-fi on my phone and tablet and before I was getting + or- 20Megs and now am seeing 25Megs, it is nice but I honestly never had a problem before. Streaming from a wired blu ray player before never hiccupped so I don't anticipate any differences there.

Edit:corrected mistakes
Edited by mylan - 11/2/12 at 1:07pm

Well that didn't go so well. I spent the first half getting my Tuning Resolver Re-synched but it is all working well now except for the Lakers.

BTW, this was via chat support, IDK if I got lucky or if Charter has in fact trained more people on how to deal with CabeCARD and Tuning Resolver issues. That said my HDHR Pirme has been working well for several months and is working well again. I wonder if the addition of these additional channels to the line-up screwed it up?

Thanks for the info.

Mylan, I think you got your numbers backwards. The high values should be down and the low numbers should be up

Yep, just realized that, sorry. I'll go back and change it.

I also have Charter's 30 megabit service. I just ran a SpeedTest.net test and got 27.40 down and 3.07 up.

@Umatter2Charter:

How much is installation of just internet these days?

Hi mrvideo,

Brand new installs are discounted to $19.99. If you are adding Internet to an existing account, the install is discounted to $29.99. There may be some markets where this does not apply, but from what I've seen, this is pretty much standard across the board. Did you have any other questions? Feel free to PM us with some account information and we'll be happy to take a closer look.

Thanks,
Abby