 Review by glmclell 
UPDATED: 1.1 years ago
member for 9 years, 1045 visits, last login: 27 days ago
 Manistee,Manistee,MI
 $110 per month
 about 3 days
 "Good download speed, lowest price broadband in town"
 "upstream still slow, compared to competitors packages"
 "like their ad says,"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I ordered the 768/128 package, and am currently renting their modem as well.
The ordering was difficult because I buy cable from my apt complex, and the pipeline direct from Charter... they needed some special account numbers to set it up.
The home equipment consisted of a 18" rg-6 cable, a 25 ft rg-6 cable, a 1 ghz 2 way splitter, a Sci. Atlanta WebStar modem, a few usb cables, but no ethernet cable.
I self installed the modem, but there was a problem on the line, which took them a day to sort out.
I signed on with a 3 month promotional offer for your first month being $1 ... however, when I received my bill, they had "forgotten" to credit me for my 1st month, so it took a call and about 20 min on hold to get it straight, which they did without any quibble.
Dynamic IP that changes EVERY 2 days, plus they have some sort of accellerator / filter monitoring my connection, and BLOCKING ports and sticking charter ad's in a few web pages.
Also, I had pipeline installed to another building, which had never had cable before. I went with their Digital HBO package + Pipeline ... they installed everything for FREE; which meant running a wire from the pole into the building, and then wiring 2 jacks in the building (one for TV, one for computer) ... the installer was very professional and got the job done in a few hours. Felt sorry for him since it was a crappy rainy day, friday evening even. Only one guy to do all the pole climbing and everything. Good job on that one!
3/20/04 update
Speed is now up to 3000/256, service has been very stable and even works during power outages. I've sold several charter business accounts as well, and my customers are very pleased - sure they're a bit expensive, but th reliability makes up for it.
Only negative is charter business (in NW mich maybe?) is not good about setting up external domains to business accounts... they always have an excuse as to why it took 1-2 weeks longer than the service install to get the domain setup on their nameservers properly... plus charter won't handle registering a domain for you, so you have to go elsewhere which just means more paperwork.
11/08/04 update
Speed holding steady, rated at 3000/256, I see about 2600/192 ... IP hasn't changed in months, even kept it during a move from apt to new house.
I've had a bit of trouble getting the referrer credit applied to my bill, but in the end the local office sorted it out.
If Charter offered a less expensive tier, I'd recommend them more. A lot of my customers can't justify $40 a month for "just" Internet access... SBC Yahoo's $27 a month DSL is really gaining ground, especially since Charter Internet is SO EXPENSIVE for "business" accounts.
**Clarification of my statement "even works during power outages":
We had a power outage that lasted about a day, and as long as my batteries held out, powering my equipment, I was able to surf, and use my voip phone.
*** Update: March 18, 2005
Charter recently increased the cost of my HSI to roughly $46/mo, but has not offered any new service or benefits.
Right now, I would switch back to SBC DSL, but I dont want bundled phone service... so, stuck in the mud it seems.
*** Update: April 16, 2007
As of sometime late Feb, Charter bumped my speed up to 5000/512. The speed tests show about 4800/450 which is nice. Still paying roughly $45 a month. IP address seems to change every few months now. Ping times and general availability are still very good. DSL from AT&T is now available in my 'hood but only bundled with pots service, which I'm not interested in. So Charter is my only choice, and I'm still hooked.
*** Update: September 22, 2008
I'm still on charter, and still at 5m/512k. Speed tests are still awesome, I usually see pings in the teens/low twenties for gaming. I dunno what was goin on in 2007, but my IP hasn't changed in a long time. They claim my internet rate is $35 a month, plus a bunch of extras, total bill for internet and extended basic cable is over $110 a month - that is with no premium services like hbo, hd, etc. I checked into ATT again, and dsl is still a bundled only service.
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