Yikes! $165/month for Charter Internet and Cable!

[MonsterMaxx]

NO, this is not an advertisement.

This is a user. Normally my accountant pays the bills and I just haven't noticed what's happened to my charter bill. When I set it up it was $115.

Based on what I see for their current promotions it's $99

When I call them to discuss it I get huge wait times and rude people who refuse to do anything.

Yes, I know about promotions and increases and all the other thievery, but really, is there no other alternative?

Why am I asking this here? Because I figure most of you have either felt the pain and solved it, or feel it now. I would really like to NOT do business with Charter, but I can't get DSL. i figure if anyone would know the answer you would.

Can I get high speed over satellite or a cellular solution or something else? I know I can get TV. But what about internet? I have 10 down and 1 up now with charter and I'd really like more up speed. If I had 10 up and down and static IPs I could decommission $200/mo of web servers at a host.
Of course, that would lead to a question on how reliable is this kind of service?
And who is your favorite provider? I'm in 29681 (SC) if it matters.

As always, thanks in advance.


another frustrating thing about charter is that I haven't been getting more than basic cable for the last 3 months because their used beat to hell box they put in here crashes all the time and getting w/ Charter to fix it is more trouble than it's worth and I just haven't had the time lately, with the 'moving to mythtv' I've been going thru I'm going to trade up for a HD box anyway to get firewire.

[Dan]

Hi Monster. I changed your title to keep the wolves at bay. <....>


Dan

[MonsterMaxx]

Ha ha, thanks Dan.

The last 30 min of my life spent on the phone with Charter...I think I've managed to save $15/mo and if I'll drive down to Charter I can exchange my crashing box for a HD one with a firewire port which I hope MythTV likes. The $99 deal shown on their website is slowboat internet compared to 10mbit up / 1mbit down.

Chaps my azz giving Charter $150/mo for TV & internet and 12mo from now it'll go up (just set a reminder in Outlook to renegotiate then
With any luck, by then another solution will be available.

fyi: I found my notes from when I originally setup the account, what I'm getting today at 'introductory special' is $30 more than what I got the last time (discounting for the added HD box.)
I guess that's inflation for you.

Max speed today is 10m down / 1 up and they will not give/sell a static ip.


I will give Charter one prop, it's been pretty reliable for consumer service, only goes down a few times (5-6) a year and that's usually odd hours and they fix it before dawn. Only a couple times has Charter been down for more than a day (over the last 5yrs I've had internet w/ them.)

[Iron_Mike]

Originally Posted by MonsterMaxx

NO, this is not an advertisement.

This is a user. Normally my accountant pays the bills and I just haven't noticed what's happened to my charter bill. When I set it up it was $115.

Based on what I see for their current promotions it's $99

When I call them to discuss it I get huge wait times and rude people who refuse to do anything.

Yes, I know about promotions and increases and all the other thievery, but really, is there no other alternative?

If they're the only cable company in town you won't have much of an choice

Originally Posted by MonsterMaxx

an I get high speed over satellite or a cellular solution or something else? I know I can get TV. But what about internet? I have 10 down and 1 up now with charter and I'd really like more up speed. If I had 10 up and down and static IPs I could decommission $200/mo of web servers at a host.
Of course, that would lead to a question on how reliable is this kind of service?
And who is your favorite provider? I'm in 29681 (SC) if it matters.

As always, thanks in advance.

Well, since you can't get DSL and if there isn't another cable company in the area you're hosed. Satellite is an option, but you're required to puchase additional equipment for the internet connectivity. The speeds are not that great, forget about the 10 meg uploads, you're dreaming.