Charter claims they are going to provide better pricing

[John2021]

They won't deal around here, at all, not even if you go into their "local" office, which is 35 miles away in Saginaw. I tried that, even CSR roulette. They refuse to give you ANY deals (except bundling of course, and that increases your price in total, not lowers it), and IF you even dare to threaten to quit, they'll immediately say, "Ok, sorry to see you go, I'll cancel your account right now".

They KNOW we don't have any options around here, not even 5g internet is available to us from any supplier. NOT having internet is no longer an option, it's a MUST to have it.

agree they know they have a monopoly in your area and they won't deal!!! in my area we have all kinds of options once we get wired for 10GB fiber that's where were going

 

[harshness]

Specially since the Marvel content is not on MAX.

That's two mistakes in a month. I meant DC but the same thing goes for Marvel content on Disney+ (though perhaps to a lesser extent).

To watch most DC content in 4K w/Atmos (as you tout ad nauseam as a big attraction of streaming), there's a $19.99/month price tag. The rest of the Max offering doesn't excite me much but once every year or two.

My point is that even if I want specific content, more and more I must subscribe to some form of ever-expanding package with an incrementally higher price and, more recently with add-ons for "special" features like 4K and higher level multi-channel audio.

No, I'm not impressed that I can now subscribe to Disney+, Hulu and Max (sans 4K/Atmos on Max) in one huge steaming pile.

 

[harshness]

I see that DiSH still puts out a self-install kit.

This is not true. To set up an account, you must submit to a professional installation.

Once the account is established, you have considerable flexibility.

 

[Bruce]

To watch most DC content in 4K w/Atmos (as you tout ad nauseam as a big attraction of streaming), there's a $19.99/month price tag. The rest of the Max offering doesn't excite me much but once every year or two.

That is why keeping a eye out for specials is a good idea, for example, have 4K MAX for $139 a year, Paramount+ w/Showime for $60 and Peacock for $20 (still not worth that).

Plus the Hulu/Disney/ESPN+ bundle for $26 a month.

 

[EarDemon]

Yes, they replaced a splitter to even get it that high, when my modem and speed was upgraded to the 300/10 speeds. They originally sent me a "self install" kit with the new modem, and it didn't change my speed from the old 100/10. So, tech came and replaced an ancient splitter from back when I had cable AND internet, and that upped me to 175/10. I can't remember now if he installed a newer splitter, or replaced it with a coax to coax connector. It comes up behind and in the middle of a HUGE tv stand, and it's not easy to get back there without a major operation.

What modem did they give you? If anything other than one of the D3.1 Spectrum branded modems from Ubee, Hitron, Technicolor or Sercomm exchange it. I would push for a Technicolor or Ubee personally.

If you plug the modem directly into a PC with a 1 Gb (or greater) NIC, bypassing all routers and switches with a brand new CAT5/5e/6 cable what is the result?

Also to rule out LAN hardware issues, have you tried to transfer a single large file across your LAN to see if the transfer rate exceeds 22 MBps?

If you do a speedtest in the middle of the night what are your results? 300 x 10 should get you just under 360 x 12 with the 20% overprovision minus the TCP/IP overhead.

When the tech was out, what speeds was he getting on his meter? Their new meters have the ability to run speed tests on them. The can plug it directly into the coax or have the coax plug into the modem and use the modems ethernet port to plug into their meter.

Did the tech mention the signal and SNR levels? Did he notice anything off with the downstream ODFM channel?

Is the splitter balanced ot unbalanced? If unbalanced is the modem on the -3.5 leg or - 7 leg

Any security software inplay that can be disabled? Can't speak for present day, but in the past with certain Network Intrusion features enabled in Symantec Endpoint Protection, my WAN speeds dropped to 600 - 650 Mbps.

 

[EarDemon]

we threatened to cancel and goto fiber as it was cheaper they gave us the gig plan for 45.00 a month for a year!!! it will be interesting to see what happens when i have to call in and rattle there brains again for a better rate. i'll drop em and not care for a better rate

Please drop them. Do you think these companies are stupid? Sure they will give you a $30 price break now, then next year all of our bills increase to negate what was lost and then some.

They have changed, but one of the things I liked about Charter was if you called up to cancel, they'd close the account on the spot. No retention, you got what you asked for. Bye, bye.

agree they know they have a monopoly in your area and they won't deal!!! in my area we have all kinds of options once we get wired for 10GB fiber that's where were going

Why should they? I live in Upstate NY, it's hundreds of miles to the nearest Kroger. I can't walk into a Wegman's and expect them to honor Kroger's price for a bottle of Coke.

While I have nothing against faster speeds, multigig is pretty much a marketing gimmick at this point for home use. How many people have 10 Gb NICs in their devices, how many people have 10 Gb routers and switches? And while 802.11be (aka wifi 7 for the uneducated masses) can deliver >gigabit speeds, now many people will rush out to buy 802.11be routers or WAPs and get Wireless be devices so they can take advantage of those speeds while sitting a few feet from those routers or WAPs?

 

[harshness]

That is why keeping a eye out for specials is a good idea, for example, have 4K MAX for $139 a year, Paramount+ w/Showime for $60 and Peacock for $20 (still not worth that).

Laying out $139 for a handful of movies one or two TV series is not a good deal. It gets worse when you look at how many episodes are offered in a modern "season". If you can binge the whole of a year's good offerings in a day or two, I can't see subscribing to even a month, much less a year.

 

[harshness]

How many people have 10 Gb NICs in their devices, how many people have 10 Gb routers and switches?

10Gbps isn't the next logical step. I'm in the process of migrating my most powerful machines to 2.5Gbps. It is relatively inexpensive (compared to 10Gbps) and makes a big difference in bandwidth-intensive programs.

Another bit of magic with 2.5Gbps is that you can pull it off with Cat5e up to 60 feet.

You can get serviceable NIC cards for under $20 and five-port switches (with a 10Gbps uplink) for under $45.

At the router level, it probably doesn't make much sense as multi-gig broadband service is typically quite a bit more expensive but if that's what you have, 2.5Gbps will usually cover it.

 

[primestar31]

What modem did they give you? If anything other than one of the D3.1 Spectrum branded modems from Ubee, Hitron, Technicolor or Sercomm exchange it. I would push for a Technicolor or Ubee personally.

Hitron EN2251 My router is a Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 R7000, and it's updated with the newest firmware from a few months ago.

If you plug the modem directly into a PC with a 1 Gb (or greater) NIC, bypassing all routers and switches with a brand new CAT5/5e/6 cable what is the result?

Tried that years ago with the old modem, and it MARRIED the modem to the laptop. It was a bitch to get it uncoupled, and back to working with my router. Not going to try it again.

Also to rule out LAN hardware issues, have you tried to transfer a single large file across your LAN to see if the transfer rate exceeds 22 MBps?

Maxes out at about 28.2 MB/s (edit 4:36pm)

If you do a speedtest in the middle of the night what are your results? 300 x 10 should get you just under 360 x 12 with the 20% overprovision minus the TCP/IP overhead.

Will have to try that later.

When the tech was out, what speeds was he getting on his meter? Their new meters have the ability to run speed tests on them. The can plug it directly into the coax or have the coax plug into the modem and use the modems ethernet port to plug into their meter.

Don't remember

Did the tech mention the signal and SNR levels? Did he notice anything off with the downstream ODFM channel?

Don't remember

Is the splitter balanced ot unbalanced? If unbalanced is the modem on the -3.5 leg or - 7 leg

It was a coax coupler. I removed it, and pulled the coax going to the Spectrum demarc box out more, (there was enough extra coiled up) and connected it directly to the modem. So, that jumper piece is now gone. It made no difference on the speed, as you can see below.

Any security software inplay that can be disabled? Can't speak for present day, but in the past with certain Network Intrusion features enabled in Symantec Endpoint Protection, my WAN speeds dropped to 600 - 650 Mbps.

NO special security software on the router.

 

[harshness]

That's an unhappy result given an advertised "up to" 400Mbps service. It looks more like 100-120Mbps service.