Pleased with Charter Internet

[TheTechGuru]

I have Charter internet-only, and have been on contract 3 times in a row. The last contract for two years I was paying $34.99 a month 30/3 speeds (I own my modem). My contract just expired, and the price jumped up to $54.99.

I contacted them via Chat, and asked if I could go back on contract to lower the bill, hoping they'd go down at least $15 or so. No dice, the chat guy said he can't do that "there's no current promotions", and I'd have to call them on the phone to talk about it.

So, I called them on the phone, got either a Indian or Filapina woman, and asked her the same thing. No go there either, "there's no current promotions". Then she asked if I wanted to cancel service, but I'm not ready to push that because they might call my bluff and I can't afford to lose service at this time due to work. I have no other options for internet where I live that even comes close to Charters price and speed for as much as you get with them.

So, it was a nice ride, but it appears to have ended for now.

I'm going to cancel my TDS Telecom POTS phone, and go with Ooma, that will be a cost savings of about $34 a month, so that will make up for Charters price jump and then some. Ooma can't port my number where I live, so I'll have to lose the number I've had since 1989. That sucks a little, but we'll get over it quickly.

Call retentions and tell them AT&T is offering you UVerse for $39 or something.

That is rediculas to only offer one plan that starts out so high and I think the FCC needs to mandate that all ISP's offer a lifeline internet plan that is $10 to $15 a month for 2mbps/1mbps. Even Time Warner has the sense to offer something like that.

 

[Teehar]

I have Charter internet-only, and have been on contract 3 times in a row. The last contract for two years I was paying $34.99 a month 30/3 speeds (I own my modem). My contract just expired, and the price jumped up to $54.99.

I contacted them via Chat, and asked if I could go back on contract to lower the bill, hoping they'd go down at least $15 or so. No dice, the chat guy said he can't do that "there's no current promotions", and I'd have to call them on the phone to talk about it.

So, I called them on the phone, got either a Indian or Filapina woman, and asked her the same thing. No go there either, "there's no current promotions". Then she asked if I wanted to cancel service, but I'm not ready to push that because they might call my bluff and I can't afford to lose service at this time due to work. I have no other options for internet where I live that even comes close to Charters price and speed for as much as you get with them.

So, it was a nice ride, but it appears to have ended for now.

I'm going to cancel my TDS Telecom POTS phone, and go with Ooma, that will be a cost savings of about $34 a month, so that will make up for Charters price jump and then some. Ooma can't port my number where I live, so I'll have to lose the number I've had since 1989. That sucks a little, but we'll get over it quickly.

Bummer dude.Ask for retention or loyalty,last ditch effort.

As to ooma,is it still a safe bet with google voice moving to google groups?I'm not sure how all that is going to work out.

They finally encrypted here,flipped the tv on qam and everything was black except the preview channel.I rescanned and still no dice.May hit them up for one of those lifeline boxes.

 

[primestar31]

Bummer dude.Ask for retention or loyalty,last ditch effort.

As to ooma,is it still a safe bet with google voice moving to google groups?I'm not sure how all that is going to work out.

They finally encrypted here,flipped the tv on qam and everything was black except the preview channel.I rescanned and still no dice.May hit them up for one of those lifeline boxes.

Ooma is good all by itself, and I don't have Google voice. I only have to pay $3.79 a month for taxes, and the government "because we can" fee's, versus $34~ normal POTS bill + about $3 - 5 a month long distance (I have a 2 cents a minute long distance plan on my POTS line, but with Ooma, long distance is included in the base fee)

As for Charter, they went digital here over two months ago and I lost all my Qam channels then. I can't afford to lose my internet as I need it for work, so I hesitate to give them a ultimatum in this case, as they might call my bluff. If they do that, I'm really screwed. I have nothing near me out in the boonies that even comes close to price and value of Charter, even at $54.99. There's TDS telecom dsl, which sucks for speed, requires POTS phone service at full price PLUS an extra $50 a month for the dsl, 'things' are locked down, and you only get 50GB's a month before they shut you down (I used to have it years ago). 4G? forget it, I'm not crazy enough to pay their prices, they are sky-high. Dial-up service is a joke...

So, Charter has me by the balls, and they know it.

 

[dishfan82]

I'm curious how does Ooma work? What's it cost a year??


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[primestar31]

I'm curious how does Ooma work? What's it cost a year??


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Ooma is an IP phone service, so you need internet service to start.

http://www.ooma.com/how-ooma-works

https://go.ooma.com/tax_calculator

After I cancel my POTS phone, I'll go out to the dmarc box, and unplug the jumper in there to isolate it. Then, I'll plug a phone wire from the Ooma router into an internal house phone jack, and it'll make all the jacks in the house live for phones.

 

[dishfan82]

So I'm guessing you just pay the monthly taxes which mine would be 3.79 for basic service ? I see premier is 9.99 a month.


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[primestar31]

So I'm guessing you just pay the monthly taxes which mine would be 3.79 for basic service ? I see premier is 9.99 a month.


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That's correct, just taxes. If you don't want or need the features for Premier, you don't need to pay for that.

 

[Teehar]

I didn't realize ooma was stand alone.That's a big plus.I'm using nettalk,$40 per year after the as you call them,because we can fees.

 

[dishfan82]

How much is the unit you need to connect to the internet ? I can't seem to find a price ?


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[TheTechGuru]

No taxes with CallCentric in 49 states. They only charge tax if your billing address is in NY.

 

[TheTechGuru]

Ooma is good all by itself, and I don't have Google voice. I only have to pay $3.79 a month for taxes, and the government "because we can" fee's, versus $34~ normal POTS bill + about $3 - 5 a month long distance (I have a 2 cents a minute long distance plan on my POTS line, but with Ooma, long distance is included in the base fee)

As for Charter, they went digital here over two months ago and I lost all my Qam channels then. I can't afford to lose my internet as I need it for work, so I hesitate to give them a ultimatum in this case, as they might call my bluff. If they do that, I'm really screwed. I have nothing near me out in the boonies that even comes close to price and value of Charter, even at $54.99. There's TDS telecom dsl, which sucks for speed, requires POTS phone service at full price PLUS an extra $50 a month for the dsl, 'things' are locked down, and you only get 50GB's a month before they shut you down (I used to have it years ago). 4G? forget it, I'm not crazy enough to pay their prices, they are sky-high. Dial-up service is a joke...

So, Charter has me by the balls, and they know it.

How many people are in your household? Cancel then have someone else sign up under the new customer promos. I think it's $39.99 for 12 months now. BTW, if you sign up online for internet only it gets installed without them ever asking for a SSN or bday or anything.

 

[primestar31]

How much is the unit you need to connect to the internet ? I can't seem to find a price ?

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I got mine on sale at Staples for $99. They have sales on the unit all the time, otherwise normally it's around $125-$149 depending on the place you buy it from. That will pay for itself quickly, because you'll no longer have your POTS phone bill to pay every month. Mine will pay for itself in 3 months.

Here, B&H has it for $111 right now: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...NGbruGKvr0CFe87MgodnAkAxA&Q=&is=REG&A=details

 

[Mr Tony]

hmm I'm in a Charter area now so I'll have to check them out for internet

 

[TheTechGuru]

hmm I'm in a Charter area now so I'll have to check them out for internet

Most areas are 60mbps/4mbps for $39.99/mo for 12 months now.

 

[Mr Tony]

Most areas are 60mbps/4mbps for $39.99/mo for 12 months now.

good to know

 

[TheTechGuru]

 

[TheTechGuru]

Just made this video:

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[king3pj]

Most areas are 60mbps/4mbps for $39.99/mo for 12 months now.

Yep, my neighborhood just got upgraded to the all digital 60mbps service last week. That will come in handy for those 30-45GB game downloads. For everything else the 30mbps service was good enough for me.

 

[old corps]

Very cool! Mine's still a paltry 35/4.5...........

Ed

 

[Teehar]

I'm really enjoying the 60Mb speed.They just rolled out 100Mb in St.Louis,pretty soon that will be the minimum tier they offer.Charter may get a lot of flack for poor customer service,but they have really been good here,very few minimal outages,great speeds,and great introductory pricing.