Complaint Review: Charter Communications - Internet Internet

When I first signed up for the 8 megabit Charter Internet service, I was told "when we say 8 megabits, we mean 8 megabits! There's no slow down during peak times." I guess if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is! At least, that's the way it seems with that lie I was told by Charter sales team.

I was extremely happy with the service at first because at first I was getting speeds up to 13 megabits for the first "powerburst" and then easily 7 - 8 megabits very consistently, even at peak times. That was the first few months or so that I had the service.

Guess what now? During peak times, generally mornings and evenings (when I most want to use the service, and apparently everyone else does too) I don't get above 2 megabits, and mostly get around .50mb. Yes, paying for 8 megabit service and getting .5mb, not 5 but point 5 (one half a megabit).

I called tech support and at first they wanted to send out a technician. When I asked how much that cost they said nothing, but when their automated system called me to confirm it, it said "there may be a charge" so I canceled it.

Then I called their tech support to complain again. I was told that Charter "guarantees at least 70% of the speed" I'm paying for (so much for "when we say 8 megabits, we mean 8 megabits"). Then I was told by the tech that it's my modem that's the problem and I need to get a new modem because the modem I have isn't even rated for the 8 megabit service.

I gave them the make and model of this modem when I first signed up and was told it's fine for the 8mb service. This tech then told me that because the modem is "being fed" a faster speed than it can handle it must be overheating and "burning up".

Not only does that sound totally ridiculous, but it doesn't explain the fact that it's only certain times of the day that the speed slows down to nearly nothing. So is my modem only "burning up" in the mornings and evenings? How is that possible?

At 7:30 this morning I was getting .48 megabit download and it refused to upload at all. Now it's 9:30am, all the kids are in school and adults at work, I'm easily getting 7.48 mb download and 1 mb upload. Hmmmmm, who put out the fire in the modem!!? Also, I never get the "powerburst" I used to get in the beginning of my service.

I wonder what Charter's excuse would be if I got a new modem and still experience the same problem?

Well then the tech said: "we changed our system in order to offer 60mb service and your modem can't handle the change because it's so fast and has "multiple channels". Your modem is obsolete, but we can lease you a more modern one or you can go buy one".

I think I see what's happening here. The modem is not "burning up" because of what it's "being fed", it's simply not "being fed" what I'm paying for it to "be fed" because Charter wants me to buy a supposedly higher service for a ton more money as well as lease a "modern modem" from them rather than use the one I already own.

Now quite frankly I think $80/month for the miserable service I'm getting now is WAY overpriced as it is.. and it's sure as heck not going to inspire me to pay them even more money for pointless service. I mean, most servers you contact on the internet are not going to respond with anywhere near 60mb speed anyway and many games limit your bandwidth to much less than that.

Then probably in 3 months Charter will downgrade my service again to try and get even more money out of me. Yeah, no thanks. Give me good service to begin with rather than giving me lines of bull and continuing to charge way too much.

I also can't help but wonder if there are some sort of sweetheart deals going on between internet providers like Charter and modem manufacturers. Would it be at all surprising? Seriously, you can't tell me my modem is "burning up" at only certain times of the day that happen to coincide with the times of day that a lot of other people would be online.
How stupid do they think I am??

I think it's about time the government stepped in and regulated this industry. It's really only two competing entities around where I live and they are both liars and thieves.