thinking of changing to charter phone/internet
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I don't have Charter phone (I have Ooma) but I do have Charters 60meg internet-only. It's great!
They even provide the modem for free now, no monthly cost. My promo's have run out, so I pay $59.99 a month for the 60 meg down / 4 meg up service.
They even provide the modem for free now, no monthly cost. My promo's have run out, so I pay $59.99 a month for the 60 meg down / 4 meg up service.
I switched from Centurylink to Charter for phone & internet about 1 1/2 years ago. I've been very happy with them. I waited a week or so for installation but I didn't push for a earlier install.
Ed
Ed
I have had their phone/Internet for close to 2 years and have been very happy with it. It did take a bit longer for my installation as my home was on the opposite side of the street and about 200 yards from the nearest pole. They had to bury the line and go under the road to get to my home. Did not cost me a dime and I am sure it cost a lot for them to get me service.
You really should consider them for TV as well. They have tons more HD (80 more channels at least) and better picture quality (actual 1920x1080 rather than 1440x1080). You can roll your own whole home DVR essentially for free. I have a 6 tuner Ceton, Windows Media Center and 5 Ceton Echo extenders. So I have all my subscribed channels and recordings in 6 rooms with no Charter boxes. That's the equivalent of a dual Hopper - 4 Joey system for $2/month versus close to $50 I was paying with Dish. You could also do it with Tivo and lifetime if you prefer. Charter's own DVR still sucks, so I wouldn't even consider that if I were you. Lastly, they've never removed channels due to disputes as far as I can remember. That's what made me drop Dish in the first place, in addition to the high cost.
Almost forgot, their programming packages are much better as well. Their $80 package has far more channels than AT 250 and also includes HBO/SHO/MAX, making far cheaper than Dish for programming alone. With a promo, it would be closer to $60.
I called Dish a few months back and told them I was switching to Charter. They made me an offer I couldn't refuse but when the year of credits expire I'll be calling them again. They do in fact have more HD and lots of channels that you'd have to go to Dish's 250 package to get in their bottom tier package----and they're all in HD and only in SD on Dish.
If you don't mind would you give me a rough estimate of your $$$ outlay for your 6 tuner Ceton & 5 extenders. That the sticking point for me. I realize their DVRs suck and I wouldn't want to pay for them after a one year promo expires. I feel technically challenged to set up a system such as yours.
Ed
Tivo is having a Summer sale right now. You can get a base model refurbished Roamio for $50, and lifetime is $349! That can go either OTA only, OR cable (with a cable-card) I ordered mine last night. I even ordered a 3TB drive from Amazon, and with discounts, I'm getting that for $70.43.
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That TiVo deal is hard to beat.
I bought everything used for more WMC based system, so my tuner was around $150 and an average of $50 for each extender. Xbox also works great as an extender and can also be had for $50 used. Double all those prices if you want new.
I bought everything used for more WMC based system, so my tuner was around $150 and an average of $50 for each extender. Xbox also works great as an extender and can also be had for $50 used. Double all those prices if you want new.
I think they charge $59.99 for phone and Internet. $29.99 install free
2-3 days for them to come out.
I'm a dealer for them if you want to get setup
2-3 days for them to come out.
I'm a dealer for them if you want to get setup
I am glad i decided to check this thread, because it can save me a ton of money. I have subscribed to Directv for close to 10 years, and am 99% sure I am going to move to Charter. Currently paying DTV $137 for Xtra + HD Extra on 4 TV's with Genie (hr34), plus $69 to Charter for internet and phone so $206 total.
Overall pretty happy but I straight up told direct that the Hr34 i have sucks and I wanted the 44, but to no avail.
If I go With the Tivio Roamio and a cable card I would be able to get Charter Triple play Silver (includes HBO and Cmax) for $90 a month. Even if I factor in the price of the Roamio Plus , Tivo service , and 3 minis divided equally over a 12 month period I save $42 a month.
Any insight to help me either stick with Dtv or move to Chartter/Tivo is appreciated.
From what I see here are my Pro's and Con's to both
DirectTV pros:
Great PQ and sound
Dot not have to learn a new system
Availability of NFL Sunday Ticket
DirectTV cons:
More expensive for a lower channel tier
Current equipment is aggravating and slow
Shown little interest in keeping my business
Charter/Tivo pros:
Substantially less expensive over time
Better equipment and interface (streaming from web based included in system)
Better channel line up
No contract
Charter/Tivo cons:
Unknown pq
Customer svc reputation is not great
I realize I dont post here but I have been lurking for years, I appreciate any input you guys have.
Hank
Overall pretty happy but I straight up told direct that the Hr34 i have sucks and I wanted the 44, but to no avail.
If I go With the Tivio Roamio and a cable card I would be able to get Charter Triple play Silver (includes HBO and Cmax) for $90 a month. Even if I factor in the price of the Roamio Plus , Tivo service , and 3 minis divided equally over a 12 month period I save $42 a month.
Any insight to help me either stick with Dtv or move to Chartter/Tivo is appreciated.
From what I see here are my Pro's and Con's to both
DirectTV pros:
Great PQ and sound
Dot not have to learn a new system
Availability of NFL Sunday Ticket
DirectTV cons:
More expensive for a lower channel tier
Current equipment is aggravating and slow
Shown little interest in keeping my business
Charter/Tivo pros:
Substantially less expensive over time
Better equipment and interface (streaming from web based included in system)
Better channel line up
No contract
Charter/Tivo cons:
Unknown pq
Customer svc reputation is not great
I realize I dont post here but I have been lurking for years, I appreciate any input you guys have.
Hank
The only real issue with Charter, is their sucky cablecard support, per all my reading-around on the internet. It can be HELL to get them to figure out how to properly authorize the cablecard the first time. However, once that is done, you are done and all should work fine.
I recently picked up a Roamio Basic with lifetime for $400 on their Summer sale. I've been tweaking my antenna system, and finally got all OTA channels locked. However, if the wife won't go for that, I can go with the cablecard on Charter. I talked to a local Charter tech that was in my neighborhood last week, and I played dumb. I told him I just picked up the Tivo Roamio, and first words out of his mouth were: "getting those working the first time with the cablecards are a real bitch, you really should use our dvr instead".
So he confirmed what the internet already says about Charter cablecard support...
Sign up for an account here, and they have some very helpful people: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/
I recently picked up a Roamio Basic with lifetime for $400 on their Summer sale. I've been tweaking my antenna system, and finally got all OTA channels locked. However, if the wife won't go for that, I can go with the cablecard on Charter. I talked to a local Charter tech that was in my neighborhood last week, and I played dumb. I told him I just picked up the Tivo Roamio, and first words out of his mouth were: "getting those working the first time with the cablecards are a real bitch, you really should use our dvr instead".
So he confirmed what the internet already says about Charter cablecard support...
Sign up for an account here, and they have some very helpful people: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/
My installer acted the same way. He kept telling me how Charter's DVRs worked so much better and kept asking me why I would want to use a TiVo anyways. He said they are nothing but problems and a pain in the ass to set up. I'm not sure what his past experiences were but my entire setup took about 15 minutes. He spent more time complaining than it actually took him to install and activate my system.
This was the entire process...
Step 1: Install a splitter so the Tivo could get coax. My cable modem was already hooked up about 3 feet away so this was easy.
Step 2: Plug the coax into the tuning adapter. From there plug a coax into the Tivo.
Step 3: he had me put the cable card into the Tivo because he wasn't going to be responsible from "breaking their junk box"
Step 4: He called support and read them the number from my tuning adapter and 2 numbers from the Tivo's cable card setup screen to pair everything to my Charter account.
That was it. He kept telling me it wasn't going to work and he was going to have to keep calling to get the cable card activated. He was wrong. It worked on the first try. Then he told me that the premiums probably wouldn't work because the tuning adapters give people trouble. Again, he was wrong. I went to channel 500 and HBO immediately popped up. He then had to throw in some comment about On Demand not working because he refused to admit that their weren't problems with using a Tivo. This part is actually correct but I don't really need on demand.
I'm really not sure how much easier a Charter DVR could have been to install. Unless the boxes come pre-activated to your account he still would have had to call in and read them the numbers. The only thing that would have been different is that we wouldn't have needed a tuning adapter but that seemed simple enough to me.
I haven't had any problems since installation. It's never missed a recording and the cable card/tuning adapter have stayed paired perfectly for the 4 months or so since I added service.
If you like your current setup and it would cost you more money to switch to Charter don't do it. That wouldn't make sense.
That being said, I like Charter. With their Spectrum Silver package I pretty much get everything in the AT 250 and HBO, Cinemax, and Showtime are included. My double play bundle with Spectrum Silver TV and 60Mbps internet is only about $10 more than I was paying for Dish with 1 hopper and 1 joey by itself.
I don't pay for equipment fees because I have a Tivo Roamio and Tivo Mini with lifetime service. The Tivo Roamio and Tivo Mini setup is at least as good as the Hopper/Joey setup I had with Dish before. I actually prefer the Tivos but I can see why some people would like Dish hardware better.
In summary I get more tuners, more channels, and save about $50 per month versus what I would be paying for Dish TV and Charter internet separately.
You are a little late to ask this. Tivo just finished their Summer sale on Tivo's, and had great prices. I bought one a month ago, which was the basic unit that can do outside antenna OR use a cable card for a cable company. I paid $400~ for the Tivo and lifetime service. Without that sale, I think you'll be paying about $100~ or so higher.
I love it! I'm using it antenna-only at the moment. It works very close to the same as my Dish VIP722k, and I don't think my wife is having any issues figuring it out. It also access Netflix and other internet services if you subscribe to them.
Very soon I will be canceling my Dish service, and go with this (I also have FTA satellite c and ku band for those free services). I'm just making sure that my OTA antenna signal is good enough, as I'm in the woods surrounded by tree's.
