An E* customer rant about Charter cable...

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JKeats

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
May 6, 2005
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I figured since I'm a long time E* customer now I'd post this rant here since many of you might be in the same situation.

I have cable internet. With Charter. I've had it for years now. Unfortunately there's no competition here in Oregon and so charter can charge whatever they want... and they do. Really they price gouge in my opinion but maybe that's just me.

But that's not what this rant is about (though it could be... LOL). I'm ranting about their prices for television service. I, from time to time, check their pricing just to see if/how they compete with E* (and D* for that matter). I just checked again this morning. It's crazy! for what you can get for like 30 bucks with E* they're wanting 55.

I don't understand how this company is still in business. Apparently enough people don't know any better but to use them for service I guess. What's funny is the sales guy didn't even try to sell me (I had to actually talk with someone since they don't post their rediculous prices on their website). He just said "sorry" when I told him that the price for their most basic dig cable package was way more than what I pay already for what is surely many more chans right now with E*.

Anyway... just thought I'd share. I'm sure most of you can relate.
 
It was the same situation for me and Adelphia broadband in my area: $29.95 bundled with their everything pack, $42.95 is you subscribed to Cable TV service, and $54.95 as a stand-alone product. After 18 months of constructive complaining to my local franchise authority, Adelphia finally dropped the price to $42.95 for all.

Of course the service is still unreliable...but that's another story. Anyway, let's hope for Verizon FTTP/Fios!
 
I don't see all my cable-friends complaining about their receivers being buggy to all hell, or about how it goes to pixel-heaven every time it rains either...

There's advantages to cable, and advantages to satellite.
 
i never had any equipment problems when i was with cable either. my main complaint is the crazy expensive pricing.
 
For those who know something about equipment, satellite is better.

For those who have the attitude, "I'm paying for service and not getting it" when the dish blows off the roof or the receiver dies, cable is better.

If a Charter customer has a cable problem in the house, they'll see it fixed for free, without any special service agreement, and probably a couple of days.

The company here does not even charge for service calls for silly things like not having the TV on VIDEO input, etc.. I have heard some companies are putting a stop to that and charging for the service call when it's the customer's fault.

Also, ON DEMAND is wonderful!

I say this, but I'm currently a satellite customer. If something goes bad, I know I'm really only paying for the channels, not service on the equipment.
 
Charter is often not competitive with Dish.

In my area, Charter is roughly 25% to 35% more for roughly the same programming packages as Dish -- and that's even including all the Dish box and DVR fees. So much for "better prices than satellite". What a crock.

The SA8000HD HD-DVR box Charter gave me was a buggy piece of junk. I tried to exchange it for a newer SA8300HD mode, but was told it was unavailable in my area -- yet, when I carted the box back to their offices to cancel my service there was an 8300 unit in the waiting area running a plasma set. So much for being able to upgrade equipment any time at no cost. What a crock.

The Charter SD and HD picture quality was inferior to Dish. And, the TV service noticably slowed down my Internet connection through them. And, about half of the Charter channels were analog, not digital -- so much for so-called "digital cable". What a crock.

It also took three installation attempts for Charter to get me installed. They kept arriving without all the parts they needed. They did not come out in a couple of days, either -- each time they came out was at least a week after the request. So much for the promise of fast and courteous field service. What a crock.

Now I just have them for broadband Internet as DSL in my area is far slower.

Dish may not be perfect, but they blow away cable in my town.
 
Interesting discussion. I'll be moving to St. Louis (It looks like), and that's Charter's hometown. I'm an E* subscriber in Dallas, and intend to keep them. I will also be looking at Cable Internet as well as DSL. Charter's site is so lame, I can't even find out what the heck the pricing is there.

LER
 
miguelaqui said:
"TV service noticably slowed down my Internet connection through them."

How is that possible????
Click to expand...


If they didnt check the signal levels when they installed the additional TV's, the level to the cable modem could drop enough that it slows down because of low signal quality/noise on the lines.
 
LER said:
Interesting discussion. I'll be moving to St. Louis (It looks like), and that's Charter's hometown. I'm an E* subscriber in Dallas, and intend to keep them. I will also be looking at Cable Internet as well as DSL. Charter's site is so lame, I can't even find out what the heck the pricing is there.

LER
Click to expand...

their prices are so high they don't list them online. you have to call (or online chat) with someone to get prices.
 
Many cable providers do not post prices b/c they vary from system to system. They are not national like E*.

One thing that bothers me about cable is that they call themselves "digital" when they are not ; most are not below channel 100. Also, many do not even have a standard stereo generator on many channels; meaning, they are in MONO.

Here, the only non-digital channels in stereo are SciFi, VH1,MTV and BET. The rest, are in MONO.

That really sucks for someone who has a simple surround sound system!
 
miguelaqui said:
For those who know something about equipment, satellite is better.
Click to expand...
Not DISH satellite equipment. Not compared to my Comcast equipment. Perhaps you're talking about DirecTV, or the cable service in your area is sub-par?

(Of course, equipment and service changes drastically from Cable company to company. and area to area within the companies. But, you knew that right, being someone who knows so much about equipment?)
 

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