ISP/TV/Phone question

[General J]

Here's the deal: I have been going round and round with Charter Communications. for some time now about our billing. Our bills are never the same from month to month. We had quite the ordeal just trying to transfer our service from one house to another (within the same city). They threw out a free month of service as an offer instead of just coming out and installing the service within a few days. Least they could do, so I took it. Our bills have been royally screwed up since.

 

Missouri, more locally St. Louis, has some sort of law that limits the number of telecommunications companies that can operate in the area. AT&T (formerly SBC) and Charter are the only 2 services in the area. AT&T offers decent prices from what I have seen for their DSL service. Charter is charging $42.99/month for 3Mbps cable internet service.

 

My question to you all - What is your ISP, how much are you charged for what speed of service, and how many other ISP's are in your area (if you know).

 

St. Louis has something on the upcoming ballot to allow other companies to come to the area. I am trying to get a feel for what prices we could expect to see. Thank you!

[Shazz]

I have Bright House. I get Digital Cable, 15 mps d/l and Unlimited long distance phone service (digital through cable modem).

 

I like it. My internet is RoadRunner. http://tampabay.mybrighthouse.com/site/index.cfm

 

All of this is around $160.00 (Tax included) My download speeds are higher..so the higher cost. Pay 5 bucks more for every 5 megs a sec d/l. So I pay 15 bucks extra a month.

 

Plus I pay around 12.00 a month for the DVR (Digital Video Recorder) for my cable service. Like a tivo. 6 bucks for the box, and 6 for the service.

 

All in all...I am very happy.

 

I would visit www.dslreports.com for all the services in your location and reviews for companies. Plus they have tweaks that can be usefull.

[akaM2]

I work for time warner cable so i get Road Runner, Digitital Cable, and Digital Phone for free every month, i know that doesnt help your situation.

 

Keys to getting a better deal on your cable: Call in and say you want to cancel becuase you want to switch to something cheaper, they will send you to another dept that will prolly offer you a better deal on your cable so they can try and save you as a customer.

[NOFX]

I have Cox Cable. I have basic TV like 60 Channels with no box and 5 Mbps Cable. I pay $85 and Im sick of paying it. Im going to do what M2 suggested.

[Demoner]

I live in wisconsin, and I have centurytel for an isp. They charge 27 something with tax for 256k dsl. There is only one other company in my area too.

[Kruten]

The only option we've had around here is Mediacom and I think we're paying $40/month for a 3mbps line.

[Laz.e.rus]

In Mich I had comcast 6Mb for +- $60. Out in the Wash boondoks here I get 3Mbs for about +/-$43 same as you.

 

Lots of slow/junky Dsl's out here. 512 etc. Pricey.

 

One guy tried to offer me "fiber" ... a 1 Mb connection with 100up for $75/ month. I laughed at him and told him to call me back when he can give me a REAL fiber connection of 20+Mbs for the same price.

[TheReverend(c)]

I have Midcontinent Communications here in SD. I get cable internet, phone and cable tv all in one service for $98.00. The only time my bill may fluctuate is if we make collect calls and then there still extremely cheap calls. The problem you may be expeiriencing is that some of their services may go thru other companys and surcharges are being added. These companys may not show up on your bill. Also the company your using just may not be that great. From what you say Id guess there customer service isnt great at all either. There was the same problem here with Quest phone services until SD put a stop to it. As soon as your able Id change services.

[Chamberlain]

BBB Membership: This company is not a member

 

Not part of the Better Business Bureaus. Another huge company that legally cheats money from humanity.

[General J]

Rev hit the nail on the head. Quality of customer service. I guess that should have been included in my original list of questions. Charter contracts all of their installations through other telecomm companies. Every one that I have talked to that works for such companies says the same thing. Charter has horrible, horrible, horrible customer service. In fact, I was hung up on by one of their csr people yesterday because she didn't want to bother trying to figure out why my bill was messed up. She even admitted that they hadn't mailed us one bill, and that they had changed our bills AFTER they had sent them to us. So why should we believe that we are paying the right price, even if it is printed on the paper bill that they mail us?