Charter no longer selling modems

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CapriRS302

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Charter no longer selling modems

#1

Post by CapriRS302 » Thu Jul 19, 2012 12:40 am

I went to my local office to see what modems they had to offer. I was going to buy one outright from them (or Micro Center) but they told me that they no longer sell them to customers. Worse yet, they will not let you activate a modem you purchase elsewhere. You have to lease one from them at 7 bucks a month.

Still the best high speed connection around though. I was pulling 23mbs on my EVO through speedtest.net.

cdcellular

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#2

Post by cdcellular » Thu Jul 19, 2012 1:05 am

Just like they insisted that a cable card isn't compatible with my computer and that trying to do so was illegal. This came from the tech supervisor back in 2010. Buy a modem from another retailer and don't sweat it.

richard1980

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#3

Post by richard1980 » Thu Jul 19, 2012 3:29 am

From http://www.myaccount.charter.com/custom ... emodemcomp
Note: Effective June 26, 2012 For new Internet Customers and customers switching to our New Package Pricing, we will no longer allow customer-owned modems on our network. In order to provide our customers powerful, reliable, and secure Internet service at a great value, we will provide modems included in Internet pricing under our New Package Pricing.

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newfiend

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#4

Post by newfiend » Thu Jul 19, 2012 4:07 pm

Wonder if they are doing that so people don't hack the modems and get free internet.. I'm glad Comcast let me buy my own.

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STC

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#5

Post by STC » Thu Jul 19, 2012 4:10 pm

^^ What is this 'hinternets' you speak of?! :)
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newfiend

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#6

Post by newfiend » Fri Jul 20, 2012 12:37 am


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TheOsburnFamil

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#7

Post by TheOsburnFamil » Sun Sep 09, 2012 3:35 pm

I just wanted to pass this along..

Yesterday I upgraded my Charter Internet service to their 30/4 package. I was already a TV(CableCARD Addons), Internet, & Phone customer and I had my own Motorola SURFBoard 5100 Customer Supplied modem. It is a DOCSIS 2.0 modem with supposedly support 30MB so I didn't worry.

That being said, when I made the switch, Charter didn't force me to get a new modem; HOWEVER, they did say I may not receive the full 30/4 until I do. After running various speedtests at various times of the day-- it looks like I'm getting my 30/4 w/o any trouble.

As to the cost of the lease of the Charter-supplied modem... here's a transcript from the Charter person, regarding that very topic:
".....Matt G: For your convenience,the nearest local office locations and equipment box drops can be found at http://www.charter.com/location/locations.jsp.

Matt G: That will be good for dropping off the phone later, You can also trade in your modem for a higher speed modem at that time!

Matthew Osburn: Oh yeah-- I was going to ask that. I understand Charter no-longer allows customer supplied modems (I think due to the modem hacking I've read about-- but I'm sure they say it's for other reasons). Is my modem going to allow me to hit the higher speed or do I need to swap that? And, if I swap it, does Charter still charge a rental/lease fee?

Matt G: Good questions, Charter doesn't allow customer supplied modems, You will get a higher speed but not the full higher speed, You Should definitely change out the modem, And the new modem is a lease "It is charter property" but the lease is free! So you pay $0 for the modem!

Matthew Osburn: Okay-- Then I will most definately swap that out this week then. Will there be a "swap" fee or anything like that?

Matt G: No. Nothing tricky like that...."
Matt O. ...tivo what? ...dish dvr--uh... huh? ...cable dvr fees--you're kidding, right?

richard1980

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#8

Post by richard1980 » Sun Sep 09, 2012 3:55 pm

So let me get this straight. Matt G stated "Charter doesn't allow customer supplied modems", and Charter's own FAQ says they don't allow customer supplied modems, but in reality, they do allow customer supplied modems? Somebody needs to get the story straight. Either the modems are allowed, or they aren't. If they are allowed, stop telling people they aren't! This reminds me of the CableCARD problem with companies not telling the truth.

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TheOsburnFamil

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#9

Post by TheOsburnFamil » Sun Sep 09, 2012 4:04 pm

To be clear-- I already was a Charter customer and have had a customer supplied modem on their network for years. It is being grandfathered in. If/when my customer supplied modem has issues, the first thing they would tell me is that I need to get it replaced with a Charter supplied modem.

This was true for later in the day yesterday, a couple hours after my switch and multiple modem reboots later, I was still getting my older 10/1 speeds. So, I initiated a support call to ask when I could expect my speeds to increase. The person said that I should be seeing an improvememnt immediately; however, because I was still on my own modem, she said I would need to go down and get a new Charter one before she could do any further troubleshooting.

FORTUNATELY, I discovered my problem was related to QoS settings on my router and I am now getting the 30/4 speeds. But I now know for certain if I ever call back with an internet related issue, they won't do jack until I get a charter modem.
Matt O. ...tivo what? ...dish dvr--uh... huh? ...cable dvr fees--you're kidding, right?

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#10

Post by adam1991 » Sun Sep 09, 2012 4:20 pm

Even for those of us whose cable companies do allow for customer owned cable modems, any major troubleshooting starts with going and getting the cableco unit and plugging it in.

I had some serious network drop-out issues a few months ago. I put up with it for awhile, then decided to get serious about it. Phone support was not able to help, saying there was no problem in my neighborhood. I discovered that one of my cableco's central techs hangs out over at dslreports.com; he and I agreed that the next step was to eliminate my Surfboard as an issue, plus he could get more information from the cableco unit.

The cableco office is fairly nearby and it's very easy to swing in and get one. I did, and right away this guy saw that there was indeed some faulty wiring or amp on a node in my neighborhood. Huh, go figure. He put in a ticket, and overnight it was fixed. I kept the cableco unit for a couple of weeks to make sure, then returned it.

I paid under $5 rental fee for the time I had it. You could say I shouldn't have had to pay anything to help them troubleshoot their own stuff, and you'd be right--but that's not a battle I would ever feel like fighting for a couple of bucks. My cableco is very nice and overall easy to deal with, and has superb pricing. Overall, I'm way ahead of the game here.

My thought was, if it was a problem out on the pole then why didn't others report problems? If others had called in to report, that would have generated some activity toward fixing it.

Anyway, the moral of the story is that the cableco can troubleshoot only to the end of the cable in your house if you own your own unit. They can go further, and remotely gather much more information, if you use their unit.

As for Charter, it looks like they simply bumped their prices a few bucks, nothing more. If the cable modem isn't broken out as a separate charge, then there's no reason *not* to use their unit.

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