Important Details For Charter 10Mb/s Upgrade

warrend · Post by **warrend** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:12 am

I registered for the forum so I could post this information which hopefully will save others the wasted time that it has cost me.

I signed up for Charter internet three months ago. I picked the 5 Mb/s package assuming this would be ample bandwidth for my use. But trying to work online while my wife was using her laptop soon became an issue. So I called to upgrade to their 10 Mb/s package.

I should stop here and say that 5 Mb/s is really 3 Mb/s. So I was assuming that 10 Mb/s might actually get me somewhere around 6 Mb/s.

Anyway, so I upgraded online by chatting with a live agent. He told me to wait 5 minutes and power cycle the modem which I did. I came back to my PC and it was still topping out at 3 Mb/s.

I decided to wait a couple of days for the upgrade to take effect even though they said it would be instant. Two days later it was still topping out at about 3 Mb/s. So I went online again and chatted with a live agent. Again they asked me to power cycle the modem and said that it had been reprovisioned.

Again it was topping out at 3 Mb/s. So I called this time and spoke with an agent over the phone. She asked for my modem model number (first time anyone asked about this) and when I gave it to her said that my modem was not capable of reaching speeds higher than 5 Mb/s. She told me to go to the local Charter offer, drop off my modem, and pick up a newer model.

I drove to the local Charter office and they told me that they only stocked one modem and that regardless of what I was told over the phone that my modem would indeed reach speeds of up to 10 Mb/s. Feeling like I was running out of options I asked for a new modem anyway and got the exact same model, came home, hooked it up, and again 3 Mb/s.

I called Charter back and they said to get the modem I needed a tech would have to bring it to my house. Because the 10 Mb/s modems are only with the field techs not at the branch office. They scheduled an appointment, the tech came out, gave me a new modem, and now finally I'm getting speeds of around 6 Mb/s.

So.. if you have Charter and 3 Mb/s isn't fast enough don't call the local branch and don't upgrade online. Call technical support and have someone bring a new modem to your house and perform the necessary speed tests on location. Verify that everything works before he/she leaves. If their customer support is this horrible let them waste their time not yours. I was perfectly capable of installing a modem and running speed tests. But getting a straight answer wasted several hours of my time.

I hope this saves someone else my headaches.

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:58 am

for a second there..I thought you were talking about Comcast.

mccoffee · Post by **mccoffee** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:59 am

Thanks for the information kinda amazing though that some users dont' have a modem that's doesn't support that speed or docsis version ,or whatever else they upgraded.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 3:50 pm

What modem did you have originally?

warrend · Post by **warrend** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:14 pm

YARDofSTUF wrote:What modem did you have originally?

Yeah I guess I should have mentioned that!

The original modem was an Ambit model no. 60194E-004.

When the tech came to my house yesterday to drop off the new modem he told me that yes that was an older modem and he wasn't sure why it was even still used. Odd since that is the ONLY modem they carry at the local Charter branch.

I should mention since I've ripped the company's tech support that the tech who came out was nice enough and helpful. It's just a shame that it took two phone calls, almost 30 minutes on hold, three online chats, and a trip to the local branch to determine the issue was an out of date modem.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:22 pm

That is odd that they would only carry the old modems at the branch.

Did the tech that came out mention anything about the 10mbps advertised and getting only 6mbps?

Post a TCP analyzer report, if the package is 10mbps you should be getting more than 6mbps.

helter · Post by **helter** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:10 am

Known issue with several cable systems including comcast, where I work.
The modem is docsis 1.0, you need 1.1/2.0 IIRC.

PS Charter is slowly selling off their footprints, so maybe you'll get a new provider soon.

with comcast, and I assume charter, you can purchase your own modem and get what you want that way