SG Broadband Community

For the last few days I've been getting speeds slower than a 28.8 dialup. Charter (through HSA) says they are aware of the problem, but have no idea when it may be fixed. They believe it is being caused by so many new users signing up & now there is not enough bandwidth to go around. Great planning guys, same excuse AOL used a few years ago when they went to flat-rate plans.

IDIOTS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where are you located?

smyrna, georgia

You ain't lying there.
Smryna is arguably the worst charter site in the country. It has had slow speeds like that for about a week, hopefully it will get fixed soon.

I am with charter in Rosemount, MN and I have to agree. For a long while the service was pitiful. I believe they used to have a one or two T1's for the entire area, and it sucked. About 2 months ago I noticed things improving and also noticed this:

hsa-rosemountT3.customer.alter.net (157.130.122.54)

I get a steady 450-475kbit/sec now. I am signed up for 500 but decided to count my blessings instead of filing additional complaints.

I too am located not far from symarna ga, and have charter through hsa. Yep they suck the big one! We 2 have only a t1, server. my suggestion to anyone loking at cable access through charter, look at all your options. my dl speeds are hardly better than isdn, and the uploads are worse! at present i have no other real options, but hopefully soon i will. people at work are aware of my time and actions spent on the internet(work at the largest employer in the area)and i tellem what i told you!

NFW!
Im using charter in Wisconsin and i got the same bull ****!
Im not even getting half of my modems capacity!
GRR!

Update...

At 4AM there shouldn't be a lot of people trying to share my bandwidth, but whadda ya know, the connection STILL SUCKS !!!

According to CNET's bandwidth meter:

You 49.4 kbps

Charter Pipeline, getting worse every day.

(Paul Allen must be so proud)

I will probobly get it for this ,but. In defense of HSA, we have very little to do with what goes on in your area. Especially,in the arena of things such as which type of routers they use(UBR's , Com controllers etc.), how many T1 or T3 lines are availible,or whether they want to lay new cable or improve the quality of what is already exsisting,and whether they oversell the area.
I hate when I look at my phone and I see a Georgia area code, because I know what's next. Beleive me the techs at HSA don't like the situation any more than you do. I wish they would just stop all servivce in that area until they can get there stuff together. Definetly,tired of getting yelled at by people from Georgia, who think it's HSA'a fault that there service blows. It's not, it is a local charter problem. Soon to be fixed I hope.

Rosco,

Trust me, I know it's not HSA's fault. In HSA's defense, 99% of the time that I call (and there've been many many calls) you guys have been very helpful.

Before Charter bought the local cable company last year, it was basically a family-run company that had no clue what they were doing. I can only imagine the condition/quality of the lines.

According to the local guy I talked to, they are getting a few more T1 lines by Monday, so it should hopefully make a big difference. I'll believe it when I see it.

I am in Smyrna and am having the exact same problems, particularly the last few days. I find it fitting that I have a "COM21" modem because I'm getting about 21kbs. I'm wondering why in the hell I ever dropped a reliable 56k Earthlink dial-up that cost $19.95/month for an unreliable Charter Pipeline connection that has been getting speeds in the ballpark of 28.8k and frequently just hangs completely and can't even finish loading a page (all this for only $34.95/month!). Granted I am typing this at 9PM during some peak usage time (having waited 30-60 seconds for each page on this site to load), but like Lizard_boy I have also been on around 4-5AM this weekend and still had pretty horrible speeds.

Rosco - Is there anything we can do to pressure Charter to fix this mess? Do all the technical support calls just go to HSA? I was going to wait until tomorrow to call to see if it got any better, and I'm going to keep calling and harassing someone until things hopefully improve.

Brassmonkey,

Whenever you call HSA to report a problem make sure you get a ticket #. Then call their Billing office at 800-569-6088. I got a partial credit last month b/c I had so many problems. I damn well better get a free month after all the **** that has gone on this month.

I think Charter will finally take some action when HSA is forced to issue credits/refunds to enough people.

(Paul Allen, your company blows)

Heh...

I don't think it's the local lines to blame, as one thing Charter did do is replace almost all of the cabling in this area (Morristown, TN) when they first purchased the system.

Now the local configuration... That might leave much to be desired.

Last year about this time, all of this area was without email for over a week. Tech support said that the email server had coughed up a hard drive. Ok.. A: A week to get a new hard drive in and up?? Ever hear of FedEx? B: Ever hear of redundant hardware? RAID, at least?? Email contiunes to be spotty. May Allah have mercy on their business customers..

Bandwidth hasn't been too much of a problem, but one thing I've noticed: Ping times have been creeping up. Quake III servers that were averaging < 100ms pings are now > 100ms, and usually closer to 150. What's really funny is that HSA has gotten into running game servers! Check out http://www.stmarys.hsagames.net. It's really, REALLY bad when your ping times to your own ISP's game servers suck (200+ms)... Seems like if they were really interested in attracting the gaming community, they would do everything in their power to make their cable modem service have the lowest overall pings to everywhere. I'm sure the improvements to the network that would help ping times would also help the other users on the system, too..

Another thing they're doing which is really annoying is very poor upstream content caching. I can go to a frequently updated web site, and get yesterday's version. Then, click on Refresh, and get todays. Shut down the browser, clear the browser cache, reboot the system, and then visit the site again, and get yesterday's version, AGAIN. It also can screw with access to some web sites and services, as the IP address that you are apparently accessing the web site from can suddenly report as being that of the cache server. Hotmail is one that is like this. If your IP address changes while logged into hotmail, it will force you to give your password again. Some forms of secure online ordering are sensitive to this, as well.. Irritating. They should turn the cache servers into clustered backup units for the email service...

Oh, and tech support.. Well, while there may be one or two that have a clue, if you want a new definition of silence simply listen hard after you tell them that you're running NT. (I can only imagine the effect of telling them that I'm running a Linux box..) Also, I'd love to see the dart board they use to pick what excuse for piss-poor service quality they use on each call.

Please, please, please let someone come in with DSL.

You guys should move to Pasadena, CA.. I know some people there with Charter Pipeline connections, they get sub 20ms pings to game servers this side of Texas, and frequently exceed their caps by a small amount

Ok,
To answer some of your questions.

Firstly, people need to understand HSA relationship to it's partner cable companies. We service, approxmatley,a dozen different cable providers throughout the U.S., from Alaska to Mass.And we are not the local cable providers,I repeat we are not the local providers.
Our services consist of Tech support on a resedential and commercial level, and a Network Operations Center, for specific areas. And yes all tech support,for Smryna comes through HSA, as far as I know.Then usaully back to Smyrna.
As far as Smryna is concerned here are two suggestions.
1.)Put pressure on your local office to make the proper adjustments,to get the servivce up and running properly. Call them ,write letters, threaten lawsuits, that type of stuff.
2.)Call tech support and ask for the E-mail
for the complaints office with HSA. I am not posting it here, for good reason. Hopefully, if they get enough complaints someone higher up will take a bit more notice.

Now to Morristown.
This weekend they were adding in some extra Comcontrollers down there, so service may have been down for some.But it is a positive move inthe right direction, to account for the growing number of users.
Secondly, that is not a game server for HSA, but for a local cable operator called http://www.hsanet.net based out of ST. Mary's,MD. Therefore,considering the distance, the priority given to ping packets by routers, and the traffic on the east coast, especaiily the D.C and Baltimore area. 200m/s pings ain't to bad.
Furthermore, I agree, that the Caching sytem used, by some is less than desirable. Causing many problems, that are sometimes generally attributed to browser errors.

Finally, Mr.Victim, it is true not all techs have a firm grasp on the in's and out's and subtle problems of the many Windows Operating Systems, but most have a basic understanding which is all that you need 90% of the time when configuring TCP/IP stacks and re-installing NIC cards. But that is not a good reason to ride everybody out,because of the service a few.It is a tough job to sit there seven hours a day and listen to MCSE's Sytems Admin,and Linux Specialists call and tell me about there honorifics and certifications. But can't seem to get there TCP/IP stack in order. So,since your so damn bright,Capt Red hat,and know how everything should run,set-up your own DNS server and then you won't have to use there's. You'll get better pings.

I Live in CT and my pings are always in the 20s and always get as little more in speed then what i am paying for....move here or ca

I called the good folks at HSA this afternoon, gave them the # off my modem, and they ran some sort of diagnostic and confirmed that my problems are "at the server"... Of course, I already knew that before I called since the pings to my internet gateway are horrendous... Usually in the neighborhood of 100-150ms, and that's just the first hop! I'm getting lost packets like crazy, too. I'm not sure if there are any tweaks that could improve the performance under these types of horrible server conditions, but I don't even know if it's worth the bother.

Any other disgruntled Smyrna-ites have any suggestions on what to do? The guy at HSA said "they're working on the server problems" but couldn't give me any sort of ETA for completion... I guess I'll keep calling and harassing the local office, too, but I don't know how long I can stand it. I just gave up last night and dialed in via NetZero. I hope everyone else in Smyrna enjoyed all that extra bandwidth I freed up for ya! (groan)

Rosco:

Actually, I do appreciate what it can be like to try to interface the general public with anything remotely smelling of technology. I do it daily. (And, if you haven't seen it, go to http://www.deadtroll.com/stream.html . I think you'll like it..)

However:

When two different techs, at two different times, tell me "We don't support using NT with our service. Only Windows 95 or 98.", then what am I to think?

Or, when I call to see what might be the ETA for a return of service, when the Com21 is flashing that wonderful green/amber combo that means the RF connection has gone bye-bye, the tech wants to review my NIC bindings??

Or, you call tech support, and they give you the "reason" for the latest problem. Just curious, you call back, get a different tech, and get a different, unrelated "reason". (And yes, folks, I do such things as call for a second guess, er, opinion. This is East TN we're talking about, so if your net connection is out, the only hope is that there's something on the tube that doesn't suck horribly.. Unless you really like being out in 90/90 weather..)

Maybe I've just been unfortunate in who I've wound up talking to in the past.

But, when I called this past weekend to ask why things were moving at a snail's pace, and the reason I'm given is that "About half of the upstream connections have been severed".. (The tech even suggested that some hard lines might have been cut...)

Now, you're saying it was most likely due to upgrades. (Which sounds much more probable..)

Hmm...

I'm just reporting it as it's happened with me. Others' mileage may vary. Not to be taken internally.. (Though the ones guilty may find it gets under their skins..)

The key thing is that there are serious problems with the service, and it seems that the left hand and the right hand aren't really on speaking terms. I HAVE had some positive experiences in dealing with Charter's tech support. But, the negative has far and away outstripped the positive. Plus, there's the consideration that I shouldn't have need to call in the first place. If tech support isn't the place I should be calling, then give me the number for whoever it is I SHOULD be calling. But, I think I do have the right number..

Don't mis-understand. There's NOTHING wrong with admitting that you don't know something. I can respect someone that says "I don't know." No problemo. I refuse to tolerate BS, though. A straight answer, even if it is "I don't know" is MUCH more preferrable to trying to blow smoke up my backside. One of my "positive" experiences with tech support involved a three hour call for an attempted NIC changeout. We didn't get things resolved, but the tech supervisor that I eventually wound up talking to was direct and honest about things. To have someone say "That shouldn't do that. We have some serious problems to fix. I'll contact the appropriate people." is so refreshing.

It's VERY curious that the places that seem to be in the worst shape (Morristown and Smyrna) just happen to be places that don't have anything in the way of COMPETITION for broadband access. I've got friends that have Charter's service in Knoxville and Johnson City, and they haven't had a problem yet. (Hell, I'll be unable to even access Charter's own web site, and they'll be hitting web sites around the world..) You'd think that Charter would have more problems meeting the demands in what are, for this area, major metropolitan areas, than in little ol' Morristown. Of course, being the much more developed areas that they are, the choices are much more robust than "it's Charter or dialup". Hmm.. Since the City has a word or two when it comes to the Franchise... Maybe this is something I should be bringing up at my next City Council meeting. Morristown just reciently laid down the law with United Cities Gas for their lack of service to the customer. Maybe the small towns such as Morristown, Smyrna, and the one mentioned in Wisconson need to start communicating. Carrots haven't been working, so it's time for the stick. These areas, with their complete lack of competing broadband providers, have to be nothing but gravy for HSA.

More curious: After asking Charter TV what the deal was, they said that their only involvement was to provide the cable over which the service was piped. HSA is, according to them, the ones that take care of everything else. Which is the reason why I can't pay my Charter Pipeline bill at my Charter Cable office. The Pipeline people aren't even in the same building with the TV people...

From HSA's website (http://www.hsacorp.net/pages/ppi/mpi.html):




HSA: Exurban Experts



High Speed Access Corp.'s business model enables cable operators to completely and cost-effectively outsource the services required to provide high-speed and dial-up Internet access to residential and commercial end users.

We bring the following benefits to exurban cable providers:

• True end-to-end solution

HSA is the only provider in this market that directs and manages all aspects of its Internet access system. Other providers' services begin with the network operating system and end at the local loop, where the cable operator must assume the burden for local content, sales, help desk and billing. (See illustration.) With HSA, the local cable partners' only responsibilities are to provide space in the headend for HSA equipment, access to the necessary bandwidth to provide services and maintenance of the integrity and performance of the cable plant.

• Speed to market

HSA's service can be launched and running in as little as 90 days after signing, with minimal effort by the cable operator. This can happen only because HSA controls the technology as well as the marketing and operations of its Internet service on a local basis.


• New revenue stream with minimal investment

Cable partners gain a new revenue stream through sharing the revenues generated from monthly subscription fees paid by the end user. That puts the onus on HSA to provide a service that is attractive to both cable partners and end users.

In addition to splitting monthly fees with the cable partner, HSA offers incremental revenue opportunities from local content provided through its services. These include non-cable services such as residential Internet access through dial-up technologies, as well as commercial Internet access; revenues that HSA also shares with cable partners. HSA also anticipates revenue streams from future broadband services, such as Internet telephony services, video conferencing, home alarm, childcare and utility monitoring, local and community-based e-commerce and interactive video games.

• Flexible design, proven technology and growth path

HSA offers a flexible, scalable network design that optimizes performance to the end user while achieving operating cost efficiencies. The company provides high-speed access by first connecting end users through HSA's cable headend to the cable or telephone infrastructure. It then connects through high-speed data lines provided by local exchange carriers to backbone facilities provided by UUNet and others, which connect HSA systems to the Internet.

Because HSA does not require the cable operator to upgrade its system to two-way capability, it can deploy one-way broadband access to some communities sooner than many of its competitors. HSA's services may serve as an impetus for a cable operator to upgrade its system to two-way capability, which could have other benefits for the operator, such as the ability to provide other valuable services, such as interactive program guides, impulse pay-per-view, video-on-demand and telephony.

• Onsite and national end user marketing

Unlike major competitors, HSA assumes primary responsibility for selling its services to end users. Its dedicated national marketing effort includes development of sales and marketing materials, database market analytics, direct mail and centralized telemarketing. HSA typically maintains a local manager and sales staff in each service area to focus on commercial sales and to coordinate with corporate-level residential sales and marketing programs. Working closely with the partnering cable operator, HSA presents a comprehensive marketing plan to customize the message for each community. It creates and implements a detailed series of steps to develop community awareness of the new offering and educate cable customers on order entry, customer service, capabilities and options.

In summary, HSA's full turnkey solution represents a business model that is uniquely responsive to exurban cable providers. Contact us to collaborate with you.

High Speed Access Provides
What Exurban Cable Operators Need

Cable Operators Need
HSA Provides

Capital source
Completely outsourced solution with no capital investment required for operator

Upgrade to two-way
Flexibility to deliver service under a one-way or two-way scenario

Technical expertise
Configuration of the entire system, ongoing network monitoring and help desk

Internet marketing support
All the marketing, both onsite and national

Customer service/billing
24/7 customer service/billing

Content
Community-focused content

Sales expertise
Dedicated on-site sales staff


SO, which is it?? HSA doesn't do end to end, or do they? If not, then this is false advertising. Don't try to pass the buck.

Oh, and by the way..

If you're going to assign me rank, then it would be more appropriate to make that Staff Seargeant Red Hat. (USAF. And the same Purple Heart that gave me the promotion points to make Staff Seargeant in my first enlistment also happened to make it my ONLY enlistment.)

Victim... You're right about there being no competition to HSA in my area, but hopefully it won't last too long. BellSouth is supposed to have DSL to us in the next month or two, so I'll definitely be re-evaluating Charter!

As for the "small towns unite" thing... I'd be glad to join in any sort of effort to light a fire under Charter/HSA's ass, but FYI Smyrna isn't really a small town. I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't heard of it (I hadn't before I moved here), but believe it or not it's actually a suburb of Atlanta! I live right outside the NW of the city less than 5 minutes from Atlanta city lines and about 15 minutes from downtown!

Maybe one of the technical geniuses at Charter helped Smyrna build their killer web page.
http://www.ci.smyrna.ga.us/

[This message has been edited by brassmonkey (edited 09-21-2000).]

Maybe the lack of competition is the key..

When people are treated poorly by a business, they will generally just take their business elsewhere if there is a choice in the matter. After a while, the company that's been mistreating their customers will suddenly find themselves out of business. Only when the people do not have a viable choice will you hear an outcry against the company.

Morristown and Smyrna are somewhat similar. Both, while not exactly Podunk, weren't quite large enough to recieve BellSouth's (and others') attentions with respect to DSL coverage in the first go. Both are on the "when we get around to it" list. I hope they get to you soon. I've been told it's going to be sometime next year for us here. Maybe. There are also a few other providers that have made noises about offering DSL in the Morristown area in the next few months. So there is some hope.

But, for now..

Here I sit, and Email is hammered, yet again.

The net connection is hammered, too.. It takes 60 to 90 seconds for the next page to start to load.

lizard_boy

you're not alone here.. hehe.. charter was good about a year ago when I first got it but like you've said it's just gotten worse and worse.. for the last 3-4 months from usually 6-12pm the speed has just been horrible.. ie downloading off the local charter ftp at about 10k a second.. I'm in Alcoa Tn and all the traffic from down here is routed to the kingsport server where it connect to the backbone by 4 t1 lines..

my guess is that the problem is they've kept adding more and more customers to the service but have done nothing in the way of upgrading the bandwith.. throw that on top of poor design from the get go and you have a mess.. like you I've emailed and called and emailed and called some more to no avail.

I guess they don't really worry about it since there isn't any other high speed availible unless you're right in town and can get bellsouth dsl.. which I have where I work and it's almost always a very good connection..

Charter is not doing to well in my area either (central Wisconsin). I have had service with them since they started up here. Lately it has been extremely bad. I get about dialup speeds and I have given up trying to play any online games. (Took me a long time to just load this page.)

At first I thought it was just me, but I have been checking around and it is the whole area.

I hope *they* do something!

UUNET router is down in Atlanta, and is affecting most of Southeast from Morristown
to Camp Lejune NC.

i'd just like to add the rants.
first of all, the charter service is getting progressively worse here in central wisconsin. since monday (9/18) things have been pretty bad. my modem could not even get a connection for more than 1.5 days. now, i'm going to defend my brothers in the line of technical support, which in my opinion is the worst technical job that there is. i worked in support for two years for AT&T's Worldnet internet service. mind you that there are some people out there that probably shouldn't be on a phone telling somebody else what is wrong with their computer, but a lot of the people that you talk to are trying to do their best and make it through another day of hell with queues of 100+ and high wait times. i'll also add that those poor fools sitting on the telephones probably have no clue about what's going on in the real world...they've probably just been give some cover excuse to give to people so they get off the phone. i say that from experience. also, there are probably some higher up managment types who are sitting in a boardroom looking at stats and saying to themselves "everything is fine here, why change anything". i also make that statement from experience. the people who write the checks to put in all this extra bandwidth probalby have no clue as to what the actual condition of the network is or what the user experience is like. as far as bad service in different areas goes, i can believe that for sure. AT&T had some really bad issues in New Jersey that had been there forever and are likely still there. People complained by the hundreds but little ever got done about it. People cancelled their accounts by the hundreds but little ever got done about it. So when you call charter and get yell at some poor soul attached to a telephone who is saying to themselves "please please make this idiot shut up and stop yelling at me so i can go home" about how poor the service is and threaten to cancel your service and all that, just remember that the management of charter doesn't care if you cancel your service, or if you tell 10 people who cancel their service and they tell 10 people who cancel their service. There will be plenty of people to take your place...and the overall speed will probably go up too.
that's my rant. sorry if it offends anybody or if it's off topic or if it's a bit disorganized but i had to say something.

Rosco,

So all of the Charter problems stem from this UUNet router being down...

I can't help but be a little suspicious... You reported about the UUNet router problem last night at 10:18PM, but everything was decent on my connection until well past midnight. My connection died around 9:00AM this morning and as far as I know, still hasn't come back up.

Were you just giving us advance notice about HSA's excuse for the day, or what?

I should have been more specific.So here it is,many but not all people in much of the Southeast, may experience speed and IP routing and leasing problems, because the UUNET router in Atlanta is down.It may be back up today, I am not sure. I was trying to be helpful. In case, someone had not heard and as wondering why this was occuring.If I somehow implied that all of Charters/HSA problems stem form UUNET,then I apologize, because that is not true.It is not what I was trying to convey. Just an update.

I too, have had my share of difficulties with Charter. For a few days I had ping spikes of 500, I had pings to my gateway in the 1000's, and sometimes it doesnt' even work...ahh the rainbow of colors. In the end though i believe that it is not all that bad in this area. I just tested my ping and it was 478, which is not bad at all considering major websites like www.pcpitstop.com consider it acceptable if it is 85% of your maximum bandwidth. The probelms have occured and when they have the were a pain in the ass but, they were typically resolved within a day. HINT: TELL YOUR NEIGHBORS CHARTER SUCKS SO THEY DON'T HOG YOUR BANDWIDTH. 8) Anyhow, as long as it doesn't get worse, which it hasn't I'll be fine...although some pings to west coast server fluctuate severly. One more thing...TELL THEM TO STOP ADVERTISING!!! 8)

Later,

Commi

Victim,

I took into account what you said and have been looking into the true end to end solutions idea.So yesterday, I spoke with the Head of Enginerring for Charter in Eau Claire, WI and he stated that , as you said previously, that Charter is responsible for the Cable and feild operations and cable plant operations. And that HSA is responsible for the CMTS, Gateway, Modems etc, but not problems out of there network control.Such as what happened with UUNET.Therefore, I was wrong in stating that HSA is not your local provider because for the most part they are, when it refers to broadband cable service.

Not sure if this is the case for the CHARTER NETWORK SERCVICE MODElS, but I will check.

Also, if you check, HSA deals primarily with Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.I suppose because @home and Roadrunner already had a firm grip on the larger ones. And that is why many of there markets are the ones with no competition.

well im glad to see that im not the only one from central Wisconsin that doesnt care for charters cable serveice, charter is just no good, pings are terrible, downtime is terrible, email is really bad atleast for me, i just love it too when i actually find a server i ping at 110 which isnt too often and i still see a ton of warp and i can sit their and watch my ping flip flop up and down, 110, 270, 124, 190, 120, 340, and i can watch everyone elses pings stay smooth, downloading is nice too 30k/sec, 9k/sec, 30k/sec 9k/sec, thank god they dropped the price on it, since its not worth the 45 they were charging a couple months ago, i dont even think its worth the 25 they are charging now, all they are doing is bringin in more users, which they dont need, yay look now at 7 o'clock i cant watch my pings spike even more, oh and for those of you from central wisconsin, mainly point, if you had charter pipeline the weekend of trivia im sure you all loved the outages and the speeds of 2k/sec, oh yeah and when i go to that msn bandwith test page it says

Your line speed:
Are you even connected to the internet?


[This message has been edited by Llama (edited 09-24-2000).]

that sux man!

------------------
Its the CableGuy!

just bumping this back to the top a la krackerjack for any newbies that are wondering about charter pipeline

after all the problems last week it actually worked well for a few days, then tuesday night when i tried to play unreal online got pings of 700+

according to hsa they are aware of a router problem in the atlanta area & are working to fix it

Now that you've bumped this one back up to the top, let me just add that things have been good in Smyrna the past few days. I've been getting transfer speeds at or near what they should be and respectable pings. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Also just received a notice from my apartment complex that they are going to be re-wiring all the cable next month... I guess that's mostly good, though I'm concerned that they'll fix whatever has been giving me free HBO/Showtime/TMC/Encore for almost the past year! Those are the kind of "problems" I can live with!

Brassmonkey,

Yeah, for almost a year I've been getting free TMC/Showtime/Encore...no HBO for me...I guess freeloaders can't be choosers. Actually Encore went bye-bye when the olympics started...it became MSNBC, I'm hoping it goes back when the games are over.

When they told me they were upgrading the cable to go 2-way i figured the free movie channels would finally go away, but several months later they're still here.

A friend of mine in Post Village has also been getting free movie channels for over a year, but they're re-doing the wiring in a few weeks, so we may all lose the freebies.

At this point, anything that makes the cable modem more reliable would be welcome.

Yeah, that's where I live, too. Now that you mention it, I think we lost Encore or TMC to MSNBC recently. Channel 99. I'm afraid all the free stations are probably going bye-bye next month when they re-wire the Village... I guess I'll just have to start paying for HBO before the next Sopranos season starts...

------------------
Put your left leg down - your right leg up.
Tilt your head back - let's finish the cup.

I live in Birmingham AL, and I have Charter/HSA. I play Quake III Arena online, and at first, my pings were great, in the 50s. Then, about a month to two months ago, my pings would start off ok when I entered the game, but then immediately started climbing - 200, 300, 400, 500 etc.... I can barely play online now. I downloaded and installed the NeoTrace program, and the problem begins with the UUNET hop. When the packets hit the first UUNET hub is when the ping goes through the roof. I'm considering switching to DSL.