G+_Dallam Oliver-Lee Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Charter Communication is forcing everyone to get cable boxes by going digital encyrpted and they are forcing their internet users to rent their cable modems. They wont allow customer owned cable modems. Charter Communications #chartercommunications #internet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Prem Lee Barbosa Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 no charter any more where I am. What market are you in? and have you checked to see if there's any buzz in relation to the issue? sounds like something that might need a lawsuit to resolve. not allowing customers to bring their own modems is very problematic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_David Pick Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 I'm a Charter customer. I cut cable going on 8 months ago So the digital conversion only affected me by cutting off Q.A.M stations I was recieving without a cable box. My 30mbps internet does use a Charter supplied modem, but I'm not paying a rental fee to use it. I was using my own DOCIS 2.0 modem until Charter forced everyone in the area 2 years ago to use their DOCIS 3.0 modems to improve everyone's connection speeds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_David Pick Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 To clarify at least in the Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin area that is Charter Communications headquarter location. Their is not a rental fee for using a charter cable modem for their internet. I was being charged $5.00 a month for a single cable box plus $3.00 a month for a cable card and decrypter box when I was a cable subscriber. The retention specialist was willing to wave the fee when I called to cancel cable service in December 2013. I cancelled cable service not out of rage for fees and prices . But simply entertainment overload using my own mythtv pc recording over a 100 shows and I never finding the time to watch them. It occurred to me working 2nd shift. Why was I paying for cable tv to watch something first, when I would 99% DVR everything to watch later? As a cord after being a lifetime cable subscriber, the transition has been surprisingly good and I really don't know if I will go back. My fear is if Charter adopts Comcast tactics and prices their internet to high without a cable subscription to make it economical to cut the cord. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Brandon Ingli Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Same thing happening in the st louis area, except they launched a pilot of the "spectrum" service claiming 100mbps internet speeds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Dallam Oliver-Lee Posted July 24, 2014 Author Share Posted July 24, 2014 I loved the lies the charter tech gave me.... They claim that forcing users to use their cable modems prevent someone to hack their modem and steal internet or hack to prevent throttling. People can still hack and get on their network despite their claims. The grandfathered customers can still use their own modems. Yet the techs claim the system wont allow them to activate customer owned modems. The modems they provide are modems that can do telephone service as well and physically bogger than a regular cable modem. They still bug me about getting their telephone service. I dont want a big ugly box taking up more space. I have already had two of their cable modems failed and even the techs had trouble activating their own cable modems. I find it odd that FCC regulates that people are allowed to bring their own cablecard cable boxes, but nothing about cable modems. This all sounds like the Big Bell stuff all over again when they forced their customers to use their telephones years ago.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_David Pick Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Dallam Oliver-Lee What brand modem have you used from Charter?. I've been satisfied with the Ublee modem from Charter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Dallam Oliver-Lee Posted July 25, 2014 Author Share Posted July 25, 2014 David Pick originally the Cisco telephone cable modem. Then randomly they switched me to Arris telephone cable modem. The Arris telephone cable modem gave them problems activating and once acivated it kept locking up and kept have packet loss. They finally came back to change it back to the Cisco telephone cable modem after I filed a complaint with the FCC. They still refused to let me use my own cable modem. The Cisco telephone cable modem worked flawlessly. The telephone cable modems they keep giving people are huge. They take up more room than a traditional cable modem. I never had and never planned to have telephone service from Charter yet they keep giving me huge boxes. Im getting ready to dump their service and getting 16mbps DSL service from a local ISP called Blue Rooster Telecom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_David Pick Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Dallam Oliver-Lee I see your problem Dallam is you want to use your own probably superior modem to what Charter offers. I' m not familiar with their internet/telephone modems. My experience with them ,the 2 devices have always been seperate. The joke in the Wisconsin area is the local Best Buy will sell perfectly good cable modems to the public. Its just you can't activate them with Charter. The whole no personal modems hasn't angered me with Charter as I did revieve an upgrade modem with no additional charge to what I had that has been fairly reliable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Bill Whitman Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 The likely reason Charter want you to use their modems is most likely so they can troubleshoot them more efficiently in case you have issues with your internet connection. If you use your own, it limits what they can check before someone has to visit. Having said that, that doesn't mean they have to charge rent for them, but it seems that's the way the industry's headed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Dallam Oliver-Lee Posted July 26, 2014 Author Share Posted July 26, 2014 Bill Whitman I have always use the latest Motorola Solutions cable modems without any issues and my cable modems are always superior to provided modems by the cable company. I thought having standards like DOCSIS 3 was the point to be able to avoid problematic issues. I know from working in the field that DOCSIS modem servers can see customer modem's make, model, firmware version, logs, able to push firmware updates, and able to remotely reboot. I find it anti-competitive and unlawful tying for the cable modem manufacturer and retailers selling cable modems in areas that Charter Communications services. They get to choose which cable modems to use and the local retailers like Walmart and Best Buy which usually sell Motorola cable modems is now not able to sell the product. Customer service nightmare scenario: Customer's cable modem fries after hours....a 24 hour Walmart is open down the street and sells cable modems. Customer has to wait for Charter to open versus just swapping out the cable modem and doing the self activation. How would you feel that Charter has you a leash?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Bill Whitman Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Hi Dallam, I hear what you're saying, but you give the general public too much credit. For every scenario you paint as such, there are 20 people who can't power cycle their modem. And of those, maybe half of them expect the tech to come out and do it for them, rather than take direction over the phone. And you expect these folks to pick themselves up and go to Walmart? The companies are going to and will always make decisions based on the masses, Plain and simple. Resourceful people such as you. me, and most others in this community are not nearly the majority of these masses. Motorola is the king of communications equipment; but being an Xfinity customer, I have to use their modem, I just daisy chain my own router and turn that part of their equipment off. Makes the best of a so so situation for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_David Pick Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Dallam Oliver-Lee Basically Dallam, its your decision to switch ISP service. I would tell you to not do it out anger, but because you feel its the best solution if you can't get a reliable connection with Charter. However, you still wouldn't be able to use your Motorola modem with DSL if you made the switch. I understand if your really not happy with using a Cisco modem over your Motorola. But I would be content with the Cisco modem if at least it Is giving a reliable connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_David Pick Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Out of curiosity if your intetnet only subscriber like myself. How much is your connection costing you a month? I'm paying $58.00 a month for 30mbps service with tax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Dallam Oliver-Lee Posted July 26, 2014 Author Share Posted July 26, 2014 David Pick the Arris telephone combo modem gave me issues. The Cisco was solid. I hated both by their physical size. They are size of an encyclopedia. I pay $54.99 a month for 30mbps with taxes. I only have internet service with them. Strange that you slightly pay more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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