Questions about cable connection....Charter ISP

[blade_146]

Well I finally get to switch to cable and dispose of this DU junk. I'll be going thru Charter. Is anyone here using them? How are they in terms of service. The lady I talked to this morning said my up/down speeds would be 256k/2048k. Is that good? They rent their modems but she didn't know what brand. Should I buy my own and if so what should I get? Also what NIC do you guys recommend? She also said they would come out to install everything but I dont want anyone but me poking around in my box. If they let me do it what info will I need to get from them to set everything up? Any help you guys can provide will be great. THanks

 

[CliffC]

I don't have it but a girl I work with that had it installed just had the modem plugged into the usb port and didn't need a nic card.
Her speeds were ok but I wouldn't call them astronomical or anything.
The modem will/should be a Motorola SpeedSurfer or some such thing. You should be able to purchase it from them for about $225 outright or about $250-275 if you do the 4/5 installment on your bill deal.

 

[blade_146]

$225?? Damn!! I might be better off renting it for $3.99 a month.

 

[Soccer55]

If you get the Motorola SurfBoard modem, it has both a USB connection and an ethernet connection, but the USB is slower than the ethernet. We have cable at home that was hooked up USB, and the speed was not much faster than our old 56k dialup. After switching the connection from USB to the regular "ethernet" connection, it is a lot faster. The only thing is that with the USB connection, it's much simpler to connect, but with the ethernet one, you need the NIC. My suggestion is that if you have a NIC lying around or in your computer already, you should use that connection instead of the USB one.

-Tom

 

[Von Ribbentrop]

I've got Charter Pipeline in NC. I initally had a 56k(up)and cable(Down), it's all they offered. Later they converted to two way cable(thank God). When they first started they connected the modems via a network card, but now do the USB thing. I think they changed because of the cost of giving every customer a free NIC. A friend tried USB and didn't like it so I gave him a network card and he has been happy since. I didn't want anyone messing with my machine except me so I installed it myself. It's pretty easy and they should have a packet with all the info you need. I recommend buying a NIC (10baseT is all you need)if they do the USB thing. Charter here uses the Com21 cable modem. I have been happy with it overall. I am limited to 256k/516k service unless I spend $70.00 mo for a 1M connection.

 

[blade_146]

Dang I must be doing good to get a 2mbit connection for 29.99 a month

 

[BillyJack]

I use Charter Pipeline (their cable modem service) in North Carolina, I have the hybrid type which means I use a 56k analog modem for upstream and cable for downstream.

I have HORRIBLE service. It's horribly unconsistant and my friend who uses the same service across town has the same experience. When it's working like it's supposed to, I ping around 150 in Counter Strike and can download at 160k per sec off very fast servers like Yahoo.

However 90 percent+ of the time it works horribly. I get 20 - 30k download speeds from the fastest servers and ping an incredible 600+ on the fastest counter strike servers.

Since you have a totally digital connection it may be much better. Also it might just be the Charter Office in my area that sucks.

However I thought I should at least share my experience.

 

[RickH]

I have Charter-It's OK. Rent the modem, the technology will change long before you recover a $225 modem price at $4 a month. Over 4.5 years. R.

 

[DaveJ]

I have Charter here in Fort Worth and have been extremely satisfied with their service... uploads are capped at 128Kb, but downloads are not capped at all. I've maxed out at about 400KB/sec. The service is also very reliable, I think it's been down a total of 5 hours in the 8 months that I've had it...

Do what I did though and tell the tech who comes to install to bypass the @Home software... I wouldn't let him touch my machine and he had no problem with that. There's no real difference in your connection and you don't have to deal with that crappy @home software...

Dave

 

[blade_146]

Thanks for the replies guys!! I was hoping to get some good feedback. WOW 400k?? I hope I can get something like that. I live in a small rural town and I know that not many people will get a cable connection. Most folks around here won't even upgrade to digital cable. More bandwidth more me. I'm gonna call tomorrow and tell them to get busy. Anyone know of any sites where I can go test my speed?

 

[Von Ribbentrop]

I pay $36.00 for 256k/516k 500k service. So ya, your doing good.

 

[Ace69]

I work at an ISP in southern Indiana and we offer both USB and internal 3COM NICs. The internet NIC is better, but the USB usually doesn't show a noticeable difference in speed. I forgot the max speed of USB, but it does not even come close to maxing out the data transfer rate of a cable modem.

 

[erikiksaz]

i use charter down in monterey park CA. i use the surfboard modem , which is hooked up to the usb port. i pay 30 dollars a month, with a free installation since i also have cable tv. there seems to be a cap around the 80k area, but the cap isnt all too strict, cus my downloads may float at 90 or 100 sometimes. uploads are capped around 128 i believe. pings, well, they're pretty good. i usually ping under 50 (more towards 30-50) at local cs servers. the strange this is that my neighbor has the same service, but his pings suck. they are usually in the 100-150 area. so far cable has been worth it.

 

[KpocAlypse]

I've got charter pipeline at the college apartment in Wisconsin. Phone service is good, though the phone techs arn't to bright, uptime is fair, (goes down at least one a day) The speed is decent, its 12.5 kb up and 50 kbytes down (125/500). Can you say capped?

I've got a RR account at the parents house thought..MUCH better...Never once went down, and runs about (250/2500)