Charter Runs Internet Speed Scam
FIOS must be getting closer to Rancho Cucamonga with Charter trying to lock us in with 2 year deals at discount prices. Here is my latest encounter with poor service from Charter;
Running speed tests on my Charter internet service using InternetFrog speed test has always indicated accurate speeds How do I know that this service is accurate? I download files from a server that has a very high speed broadband connection, calculating the time it takes for a know file size I get the speed. I check that calculation against the InternetFrog report and they compare with 5%.
Now the fraud on Charters part comes in: I pay for 3Meg down and 500K upload. I have had problems in the past when my download speed deteriorates getting Charter to deliver what I pay for. The last with the assitance of intervention by a city official they finally split the node I was on to get the speed up. The result is the fewer customers on the node the more bandwidth available for each user.
Here we go again, the speed had deteriorated to 300~400 kbps download with the much heralded upload speed now exceeding the down.
Charter chat help is contacted, the least costly to them, and they declare that I do not have a problem after testing my modem signal strength and sending me to a Charter online bogus speed test site HERE. I am asked to report the results and they Charter declares that I do not have a problem Goodbye!
This site reports seeds they may reelect what the entire node could get but is a fraud in measuring the individual customers speed, REPORTING 7 Meg Dn and 1Meg up.
I test my connection again using the independent service, and time another download and find I still have only 300 ~ 400 kbps speed.
Next I call the tech support which connects my to the usual condescending customer rep, restating my issue and giving him the background of what I have done so far. He tells my to forget the Charter speed test site and sends me to another site 2Wire,com This site site reports a fraction of the speed on the Charter site & Meg vs. 1.2 Meg still more that the InternetFrog site. The rep declares that I have a problem and I must restart my computer in “Safe Mode” to run more tests, stating that that condition could report higher speeds. I asked what will be accomplished by testing in a mode that I cannot use in practice and then the phone connection went dead.
Test your Download speed with the three online services and see if you are getting what you pay for.
Charter Speed test site: http://spt01mtpkca.mtpk.ca.charter.com/
Charters Tech recommended speed test site: http://2wire.com/bandwidth/results.php?kbps=1339.7&downloadtime=10.158&KB=1661.25&recorded=1
The only site that reflects the real world caluclated speed: http://internetfrog.com/mypc/speedtest/
As many of you have guessed my speed go up to the advertised speed in the middle of the night when the load on my node is lowest.
Posted: December 2nd, 2009 under Cable and Telecom.
Comments: 1
Comments
Comment from Rose
Time: January 24, 2010, 5:02 pm
I found your page after googling “Charter speed test accuracy”. Thought I’d share my experience…
Where I live (Tennessee) Charter offers 4 speed options: 1, 5, 10, or 20mbps. For a couple of years I’d been paying for the 10mbps, but various internet speed tests never clocked me at higher than 5.5. An employee at our local Charter office said it was probably my modem. It’s an older model and “may not be able to handle” the 10mbps. So I downgraded to the next slower option - figured if I’m only getting 5 why not just pay for 5, right? It was fast enough for my needs.
I downgraded, and now speed tests show me at around 2.5-3.5 mbps.
So I logged onto their online support chat. First I was told that 70% of the speed advertised is “acceptable” - as far as they’re concerned, 3.5mbps is fine when I’m paying for 5. I asked about my results that were under 3mbps? She told me that Charter no longer accepts results from other speed tests and to go to Charter’s speed test site, run it 3 times and get the average.
My average on THEIR test was 6.2mbps. Riiiiiight.
I told her that I doubted the accuracy of Charter’s test result, when moments before an independent site clocked me at 2.54, and lo and behold, I somehow got disconnected from the chat. I logged back into the chat, had to go through the whole thing again with another support person, and as soon as I repeated that I questioned the accuracy of Charter’s speed test I got disconnected again.
Not sure what I’m going to do next. I live in a rather rural area and my internet connection options are limited - it’s pretty much Charter cable or dial-up.
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