This review will focus on Charter Communications cable Internet access, but will also discuss other high speed Internet connection options.

My personal broadband experience has been exclusively with Charter Broadband, starting in October 2003. My two siblings and several friends also subscribe to Charter, and have no complaints. I was already getting Charter cable television service, and had upgraded to digital quality on all channels and high definition (for the 10 channels that broadcast in hi-def), so Charter seemed like a natural choice for broadband. Especially since DSL did not offer service to my house. I am now paying $40 a month for Charter’s “Gold” or fastest home package. I had to pay $45 for the modem with free installation. Their current advertised promotion offers their gold service for one year for $30 per month, with free installation and modem. My introductory special was 3 free months during the first year, which works out to close to the current promotion. Charter also provides free anti-virus and firewall software, which is vital since a broadband connection is on any time your computer is on.

I upgraded directly from a PeoplePC dial-up up modem 25 Kbps download to Charter Broadband 3 Mbps. If you do the math I increased my access speed by a factor of 125, so I noticed the speed difference. Like going from a horse and buggy on a dirt road to a Ferrari on the Autobahn!

I was home to watch the cable installer hook up my broadband, which is always a good idea. He answered all of my questions and explained what he was doing as he went along. I was also able to show him exactly how I wanted the cable to run in my basement to directly beneath where I wanted the cable to come out of the floor in my office. My Charter broadband connection runs off of the five-way splitter he installed in my basement. One of those connections is what I would call the “prime connection” (not the technical term) which has twice the signal strength of any of the other connectors. That connection will serve as your broadband connection.

As you might assume, the cable broadband connection also carries a TV signal. My computer has a nice video card with a TV tuner (a TV tuner can also be bought as a separate card), so I went to the hardware store, bought a digital splitter and three feet of digital cable, and ran a cable into my video card. And like magic, a little TV (or the whole screen if you don’t mind poor picture quality) on my computer screen. If you do this, be sure to buy the digital splitter, which is only a dollar or two more, and the screw on rather than the push on cable, also a little more expensive, but the splitter and cable only cost about $10. This hookup lets me watch TV while I’m working on my computer, including accessing the Internet, and record TV shows on my hard drive. I tested my broadband access speeds before and after the split, with my TV on, and I could detect no difference.

I had the installer initiate my account plus a couple of E-mail accounts using Microsoft Outlook and Charter for me and my wife, and we were done. The whole process, including the installer hooking up and testing the cable modem took less than an hour.

One note on ISP speed claims; dialup, Satellite, DSL, and cable; they are all guilty. I guess they all want to make themselves sound faster than they really are, to the untutored consumer. Their speed claims are stated in bits; Kilobits - thousands of bits per second (Kbps) and Megabits - millions of bits per second (Mbps). A bit can hold only one piece of binary information; it is either off or on. Virtually all other computer measurements are stated in Kilobytes or Megabytes. Eight bits make up one byte. The information in a byte digitally represents something we can actually use, for example, one alpha-numeric character, or the color and position of one pixel in a photo. OK, that is the end of computers 101.

Download speed is much more important than up load speed, and fortunately downloads are much faster than uploads with all ISP options. You might need to download software or a service pack that is millions of megabytes (XP Service Pack 2, which is a vital download, can be up to 270MB!). The pictures you took at the family reunion can easily be shrunk in Photoshop to 60 Kilobytes each for E-mailing or posting to a home page, and this type of graphics is probably the largest files you will be uploading.

Charter advertises a download speed of 3 Mbps, and upload speed of 284 Kbps for this package. I have tested my speeds well over one hundred times at different times of day and night. Amazingly, my overall download average speed was about 2.8 to 2.9 Mbps. I was able to download XP Pro SP2 without a hitch, at about 2.9 Mbps during the day. I have heard (I guess from DSL commercials) that the number of computers in your neighborhood can effect your access speed.

Uploads speeds average about 284 Kbps, which is as advertised, and this has been adequate for my needs.

I can’t say enough about Charter’s customer service. I have always gotten a live person 24/7 (who was an American, probably in their headquarters here in St. Louis, since I could detect no accent) and have always gotten excellent help within a few minutes. I’m not saying you can’t get good support from India, which is where I seem to end up when I call for service on the majority of my computer problems. But the help I’ve gotten from India has varied from worthless, to excellent, even if I had to have the techie say everything 2 or 3 times. I don’t hold that against them, since they speak much better English than I do Indian, I just have trouble with that accent.

I have to admit that I (or some software or hardware other than Charter’s) was almost always at fault when I had a problem connecting to the Internet. I built a new computer, and needed help to configure it for Charter. I also installed a wireless network, which certainly was not their responsibility, but they helped me get my remote computer connected. My most recent problem was the result of some funny business caused by Norton antivirus. The techie told me to uninstall NAV then reinstall it, which fixed my problem.

I do have a concern about Charter Communications as a business. They seem to lose money year after year, and their stock is selling for close to $1 a share. Oh well, I’m sure their customer base in 39 states is a valuable asset which will be picked up by a stronger company if Charter goes belly-up.

I should mention the two other broadband options available; satellite and DSL (Digital Subscriber Line).

Satellite

Satellite was quickly eliminated as an option for me, since it is the most expensive, about $60-$70 a month plus equipment (which is separate from or an addition to satellite TV equipment) costing about $400 - $600, and is relatively slow; 500 – 600 Kbps maximum download speed and a pitiful 40 – 50 Kbps upload (how strong a signal do you think that little dish on your roof can send into outer space). Unfortunately many people especially in some rural areas have no choice, other than dial-up. Cable hasn’t reached them, and they are too far from a telephone “Central Office” to get DSL service. You can get a better deal if you tie you Internet service in with satellite TV and/or long distance telephone service.

You must have a clear view of the southern sky, and you will certainly experience occasional complete outages during certain weather conditions. Satellite providers in my area thoughtfully provide a backup dial-up modem to customers, so they can connect over their telephone lines when the satellite is not working.

DSL

DSL (generally through your local telephone company, which is SBC\Yahoo in St. Louis) seemed like a good choice, since it utilizes the telephone line that’s already in your home, and does not interfere with your voice telephone service. Most DSL’s offer a very enticing rate for the first year, about $27 a month is standard, with inexpensive equipment you can easily install yourself if you have any technical savvy (or a friend that does), or pay about $125 to have installed. The “normal” charge for the service is $40 a month, but the sales representative I talked to said that when the first year is up they would renew a contract at the current promotional rate. Additional fees can raise the monthly cost closer to $28, still a relative bargain. Most telephone companies charge about a $200 penalty if you cancel before the year is up, unless you move to a location where DSL is not available.

The availability of DSL is dependent on your distance from the telephone company’s Central Office, which is a point where lines from DSL customers are directed to an Internet “backbone”. Your speed will depend on how far you are from the central office of the company providing the DSL service. In other words DSL is a distance-sensitive technology: As the connection's length increases, the signal quality decreases and the connection speed goes down. Generally, you can not be over 18,000 feet from a Central Office, and the further away you are, the slower your connection. To assure a minimal quality of service Many DSL’s limit distances at which they will provide service. At the outer distance limits, DSL customers may experience speeds far below what is advertised, while customers nearer the central office have connections close to promised speeds. The maximum speed for DSL is 1.5 Mbps down and 384 Kbps up; bit in reality most customers (per a very informal and probably statistically meaningless survey of friends with DSL) actual download speeds are usually a little more than 1 Mbps, and upload is often close to 128 Kbps).

Telephone companies are supposed to working on new technology tied in somehow with their promised fiber optics cables, which will offer speeds of up to 8 Mbps, someday. I’m not holding my breath, since I waited 3 years (before going with Charter) for DSL to reach my neighborhood, and it is still not here. A friend 1/2 mile away (as the crow flys, probably not a good measurement) has had DSL for years. SBC, which is one of the big players in the DSL industry, just does not seem that interested in upgrading land line equipment, since this is a shrinking revenue source. One nice thing about a DSL connection is that once you are connected, you are on a dedicated line, and your speeds will not be affected by others connecting through the same Central Office.

I would be glad to receive comments (or read Epinions) from other broadband users relating their personal experience with cost, speed, and reliability.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): $40/Month
Version Number or Year: Gold