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Charter Communications’ latest attempt to rehabilitate its reputation with customers in Fort Worth, Tex. arrived this week in area mailboxes, as Charter reintroduced itself as “Charter Spectrum.”
Fort Worth is the first major city to get Charter’s broad-based service upgrade that began more than a year ago with a switch to all digital television service.
The newly available bandwidth no longer needed to support analog television has allowed Charter to expand its video service to more than 200 HD channels, up from fewer than 100.
Customers also start their Spectrum experience with a free broadband speed bump — from 30Mbps to 60/4Mbps (with a barely enforced monthly usage cap of 250GB), and an improved cable telephone service with nationwide calling.
Charter Spectrum’s mailer is now arriving in Ft. Worth mailboxes. (Courtesy: TheTechGuru)
Charter CEO Thomas Rutledge openly admitted last year Charter had an inferior product compared against the competition. Upgrading Charter’s cable systems was designed to correct that and the company hopes its rebranding will deliver a marketplace reset, but some Charter customers remain skeptical.
“Same pig, fresh lipstick,” wrote one Charter customer in Missouri.
Others complain Charter’s upload speeds remain anemic at just 4Mbps.
Charter’s new pricing promotions were designed to simplify the shopping experience. There are now just three heavily promoted Spectrum triple play packages:
A customer taking advantage of the Triple Play Gold promotion will pay a one-year promotional price of $129.97 a month. (Customers can also select individual services or build their own double-play bundle). The fine print mentions the price rises to $149.97 the second year and then reverts to an undisclosed “standard rate” after that. TV set-top boxes are required on every cable-connected television ($7 a month each – not included in the price). The Internet modem carries no additional charge. Phone taxes, fees and surcharges are also covered, but other taxes, fees, and surcharges are not.
Offers are valid for new customers only, and those who have not subscribed within the last 30 days and have no outstanding debt obligation to Charter.
[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WLOS Asheville Charter Going Digital 11-11-13.flv[/flv]
Charter Spectrum arrives only after your local Charter system moves to all-digital television service. That happened last fall in Asheville, N.C., where customers were told they needed a digital set-top box on every television in the home. WLOS-TV covered the story back on Nov. 11, 2013. (1:44)
Charter’s marketing department is run by Lucifer himself… Go ahead, just TRY to find information about what the “standard rate” is for any of their services! If you want to find out what the price is for just internet or just TV service? Good luck with that…
I got sick of playing the price games with tv service from Charter so I told them what they could do with it. Still hanging on to the internet service, but don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to afford that.
@Web Stuff – You can find standard rate prices by going here: http://connect.charter.com/ratecard Just choose your state and city, and click on the download button at the bottom. It will open up a PDF with all of the standard pricing for your area including the miscellaneous adds ons. As for the jacked up regular rates most people can’t afford, your best bet is to just check back for new promotions every 6 months or so by going to their site ( http://www.getcharterspectrum.com/ ) or calling in. Its a pain, but you are sure to get some kind of discount every… Read more »
@Allan, You must be a Charter service rep… I was able to use the link you provided to get the standard rate sheet, but then I tried just going to Charter.com to find a link to that page. I was unable to find a link or perform a search that gave me the link to that page. Like I said, the system was designed by Lucifer himself… When I did pull up the standard rate sheet, I was almost more confused than when I started. I defy anyone to start with that sheet and accurately calculate the rate they will… Read more »
@Web Stuff – No corporation makes it easy to find all the information consumers want. I don’t work for Charter but I have my years of experience in the telecom biz plus I’m a Comcast customer and have to deal with the same nonsense. You got one other option to avoid the price jack-ups, bi-yearly “canceling” calls, and general frustration with Pay TV providers: stop watching TV and get a hobby. If enough people do that, then all these providers would consider becoming more transparent and all around more simple with the pricing structure.
Good Luck 🙂
Need to improve their cable set up better. Cable too low.
Charter Spectrum Sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!