a chat with Charter Cable technical support

sigh. see below.

TTD Crisanto : Thank you for contacting Charter Communications Chat Support. My name is Crisanto. How may I assist you today?
Aziz Poonawalla: hi there
Aziz Poonawalla: hello
Aziz Poonawalla: i am experiencing horrible lag times. i can paste my tracert into the window to demonstrate
Aziz Poonawalla: i am even having lag in this chat
TTD Crisanto : I’m sorry to hear that you are having issues with your internet service. I’ll be willing to assist you with this.
TTD Crisanto : For me to pull up your account, I need to have the name of the account holder and the complete service address including the zip code. Can I have that information?
Aziz Poonawalla: yes name is Aziz Poonawalla, address XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
TTD Crisanto : Thank you for that information. Are you connected through a different connection right now?
Aziz Poonawalla: no i am connected via my usual Charter cable
Aziz Poonawalla: but it is very laggy
Aziz Poonawalla: i have tested my home network and rebooted router
Aziz Poonawalla: its my connection that is the problem. i will paste my traceroiute for you

Aziz Poonawalla: C:\Users\Aziz>tracert us.logon.battle.net

Tracing route to us.logon.battle.net [12.129.206.130]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 3 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1 2 722 ms 10 ms 7 ms 10.132.128.1 3 1028 ms 12 ms 13 ms dtr02ftbgwi-gbe-2-2.ftbg.wi.charter.co0.62] 4 3040 ms 12 ms 12 ms crr01ftbgwi-tge-0-1-0-1.ftbg.wi.charte34.16.27] 5 2982 ms 11 ms 9 ms edr01ftbgwi-gbe-0-0-0.ftbg.wi.charter..16.153] 6 3008 ms 23 ms 26 ms xe-7-0-0.edge1.Chicago2.Level3.net [4. 7 3005 ms 23 ms 22 ms ae-2-52.edge4.Chicago2.Level3.net [4.6 8 2983 ms 20 ms 18 ms 192.205.37.149 9 1109 ms 81 ms 84 ms cr1.cgcil.ip.att.net [12.122.81.18] 10 2917 ms 74 ms 74 ms cr2.dvmco.ip.att.net [12.122.31.85] 11 2964 ms 73 ms 73 ms cr1.slkut.ip.att.net [12.122.30.25] 12 2948 ms 72 ms 73 ms cr2.la2ca.ip.att.net [12.122.30.30] 13 2948 ms 74 ms 73 ms cr84.la2ca.ip.att.net [12.123.30.249] 14 2959 ms TTD Crisanto : Thank you for that information. Please give me a couple of minutes while I pull up your account. Aziz Poonawalla: that is for an online game, but even regular websites are very slow TTD Crisanto : Aziz, you mentioned that you are experiencing slow speeds with your internet service. Have you conducted a speed test at http://speedtest.charter.com already? Aziz Poonawalla: no let me try this one sec Aziz Poonawalla: test started TTD Crisanto : Okay. There are many things that can cause slow speeds. Sometimes a slow browser will cause the appearance of slow speeds. You may go to speedtest.charter.com to perform a speed test. If the speedtest results show that you are getting acceptable internet speeds, then it is most likely a program on the compouter that is running slow. You can contact a PC repair to get help with this issue. You can also call Microsoft at 800-936-5700. Aziz Poonawalla: the issue is not speed. the issue is lag Aziz Poonawalla: did you see the tracert i pasted above? Aziz Poonawalla: why are you suggesting i call microsoft or pc reair? this has nothing to do with my hardware or os. TTD Crisanto : Please try to check on the cables of the modem while I check if there is an outage in your area. Be sure that they are fastened securely. Aziz Poonawalla: cables are just fine. if they werent i wouldnt be able to chat with you. Aziz Poonawalla: the issue is LAG. Aziz Poonawalla: specifically, 3000 milliseconds per hop just to get to chicago? does that seem even remotely reasonable? TTD Crisanto : I have checked your account, and I can't see any issues with your internet service on our end. Charter is sending the right speed in to your modem, and there is no outage in your area. It appears the problem is with your online game server. There are alot of gamers that is currently connected on your game server which causes your online game to lag. Aziz Poonawalla: its not just the online game server where i have lag Aziz Poonawalla: here is tracert to cnn.com Aziz Poonawalla: C:\Users\Aziz>tracert cnn.com

Tracing route to cnn.com [157.166.226.26]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1 2 693 ms 9 ms 12 ms 10.132.128.1 3 977 ms 14 ms 60 ms dtr01ftbgwi-gbe-9-9.ftbg.wi.charter.com [96.34.22.108] 4 2973 ms 679 ms 17 ms crr01ftbgwi-tge-0-1-0-4.ftbg.wi.charter.com [96.34.16.35] 5 3010 ms 16 ms 15 ms edr01ftbgwi-gbe-0-0-0.ftbg.wi.charter.com [96.34.16.153] 6 2937 ms TTD Crisanto : Are you using a router? Aziz Poonawalla: look at these numbers Aziz Poonawalla: yes. i am using a router. i have rebooted it, i rebooted the cable modem, i rebooted both in series Aziz Poonawalla: look at the numbers. the hops from me to the charter servers take 3000 msec TTD Crisanto : I have checked your account and I can see here that you have don't our Charter Home Networking service. I would advise you to please bypass the router, and take it out of your system completely. Please check on your connection after. Aziz Poonawalla: first of all, please dont upsell me more services. I have used Charter for 5 years. With a router. it worked just fine yesterday. I dont need your home networking service. Aziz Poonawalla: Second, the router is not the problem, because the router would not cause 3000 msec lag between my home network and your first line of servers! Aziz Poonawalla: i am increasingly frustrated with your suggestions here. Can we dump the script and assess the facts? Aziz Poonawalla: look at the tracert above. what does that suggest to you? Aziz Poonawalla: its taking 3000 msec just to go from one charter servver to another. TTD Crisanto : I can have a technician to come over and check your connections, but I want to inform you that a service call charge of $35.00 may apply if the problem is on your end, but if it is on our end, the service call charge will be waived. Do you want me to schedule a technician now? Aziz Poonawalla: NO. i assure you the problem is not at my end, so charging me 35 is not necessary. Aziz Poonawalla: is there a higher level tech support person i can chat with? Aziz Poonawalla: a technician does not need to come here Aziz Poonawalla: i do have functioning internet service. i also have fuinctioning phone and cable tv TTD Crisanto : You may contact our Tier 2 Support at 1-888-438-2427. Aziz Poonawalla: the problem is the QoS Aziz Poonawalla: excellent. Thank you. Aziz Poonawalla: I will do that. good nioght

9 thoughts on “a chat with Charter Cable technical support”

  2. Not to be a nag, but is that your actual address/phone number in the transcript? Not sure that’s something you actually wanted to include…

    Also, wow, the upsell. Sheesh.

  3. Hello Aziz,
    My name is Steve and I’m a Communication Specialist with Charter. I understand your frustration with the latency you are experiencing during game play and certainly agree that 3 seconds is definitely not acceptable and we would be happy to assist you in getting this resolved for you as quickly as possible. Please send an e-mail to Umatter2Charter@chartercom.com with the name, address, and telephone number on the account and advise us of the best time to reach you
    so that we may begin troubleshooting. When replying please use CharterSteve: a chat with charter cable technical support in the subject line so I’ll be sure to see it.

    We look forward to your reply and working to resolve the latency you are experiencing.

    Thank you,

    Steve Creameans
    Communications Specialist – Charter
    http://www.Umatter2Charter@chartercom.com
    http://www.charter.com/Umatter2Charter

    1. my email to CharterSteve:

      Hi Steve,

      thank you for replying to my blog post. I am surprised and impressed that you found it.

      here are the account details:

      name – XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
      address – XXXXXXXXXXX
      phone – XXX XXX XXXXX

      I am no longer experiencing such severe delays – here is a sample tracert for battle.net and cnn.com (see below). My main concern was the highly scripted, inflexible response I received from the customer service rep. I understand that there are basic steps to follow but given teh detail I was able to provide, I should have been referred to a higher level of support. The push to buy more charter services at that particular moment was also extremely unwelcome.

      AT any rate, i think that the network issues have resolved. I suspect it was weather related given the snowstorm. Therefore I don’t think there’s any further issue at present requiring follow-up. However, if I do have an issue again, I am frankly not looking forward to interacting with your frontline support. Unless you don’t mind me emailing you directly, that is!

      Regards
      Aziz Poonawalla

  4. Could be worse.

    These days, my cable co. has an automated voice-operated script thingie that they force you to go through (all the reset the modem, etc. stuff) before they’ll let you talk to a human.

    And if you get upset and hang up on it in frustration, it calls you back on the assumption that the call got disconnected.

  5. This sounds awful!! If you’re looking for a TV Provider that works a little better with the customer and has a more in-depth level of technical knowledge, check out DISH Network. We have outranked Charter in Customer Service for 10 straight years. We are also currently ranked #1 by ACSI in 2010. Go to Dishnetwork.com to get more info!!!

  6. Comparing teh response from Charter and from Dish in this thread, I conclude that the latter is still amateur hour. This does nothing to increase my inclination to switch, quote the reverse.

  7. Hi– Had a tech come out this week Monday to check on my new hd box, Every time I turned my kitchen light off the tv will go out. I noticed the hd box at the end of the cord is a small box, I am still having trouble with the kitchen switch. I even bought a appliiance cord it did not help> I want my digital box back. Thanks Marilynn

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