Anybody any helpful info on phone service in Asheville? Charter Com. or BellSouth? (Charlotte: apartment complex)

[kpfmaus]

I am trying to get phone service set up in my apartment in Asheville. I am debating wether I should just have Charter Communications do it all (internet, cable and phone) or if BellSouth is better for phone service. We have a company like Charter Comm. here in Sarasota, FL they offer it all, but there phone service is awful and not reliable. I need a 100% reliable phone line, or better two, since my husband will have his office at home in the beginning and will need it as a business phone.
Any advice or info gretaly appreciated.

[CharlotteAgent]

I have never used Charter but have had close friends that have, They have mixed reviews on them. I use Bellsouth in the Charlotte area and honestly can say my internet and LAN line has never been down since I switched from adelphia. Which is almost 4 years now.

Hope this sheds a little light on the subject for you.

[roxors]

Can't comment on your particular situation, but when I first moved to Asheville I lived in a large apartment complex. I got Charter for Cable/Internet and Bellsouth for phone. Charter could not keep my internet running consistently. I had them out at least 10 times, and they kept coming up with excuse after excuse as to why it was happening, from such things as "well, it's because you live in this complex" (even though none of my neighbors were having problems) to "well, it's because you ran an extra line which slows down the connectivity" (I hadn't by the way), to "we can't explain it". I finally gave up and dumped them for both cable and internet. I switched internet to BellSouth DSL, and it's been reliable, if not super fast, and DirecTV for television.

On another note about Charter, in the townhouse complex I live in now, about 2 months ago, new neighbors moved in next door. Now keep in mind, I have DirecTV. I came home from work and my DirecTV was not working. I went outside and noticed some cables had been disconnected. Apparently, the Charter installer came out to install the new neighbors cable, and in the process, disconnected my DirecTV and ran my DirecTV lines into a locked cable box, all the time while I was at work during the day. This was obviously not something done maliciously, just stupidly, as my DirecTV connector box is very near the cable box on the outside of the building. So anyway, after about an hour of trying to figure out what they had done, I called DirecTV, who said they could come out in a couple days and reconnect. This wasn't an option, so I called Charter, who said, yes, they were out there that day installing cable next door, and they could have someone out midweek next week (this was Friday) to fix it. I read them the riot act, but of course they didn't care, because I wasn't a customer. So then my fiancee and I went outside with a flashlight (it was dark by now) and screwdriver, pried open the locked cable box, figured out which cables were ours and what they had done, and fixed it ourselves. Of course, a full week later, Charter called me and asked me what time they could come out to fix things. Terrible company with clueless installers and non-existent customer service. I'd advise you to stay away, but it's your call.

[kpfmaus]

Thank you CharlotteAgent and roxors that really helps a lot.

[donsabi]

The worst service I have ever had was Charter Communications. Poor products, poorer service, and actually a hostile attitude. In another area I had Medicom which provided great broadband but the HD was terrible.
Now I have DirectV, great HD with no problems. I go to the local library for broadband and it's free there. Verizon for phone service which is great in this location.
BTW, there is lots of free broadband at local coffee shops and other places just do a search on "free wifi."
Don

[kpfmaus]

I guess what we will do is Mediacom for internet and phone with BellSouth.
This was very helpful, thanks.

[roxors]

Mediacom isn't available in the city of Asheville to my knowledge. It is available in Hendersonville. I think a previous post listed a website, you will probably want to check. Pretty much everywhere I've lived in NC there has only been one available cable company.

[kpfmaus]

I guess than it needs to be BellSouth for internet as well as phone.