I have reported here on my problems with getting Charter Communications to install service.  I have also reported on their service and the Internet speed that I am getting.
  I think the full story of all this is posted on HNB: Fort Worth TX. 
  So I will not go over the details of the installation problems.  Just let me say that I got a letter form Charter Communications saying I could have TV, high speed Internet and telephone service all for $59.97 a month.  I would get free install and I could even try it free for 30 days.  It was in a letter from them and I have received two more of those letters since I took their service.
  Well I called up and said come on and install the service I will take it.  I asked if they would install outlets in the living room and my bedroom and they said yes.  Now on the phone it turned out I would have to pay $80.00 … I will not go in to the details but I said OK.  So the guy got here and said.. Oh.. No you only ordered high speed Internet service.  I said OK.. install it then and forget the phone and TV.  He said.. also that he could not install any outlets or run any cable because this is an apartment.  I said Ok just turn on the Internet for this outlet that is already here.  He still wanted $80.00 and I gave it to him and he left.
  Again I will not go into detail.. but I had high speed Internet service and it cost me $57.40 a month.
  The Charter bill is here – gives details of the first charter billing. 
  I called Charter Communications on December 14th see A credit with Charter of $2784.00!
  OK this is where I get stupid.  I called Charter Communications a couple of times to pay my bill.  Each time I am calling and using Skype to call them.  When I connect right away I tell the voice mail system I want to pay my bill.  It never ask for my user ID or anything…I know I know.. I should have been thinking… I say I want to pay my bill.  It does not ask any questions and tells me that my balance is zero.  But do I want to go ahead and pay and I say yes and I make the payment.
  Today I got a written bill from Charter Communications and it is for $108.99 and of that $57.40 is “past due.” 
  So I called the Charter Communications system to pay my bill.  I know I am not past due…Hell I want to make sure I have Internet service and I am paying as soon as I can pay the bill.  I call the system and it does not ask any questions I hit the keys to make a payment and it says you do not have any due payments do you still want to make a payment and I say NO this time and get someone live on line.
  Well the woman says what is your phone number and I give it to her and she says we do not have an account with that phone number. I give her my account number and she says.. Oh yes..you are past due. 
  I tell her I have made payment online with a credit card using this phone number and she says they have no account with that number and show no payment from me.  The only payment they show is that payment I made when they came out here to install the service on December 2nd and I gave the guy $80.00 in cash.
  Well I did not have the details of the payment(s) I made via credit card in front of me so I paid $90.00 right then to the woman to make sure I do not lose Internet service.  I will have to dig up the credit card information and call them back and see if they can find my money and credit my account.

  So a word to the wise.. Do not make a payment on the telephone to voice mail system UNLESS  the system some how tells you who you are AND tells you that you do have a balance with them that you need to pay and make sure the amount it tells you jogs with the information that you know.
  OK I admit to being super stupid to make the payment over the telephone with it said my bill was zero. 
  I guess I was stupid to pay tonight.. But I want to make sure that I do not lose Internet service.
  That $90.00 I paid tonight was food money.. So Russ and I may go hungry this month but at least we will have Internet service.  Smile

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  I had a good mail day.  I got my AARP MedicareComplete membership card in the mail today.  I was worrying because I had not heard from them.  I got the card and they say the membership kit will be here soon.
  They picked a PCP doctor for me.  I was going to pick a woman, I looked up on their site, but I guess I will just go ahead and see  Doctor Todd Cowan.  Yes, I know I can change PCP doctors.
  I did a little search on his name and I found three people rated him at www.Vitals.Com.
  One said this:

“Dr. Todd Cowan is one of the best doctors I have every had the pleasure of meeting. He is caring and will give you the information and assistance that you need to get in better health and to stay that way.”

One said he was not responsive to phone calls.  But the other said the following:

”Dr. Cowan’s problems are all his fault. His clinic is absolutely way overbooked. It seems that they see way too many patients there and are perpetually behind. It also seems that they see mostly low income and low coverage patients. That isn’t bad in itself, but it the fact of less money per patient obviously has ramifications for the quality of service. If you have a good health plan or the money to spend, this isn’t the doctor to see.Finally, he is friendly easy to talk to. However, I always feel like he’s in a rush to go somewhere else. He talks to me for only a few minutes and in that time I don’t feel like he’s cares about me understanding my medical problems. I will be getting another doctor once I have time to search.”

  I  am going to give him a try.  Hell, I belong with the low income patients but with Medicare (national health care for people over 65) I can afford any doctor I want.

  I got a photo Christmas card today from a friend in Kansas City.  I love photo Christmas cards.  I think Darlene and I only sent them out a couple of times.
  I am not sure how my friend in KC ended up with such good looking grandkids.  Smile

   I also got a cute little holiday card from Charter Communications.  They want me to switch to Charter today and get “free installation” and their “Charter Bundle” for $59.97   SMILE

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A lot of very smart and skilled people read Howard’s Notebook.  Do you think the above “high speed Internet” is worth $55.00 a month?  (Truth is I get it for $45.00 a month for 24 months.  When you do see above a nice connection it is a connection to Fort Worth.  I am in Fort Worth and am getting my Internet from Charter in Fort Worth.

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  About 0030 hours we lost our Internet connection.  We have Charter Communication.  I do not have their cable TV service so I could not check to see if we would have lost TV.  I also use Skype (VOIP) so I lost my ability to call them.
  I do have a cell phone but it is pay as you go and I try and not use it.
  Now about losing the cable service we did have some limited connection to Google and to the Charter web site.  That, I think , is very odd… That nothing else works but we could connect to Google.
    
  I woke up at 0530 and called Charter on my cell phone.  I got a recorded message saying that service was down for my area “for maintance” for my area and that service would be back at “after 7.”

  I called again and burned a few of my cell phone minutes.  Their message has changed and it says they are working on the problem and it should be fixed in a “few hours.”  They have the option of calling you when the problem is fixed so I told the machine to do that…So I should get a call on my cell phone with the problem is corrected.
  I wonder if they have a vast area out how many phone numbers can their system dial at a time?

  The Internet came back online for us at 1110  hours.

  Update:  When did I get the phone call from them that the Internet was working?   I got it 1900 hours!  I got it 8 hours later. 

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  I called Charter Communications using Skype (VOIP) and before their system even asked for my account number the machine told me that my last payment, in December, was $63.00 and that I had a CREDIT with them of $2784.00 
  Don’t you just love computers?  Smile
  I got a live person on the telephone and she said they had received the $80.00 and I told her about the $5.00 fee for the modem and she said she would take it off.  I told her about the $10.00 off on the first month of the high speed service and she said she would give me a $10.00 credit next month. 
  She said I would need to return the modem to them.  I guess I can find their office here in Fort Worth.  I am not sure where they are located but it will cost me $3.00 for the bus and often a trip like that can be an all day trip.  It would have been nice if they picked it but I did not even ask them to do it.

  I told her about the statement when I connected saying I had a credit with them of $2784.00 and told her she might find it funny and something to discuss with employees around the coffee pot in the break room.  She did not laugh and did not even comment on it.  Smile

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  I been waiting for the Charter Communications first bill to get here.  I got it and here is what I find about it.

I am not upset or crazy about the bill.  That was my fear before I got the bill.  I had ordered the “Charter Bundle” and that would have been with “Free Installation” for Charter Cable TV (9.99), Charter High-Speed (29.99) and Charter Telephone (19.99) a month and been $59.97 a month.
Notice the “30-day Risk-Free Trial!”
When the install guy came he said they only had an order to install Internet plus he told me that they could not install any outlets or run any cable or do any sort of install. All he could do is turn on an outlet that was already in the living room.
So I could not have an outlet for Internet or TV in my room which is what I wanted. 
Plus he was to collect $79.99 for “installing” and the first month fee.
I paid him and he turned on the internet service using their modem.  He left.
I called the Charter office. 
They said all it showed is I  had ordered was Internet service.  I said OK that is all I want since you can not install anything.  The guy on the phone checked and said  … yes they can not do any installing of anything in apartments in Fort Worth.  I said OK.
I said what about 10M down instead of the 5M down in speed.  He said it was $10.00 more and that he could do it right now on the phone and he would give me the first month free.  I said great.  So he attempted to set it up and their modem would not support it.  I said I got a modem and I went and got it and removed their modem and he set it up on my modem.  
Now I get their bill.  They have not given me credit yet for the $80.00 I paid the “install” guy.  I am sure it will turn up on their computer system soon. I am not worried about that.  I do object to the $49.99 “install” fee but I understand that the install was free if you ordered the bundle service which I did but they showed up and only did the Internet.  But I could live with the “install fee” if in fact they did some sort of install.  I do not think they should charge apartment people any install fee, in Fort Worth, if all they do is flip a switch.  But I am not going to fight over that with them.
The other thing is the $10.00 fee for the higher speed that the guy on the phone said I would not have to pay for the first month.  I will call them about that and see if they will give it to me.  If not, even thou I am as poor a church mouse, I will not fight over that.
The other thing is we are using my own modem now so they need to take off the $5.00 for the “Internet Modem Lease” and I am sure they will correct that.  I am not sure how I get their modem back to them.
What I will end up with is an Internet cost of $40.00 (plus taxes) for 24 months.  I can live with it.

I am paying for 10M down in Internet speed.

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  It looks like the steps  I took fixed my computerand I am not getting a blue screen and re-booting.  I now only have two USB devices hooked up on the back of the computer.  That leaves me two free USB slots on the back of the computer.  I am not using the two USB slots on the front of the computer.
  It looks like everything is OK now.  So now I am thinking is the time to hook up my Brother HL-2140 (USB) printer.  I need a printer.
  Then I am thinking if I do not have any problems I can try a keyboard and a mouse that I have that only use one USB port and one PS2 slot.  They are both wireless.  It is the Logitech desktop set (wireless keyboard and mouse) EX110.
  The keyboard is no Saitek keyboard but it is better than the wired keyboard I am using now. 

  I commented here that traffic was down to Howard's Notebook.  I think I know the reason now.  People that do a search and found something at ShowMeBlog get re-directed to HNB OK.  People that do a search for an image on ShowMeBlog are not getting re-directed here.
  There are a lot of people doing a search for images such as Britney Spears "pussy shots" or full frontal nude image of Daniel Radcliffe and those people do not get re-directed to HNB.  I can live without that traffic…Those people seemed to just come and look at the image and were then gone in a flash. 
  So I think that is why traffic looks like it is down at HNB but I think we got most of the real readers still finding us.

  I am going to hook up the printer now.  Wish me luck.

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  I have formatted this computer so many times in the last few days… I can not count how many times I have formatted.
  Most of those times were trying to find an O/S that would work with my WiFi cards and not disconnect me from the Internet. 
  After I moved my computer to the living room and connected direct into the router I have formatted a couple of times.  I put Windows XP Professional 64 bit on the computer.  But a number of programs that I wanted just would not work in 64 bit.  One of them was Windows Live Writer that I am using now to write this blog post.
  So today I formatted again and installed Windows XP Home this computer.  It is what came with this computer. 
  My first goal right now is get a new USB WiFi card, that will work with this computer, so that I can move back into my room and get my computer and desk out of the living room.
 

  When I can afford it I will bite the bullet and upgrade to Windows 7 for this computer.

  Other than computer stuff,  Yes Jim there is other stuff in the world, I need to get a new Texas DL, I need to get a bus pass and I need to pick a new Medicare health plan.  The current insurance company I have does not do business in Texas.
  
  It will not be long and we need to start thinking of goals for 2010.
  I like starting a new year.  I make a list and I think for a few days that these are things that I am going to get done.

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  Russell is sleeping in the dinning room so I killed time in my room until it was light outside before I went to my computer in the living room.  So I had nothing to do in my room and I read or attempted to read the policy booklet from Charter Cable.
  The print is so small that it is very hard to read.  There appears to be a bandwidth limit per month.  The number is so small I can not  read it.  I will try with sunlight coming in here later or I will ask Russ to tell me what the number is for band usage for a month.
  No matter what the number… There is no way I would come near using the bandwidth.  I use very little bandwidth.
  Now the question is for me is how much bandwidth is Russell using?
  I will have him tell me what the number is and get back here and I am sure comment on the it.
  I must be tri-polar or something.  I was so depressed the other day and then yesterday so happy and now I am starting to worry about bandwidth and … We will see.

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  I will keep this short for right now…  Charter Cable did show up on time today.  But the guy only had a work order for Internet service.  He knew nothing of tv or phone service.
  He still wanted and got $80.00 from me.
  So much for “Free installation”  and also the “30-Day Risk-Free Trial!” they never heard of it.  I guess you can forget “promo code 505458” ….

  But that is not the entire store.. Yes there is more…
  There adv, that they sent me, says “Connect multiple TVs in your home at no additional cost” … WELL.. this is Fort Worth and they are not allowed to install anything in an apartment.. There was a cable jack in the living room.  He turned it on… took him about 10 minutes or less… 
  So that left me with a choice.. I can run 25 foot of cable all over my new apartment and I am not going to do that.. Or I can move my new desk out of the bedroom to the living room…
  Or I can go WiFi which I was trying not to do…  So I had to bring up the WiFi router from Dar’s place…  That puts me sharing Internet with Russell which I was trying to get away from because I seem to come last in bandwidth when he is watching movies/tv and playing online games with his computer and Xbox 360.
  So  we bring up the WiFi router… 

  I talk to Charter on the telephone..  I tell them forget the tv and the cable…
Since I was not getting them why was I charged $80.00?  
I will not go into all of that.. 
Also.. remember I was told I was getting a land line phone so I switched my cell phone from $50.00 a month unlimited to pay as you go.. so talking to Charter cost me $4.00 just for that one call.
  Anyway..  Since I had the guy on phone..  I said upgrade me to 10M down for $10.00 more a month .. He said I could try it for free for one month (we will see how that goes)..
  Well.. he attempted on the phone to upgrade the Charter modem.  It was a Scientific Atlanta modem.  Never heard of them.  He could not get it to upgrade to 10M.  So I had him on the phone and I went to my junk box and pulled a old cable modem and hooked it up and he upgraded it to 10M.  

  I am going to come back to this subject again and again.. I am sure..

I just did a speed test and I got 2.31 M down.  That is the slowest Internet speed I have had in years.
  But I have an old and fucked up WiFi card but I can not blame Charter for that… But I was not planning on using WiFi.

  Well I am going to see if I can get an old different USB WiFi card to work…  I do not have money to buy a new WiFi card right now.. Charter has all my money for the month.
  I THINK Russ be getting high speed Internet service right now…  But..
I do not have time to check. 
  I need to fix this problem…
  I will try and get an old USB WiFi card working.. It has never wanted to work.. Maybe it will take pity on me.
  I may see about installing Linux again and see if the old card will work with Linux.

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  Before I left Miami I checked to see who the cable service company was for Fort Worth.  I was not happy to hear that it was Charter.  We had their service when we first moved to Miami until they sold out or did something and we got a different company.
  I was not happy with Charter Internet service.
  They do not get good reviews…I checked on the Internet before I moved here.
  My ex-wife and son, that live here in Fort Worth, have DSL service from AT&T.  So I told my ex-wife that I would give her $100.00 a month and that Russell and I would use their service via WiFi.  I had them upgrade to 5 M down.  Now $100.00 is more than it cost them for Internet and phone service.  I made it more to help them out.
 
  Well Russ and I been using their service via WiFi.  Russ is playing games online and watching TV via his XBox 360 and I do not know what all he is doing.. My son is down stairs playing online games sometimes.
  My ex-wife does some eBay stuff online to try and make a few dollars.

  I use almost no band width.. What I do posting to the blog and reading my email….that is about it..  The Internet service that I am getting sucks …
  Are you ready for this?
  Charter sent out their special offer:   Basic Limited cable TV $9.99 for 12 months,  High Speed Internet $29.99 for 12 months and telephone service $19.99 for 12 months.  Their “high speed” Internet service is 5 M down.  For $10.00 more a month I can get 10 M down or for $25.00 more a month I could get 20 M down.
  The total is $59.97 a month.  I called and signed up for the service. I do not own a phone and I do not own a TV set.  All I care about, right now, is the Internet service.
  They did lock in the Internet service price for 24 months.  I can upgrade the speed anytime I want and I might just do that one day.
 
  I will keep paying Darlene $100.00 a month to help her out and Russ is going to keep on using their WiFi connection.  He is sleeping and does not know that I have ordered cable service.  But I need dependable Internet service so he can keep using their WiFi service and I will be the only one using the cable Internet service.

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