Internet Service Providers in Duluth

I just switched from Century Link to Charter. I bailed on Century Link because the customer service was terrible. 

It's too early to say how much I like Charter, other than that the Internet is literally five times faster. The cost of Internet and telephone between the two is about the same, except they both have these deals that always expire and then they jack up the rates and you have to call and complain and haggle.

As further testament:

Immediately after writing the above comment I went to my mailbox and found an "Order Confirmation" from Century Link -- the provider I just dumped. The letter thanks me for ordering broadband services under a phone number that I have never had, with a note indicating the "term begins 10-25-06 and ends 10-25-08." 

Confusing on every level ... and absolutely typical.

We switched from Century Link to Charter 2 years ago for the speed and have  been very pleased. We get 60mbps for $60/month. We don't have phone service and use rabbit ears for free TV.

I'd prefer a more independent ISP if anyone has suggestions. I've used Compudyne but I don't know if they do residential service.

+1 for Charter–reliable and relatively fast.

Paul, we went through this with CenturyLink as well. They refused to stop billing us when we switched to Charter. I reported them to the Better Business Bureau, finally, and that did the trick. 

However, they made a point of revealing that unless you cancel your services yourself (Charter told us they would cancel them for us) they cannot legally discontinue your broadband service.

Whether or not that is true I don't know. There is one number you can call to get a direct line to cancel your service. Good luck finding it. Took me ages, even after the report to the BBB to locate someone who would do the cancellation. If I remember correctly, which is doubtful, it's the number on the bill, and then you have to wait for an extension that sounds like it means disconnecting services.

CBROUGHTON, you should call & haggle with Charter, I'm at $40 a month.

We got the CenturyLink runaround after switching to Charter too. Cancelled service, about a week later got an order confirmation that showed they opened a new account and phone number for us. Called and the guy I talked to said "Oh, wow, I can't believe that. They cancelled the old service opened a new account for you." He told me he'd take care of it.

Today I'm on hold, still trying to sort it out. Was told I'd get $48.28 back when I cancelled the first account since I'd already paid that month's bill. The check came last week, and it was for half that. They took $23 or so out to pay for the unauthorized account that they opened.

Century Link guys came and took the wires off the house and disconnected them from the pole a couple weeks ago, but the woman I just got off the phone with said our original account is still active according to her records.

But she gave me another Cancellation Order Confirmation Number (our third now) so I'm sure it'll all be peachy and go smoothly and the problem will go away now.