We don't have any specific guidance for Charter here (maybe someone from outside does?), but DSL Reports usually has a lot of discussion on different providers and discussion on comments from end users and stories of conversations and successes and failures.

In general, the following techniques apply to every provider:
  • Collect data 24/7 with PingPlotter. When putting together a case, show them samples from both good times and bad (ideally in the same picture, if possible).
  • Always correlate other problems to verify that the PingPlotter data you're collecting is actually representative of the problems you're experiencing. Sometimes, you'll see packet loss in PingPlotter that is an artifact of network configuration and doesn't represent the actual problem well. If you're seeing 50% packet loss in PingPlotter, but your VoIP calls are mostly good, then PingPlotter data and actual network conditions aren't supporting each other, so you need to look at PingPlotter settings to try and make those match.
  • Always start with the final destination of PingPlotter for packet loss / latency problems. Only problems seen there matter.
  • If possible, pick a final destination that you're having problems with (a VoIP server, Terminal Services server, game server, etc).
  • Don't rule out problems inside your own network. We often see hardware failure or wiring failure in home networks that end users don't think about - bad routers, cabling, hubs, power supplies, power noise, etc. Fixing problems in your own network can sometimes be the easiest solution to a problem. If you have two computers, PingPlotter to your other computer and see if you get packet loss / latency. In a LAN environment, this should be clean.
  • Don't find the very worst case in PingPlotter and send that to Charter. Try and use normal conditions - if you have a single 5 minute period that's off the charts bad, but it only happened once, that's not a great centerpiece for building your case (way too easy for your provider to discredit).
  • Be cordial but persistent. Don't give up when they say "We don't see any problems."