Charter makes upgrades in area

A year after switching over to an all-digital cable TV network in Glendale and Burbank, Charter Communications has implemented a series of enhancements that have boosted Internet connection speeds and added more than 120 high-definition channels.

Initiated in March, the rollout dubbed Charter Spectrum was completed by August, boosting browsing speeds from 30 megabits per second to 60 megabits per second for no additional charge, said Charter spokesman Brian Anderson.

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FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of this story listed browsing speeds as megabytes rather than megabits, and incorrectly named Brian Anderson as Brian Johnson.
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Also complimentary was the 80 channels that went to high definition in August 2013 with the initial digital face-lift, but now with the upgrade, there’s more than 200 of them in the lineup, he said.

“We removed the outdated analog signals and by doing so, it enabled us tremendous amounts of bandwidth that could be repurposed by additional HD channels and improving our Internet product,” Anderson said. “We promised folks that when they went on this digital journey with us, there will be benefits down the road … we’ve been able to make good on our promises.”

Glendale, Burbank and Long Beach were the first Southland communities to make the digital switch last year because they had the highest concentration of customers with digital receivers — 94%. That figure has climbed to 100% since the receivers became the only way to watch TV after the switch, Anderson said.

More than $271 million was spent on the upgrades in California and $2 billion is being spent across the country to bring them to Charter’s 29-state footprint.

If some customers feel like they’re not getting faster online speeds, there might be a workaround solution.

“You may need to reboot your modem, which you can do by simply powering it down, giving it a couple of moments and powering it up again,” Anderson said. “You should be able to see the difference.”