Charter Communications technicians transferred their last cable modem Excite@Home users to Charter's Pipeline service around 3 a.m. Saturday, ensuring that no Charter subscribers can be cut off from the Internet due to the Excite@Home shutdown, said Jo-Ell Teixeira, Charter regional public relations manager Monday.
Teixeira said Charter subscribers do not need to take any action to continue receiving Internet access following the @Home shutdown, but must install Pipeline software in order to continue using their Charter e-mail accounts.
Charter Communications cable Internet users had been left without a guaranteed Internet connection Friday when the Northern Disrict of California U.S. Bankruptcy Court ruled that Excite@Home could terminate its cable Internet service contract with Charter.
To deal with the problem, Charter switched all of its subscribers over to its own cable Internet service Charter Pipeline, according to Teixeira.
\We're just happy we were able to give customers another option,"" she said.
The @Home service could go offline any day now that it has declared bankruptcy, Teixeira said.
""It could happen a day from now, a month from now, six months from now,"" Teixeira said.
According to Anita Lamont, a corporate spokesperson for Charter, the company acted soon after Excite@Home filed for bankruptcy Sept. 28.
""After the Sept. 28, we started to prepare for the worst,"" she said.
While users can still surf the Web, e-mail use is a different story. If @Home shuts down, Charter customers' @Home e-mail addresses will no longer exist.
Charter has recently been receiving customer calls of people losing their e-mail access, a signal that @Home may have finally cut off its service to Charter, Teixeira said.
Teixeira said Charter has sent out a total of four e-mails, two postcards, a CD and has ""telemarketed"" over the last week and a half to inform subscribers of the situation.
The e-mails sent out contain a user name and password to let users change to the Pipeline Internet service to continue their e-mail accounts.
Many customers have not received this information, however, and recently have had problems with their Internet connection.
""It was a general hassle for about a day and half [over the weekend],"" UW-Madison junior Scott Ruppel said, but added that service got better Sunday night.
Teixeira said customers who did not receive either their information or CD can call 1-866-227-9649 or 1-800-581-0081 for assistance.
