Spectrum Offers Faster Internet In Central NY But With A Catch

Charter Communications is on its way to be the fastest internet provider in the country. It can be said so as they are now offering new internet service to the Central New York area that is faster than the plans that were offered by their predecessor, Time Warner Cable.

Charter Communications officially launched their Spectrum brand this month in the Syracuse area, which include Oswego, Rome, Auburn, Oneida, and the Ithaca areas. The cable television, phone, and internet service from Charter will be branded as Spectrum from now on, and the Time Warner Cable name will be gone.

Two important changes that the former TWC internet customers will note are:

• Internet plans of Spectrum starts at 100 Mbps. This is about seven times faster than the speeds offered by Time Warner Cable, as their internet plans started at 15 Mbps.
• Spectrum will not charge internet modem leasing fee from the customers, even though TWC charged ten dollars per month from the customers as modem lease charges.

Nevertheless, not all the customers of Spectrum will see the changes immediately, as the offer applies only for the new customers and those who have switched from the TWC internet plans to Spectrum internet plan. Charter users with slower Time Warner Cable internet plans will continue to have the slow speeds until they move to a Spectrum package.

Additionally, those users who have subscribed to fast internet offering from Time Warner Cable will get those speeds even if the speed is above 100 Mbps, if they continue with the TWC internet plans.

Charter officials said that they would offer improved modems, which are capable enough to handle the higher speeds, to their existing customers who switch to a Spectrum plan, provided that they have old devices that are not capable of supporting the higher internet speeds. They further added that such customers can collect the modems from a Spectrum store or it will be mailed to them once they make the switch.

Note that those users who stick to their cheap internet plans from Time Warner Cable will not be eligible for the new modems. These users will also need to pay the ten dollars modem leasing fee monthly, if they do not have their own modems. Customers can switch to the Spectrum plan to avoid these charges.

NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman had earlier filed a lawsuit against Charter Communications claiming that they offer much slow internet than that promised in their advertisements. An important reason for the slower internet speeds is that Charter does not routinely offer their users with the latest modems that are capable of offering the promised speeds, alleged the lawsuit. Charter responded to the lawsuit saying that they have made significant investments to upgrade the Time Warner Cable infrastructure in New York.