![]() I still had a legacy plan and needed to migrate to an official plan to eliminate the monthly modem lease. The bottom line is that I’m an old Time Warner Cable customer and not a new Spectrum customer. So I asked several Spectrum representatives why I still paid for a monthly modem lease. The legal text says that free modems are for new customers, but Charter’s deal with the FCC indicated that it would never impose modem leases-at least until 2023. Sure enough, the fee was still there, and a little research conjured up a few questions. While I generally don’t look at my bill each month and just hand over my money, I was curious to see if I was still paying for a modem lease after seeing Spectrum’s “free modem” advertisement. If you have a Spectrum router or wireless gateway, you will pay the monthly WiFi fee on top of the modem rental, totaling up to $15 per month ($180 annually).įor a bit of context, I’m a former Time Warner Cable customer. Even if you received a new modem within the last few years from Charter, you will continue to pay the Internet Modem Lease fee until you change plans. You may see a monthly Internet Modem Lease charge if you never migrated your Time Warner Cable or Bright House Networks plan to an official Spectrum plan. The only drawback is that Internet Gig costs $114.99 a month by the third year of service, making it the most expensive long-term gigabit plan compared to the competition. The company recently dropped the price by $30 per month and discontinued the hefty $199.99 installation fee. Plus, fiber has symmetrical speeds, which cable does not.Ĭustomers who want gigabit speeds may now find Spectrum’s Internet Gig plan more appealing. Verizon has a similar plan at the same price, but again, there’s no price hike with Verizon. For example, AT&T’s Internet 300 plan is $5 more per month than the base Spectrum Internet plan, but there’s no promotional pricing with AT&T, making it the better deal. Generally, Spectrum’s prices are more expensive when you look at other comparable plans. Of the four, Spectrum is the middle ground provider with cable internet, while the other three serve faster fiber and slower DSL connections. ![]() Spectrum’s direct competitors are AT&T, Verizon, and Frontier-all four can overlap in some service areas. However, if you were a Time Warner Cable or Bright House Networks customer and never manually switched to an official Spectrum plan, you will continue to pay $10 or $4 per month, respectively, until you do so.įor more information about this fee, jump to the Why do I still see a modem fee on my bill section. ![]() Yes, new customers won’t see the monthly lease-at least for another few years. We go into more detail in the Why does Spectrum charge a WiFi fee section.Īnother eyesore not listed above is the modem rental fee for customers on legacy plans, which persists even though Spectrum advertises free modems. That can add up if you need whole-home coverage. Plus, if you want to use its WiFi Pod mesh system, you must pay an additional $3 for each unit every month. Customers essentially lease the convenience of WiFi. After all, customers don’t lease Spectrum’s modems or gateways.īut no, that fee also applies to its wireless gateways. At first glance, it appears to be a monthly lease for its standalone routers. But in other areas, the upload speed remains at a maximum of 35 Mbps.Īs a customer, the one fee that’s a real eyesore each month is Spectrum’s WiFi charge. That’s the fastest upload speed we’ve seen to date for cable internet, making the Gig plan even more enticing now that it has a lower price. Customer support says the 12- and 24-month options are just “two different promotions.”įinally, the Spectrum Internet® Gig plan supports download speeds up to 1,000 Mbps and upload speeds up to 500 Mbps in limited areas. There’s no contract involved, and customers can cancel or downgrade at any time-there’s no catch in opting for the longer-term, cheaper pricing. The Spectrum Internet® Ultra and the Spectrum Internet® Gig plans may offer 12- and 24-month promotions, depending on where you live. Spectrum has also tripled its starting speed from 100 Mbps to 300 Mbps (wireless speeds may vary) for many areas, making its cheapest plan more enticing to customers on a budget. Overall, Spectrum keeps your choices simple-there’s no scrolling through a long list to suss out the ideal plan. It’s relatively cheap for the speed you get and even supplies a rent-free modem or gateway to new customers. Our favorite plan: The base Spectrum® Internet plan is a solid choice if you only check email, stream a few videos, and post to social media.
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