The L. Times partners with Spectrum on a nightly TV show. You stir all that together and you get fast-rising costs for working and schooling from home during a pandemic, and for keeping yourself entertained during off-hours. Nice try. David Lazarus is an award-winning business columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
His work runs in newspapers across the country and has resulted in a variety of laws protecting consumers. SpaceX crew launch marks space travelers in 60 years. Hot inflation report slams bond market, sends stocks lower. Justice Department sues Uber over wait-time fees charged to disabled passengers. This may not seem too high, but if you think in annual terms, the expense is not insignificant.
If you are not sure what to get, you can check the equipment compatible with Spectrum here. Having your gear means that you can switch operators without worrying about the buyout, which will never be at a fair price. Conventional cable TV is losing the battle with streaming services.
Even if you think that cable TV is a must-have in your household, you would be quite comfortable without it. If you take the time to watch something on cable only once a week, it is high time you canceled that pricey package you have been paying for years. Another common scenario is that your TV is always on, but you never know what's on it.
This means that you just need some background noise. Paying for more than channels is redundant when some relaxing music will do the trick.
Take a look at the table below. If you are not watching at least some of the channels regularly, switch to the Select Spectrum plan, or ditch the service altogether.
Cheating is not something we would ever recommend, but if you are out of options, it may be the only way. Just to be clear, the following things are considered as being out of options:. The idea is to cancel your package and return as a new customer. Spectrum is quite generous with fresh contracts, so new customers can get excellent deals when signing up. In case you've had it with overpaying, you can cancel the services, and start over. There is a waiting period for you to qualify as a new client.
It can be anywhere from a month to one year, depending on the agent you bump into. Our advice would be to call to get a new contract instead of visiting the store.
It seems that the rules are more lenient, or the agents are more relaxed in the customer service department than at the in-person selling points. The bad news is that Spectrum can turn you down and make you wait for a full year before signing you up again. In that case, you can have your spouse or other family members sign the new contract. That way, you can enjoy the benefits of new customer programs for at least a year.
Theoretically, you could switch users every year and take advantage of the promotions for a long time. There are indications that if you could get caught doing this, Spectrum could terminate the services for an indefinite time, but these are speculations. There are no reports that it happened to any of the customers.
With such pricey services, not being able to pay your Spectrum bill is not uncommon. If you are too far behind, or your debt is very high, the company will cut the services, so you may end up with no internet and cable TV.
Although it is not as inconvenient as staying without electricity or gas, it is still unpleasant. If you can opt for a different provider, this may not seem like a big problem. You should know that Spectrum can sell your debt to a collection agency, which may result in frequent phone calls and annoying emails. Collectors are not allowed to threaten you or endanger you in any way, but they can be persistent and take you to court. Depending on the sum you owe, the court may:. You should try to avoid this outcome because you will have to pay the interest rates and an agency fee in addition to the amount you originally owed to Spectrum.
If you realize that you won't be able to pay Spectrum on time, ask for an extension on the due date. It is a simple solution, and Spectrum is usually happy to grant this relaxation, especially to loyal customers. Current customers typically have to cancel existing service and sign up as a new customer to get these prices. Cable-company pricing varies widely, so the price difference between competitive and noncompetitive areas may be lower elsewhere.
But the price differences show how valuable competition is to broadband subscribers. It doesn't offer promotional prices, so there isn't a big automatic price hike after a set period like there is with many major ISPs. When contacted by Ars, Charter said that "Spectrum Internet retail prices, speeds, and features are consistent in each market—regardless of the competitive environment.
Stop the Cap showed that Charter's promotional rates vary between competitive and noncompetitive areas. Charter told Ars that its promotional offers are affected by several factors, including "location. This isn't the first time we've written about major Internet providers offering lower prices in competitive areas.
Charter has over 27 million residential Internet subscribers in 41 states, making it the second-largest home-Internet provider in the US after Comcast. But, I am a TWC legacy customer so not sure how it will affect me. Spectrum packages are worse than TWC and about the same or a little more expensive. I like the current deal I have but costs are rising but not moving to a Spectrum package.
I did try the recording on PC routine with a capture card connected to cable box but it is a pain. Since everything is HD the files are really big so GB get used up quickly when I record sports and movies and the news. So even a 1 TB storage external is not enough. I only have GB on drive C.
I had to go component to evade the copy right protection. So it has become a pain in the ass. Especially having to leave the PC all the time on like overnight or when I am gone from apartment.
I fried the CPU and had to change it. So looking to make changes so I have a better way of recording. UVerse is one option but not sure about the deal listed in the mail but DVR is included. Another tempting option is DTV Now with playon to record the shows, but it will require using a hard drive, however I can use a laptop and not just a desktop.
I am still learning about playon and so they have a cloud version but it is for mobile and a desktop version which records to hard drive. Hopefully files are smaller and I can run them on VLC. Not totally sure on things. So I have questions about how playon works. Also looked at Tivo but too expensive and I would need a cable card. Right now not sure how much the increase in two months will be with this TWC legacy Spectrum service.
I got a bundle in Therefore, I am fact finding different options. But the review was right on about Spectrum. At least UVerse will carry the big broadcast channels. DTV Now might not but it is based on region. So that is an extra headache. I would have to add a DVR if I can to an already increasing bill and as a legacy customer I better not lose channels and get sent to a Spectrum package.
So it might be time to switch. I was going to cancel the service after I had it for few months only because of a very poor connection. I called in and was talked in to put my account on hold which I did. The representative was very rude and interrupted me all the time.
I would cancel it now but I am in school and there is no other internet providers in my area. I signed up. Crazy… especially if you are on a fixed income like me!!! When it was Time Warner Cable at least we were able to watch sports games from the carrier dome.
Now we seem to be losing more channels. Terrible received a letter our package expired and our bill went up. LMAO so they just pawn you off to the next guy to tell you ok so you are out, call us back to let us know when to stop service. SAD we had time Warner for 13 years. With all the unsustainable plastics they harass people soliciting their services, there is no way in hell I would sign up.
It took me 2 days of screaming matches over the phone to cancel Direct TV. I spend my hard earned dollars on companies that are sustainable minded and ethical. Which means no plastics in their mailers. Not to mention how deceptive they are in their mailers trying every tactic in the book to fool people into opening the mail.
I refuse to contribute my money into more plastic pollution and companies that waste my time. Double dipping Here in upstate NY the state government is helping to fund high speed internet throughout the state and spectrum is not happy to take the cash from the taxpayers but is also dipping into the same pockets of the taxpayers it has connected.
There are untold number of pages of poor to bad reviews and mine is no different than any of the others. This is a poor to no value service. Buyer beware! Charter has the highest cable, internet and phone service in the country. NY state plus 22 other states are still contracted through TWC but use charter pricing.
Spectrum is just a big rip off. We are cancelling our cable tv altogether and going with sling tv and netflix. Cheaper and no equipment fees. These cable companies are fleecing Americans. Greed Greed Greed….. This company is a pain in my ass, and unfortunately the only one available to me…I hate being cornered into purchasing something because I literally have no other option.
This provider is terrible for some reason and they have yet to figure it out. We keep complaining and stay in touch with the best advanced service man in Dan Powers who is just great.
He works on the lines and the stations but manages to get buy or call once in a while to see how things are going and he gave me his cell number so I can text him when there are problems and there have been many- trucks out in our neighborhood all the time and finally some went back to Direct and Century Link. If Century link was not so slow we would have went back to them many years ago. We are kinda used to all the tiling and pauses but it has only gotten worse.
We have singed up for the new DMEA service that promises everyone great service at cheaper prices once they get enough people to extend out to us- we can hardly wait!!!! They used to have good sales people who would work with old Veterans like me, but not anymore. I love how Verizon had changed and honored my being a Veteran. Semper Fi. My vote, take your money and time to any other provider and avoid spectrum. Charlotte, NC. For the people moving and looking for an internet provider, I strongly suggest NOT going with Spectrum.
Their billing department and customer service is appalling. They refuse to help their customers and continue to inconvenience them in every way possible. As a customer of two years, they have put my account on restriction for 6 months due to two declines payments.
This happened at the exact same time that our auto pay goes through for spectrum bad luck on my part honestly and not their fault however!!! BUT NO! Due to the negligence and lack of training on the agents behalf, my already once declined credit card was billed again, instead of the new updated card information. So the only way I can pay my bill is to go into an office and pay cash or give them my direct bank account information every month!!!!!!!
Spectrum please explain why you are inconveniencing your loyal customers due to the lack of knowledge and training of your employees? I will be making a trip to the local office, it will be to return your equipment and cancel my service.
I will also make sure that everyone I speak to about Spectrum Service knows just how little you care about your customers time. I keep having problems with the DVR that is provided. I changed my box about four or five months ago and it keeps going through a static to black phase.
Everytime I have to reboot it. I moved from one place to other and I simply called in the Spectrum and told them to transfer my service to the new place. I came to know that there were two accounts running on my name. One at the older place and one at the new place.
After a week, I came to know that I was owing some balance in my older account at older place where I was not living anymore and I already requested that account to be closed days before I moved out. No one was there able to solve my simple situation. Everyone was telling me that I have to pay for the account which I already requested to be closed and for the service which I was not using anymore.
Today I cancelled my spectrum due to the fact they did not bill me for 6 months after moving from one place to another after repeatedly calling them from Oct-April.
They said sorry again and we need full payment by Saturday or services will be cancelled. I told them to go ahead and cancelled the services and how F up it was that I was being punished by their error even when I called multiple times advising them of not being billed. Hi Sandy!
We are so sorry to hear about the wiring issues at your home. We are sorry for all the hassle. Im doing an assignment for My computer applications class, please and thank you.
Worse service ever!!! Wanted to charge me to install service after two weeks….. Still nothing…. Wanted me to fix their downed lines! Definitely not recommend for service! Hahaha premium channels are apparently not included in the package without extra pay. Ie epic and stars.
Interesting there are no positive comments here? As far as the review goes, there is so much misinformation here it is silly. Lazy bloggers writing lazy filler pieces. For instance, I have a 6 input DVR with hours of storage from Spectrum 10 feet away from me right now.
On strictly a cost basis you need to add Internet Access to the cost. We do now have Allo in our area, but there is no savings when you compare apple to apple with Sectrum, why change? Of course! But we have also had problems with the gas co, electric co, water co, plumber, contracters, funiture delivery, the dentist, the docter, car repair etc, etc, etc. It happens. Relax people. Let me add my 2 cents. I joined spectrum 1 year 4 months ago in there package of phone internet and tv.
I bought a new house and did not have any options accept u verse which I tried for 2 weeks and it was terrible as far as freezing up just to learn they had the wrong equipment for my area. But back to spectrum. When I joined they stated no problem it would be a charge even though I needed 2 rooms added. The salesperson said no worries it is covered. Well when the technician arrived he informed me They were wrong it would be more but he would not be able to add the extra rooms because a subcontractor would be there in a week or two.
Since I was under the gun as to speak I relented and thought well let me give them a chance. We were told the plan would be there Well after paying the first month to get it I got the bill and it was Next I ordered the 20 dollars more to get HBO and showtime etc.
Well my next bill was I called and they explained it was on my invoice extra fees? I asked what they were but they could not explain. OMG do not let the year expire when it does run as fas as you can. After investing SO I have finally figured a way to dumb there but. I now have That is PS: I was going to cut the phone out to lower my bill when I did this the bill went up to In my old house I used Sudden link for internet as I love landline or cable internet and used direct tv for TV.
I hate the rain but I am willing to live with the rain for 59 dollar tv and 79 for the second year. I have spoken with Spectrum until my face was blue. They are completely the most terrible company I in my 65 years on this earth I have tried to deal with. DO NOT get caught in there no contract and how great they are web. If you can please dump them before your first year is up.
The worst cable providers out there should be arrested for robbery. Definitely would not recommend or go back to them. I love spectrum this is a United States base company and run by United States employees that work hard to try and please people every day and no matter how hard you try everyone is not going to be happy.
This company has turn around a failing cable system. I sure things are not perfect but when you are try to advance technology it never is and I know that everyone complaining on this form is not perfect in every aspect of their lives but this company employees over , US citizens.
And that is what it will take to make this country great again. Signed up for Spectrum choice, their streaming service, you get 10 channels of your choice for When I called to cancel my streaming svc because I had no TV to watch it on, they told me that my promotional price on internet svc was no longer available bcause I changed plans.
Told him, he made no sense, he agreed. I ended up getting ROKU, my price for internet and choice is around And yeah, not all of the chanels stream on your phone either unless you are on Spectrum internet. So, if you arenot at home you cant watch those channela on your phone.
Spectrum has the worst customer service. Between them destroying my freshly installed yard, to their contractors intimidating my wife, they are the worst. They use contractors as most of them do. They left a mess in my yard and it took numerous phone calls to get it fixed somewhat. Then they send a contractor to repair a sprinkler head that they broke and he intimidates my wife because she told him that you guys have an appointment with my husband and you are 2 hours early.
She told him to leave 3 times and he would not leave. Spectrum did nothing to calm the situation. Then they have destroyed my freshly installed yard and did nothing to compensate me. They are the worst. I am so done doing business with them. This is the saddest company I have ever dealt with.
I hope the owner of the company dies very slowly whoever is running this company should be shot in the fucking head. I can honestly say I hate you motherfucking cunts and I really hope this company burns to the ground. I HATE spectrum. I have been with Charter for 10 years too long. We get our local channels and 10 other channels of our choice.
No warning! I definitely would not recommend Charter to anyone!! I spoke to a customer service representative she was cutting me off while I was speaking.
Today is the 19 of April and They are still charging me. I had to call them again and let them know about the billing. If you have an auto pay they will take advantage of it.
Queens New York. I had Brighthouse until spectrum took over. Everything about spectrum has been a bad experience. Customer service is poor. I have had them out multiple times for same issues and they never get fixed.
On demand will kick us out halfway or more through the program and then does not let us resume where they kicked us out. And since NONE of the programs let us fast forward we have to re- watch it all over — only to get kicked out again. It has ruined tv for us. But basically told me there is nothing that they can do- yet they have raised their prices. Do not get spectrum. I quickly found out that Spectrum is only cable service in my area.
I called back within 2 hours to accept the movie channels and I was told they could no give them to me.
I had to suck it. I am not happy and I will be switching as soon as someone else comes to town. Cable is great, internet is great, but the streaming spectrum app goes out every night. Spectrum is trash. Trash uptime. Trash customer service. Trash bandwidth. If you have an alternative, take it! Internet is intermittent, often disappears. TV pixilates and fluctuates. Advertising is misleading. Negative advertising says a lot about the company!
I read all the reviews and agree that it employs many people. Unfortunately those people probably hate their jobs, because they have to lie and deceive people. Spectrum starts out telling you the bill will be one price then a couple of months go by the bill increases. When you call to inquire about the increase they will tell you it was a promotional rate. That promotional rate ends after a year, then the bill increases again due to another promotional rate ending.
They will tell you to take all their equipment back to the nearest store. If you want a variety of channels you will pay additional cost for that. Spectrum truly has a monopoly in most areas and they know they have the upper hand. Regardless of them have a monopoly and the upper hand they need to tell the truth about their service, pricing, and improve their customer service.
Customers are what keeps americans employed and companies in business. Spectrum claims that they are the best cable provider out there. Unfortunately if you call to complain about their service or issues with their equipment you will be on hold for at least minutes. The automated service calls 15 minutes after you call about your service to see how satisfied you were with the service. If you give them a 1 for poor service the automated service will hang up on you after the third response. I know people need jobs, but not jobs like this.
I feel sorry for people that are employed with them, because they have to take the calls from the dissatisfied customers. People should be able to choose the company that works best for them. Companies need to be held accountable for false advertisement, and poor service. Everyone knows things cost money to use, but companies should be truthful about the cost so people can budget and choose wisely. The service is subpar, and you can forget their advertising about easy access, faster connection and all at a very low rate.
My service rate has increased at lightening speed which is the only thing fast about them. Now I find out. Oh, but they are going to include. A bunch of channels and movies I never ask for and do not want or need. Also when did internet change. How do families afford all this , not to mention phone service. Simple is so much better.
I pay for the top tier option with the two WiFi options , one being 5G. Only one ever works at a given time. And even though it says full bars, you would never know, because nothing loads ever on any devices and has to be constantly restarted and signals resent from customer service. This is the high level list off the top of my head. Atrocious infrastructure. I have been harassing Verizon for 2 years to get set up in my area to leave this living infectious abscess of a cable company behind.
I give it 1-Star only, and that is for the news1 team, which is delightful programming. Incredibly disappointed. I put my full address in and was told my area was a serviceable area.
Placed order for triple play. Called this morning to confirm my install appointment only to find out all of that was a lie. Today I cancelled my spectrum due to the fact they did not bill me for 6 months after repeatedly calling them from Oct-April. Keep in mind that I have been having problems for the past 4 months with clarity, freeze ups, and just poor reception.
My Bill has gone up twice in the past year and the service has degraded. Within the past 12 months I had the joy of directv and the devastation that is spectrum. We lived in a rural area with only dsl and sat available.
DSL was so terrible we actually moved to town. Spectrums equipment is unbelievably antiquated. Directv had small, fast working boxes with software that made sense and allowed user to quickly see what was on and more quickly tune in what they wanted to watch.
The dvr access from every room was great. Do yourself a favor and go with directv. Spectrum is the devil. Spectrum services are crap, phone service really sucks it works when it wants too.
Go figure. Yes I was extremely unsatisfying with Spectrum today their technician came out to fix my internet and phone which has not been working but the TV was working when he left I had no TV no lights my washer and dryer not working pretty much no electricity and instead of him telling me he just told me that my TV would not work then had to get in contact with Duke Energy to get my lights up and running again….
They seem to purposely train their agents to be high-handed and nasty, and to never ever give an inch to a paying customer. All this in a business that is increasingly outmoded and dying.
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