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Charter Indefinitely Suspends Time Warner Cable Maxx Upgrades Pending “Review”

Phillip Dampier June 16, 2016 Broadband Speed, Charter Spectrum, Consumer News, Public Policy & Gov't 11 Comments

charter twcTime Warner Cable customers getting inundated with ads promising great things from Charter’s buyout of Time Warner Cable have their first broken promise from “Spectrum” to contend with instead.

Charter Communications has quietly informed Time Warner technicians and network engineers — but not customers — it has indefinitely suspended the Time Warner Cable Maxx upgrade program until further notice until the new leadership team “reviews” the program.

“The Maxx Internet Speed Increase Program is currently undergoing review by our leadership team. As a result, all speed increases and customer communications were placed on a temporary hold beginning Thursday, May 26. Once the updated launch schedule is determined, updated hub schedules will be posted to KEY and area management will be notified. Customers will continue to receive notification when the new speeds are available in their hubs.”

charter sucksThe internal Time Warner Cable memo, now confirmed as genuine by Time Warner, suggests the hold is temporary, but sources tell us Charter executives are reviewing expenses across the board to find cost saving opportunities. Most states approving the transaction gave Charter plenty of room to maneuver while approving its merger deal because of Charter’s considerably less aggressive upgrade schedule, in comparison to Time Warner Cable. Few states asked Charter for anything more than what Charter volunteered itself.

Charter has formally committed to offering two broadband speed tiers: 60 and 100Mbps by 2019. Except in New York, where regulators insisted on more aggressive upgrades that match Maxx speeds, Charter is within its rights as the new owner to discard or ignore any earlier commitments or public statements previously made by Time Warner Cable management.

Stop the Cap! filed comments last year opposing Charter’s merger in New York, California, and with the Federal Communications Commission, arguing Charter’s claimed merger deal benefits offered to regulators represented a step backwards for Time Warner Cable customers. Time Warner Cable had previously committed to move forward on its Maxx upgrade program, which offers Internet speeds three times faster than what Charter is promising, on a schedule that would have likely finished upgrades by the end of next year or early 2018. Charter has only committed to complete its less compelling speed upgrade to a maximum 100Mbps by the end of 2019 — three years from now.

We will continue to notify regulators about Charter’s performance to compel action and raise public awareness of any gaps between Charter’s glowing promises of better things to come in their letters and TV spots and what actually happens on the ground. It is not a good start for “Spectrum” with consumers, just days after customers received a welcome letter in the mail signed by Charter CEO Tom Rutledge. Less than two weeks later, some customers already feel like they’ve been lied to.

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John Lodge
John Lodge
7 years ago

Wow, is this any surprise. The only thing that is going to be “GLOWING” (from Charters Glowing Promises) is going to be all of Charters “New” and current customers new bills. Large increases are coming, after all Charter has to pay for all the Billions of debt they just took on.

Why do we Residents and the government that represents us (or Should) keep getting taken by these lying corporate entities that only have contempt for us.

Ty
Ty
7 years ago

If Charter doesn’t give my area the Maxx upgrade I will switch to WOW! in a heartbeat! WOW! has had a 300mbps down 20mbps up speed tier here since September and At&t is bringing Gigapower to my area so Charter’s minor 100mbps speed upgrade will just get them killed!

Ty
Ty
7 years ago

My main concern with switching to WOW! is the possibility of them being aquired and imposing data caps!

Steve P
Steve P
7 years ago

Heck, I would do the same if I had an options at all.

Len G
Len G
7 years ago

Why even wait for these guys. Utilitize, and leave them out of it altogether.

John
John
7 years ago

Oddly they have put things on hold but are still market maxx online with higher speeds for locations that
have recieved letters and modems and zip codes… 100 200 300 .. zip code one town over in a different division, marketing the older speeds, Seems wrong to still market the higher Maxx speeds, if they are not available until 2039(obviously a placeholder date).

Fascinating.

Donald Trump
Donald Trump
7 years ago

“now confirmed as genuine by Time Warner,”

Time Warner and Time Warner Cable are entirely separate companies

Donald Trump
Donald Trump
7 years ago

Then why refer to them as “Time Warner Cable” in the same sentence? See the WSJ article “Sir…Sir! You Need to Call the ‘Other’ Time Warner” if you think you’re sure people won’t be confused.

Juliane
Juliane
7 years ago

Time to find a new provider. I was promised 2 years ago to get maxx within 3 month. 2 years later still no maxx but yet we have to pay the same price customers pay who do have it.

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