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Charter Spectrum Hurrying Out 100 Mbps Speed Upgrades Before Year’s End

Updated 12/15: The speed upgrades for several regions including upstate New York have now launched. You may need to reset your modem to get the new speeds. You should see at least 100/10 Mbps. If that does not work, call or chat with Spectrum and have them reauthorize your modem. If you are on a legacy Bright House or Time Warner Cable plan, you will not get these upgrades until you change to a Spectrum plan. We will have a report up on the home page shortly about additional gigabit speed upgrades likely to launch next week later tonight. — PMD

“By the end of the year, Charter’s flagship speed will be an industry leading 100 megabits per second (Mbps) in virtually every market we serve. In the last year, we increased that speed 66% – from 60 Mbps to an even faster 100 Mbps – at no extra cost to our customers. Additionally, in a growing number of markets, we have begun upgrading that flagship speed to 200 Mbps.” — Charter Communications blog post for Nov. 30, 2017

Charter Communications is hurrying out 100 Mbps speed upgrades to “virtually all” its markets, whether customers were originally serviced by Charter or were acquired from Bright House Networks or Time Warner Cable.

The company has been on a publicity drive to suggest its merger/buyout of BH and TWC was consumer-friendly. Charter also wants to reassure shareholders concerned about the ongoing trend of cord-cutting and customer backlash over rising internet prices that the value of Spectrum’s faster internet service has improved.

Unfortunately, its publicity campaign also flies in the face of an industry push to convince Americans the Obama Administration’s Net Neutrality policies have neutered investments in broadband upgrades, which is exactly what did not happen with the second largest cable company in the country.

“Since 2014, Charter has invested more than $21 billion in [upgrades] including video delivery, more efficient bandwidth management and advanced compression technologies,” Charter wrote. “This investment has enabled us to improve the quality of our video while reducing the bandwidth needed for its delivery. The bandwidth that is made available can then be dedicated to significantly increasing our broadband speeds.”

Several legacy Time Warner Cable markets, particularly in upstate New York, New England, and some markets in the deep south and Rockies are still waiting for the digital television conversion that will free up bandwidth for internet speed upgrades. Albany, N.Y. is nearly complete and Rochester, N.Y. is next on the list.

Sources suggest Charter may find a way to boost speeds in almost all of its markets, regardless of whether digital TV conversions are complete. That would mean communities in these areas would see standard internet speeds rise from 60 Mbps to 100 Mbps at no extra charge. Those who agreed to pay Charter’s $199 upgrade fee for “Ultra” 100 Mbps service would see their speeds rise to as high as 300 Mbps.

A quick check showed no speed changes in the Rochester market as of this afternoon, but that could change before Christmas. Customers can check if they received an upgrade by briefly unplugging their cable modem and resetting it. A speed test will verify whether your areas has received an upgrade. Customers still holding onto a legacy Bright House or Time Warner Cable plan will see no speed changes. This is part of Charter’s effort to convince customers to abandon older plans and switch to Spectrum plans and pricing.

If speed upgrades are not in place by the end of 2017, they will be coming for the remaining Time Warner Cable markets in early 2018.

Meanwhile on Oahu, in Hawaii, Spectrum internet customers are welcoming gigabit internet (introductory price $104.99/mo). Those who don’t want to pay that much also received a free speed upgrade. What was 60 Mbps in the summer increased to 100 Mbps in the fall and as of Dec. 1 is now 200 Mbps. Similar speed increases will be coming to the cities that get gigabit upgrades from Charter. We anticipate all of those cities designated for gigabit service from Spectrum already have substantial competition from gigabit speed fiber to the home service from AT&T or Verizon.

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Reuben Mahar
Reuben Mahar
6 years ago

New Speeds are online in Waldoboro Maine. 04572. Testing at 112 x 11. I wonder if this has anything to do with LCI offering fiber in my area,,,,, lcifiber.net

Don
Don
6 years ago

I’m in Gates, New York and I’m on the ultra plan and my speeds were around 117/11.5 but now are showing around 141/11.5 but not sure why. The speed really only went up by about 24 higher speed down so if defaults speeds were updated then I would think it would have gone up more than that. Very odd.

Racerbob
Racerbob
6 years ago

A friend here in Webster started seeing 150 Mbps download speed yesterday. A chat with Spectrum today told him that more speed would be seen next week, but not the full 300 just yet.

Don
Don
6 years ago

I just got off the phone with Spectrum and I asked about the small speed increase. He said that I am part of the new lift area. He said that in my area customers on the ultra 100 plan are receiving the new lift speeds as there new default and that default was now 140 not the 117 speed for ultra. I asked if this was just a stepping stone to 300 speed for my area and was told no.

Racerbob
Racerbob
6 years ago

Confirmed upgrade here in West Webster. 60/5 is now 100/10 for me.

http://beta.speedtest.net/result/6880083440.png

bc
bc
6 years ago

woke up to 130/15 speeds this morning
batavia ny 14020

DCUNY
DCUNY
6 years ago

113/12 now in area of Hilton, NY. Was 70/6 last year or so.

James Kaufman
James Kaufman
6 years ago

Tried contacting Charter Spectrum for my area today (Eau Claire, Wisconsin). Was told that yes, the speed increase is available in my area, but that it would involve switching to a different package, with an increase in the cost of our Internet service. (We currently have the 60Mbps service. The switch from 30Mbps to 60Mbps did NOT involve a price increase, all we had to do was reset our modem.)

Rob
Rob
6 years ago

Called in from just outside of Buffalo to inquire on this change from 60 to 100 Mbps. Was informed that I was already switched over and that other items on my network may be causing me to see low readings from Speedtest. With my wireless router disconnected I was only getting 70.86 down and 5.93 up.

Don
Don
6 years ago
Reply to  Rob

I would as the article above says try rebooting your modem by unplugging the power cord and plugging it back in on the modem. Do another speed test and see if you are getting it then. If not you need to call Spectrum back and explain what troubleshooting you have done and see if you need them to send you out a different modem that is capable of getting the full speed. Good luck.

Rob
Rob
6 years ago
Reply to  Don

That I did Don, Tier 1 Support tried to tell me that I might have too much going on my network (Streaming TV, Phones/Tablets connected to the network, etc.) to which I explained multiple times saying my wireless router is shut off and I’m still showing 70.80 up and 5.93 down. Figured I’d give it a day and reach out to a different tech that might be a little more understanding.

nanaki
nanaki
6 years ago
Reply to  Rob

If your on a 100mbit card you will not see a full 100 mbit but do to over head will see between 70 and 85 90 if your computer and network are brand new and working perfectly. There is always between a 10 and 20 or 25% over head on a network that is just simple fact nothing any one can do about it. That overhead comes from things like packet headers etc. If your card is in 100/10 (half duplex 7x.xxto 85/90 /5 to 8Mb are more or less on target. Make sure your network card is set to… Read more »

Paul
Paul
6 years ago

I called about the free upgrade from 60 to 100 BMps, but it turns out not so free. They need to upgrade the code on my modem (free), but also say they have to upgrade the cable TV box codes(not free) and would charge more for cable TV.

DCUNY
DCUNY
6 years ago

I now have the new 100Mbps service. I currently have an Arris SB6141 customer owned modem. Does anyone know if upgrading to the Arris SB6183 would provide any additional benefits? Thanks in advance.

Jose
Jose
6 years ago
Reply to  DCUNY

For 100Mbps service, your current modem is perfectly fine for your plan. The Arris SB6183 has double the download channels than your current modem. For Spectrum, I would not upgrade your modem at least until the DOCSIS 3.1 Modems are released and the standard matures. If you have Comcast, which can take advantage of the 8 additional download channels, I would say go for it as long as you get the SB 6183 for the best price.

David Harris
David Harris
6 years ago

Reporting 115.51 Mbps download and 11.49 Mbps in the Bakersville, NC area

Richard
Richard
6 years ago

Madison WI. Just got off chat with Spectrum to get our service upgraded. Took half an hour to find out:
1. They can’t automatically upgrade us from 60 to 100 Mbps because it will cause changes to our channel lineup and pricing.
2. Except that our actual channel lineup will not change at all.
3. And the $2 price increase the agent mentioned goes into effect next month whether our internet is upgraded or not.
So it should have been automatic and this was just a time waster. Anyway, getting 115 / 5 now.

Rob
Rob
6 years ago

Reset modem for 15mins while performing Windows Updates after seeing local advertisement for 100 Mbps. Latest Speedtest, 59.06 down, 5.01 Up. Much less than my 12/29 update.

Chris
Chris
6 years ago

Im in Tri-Cities, WA and just caught wind of the upgrade. Charter said they’d be doing this at some point over the last year and it finally happened for us in WA state. I believe they were working south to north for upgrades in the USA, so markets in So Cal or Florida would have been first in line to get the network upgrades. What I did not know is that a modem reset was required to trigger the faster speeds. Charter wasn’t good about letting us know about it in my area. Using speedtest.net and using the best local… Read more »

DCUNY
DCUNY
6 years ago

Does anyone here know how many download channels Spectrum uses in the Rochester, NY market? It is a former time warner area. I may need a new modem soon and am considering the Arris SB6183 per a previous comment on the board here.
Thank you.

J Hall
J Hall
6 years ago

Just spoke with a Charter rep in Montana. I have only Internet with no voice or video, and I have to pay for the faster speeds. There is no fee for getting my account changed – hence the “free” upgrade. But I’d be going from $58/month to $65/month.
Good price for almost doubling my speed, but all the advertising & reporting I’ve seen on this said it was a free upgrade, and it’s really not. Their just not charging me a fee for a tech to log into my account & change the speed I’m eligible to receive.

Susan Jacobsen
Susan Jacobsen
6 years ago

Love how the quote from the Charter rep says that the 100 Mbps will be at no additional cost to their customers, but when I contact an Account Rep to see when this speed will be on my account, I’m told that I have to upgrade service to get it. I’m already paying $54.99/month when they advertise $29.99/month for new customers. My Account Rep told me that I would have to pay $89.99/month to get 100 Mbps.

joe
joe
6 years ago

Here in West Michigan I had to call Spectrum (Charter) to get my download speed raised … my latest test using an Ethernet cable directly to the modem was 93 mps download, but still a very pokey 5.5mps upload. I was told it would take to the end of the year to get up to the 10 mps. Very sad news, because my video security system can’t stream properly at that slow of an upload speed.

RochMN
RochMN
6 years ago

Tried calling Charter Business to update the service from 60 Mbps. Was told it will be $99.99 for upgrade and then $199.99 per month after! I cannot believe what I heard. Wish Charter dies and there will be a serious competitor in Rochester, MN.

Homeslice
Homeslice
6 years ago
Reply to  RochMN

Myself and many of you on here have been waiting for Charter to upgrade the speed as they had stated a while ago. I ended up finding this site that basically said you had to contact Charter in order to authorize them to upgrade your speed. I contacted Charter by chat and asked if there was a speed upgrade available for me and the nice customer service lady came back and said there was indeed a speed upgrade available for me to 100/10 for same price as I’m currently paying. She stated that it could take up to 24 hours… Read more »

Bobby
Bobby
6 years ago

This is false advertisement!! Current customers in a promotional package are being refused the upgrade with breaking the promotional package they are in and in turn raising the cable bill. I was told there was no legal documentation stating how the migration process works. Pitiful customer service. Please if attorneys read this I have the name and location of all management stating they can do nothing to help other than cost me more money. They are not honoring their advertisement not existing promotional packages

Johnny
Johnny
5 years ago

Charter Houston you have to call them to get the upgrade.
They will NOT Automatically do it. You must call them.
I called and within 12 hours i was getting 105 down and 9.6 up.

Johnny
Johnny
5 years ago

Update Only getting 5.8 up now and its steady.
More up is was i wanted and did NOT get it. More down speed is not needed.
Charter remains behind everyone else when it comes to up speed on broadband.

John
5 years ago

Thats great tool to check speed test, thank you.

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