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Time Warner Cable customers irritated by the cable operator’s new $3.95 monthly modem rental fee who do not want to pay premium prices for a purchased modem can enjoy the benefits of a loophole by ordering broadband service from Earthlink, which offers nearly identical performance over Time Warner’s cable broadband network and currently charges no modem rental fees.
Earthlink has maintained a third party agreement to provide its service over Time Warner Cable for more than a decade, and the company’s service operates transparently over your existing Time Warner Cable connection and equipment. In our own tests, we found Earthlink’s service identical to Time Warner Cable with two exceptions:
- Earthlink does not provide Time Warner’s “Speedboost” technology which delivers slightly faster service for the first few seconds of a large file transfer;
- You will receive an Earthlink e-mail address and forfeit your existing Time Warner Cable e-mail account.
The current promotional offers:
- Up to 768 Kbps service: $29.95/month
- Up to 6.0-10.0 Mbps service: $29.95/month for first 6 months; $41.95/month thereafter
- Up to 10.0-15.0 Mbps service: $39.90/month for first 6 months; $51.90/month thereafter
- Standard installation fee varies by region.
- Term Commitment (contract): None (no contract required)
Despite information on Earthlink’s website, the upload/download speeds on offer are identical to what Time Warner Cable or Bright House sells for their Standard or Turbo services in your area. After six months, you can purchase your own modem and return to Bright House or Time Warner Cable on a New Customer promotion and further extend your savings.
We found Earthlink’s online service qualifier not always accurate. For example, we found service at Stop the Cap! HQ “unavailable,” even though an address a few doors down qualified for service. We also discovered Earthlink heavily promotes its more expensive 15Mbps option, ignoring the less expensive 10Mbps service, even though both are available.
No matter. You can skip the hassle and just call your local Time Warner Cable office, which will process your order for Earthlink instantly over the phone. You do not need a new modem — a simple billing change on Time Warner Cable’s computer system is all that is required to switch providers. Earthlink will be billed on your Time Warner Cable bill.
Be aware that switching to Earthlink could effect any double-play or triple-play packages you signed up for earlier. Ask your TWC representative if there are any unintended pricing consequences for changing Internet providers. If there are, let them know you are switching to save money and ask if TWC can offer any competing retention offers to match the price. You may find Time Warner amenable to keeping your business and lowering your price.
There is no long term guarantee Time Warner won’t force Earthlink to charge an identical modem rental fee in the near future, but at least you can avoid paying it now until the authorized modems on Time Warner’s list come down in price.
I used Earthlink cable modem over Time Warner in Austin TX for years, and I was very happy with it. I picked them for their *slightly* cheaper rates ($29.95 1st 6 mo./$41.95 before tax). However, Earthlink offers significantly lower speed options (6-7 Mbit) for that tiny discount. Nearby neighbors who had Road Runner truly did have faster speeds (10 Mbit) than me for $29.99 1st 12 mo./$44.99 before tax. If your RR service consistently fails to provide more than 7 Mbit on the 10 Mbit plan, then perhaps it’s worth switching just to send them a message. Earthlink’s customer service… Read more »
Also that modem rental fee is highly dependent on region for TW. TW ‘raised’ my bill and ‘lowered’ (I know shock) at the same time. So it came out about the same. It seems some regions its just a bump up in price and others like mine it is an up/down. My bill went up 27 cents this month. Because the modem fee is taxed by my city (so look out for that too). Instead of bundled up in the base price. I too have been considering earthlink for awhile. As it is 6 dollars cheaper for essentially the same… Read more »
I’ve had earthlink since the mid 90s – first as dialup and now as cable through TW. My question is a bit different. I do not have a bundled service with TW, just cable (and earthlink). I really don’t watch the cable and was thinking of getting rid of TW. But does that mean I lose my access to earthlink (and the rest of the web) too?
No, you can stay a broadband only customer at Earthlink for around $41.95 a month. Time Warner will keep billing you for Internet only access and nothing else changes. If your rates are the primary issue, please go and see our piece on how to negotiate a better deal with TWC. You may find a much lower price for a combo cable-TV/TWC broadband double play package than what you pay right now, but remember TWC has that stupid $3.95 modem rental fee you are now avoiding, so consider that as part of any retention deal they offer. http://stopthecap.com/2012/03/01/getting-a-better-deal-from-time-warner-cable-five-minutes-to-save-almost-700-in-2012/ If you… Read more »
I had Time Warner and recently switched to Earthlink. I ONLY had cable modem Internet, no TV or anything else from TW. Time Warner kept adding charges onto my Internet bill until it would get up to about $65 per month (64 and change). That’s $65 for Internet ONLY. One charge is that they kept adding to my bill was “Turbo” for $9.99. I did a speed test with Turbo before calling them and cancelling it, and again after I cancelled it. It was exactly the same speed. “Turbo” is nothing but BS as there was no difference in speed… Read more »
I had Time Warner and recently switched to Earthlink. I ONLY had cable modem Internet, no TV or anything else from TW. Time Warner kept adding charges onto my Internet bill until it would get up to about $65 per month ($64 and change). That’s $65 for Internet ONLY. One charge that they kept adding to my bill was “Turbo” for $9.99. I did a speed test with Turbo before calling them and cancelling it, and again after I cancelled it. I did several tests before and after over a period of weeks. It was exactly the same speed. “Turbo”… Read more »