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Suddenlink customers around the country are finding accessing the internet has suddenly gotten more expensive. For many service areas, the cable operator raised its rates in December for television and broadband service, with some of the biggest hikes coming from sneaky surcharges.
In many states, the most popular basic bundle already costs $90 a month. The biggest increases have come from “surcharges” which are never a part of Suddenlink’s advertised promotions, surprising many customers on their first bill.
In Arizona, the Broadcast TV surcharge has gone up another $1.61 a month, making customers pay $8.39 a month for a handful of local channels. A separate sports programming surcharge of $5.15 also applies. Suddenlink is also part of the club of cable operators charging customers $10 a month to rent a cable modem. For good measure, the cable operator also wants another dollar a month for its DVR and $3.50 more for broadband. Assorted other fees and surcharges tack on another $4.50 a month.
Suddenlink has already notified some regulators more price hikes are coming in the next several months.
But a Suddenlink spokesperson said there is more good news than bad.
“We provide Suddenlink customers with superior products and services at a great value, continually introducing faster internet speeds and with plans to roll out an enhanced video experience in the coming months,” Janet Meahan, spokeswoman for Suddenlink, told the Daily Miner in Kingman, Ariz. “Our pricing remains extremely competitive in the face of rapidly rising programming costs.”
Mehan also told the newspaper that Suddenlink introduced 1 gigabit internet service in Kingman in October, and provided “complimentary” speed upgrades for residential customers at no extra charge.
“They also had their artificial internet rate hike when they implemented data ‘allowances’ (caps),” retorted Ryan, a Suddenlink customer. “Their upgrades are anything but complimentary.”
Readers report they’ve had success calling Suddenlink and threatening to cancel service over the rate increases. Some report they’ve successfully negotiated their rates down to a level just a dollar or two higher than what they paid two years ago. Customers can also buy their way out of Suddenlink’s data caps by upgrading their service.
New subscribers and existing customers who elect to get an upgrade will automatically be enrolled in an unlimited plan at no extra charge the first year, pay an added $5 a month after 12 months, and an added $10 a month after 24 months. Customers currently subscribing to Suddenlink’s fastest local services may choose to retain their existing usage-based plans or upgrade to an unlimited plan.
Predicted cost for cable next year by November: $74.50 ( for the basic package, and when ever your beginning trial period ends with in the year of signing up with them. The price will never go down, always going to up the price, and they are going to say the automatically upgraded your bandwidth to compensate charging you more, don’t need a increase on my bandwidth, just need to be charged less….. Here is my cable internet bill the past couple of years by yearly price hike: Current Amount Due: $68.50; Date Due: Nov 16, 2017 $6.00 increase Current Amount… Read more »
I have had a similar experience with Suddenlink in Bryan, Texas. I have been a customer since they bought out our local cable company, Cox, 10-12 years ago. I used to have cable and internet. But over the years, I noticed the monthly billing creep as you describe. My full cable/internet would creep up from around $125/mo to close to $200/mo. I would call to inquire why this was happening and receive line about providing me with free subscriptions to movie channels and when I didn’t cancel, they began charging. They apologized and removed the unauthorized subscriptions. My bill would… Read more »
Suddenlink did a sneaky price increase on my Internet service during the holidays from $57 to $63. I believe it does this because fewer people pay attention to their bills during the holiday season and are more likely to become unknowingly past due, especially if an auto payment arrangement is set up for a fixed monthly rate from a bank account. This happened to me, and Suddenlink had the gall to add in a $2 late fee. Sure, it’s not much, but it’s the principle. I offered to pay the past due amount, but when I called in to complain,… Read more »