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Charter Communications has ended more than a decade-long relationship between Earthlink and Time Warner Cable by quietly pulling the plug on Earthlink’s cable broadband service.
As far back as November, Spectrum customer service agents have begun turning down customer requests to enroll in the alternative broadband service distributed by Spectrum/Time Warner Cable’s network and charged to monthly cable bills. With the exception of e-mail service, Earthlink over Time Warner Cable (and later Spectrum) was indistinguishable from cable company internet service and traveled over the same network. But customers used to enjoy significant savings by bouncing between new customer promotions from Earthlink and the cable company. Charter officials first closed that loophole by forbidding Earthlink from extending promotional pricing to existing Spectrum or Time Warner Cable broadband customers. Charter has since stopped enrolling new customers altogether.
Existing Earthlink customers can keep their service until further notice. Most are enrolled in 15-20 Mbps slower speed tiers originally identical to those offered by Time Warner Cable, but pay less than Spectrum’s standard $65 standalone broadband pricing.
“Spectrum now has absolutely no reasonable competition in the N.Y. Capitol District,” complains Stop the Cap! reader Jan Pedersen, who reported Spectrum told him Earthlink was no longer an option.
Earthlink does still resell AT&T DSL service in AT&T landline markets.
It is not just NY.. Here in PA, when spectrum took over, the eliminated all plans under $65.. The only good point is, the local ISP is starting to install fiber, and hopefully they get it installed faster, so I can get on it.. They have faster speeds, then spectrum’s fastest.. But, lower then their cheapest.. It is win win for the customers.. Only problem is, it is a waiting game until they get it installed in my area.. Besides that, there is no other competition for them here.. It has been like that since they took over..
“was indistinguishable from cable company internet service”
Actually this is not true. Earthlink internet never had the speed boost feature and I believe ipv6 is also not available.
Speedboost was discontinued in 2013. As far as I can tell, there was no support for ipv6 on Earthlink but it didn’t matter to the vast majority of customers and TWC’s own journey with ipv6 was never entirely reliable anyway, as I can attest.
That means the Earthlink email will cut SOON and we will be converting to “Spectrum” prices. Oh no! Oh well Earthlink severed us well. I have been a Time Warner Customer through Earthlink since 2005 and I have been paying $41.95. So that means I have to kiss the $41.95 good bye and hello JACKED UP HIGH PRICES. Called Spectrum and ask in regarding the cut off date and they said they do not know and that when it is time we will get physical mail regarding about this. The rep I talk too Mitchell states when it is converted… Read more »
$69.95?? Here it is $64.99.. But, that is plus fees.. Wifi fee, cable modem lease fee, etc.. I have my own, so I do not have to pay for them.. But, if you do not have at least a docsis 3 cable modem, expect your current modem to not be compatible if you own..
Either way, I think that over $50 is way too much, for the lowest that you can buy..
Hi Kaniki, Yup that is what the rep said when I called Spectrum. I live in NYC. There is No Tax with Internet. Well I have my own modem which is 6141 so that is Docsis 3. Yes I agree over $50.00 is too much. The download speed starts at 200MBPS and upload is 10MBPS. If you have 400MBPS upload is 25MBPS add $25.00 and Gigabit Internet upload is 35MBPS that is $104.00 a month RIDICULOUS!! So Basically I will pay difference of $28.00 from $41.95 to $69.95. Too me it is like a “upgrade fee”. Now I have 605… Read more »
Same here.. There is no tax here, in PA, either.., But where I am at, it goes from 60mb to 100mb.. Before spectrum took over, they actually had 3 plans under the $65 plan.. The lowest was $15, but that was for only 2 or 3 Mb down.. If you only want it to check email, or buy something off of online, you really do not need a 60Mb connection.. That is way overkill for that.. As for the prices you said.. If they try that here, they will be out of service in no time.. There is a local… Read more »
HI kaniki,
Yes that is true. What company is that they offer $60 for $150 up and down? There is no contract right? Maybe I can inquire them to “expand” to NYC so we can have a price competition with Spectrum so people do not have to pay a higher price. I can’t have $15 because I am not a senior. You are lucky to pay $15.00 a month. Those days are gone now.
I can not get the $15 plan either.. My point with that was, they talk big to make themselves look good, but put soo many restrictions on it that almost no one qualifies.. Like, how many people do you know that make less then $700 a month at any age.. Basically, only people that never worked, or, those that work less then 20 hours a week, and at minimum wage, and are now retired (as you have to be on SS). That company is a local company called velocity.. https://www.vnetfiber.com/ If you have it installed, when they install the area,… Read more »
Hi kaniki,
Thank you so much for your reply. I will look into it. I will call them and make a suggestion to expand to the NYC area.
You can try, but as they are a local company, and taking into consideration that they are new to fiber service, and that they have not even been in the fiber market long enough to get much of the local area done in it.. I do not see it happening.. Them going to NYC that is..
Hi kaniki,
OK I see. Well it never hurts to try. OK thank again.
I am not sure if the CSRs at Spectrum really know what is happening with grandfathered Earthlink customers. I suspect you will be able to keep your Earthlink plan indefinitely (until you cancel it). When they are ready to drive you off, you’ll get big rate increases on it until you abandon it yourself. I agree the biggest problem with Spectrum plans is the buy-in price is now much higher for internet service, even though you are getting faster speeds. Sometimes affordability matters more.
Hi Phillip, FIRST I would to say THANK YOU for creating this website. I appreciate your website. I always go to this website and read it. Very informative information and very helpful. I will not cancel Earthlink. I mean I don’t know how much you pay for the Internet but anyone wants to pay LESS not more. I will except to be booted out of Earthlink this year. Also Earthlink as of Aug 20, 2017 they don’t even sell Cable services anymore so I think that was a “hint” that Earthlink will be no more and also Wind stream acquired… Read more »
My cousin is grandfathered in with Earthlink via TWC/Spectrum at around $41 a month for I believe 20Mbps. It is the best possible deal for him because he doesn’t need 100Mbps service and isn’t happy about paying $65 a month for internet access. If they do cancel it, you have a few options: 1) If you are in New York, you can still subscriber to EVERYDAY LOW PRICE INTERNET for $14.99 a month (it is around 3Mbps). It has NO prequalifications — anyone can buy it. We negotiated with the Public Service Commission to make this a deal condition for… Read more »
Hi Philip,
Thank you for the information.
But the problem is, as you said, “if” you live in NY.. Spectrum is in many states, and anywhere that they did not go to this agreement, they can not get the ELP plans.. At least, I know you can not in PA..
But even if they do not cancel the plans.. That does not mean that they will not do something to change the price, so that it is not worth keeping.. Look at the ELP plans that TWC had.. They kept it at $15 for 2 or 3 meg down.. But then spectrum took over.. Prices went up by 33% to $20, with, as far as I am aware, NO increase in speeds.. Just price increases.. So who is to say that they will not do the same to those plans..
Hi kaniki,
I agree with you. Nothing good can come out of mergers. It’s only good for CEO’s and stock people.
I agree.. Especially when you take into consideration that the CEO of the company is soo greedy, that he is the highest paid CEO in either, the USA, or North America.. can not remember with one.. But, that in itself should show how greedy the CEO and company are, and how little they care about their customers..
Yup
That price hike for ELP does not apply to New York residents. The price is frozen in our state for several years. Your state government in Pennsylvania rubber stamped the merger deal with no conditions, which means you got screwed. Remember this at the next election and insist on candidates that will appoint real regulators to your state telecom regulatory body. We tried as best as we could to fight the merger. Only one state – New York, put any conditions on it to protect consumers. Even California sold us out, because the governor put his telecom industry cronies on… Read more »
You got it lucky then.. I prefer the higher speeds, then 3Mb that is.. But, i am fine with 20 or 30 Mb down.. But, if it came down to $65 for 60Mb, or $15 for 3.. I would go with the 3 because I do not use any where near the 60Mb connection. I would guess that I probably average about 7Mb down, that I actually use, on the high side, most of the time. I think it is a scam that they force you to take WAY more then what you need, or even want, and WAY more… Read more »
Hi Kaniki, You got that right. All they want is too advertise the speed and GET YOUR MONEY. Too bad we can choose the speeds anymore meanwhile you are just surfing the net and checking email or perhaps watching 1 or 2 clips of youtube and you don’t need 200MB download. I mean faster speed is good but now you don’t have a choice to choose the speed. In Canada there are a lot of cable provider and you choose the speed. If you convert Canada internet prices it is MUCH Lower then USA. Hmmm I am thinking of moving… Read more »
If I remember right, I read an article a while back that talked about how prices for high speed in the USA are MUCH higher then most of the 1st world countries.. So it does not surprise me.. What I am dreading is, I have been seeing a lot of adds online from Spectrum, that have been advertising that they are going up to 100mb down as the lowest.. I am thinking.. yup, lets about double the speeds for the lowest, when 98% of the population does not even use the 60Mb that you have now.. Then, I can see… Read more »
Hi Kaniki,
Yes that so true.
Hi Kaniki You are correct our prices are higher and they are for one simple reason. Lack of competition and lack of enforcement of monopoly rules by the government. It will not come as a surprise that modern internet has been a windfall for corporations. As they consolidated power early in the game they created deals with each other that they would stay out of each others way. Couple that with a corporate friendly FCC and now a corporate government in general they feel very embolden to raise prices to all new levels with speed only improvements. In fact they… Read more »
I agree.. But, I do not think is it “now a corporate friendly government”, but more, has been.. Think about it.. Who bailed out the banks, and the auto industry, and…. That was way before “now”.. It has been going on for years.. Look at the “net neutrality” thing.. They could very well have put things in it that said that anyone offering internet has to offer affordable plans to the low income.. TWC did it on their own.. They offered 3Mb down for $15.. The problem is, they were one of the few.. In fact, after Spectrum took over,… Read more »
Hi again Khanki You are partially right in that they can raise the speed and you probably won’t use anymore. The issue is a couple of things. One if your particular service is incapable SNR and/or line attenuation wise you will experience more frequent drops as the system attempts to give you the highest speed possible. This can be mediated by giving you settings that will adjust you to a target SNR, but if the company is bragging about increased speeds they will more then likely set your target SNR to low so the illusion you are capable of that… Read more »
That is pretty much why, they increase channels, and, remove outdated technology.. For example, no one uses Docsis 1 any more because of it.. In fact, good luck at even trying to get anyone to hook up a Docsis 2 modem either.. They want all docsis 3 and better these days.. Partly because, docsis 2 only has a couple of channels, where docsis 3 can hold 8 or more.. As for use.. There are people out there, that do not even have the capability to use the full 100 Mb connection too, so that pretty much guarantees that it will… Read more »
Has there been any updates regarding the status of Earthlink customers. I cant seem to get any information anywhere else.
Charter Communications has terminated its agreement with Earthlink, which means new customers can no longer enroll. If you have an existing account with Earthlink provisioned by Charter/Spectrum, you can keep it until you cancel. Promotional pricing should have ended by now for all Earthlink customers which means existing customers are probably paying $41 a month for up to 20 Mbps service. Your only alternative with Spectrum is to sign up with a Spectrum plan. You will not be seen as a new customer unless you have been without Earthlink or Spectrum internet service for at least a month. You can… Read more »
I have Earthlink Extreme (50/5) within the Charlotte NC TWC/Spectrum market. As of my Jan 2018 bill it has gone from $41.95 to $46.95 ($5 increase) and is still listed on my bill as ‘Earthlink Extreme’. My guess is it will go up again another $5 next year. That was the old way TWC in this market transitioned from ‘introductory price’ to ‘regular price’… $5 per year. And the local offer here for internet only is $44.99 for one year/ $64.99 reg price but when I try to click on ‘upgrade services’ to see if I’m eligible for it, I… Read more »
Hi Kevin,
On my Jan 2018 it is still $41.95 and it never increased $5 ever. I guess it depends on what state you are in. Any increase is BAD but it is better then paying $65 a month. Well let’s try to hold on the current prices that we have before it get nixed and it goes to Spectrum pricing.
I would love those prices.. Here, they only offer the $65 for customers, unless you are a new customer.. I tried seeing if I was eligible for any promotions, and they say yes, I am.. I can get internet and cable for “only” $40 each.. when bundled of course.. I tried to get on a lower plan before they changed over, and was told to wait because they were going to have “better” deals and pricing.. Yea, we all can see how that turned out.. I am not sure if they just flat out lied to me, or if the… Read more »