Subscribe
Charter Communications, which does business as Spectrum, has raised the price of its legacy “Everyday Low Priced Internet (ELP),” a 2/1 Mbps service that Time Warner Cable introduced in 2013 for $14.99 a month. Our reader Todd writes the service is going up another $5 a month (after an earlier $5 rate increase) effective in November 2018, as his latest bill shows:
At Spectrum, we continue to enhance our services, offer more of the best entertainment choices and deliver the best value. We are committed to offering you products and services we are sure you will enjoy. Important Billing Update: Effective with your next billing statement, pricing will be adjusted for:
• Internet Services from $19.99 to $24.99.
New York residents were allowed to keep ELP at the price of $14.99 a month for several years after Charter’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable. But that deal requirement has since expired.
Spectrum continues to offer its income-qualified Spectrum Internet Assist ($14.99) for those receiving:
- The National School Lunch Program (NSLP); free or reduced cost lunch
- The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) of the NSLP
- Supplemental Security Income ( ≥ age 65 only)
That service is also promoted in mailers in low-income neighborhoods without an income or benefit pre-qualification requirement, so anyone in those neighborhoods can sign up.
Spectrum Internet Assist offers:
- High-speed 30/4 Mbps Internet with no data caps
- Internet modem included
- No contracts required
- Add in-home WiFi for $5 more per month
Offer not valid for current Spectrum Internet subscribers.
At a new price of $24.99, Spectrum is clearly trying to convince customers still hanging on to the very low-speed internet product Time Warner Cable originally introduced five years ago to move on. Time Warner marketed ELP to budget conscious DSL customers willing to accept lower speed for a lower bill.
Spectrum’s latest promotions for 100-200 Mbps Standard internet start at $29.99 a month for up to two years, depending on your service area and local competition.
Updated 11/6 4:56pm ET: Thanks to our readers for some clarifications:
- New York customers may not be subject to the rate increase. Existing ELP customers in N.Y. can keep ELP until at least May 17, 2019, as long as they do not make changes to their account that would result in their enrollment being canceled.
- In former Maxx areas and under some other circumstances, ELP is 3/1 Mbps.
“That [Internet Assist] service is also promoted in mailers in low-income neighborhoods without an income or benefit pre-qualification requirement, so anyone in those neighborhoods can sign up.” Really? Is that happening in specific cities, or in New York as a whole?
I just order the $19.99 wifi spectrum internet In Sheridan Wyoming Oct.13th 2019. Hopefully its OK.
i been using it for a year and its been great.
The legacy ELP plan is far from fast, but it was one of the few things TWC did right: offering an actual low-cost plan that honestly advertised the actual price(no silly 1 year promo price then a major rate hike.) While I wouldn’t mind 100/200Mbps service, I simply don’t want to go back to almost having to scream at customer retention annually to get a better rate. With this rate hike I’ve decided to cancel my home phone plan with them and simply use an OBi200 and Google Voice. I would love to ditch them as an ISP but due… Read more »
I thought that it was 3/1 speed and not 2/1.
Just checked the rate card. It is 3/1. Either way they clearly want people off of it.
any screenshots of the $29.99 promo for spectrum internet?
The $29.99 price is a very targeted promo in some competitive areas offered on a promo door hanger or other brochure for multi-dwelling units and requires bundling at least one other service to qualify. I don’t have a screen shot. More common are the promos in competitive areas outlined here: https://stopthecap.com/2018/09/12/investigation-spectrums-best-discounts-go-only-to-areas-with-robust-competition/
I could be wrong, but I think it’s only $29.99 for EACH service if you get them all together. So $99/mo for Internet, home phone, and Cable TV, plus taxes and fees. I don’t think you can get just Internet only by itself for a year for $29.99.
About a year or so ago, Charter/Spectrum increased the 2/1 speed to 3/1.
As far as I know, this wasn’t really done for purely charity reasons. I think in reality in some ELP locations under Time Warner Cable, some areas were already at 3/1, so the move by Charter/Spectrum to increase 2/1 to 3/1, was more to consolidate speed tiers, than it was to really offer people a speed increase.
I am seriously considering going back to DSL. I found DSL Extreme may be an option that offers 1Mbps for $15/mo, plus another $3 in taxes and fees. I know DSL Extreme may have their issues, according to some reports I’ve read regarding customer service. They just lease the lines from Verizon, or whatever other DSL carrier is in the area. The reason why I left Verizon 6-7 years ago, is that the 3Mbps I was getting from them years ago, they sent down a side street, never to be had again, and would only ever connect at 1Mbps. I… Read more »
Ive been learning wifi and 5g especially is dangerous to health.
Yes, everything is always danger for health when they advertising preachers got some ads they want you to see with their click-bait fake articles.
So 5G isn’t bad for your health? Where can I find that it’s at least harmless?
I do believe some there is some confusion in the comments. Dampier should of specified (that’s fine) that ELP for legacy customers will get a rate increase to $25. No other state has ELP expect NY, NJ, as far as I know for the new Spectrum plans (merger forced). Only people in other states besides these states can get only Spectrums own low priced service which is $15 for 30/5, not ELP. Spectrum only offers ELP under the Spectrum plans in NY, and NJ. Also, 2/1 is legacy speed for legacy customers in previous non-Maxx areas. Maxx areas were 3/1.… Read more »
Wrong. I have Elp in Ohio and just went up 5 bucks on my December bill
I also live in Ohio. I called Spectrum because I have the ELP plan and it seems as if they purposely slow the speed periodically. Spectrum stinks but around where I live, it is my only option and I am afraid to upgrade.
ELP is still at $14.99 in NY State.
My October bill, for November billing cycle, does not cite an increase in ELP, only the increase in the Broadcast TV Surcharge and the DTA rental fee.
I was under the impression that ELP @ $14.99 is/was a condition of the merger for three years after consummation. We will know the fate of ELP come Spring of 2019. (See the “related content / post” link to the article about ELP in NY State…)
Thanks for a lot of clarifications, Dylan. NY is a special case and I’ve had conflicting info about NJ. ELP was offered throughout TWC territory until Charter came along and then stopped accepting new customers in all but NY (and possibly NJ). Those customers already on it have never been thrown off of it, but they are facing rate hikes. ELP is not the same as Spectrum Internet Assist, as you note. The former did not require prequalification, the latter usually does, except in a few areas where Spectrum sends out mailers offering it to anyone living in a targeted/disadvantaged… Read more »
You are correct, Doug. Thanks for catching that! I was preoccupied with some minor medical drama yesterday so I had to rush this out before sitting in the doctor’s office, and I made a few presumptions that turned out not to be entirely accurate.
Same price increase in Kansas City.
ELP increase 14.99>19.99>24.99
for 3/1
ooma works great as a voip phone and you can fax on it without any problems… just purchase the unit , set it up and pay the required taxes and fees… nine in nys are $5,05 a month… I have had it for several years and it is great!!it’s
It’s January 2019 and my ELP Internet bill grandfathered from TWC in the state of Kentucky just went up to $24.99 from $19.99 which is a breach of the contract I signed. I have tried in the past to cancel the cable internet telephone service that I also signed up to under TWC that Spectrum calls ‘Time Warner Cable Promotion’ that pointedly does not list the ELP internet service as included in the promotion bundle but Spectrum claims I can’t cancel that $19.99 ‘Time Warner Cable Promotion’ without also canceling the ‘ELP Internet’ service because they are bundled together when… Read more »
Unfortunately, there is no contract, so they are free to do whatever they want. I ended up signing up with DSL Extreme for $15 + taxes, but I now only get 1Mbps DSL with no landline. If you do try and end up cutting out the home phone, they may also switch you over to Spectrum pricing for internet, which is $70/mo for 100Mbps (or faster) internet that a lot of people don’t want or need. When I left Spectrum, I did so completely, and won’t be going back. They still tried to sell me on cell service before I… Read more »
Thanks. I’ll be vigilant against them trying to mislead me. I’ve already had words with them once about that. I’ve already told the before I do no want to drop me current ELP Internet only drop the ‘Time Warner Cable Promotion’ so if they refuse they do still have a ways to go raising prices before I drop them for, probably the free local library WiFi although maybe the satellite internet prices of HughesNet & ViaSat might become competitive if the ever price it $50 a month, period and quite trying to do another of those ridiculous introductory pricing schemes.… Read more »
I called Spectrum when I saw the increase. I spoke with someone in customer service and had a frustrating conversation with her. I told her that I thought an increase from $14.95 to $24.95 was a huge increase in a few years time frame. She explained to me that it costs a lot of money to install new cable capable of delivering higher speeds. I said “but I have the slowest speed you offer. So it doesn’t do anything for me.” She then said that it costs a lot of money negotiating with tv stations now. I reminded her that… Read more »
Spectrum, same old lying business instructing their workers to lie to customers. Since Spectrum upped the cost of my ELP internet I decided to look at my actual PDF billing statement and on it is plain to see that my ELP internet is in no way bundled together with my ‘Time-Warner Bundle’ as they call it, which is billed separately from ELP internet and is nothing more than cable internet VoIP service. Also, I asked the Spectrum representative if I canceled my ELP internet & ‘Time-Warner Bundle’ and subscribed to Spectrum internet what would be the monthly entry level cost?… Read more »
USA, Run by the corporation and control by the corporation. We common citizens just vote on basis of information provided by the corporations.
As of September 2019, my legacy EDLP in NYC is still $14.99 (no fees no taxes, my own modem/router). This is even after an in-home service call last month, which i feared might trigger an increase.
I have the same service. Will increase $5/mo. starting with your next billing period, but speed will go from 3/1 to 20/1, so it’s well worth it. In fact, for the previous month, I was getting 115/10 Mbps, probably while they adjusted the different components to function together at the new speed. The only worry is what may happen in the future.
Well that’s cause you’re in New York State. Those much higher than average taxes you New Yorkers pay is being used to fund high dollar legal suits against businesses like Spectrum. I’m considering moving to NYC but I will have to look at salary I’m offered, rent, and taxes, taxes, taxes. Lucky, I’m happy with a plain jane lifestyle. But back to your low Spectrum costs – Truth of the matter is those extra high taxes you pay in New York would be much more money in your pockets saved than the $10 a month you are saving compared to… Read more »
Is anyone else getting faster speeds now with ELP? I noticed this about two weeks ago. I am getting around 22 up / 2 down. I live in Ohio.
See my comment/response above to “Roy”
Yes, I’m in rural Kentucky and it went up to between 20 – 25 but only for some websites and some content. They are some websites throttled but not many.
Speed also depends on the servers on the other end. Usually, for a major corporation (a bank, newspaper, broadcasting station, Microsoft), you will get top speed for your connection, but for a smaller organization (e.g., if you have your own website hosted by GoDaddy or equivalent), you often get slower speed, especially at busy times of the day or week.
I now ave fast enough speeds to watch international channels (these are ‘international government subsidized entertainment businesses’ and most are restricted by IP address to the country of origin of the chennal) on KODI and on my ROKU stick I can watch much more smoothly now.
The bigger problem now lies in the actual poorly written software that manages those entertainment listings, retrieval, menus, and playback.
I live in NYC, On Sept. 9 , speed up to 30/3, ELP billing will be $19.99 effect on Oct 2019
My ELP billing (Ohio) is going up from $24.99 to $27.99 starting on 10/23/19. They mentioned increasing the speed to 20 Mpbs.
I’m also in NYC and they’ve bumped me up to $19.99 effective October 2019. They say my speed will be increased to 20 MBPS, but it’s really been there for over a year.
I hate Charter/Spectrum. They are incredibly dishonest. At times the government needs to step-in and deal harshly with such company’s. I had internet with them for a long time, only because I had to, but I got so fed-up with their lies I made the decision to cancel my service. Now i just use my phone as a hotspot and the internet at work. My mom she is a senior citizen 87 years old and is on SSI. I ordered the Spectrum Internet Assist service about 5 months ago. When i found out about the service for low income and… Read more »
They get away with it because the government protects them and not the consumer. We all know that those at that business that are making millions in salary, bonuses, and stock options only get in the door with such places because they know people in government that gave them the keys and then financed their growth with government subsidies, contracts, and laws intended to milk the customers and tax payers of every penny that can get. It’s so bad they are milking future generations of tax payers of their money too before they are even born to the tune of… Read more »
I Am from Pennsylvania and use to pay $14.95 a month for time Warner. I have changed nothing on my service since the merger of spectrum taking over. My bill keeps going up now it went up this month to $49.95 and says on my bill:Time Warner Cable Promotion49.99Promotion Includes: Standard Internet the speed is 20mps down / 2mps up. why are all you paying less? when the merger first started my bill instantly went up to $34.95 and since latest at $49.95. Others in my area on REGULAR service pay $49.99 for 100 Mbps for 12 month promo then… Read more »