Recent Headlines
October 2, 2009
Be Sure to Read Part One: Astroturf Overload — Broadband for America = One Giant Industry Front Group for an important introduction to what this super-sized industry front group is all about. Members of Broadband for America Red: A company or group actively engaging in anti-consumer lobbying, opposes Net Neutrality, supports Internet Overcharging, belongs to […]
October 2, 2009
Astroturf: One of the underhanded tactics increasingly being used by telecom companies is “Astroturf lobbying” – creating front groups that try to mimic true grassroots, but that are all about corporate money, not citizen power. Astroturf lobbying is hardly a new approach. Senator Lloyd Bentsen is credited with coining the term in the 1980s to […]
September 27, 2009
Hong Kong remains bullish on broadband. Despite the economic downturn, City Telecom continues to invest millions in constructing one of Hong Kong’s largest fiber optic broadband networks, providing fiber to the home connections to residents. City Telecom’s HK Broadband service relies on an all-fiber optic network, and has been dubbed “the Verizon FiOS of Hong […]
September 23, 2009
BendBroadband, a small provider serving central Oregon, breathlessly announced the imminent launch of new higher speed broadband service for its customers after completing an upgrade to DOCSIS 3. Along with the launch announcement came a new logo of a sprinting dog the company attaches its new tagline to: “We’re the local dog. We better be […]
September 23, 2009
Stop the Cap! reader Rick has been educating me about some of the new-found aggression by Shaw Communications, one of western Canada’s largest telecommunications companies, in expanding its business reach across Canada. Woe to those who get in the way. Novus Entertainment is already familiar with this story. As Stop the Cap! reported previously, Shaw […]
September 22, 2009
The Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission, the Canadian equivalent of the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, may be forced to consider American broadband policy before defining Net Neutrality and its role in Canadian broadband, according to an article published today in The Globe & Mail. [FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s] proposal – to codify and enforce some […]
September 21, 2009
In March 2000, two cable magnates sat down for the cable industry equivalent of My Dinner With Andre. Fine wine, beautiful table linens, an exquisite meal, and a Monopoly board with pieces swapped back and forth representing hundreds of thousands of Canadian consumers. Ted Rogers and Jim Shaw drew a line on the western Ontario […]
September 11, 2009
Just like FairPoint Communications, the Towering Inferno of phone companies haunting New England, Frontier Communications is making a whole lot of promises to state regulators and consumers, if they’ll only support the deal to transfer ownership of phone service from Verizon to them. This time, Frontier is issuing a self-serving press release touting their investment […]
September 7, 2009
I see it took all of five minutes for George Ou and his friends at Digital Society to be swayed by the tunnel vision myopia of last week’s latest effort to justify Internet Overcharging schemes. Until recently, I’ve always rationalized my distain for smaller usage caps by ignoring the fact that I’m being subsidized by […]
September 1, 2009
In 2007, we took our first major trip away from western New York in 20 years and spent two weeks an hour away from Calgary, Alberta. After two weeks in Kananaskis Country, Banff, Calgary, and other spots all over southern Alberta, we came away with the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The Good Alberta […]
August 31, 2009
A federal appeals court in Washington has struck down, for a second time, a rulemaking by the Federal Communications Commission to limit the size of the nation’s largest cable operators to 30% of the nation’s pay television marketplace, calling the rule “arbitrary and capricious.” The 30% rule, designed to keep no single company from controlling […]
August 27, 2009
Less than half of Americans surveyed by PC Magazine report they are very satisfied with the broadband speed delivered by their Internet service provider. PC Magazine released a comprehensive study this month on speed, provider satisfaction, and consumer opinions about the state of broadband in their community. The publisher sampled more than 17,000 participants, checking […]
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Well, they never said no modem activation fee was a benefit 😏. Just that modems are included in the service which BHN and TWC did not. Hopefully they never charge for modems. It’s a great benefit that few ISPs do.
I just wanted to mention Dampier to clear up confusion that even bringing your own modem to activate as a first time customer also results in a $10 one time fee. Just a heads up for correction. I saw this on DSLReports and confirmed myself with rep. So no way to avoid this fee as a new customer unfortunately.
Which is interesting because a Charter rep denied that would be the case. I am hoping to see a customer owned modem trigger the charge on a bill I can take back to them.
Just so you know, I called and confirmed that the fee was for picking up or shipping out equipment. I had the fee removed since I had my own equip. You just have to speak to billing.
They are charging me to install my own modem… 9.99 service fee for self installation (Customer Owned Modem)
Got this ridiculous fee on my bill after Spectrum basically told me I should switch to the newer modem because mine was old. There was never any mention of the fee. I never saw the install options someone posted above. I chatted with two reps. The first was zero help and booted me out of the conversation for “inactivity” after not responding for about 20 seconds. The whole time the little “I’m typing” icon was working so I was simply waiting for her reply. Immediately started another session and that rep gave me a credit for the $10 stating that… Read more »
I ordered spectrum internet online and was given a price. My first bill had a 9.99 one time charge for self install. I pay you to self install? Somebody needs drug tested 😘. If a fee is going to be charged. Fine. Just let the consumer know instead of blind siding them. Shame. Shame.
my bill went up $45 to $65 after one year. they said it was a promotional rate but i swear that was never mentioned and I assumed it was the actual cost.
spectrum is awful to deal with.
I am currently without internet at home but do I have to pay the activation fee?
sadly theres no other choices.
They waived the self installation fee for me, but only 1 outlet worked and it had bad signal, I needed a tech to come and was told I wouldnt get charged and got charged more than the install.
They told me I needed to upgrade my router/modem and gave me a modem only at the store.
After multiple years of getting 200 mbit+ from Time Warner and eventually Spectrum, one day my internet speeds dropped to around 80-100 mbit. The technical support person insisted that the issue was that my modem wasn’t compatible with the higher speeds. Tried to convince me that a DOCSIS 3.0 modem I’d been using in excess of 200 mbit speeds for years just flat out wasn’t compatible with their service. So, I agree to take their DOCSIS 3.1 modem for “free” (but of course ended up with this $10 self activation, despite being a customer for years). Then the person at… Read more »
Call Spectrum. They will tell you the $9.99 is a “mailing fee” for ordering their equipment, not an installation fee. In a calm voice tell them you never ordered the equipment. If true, they will waive the fee as a “one-time only courtesy”. Keep a straight face and thank them.
Worked for me.
Just call and ask to speak to the billing dept. If you aren’t going to drop off or pick up any new equipment, you can have that waived. Otherwise they are arbitrarily taking $9.99 from you. I called and had that charge removed.
I told them agent didn’t mention about one time activation fee, and they waived it
I just called and argued till they drop it.
“We don’t charge you for a modem, it’s included in the price.”
…….so yes, they’re charging you for the modem, they’re just not telling you what it is.
I’m just wondering about the “one-time payment fee”. I got a line with a modem last month and charged me $9.99 for that. So i thought it’s only a one time fee if you are a new customer. But now, another billing i received, and it shows another $9.99 one-time payment fee again. What the heck, they should change it..it should be “forever payment fee”.. very confusing!
After careful consideration, Spectrum does not have any modem fees. They charge to turn on the wireless feature of the modem. They also charge for the self installation kit. The kit does include a coax cable and a ethernet cable. You could spend a little more than $9.99 for these items. Personally, they should have an option for rush delivery or a tech drop off rather than shipping it. I’m a bit more outraged they charge to have a wireless connection which is included in the equipment. Now, you have to pay $4.99/mo for no reason. With the wireless proliferation,… Read more »
We moved, we had to call Spectrum over four times to get a technician out. Apparently, the technician came from over 50 miles away. This is unbelievable, they got rid of local technicians. We got our first bill after moving, written in red “delinquent.” They mentioned that they will take it to a collection agency if it’s not paid. I’m baffled, were we suppose to give a check to the technician? Why would Spectrum threaten their customers when there’s no need. It’s the first bill we received after moving. I’m so disappointed. We’re thinking about using a Fire TV Stick,… Read more »
this one time self installation fee is a nonsense tbh.. $10 for what? that I plug in all cables and set up wifi for myself? and have to pay for it? bullsheat