Complete Story
01/19/2017
Cable subscribers say goodbye to Time Warner, hello to Spectrum
Time Warner Cable officially became Spectrum on Wednesday under its new owners, Charter Communications, but customers are being assured they can keep their old television, internet and phone plans if they want.
Charter Communications bought Time Warner Cable in May 2016.
Spectrum features "straightforward, nationally uniform pricing with no contracts, no early termination fees, and is backed by a 30-day, money-back guarantee," officials said.
Among the changes that customers will immediately notice: Billing will now bear the Spectrum brand.
Spectrum is also investing in service in response to consumer complaints about cable carriers as a whole, said company spokesman Mike Hogan.
For example, Spectrum is bringing back jobs from overseas call centers. Across the nation, Spectrum plans to add 20,000 employees this year in many areas, the majority them involving direct service to customers.
While officials are pledging that customers can keep service plans they had under Time Warner Cable, there are some new features.
The biggest change is that all Spectrum internet plans start at 60 megabits per second, with no data caps, usage-based pricing or additional modem fees. Time Warner Cable's old plans started at considerably lower download speeds.
Like the old Time Warner Cable, Spectrum TV features most channels in HD. But Spectrum has "considerably more, in the thousands, in on-demand options," Hogan said.
Spectrum also surpasses the old Time Warner Cable offerings in Spanish language channels. Spectrum Mi Plan Latino offers 75 Spanish-language channels and more than 20 local broadcast and popular cable channels in English.
All Spectrum TV subscribers also have access to the company's TV app, which provides access to live TV via portable devices in the home and some content outside the home.
Spectrum Voice's offerings are similar to Time Warner Cable's phone service, providing unlimited local and long-distance calling in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands, along with free 411 calls. The service includes free voice mail, call waiting, call blocking and call forwarding, among other features.
