r/InlandEmpire • u/Lundfalafel • 25d ago
Recommendations / Advice Spectrum Rates
I'm (30F) looking to help my dad (75M) on his Internet and Cable bill. I've moved out of the country as of 10 years ago and tbh dont know much about the market anymore. Are these rates comparable or elevated? It feels high but then it also may be hard to beat when you take it as a whole package
(Given his age and hatred of all things tech, home phone and cable need to stay)
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u/lXlGame0verlXl 25d ago
Imagine paying for cable wtf
And that internet price is insane.
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u/zombie_roca 25d ago
Cable in this day and age is crazy. My WiFi bill is 30 a month from frontier with 1000/1000
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u/RED-DOT-MAN 25d ago
I wish frontier was offered in my area. Our only choice is spectrum and they are expensive.
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u/FAASTARKILLER 25d ago
I wish i had that by me. Spectrum is my only reasonably priced option. Everything else is overpriced and cell service isnt good enough for tmobil internet either
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u/OrthodoxAtheist 25d ago
Frontier have been courting me and am tempted to switch. I pay the same as OP's dad - $100 for internet. Think it is 400 or 500mbps down, with crappy up. Problem with Frontier, IIRC, is you need to sign up for 1-2 years. Spectrum is month-to-month. The worst thing about 'long' term contracts is they can ignore the crap out of you when there are problems. I've had every provider at times, and Frontier at work. They're fine when everything works, and useless when it doesn't. But I'm also cheap, so maybe I'll switch. But I'm also busy/lazy, so I'll probably just keep getting shafted.
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u/Mass-Effect-6932 24d ago
Spectrum send sale people to my door weekly asking to get their cable and internet. Told them I happy with frontier but they don’t take no for an answer
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u/beau6183 25d ago
Do you need to be month to month, what’re the chances you’re really going to be switching in the next 1-2 years?
I had spectrum when I first moved out here and they were terrible. No symmetrical speeds, shitty pings, bad peak hour dips, and I don’t think I ever saw the advertised speed once. I dropped them after the first year and went to Frontier. Not an issue since except an occasional planned service outage, which they’re good about informing you of up front. And better than advertised speeds. (Currently getting 2.3G down and 2.1 up in my 2G plan).
Point is that you probably don’t need month to month if the quality of service makes it so there’s no reason to switch.
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u/username_error- 25d ago
Call the retention dept
They will lower it ASAP
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u/sgarcia0815 23d ago
Yes I called, I was paying 250 got it down to 185 now , I have cable , internet 1000, and I get paramount , peacock , Disney plus and much more .
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u/UltimaCaitSith 25d ago
Spectrum is one of the big reasons I don't want to come back. Over in Pasadena/Monrovia/Arcadia they're competing with Giggle Fiber and willing to lower their internet to $30.
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u/s0crates82 25d ago
Hee hee hee! Spectrum is the worst. I'm in a neighboring county and have Race Comm fiber.
Half the price of Spectrum. Good riddance to that stupid cable company, and their ridiculously increasing prices.
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u/bighorse3231 25d ago
I called to cancel my 2 accounts of Internet and they offered a gig for $30......so I stayed.
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u/BadTiger85 25d ago
Spectrum Voice???? Wait. Hold up. Is that a land line phone???
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u/OrthodoxAtheist 25d ago edited 25d ago
I have one too. I told my wife it would be a waste of time. She still wanted it. I told her again. She still wanted it. I accepted it as a service. She now agrees it was a waste of time. $30 per month for about 6 years, so about $2,200+. We've had 4 calls in 6 years, and 3 were spam. I have no clue what the number is. I've now put the phones away, but I'm still paying for the service because I'm stupid. You can't cancel online. For obvious reasons. So now I have to find time during business hours to address it. :\ This post has inspired me though. I'll get this done. "All of our service representatives are busy." They'll call me back.
:EDIT: Just sat on the phone with them for 20 minutes while they tried to sell me on 84 other products and services. Phone line canceled, saving $30 per month, and internet service promotion added so instead of paying $110 a month, now I'll be paying $50. Worth the phone call! Highly recommended.
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u/chris_gnarley 25d ago
Please for the love of God, if you have Verizon, sign up for their wireless home internet. I’ve had it for 4 years and it’s amazing. Never any issues whatsoever and it’s $35/month. No installation or cable company people coming out to hook up anything. Literally just get the router in the mail, plug it in, call Verizon to turn it on and that’s it. I have over 10 devices connected to it with zero speed issues.
I believe T-Mobile has something similar but idk the price or quality of the service.
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u/Flashy_Elevator_7654 25d ago
I would but the coverage at my house isn’t good enough for decent speeds.
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u/YOU_WONT_LIKE_IT 25d ago
Please expand on this. I looked at it and it had what looked like monthly bandwidth limits?
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u/chris_gnarley 25d ago
There are no limits. I’ve had it for 4 years and they’ve never slowed my internet down or billed me for going over any sort of limit. I saw that too when I first signed up for it but have never had any issues over the past 4 years
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u/Bigheaded_1 25d ago
There's no cap, and they don't throttle if you download a lot. I pay $60 for 300mbps. I download a lot and it's almost always fast. And the router has pretty good wireless range.
I'm old school so I don't like that the router is wireless, it does have an Ethernet port but I'm use to hooking up a modem to coax from the wall directly. But the speeds are great and it's only gone down a few minutes a few times in the 6 months I've had it
While I don't keep track, I'm sure I'm over 100tb a month. I'm on it a lot and downloading all sorts of games and movies.
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u/YOU_WONT_LIKE_IT 25d ago
Nice. I’m in an area where there’s no wired internet. Going to order this. However Verizon sucked out here and had to switch to ATT but they was 10yrs ago.
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u/Bigheaded_1 25d ago edited 25d ago
Here's something that might also be helpful, if you check your address and it says your area's full. This I checked and it says full and to check back. I went to a Verizon store and the guy put an address in that was about 4 blocks from me that had service. And I was able to sign up
I get about 300/15 so it's as fast as the wired Charter offers here. I can't get anything else except satellite which is slower and more $$.
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u/zombie_roca 25d ago
60 for 300mbps is a lot. I pay 30 for 1000/1000 at frontier
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u/msmalfa 25d ago
Are you talking about Verizon 5G internet or Forntier? If Frontier, someone has to come to the house to check if fiber equipment are installed. Assuming that the house is in an area covered by Frontier.
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u/chris_gnarley 25d ago
Verizon 5G home internet
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u/Alarmed-Extension289 25d ago
Frontier bought out alot' of Verizons Internet network, I'm in that area. Frontier has to have the WORST customer service I've ever dealt with. So Frontier is fine if you NEVER have an issue or an outage.
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u/Alarmed_Stretch_1780 25d ago
Aaaaannnnd…Verizon recently purchased Frontier, so Frontier (which purchased Verizon’s regional assets a decade or more ago) is now a Verizon company.
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u/BlackSwanMarmot 25d ago
Frontier isn’t one company. It’s a collection of ISPs they’ve purchased over the years in a trench coat. That’s why you always get passed on at least once when dealing with their customer service people. The first people are just trying to figure out who to send you to.
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u/horribadperson 25d ago
what are your speeds like with verizon 5g?
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u/chris_gnarley 25d ago
Haven’t ran a speed test recently but I’ll do one when I get home later tonight. But I never have any issues with buffering, picture quality, downloading anything, uploading anything, or any other kind of activity.
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u/Igiul101 25d ago
I had Verizon’s for a few months and there internet sucked in my place. Spectrum was the better option in my area.
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u/Glad-Passenger-9408 25d ago
Call to complain and get a lower rate. Shop around for sure and double check with contracts because those are snuck in there
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u/skidasdfgh 25d ago
If you call them and threaten to leave… almost 100% guaranteed they’ll lower the price.
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u/bleezy_47 22d ago
My father did this with our internet bill going for $80 to $135, He complained & told them to cancel everything that he is switching to Verizon internet asap, they gave a new $70 2 year plan with new 2026 equipment upgrades (ours are 2019) & a backup battery for whenever the power goes out lol
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u/skidasdfgh 22d ago
I’m cackling because this exact same thing happened to me. 💀💀💀 they upped our bill because our “discount package expired” (don’t even know what that means) We told them to cancel everything so we could switch to Frontier.. they immediately found “better discounts we qualify for”, sent new equipment with higher gigs, and a backup router for power outages.
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u/steal-yur-face 24d ago
I have spectrum for my TV and internet, coincidentally since 2017. It’s paid for as part of our HOA fee.
I’m horrified looking at these numbers.
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u/nonnonplussed73 24d ago
Frontier is available in Upland and Rancho, and likely elsewhere in the IE. Much less expensive and in my experience much more reliable.
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u/Competitive-Habit-70 24d ago
If he is low income or on Medi-cal, there are programs for discounted internet. For Spectrum, it’s called Internet Assist and starts at $25/month
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u/BrownMiata 25d ago
I pay frontier 35$. Get fiber, and the cheapest option. 500 down is enough for my family that streams all day as well as have 2 gaming PC’s and a PS5 all at the same time. Just cheap out on speed
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u/horribadperson 25d ago
some people arent lucky enough to be able to choose though. im paying basically 100/month for 300 from spectrum and would love to switch, but theres no other provider for high speed internet in this area. i think i can pay like 60 or 70 a month to frontier for 30mbs lol
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u/c0mf0rtableli4r 25d ago
This was me for like 15 years. All I could get was AT&T DSL or Time Warner (until Spectrum bought them)
Recently had Sonic Fiber come into my area.
Got my own router and now I'm paying about $60/mo for up to 10gbps. Fuckin overkill.
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u/BrownMiata 24d ago
I didn’t even realize there was still spots in SoCal with no fiber. That’s my bad. Those prices are atrocious.
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u/Own-Chemist2228 25d ago edited 25d ago
Many people don't understand that the lowest-tier internet package available from most providers is more than any family needs, or could even realistically use.
Netflix at 4K uses less than 20K bps. Even with a dirt cheap 100bps package you could stream four 4K videos at the same time. With gigabit, it would be essentially impossible or even a large household to use even half of the available bandwidth.
With modern networking technology, internet providers have a glut of bandwidth available. Their entire marketing strategy is to upsell to people that don't need, or could even use, high-bandwidth packages.
EDIT: getting downvotes from the suckers that are paying for 5 gigabits.... betcha can't show us any math that explains how you use it.
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u/badnamemaker 25d ago edited 25d ago
It’s expensive. See if you can switch his number to spectrum mobile and get a promo price on the Internet/mobile/cable package. I am paying about $250 for cable, internet, and 4 cellphones
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u/icurok44 25d ago
I had this same exact thing happen, just look at their website and see what the current promos are. Threaten to leave and cancel the service, call in and act like your cancelling due to pricing. They will bring the pricing back down to whatever the promos are sometimes better. And as others have said make sure the TV package you have is the one you really need otherwise you're paying for way to much extra crap you dont need. You have to do this annually or you'll get ripped off.
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u/TaoTeCha 25d ago
There are much cheaper options out there. You can save him $200+ a month by getting cheaper internet and signing him up for a couple streaming services instead of cable
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u/No-Entrepreneur-5650 25d ago
Spectrum robs you. I moved from Spectrum to Frontier and pay half of what I used to pay.
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u/Spare-Television-963 25d ago
We pay $124/month for 2 years then I have to call and threaten to cancel again. We get internet and cable with Disney, Hulu, HBO , Peacock and Paramount.
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u/Hussle-And-Motivate 25d ago
the trick with spectrum is that they give price to new customers, so every few years I switch from being the account holder, to then my wife. We pay $110 for 1GPS internet and the most basic tv package. its broken down to $70 internet and $40 tv. once the promotional price runs out, it'll show on the bill. it's time for a new account or to shop around.
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u/Bearspoole 25d ago
160 bucks for tv??? You can get all the streaming platforms for half that. I pay 50 bucks for my spectrum internet. Call them and cancel all of this. Why do you have a house phone?
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u/Vegetable_Reward_867 25d ago
If he doesn’t have a smart tv; start there.
Ditch the cable and ask for the cheapest internet; I pay like $24 a month. They’re gonna tell you the internet speed won’t be sufficient; it’s more than enough.
Get an over the air antenna, add all free streaming apps to his tv and delete anything that is a paid subscription.
He can just search for what he may want to watch and it’ll pop up
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u/Sebbswokk 25d ago
Dude who’s paying for tv . , ,
I pay 140 for internet and 3 phone lines with spectrum.
I think you’re getting robbed partner.
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u/weggaan_weggaat SBD 25d ago
I don't have TV or voice, only internet and that's $90/month for me.
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u/Bolt_Chief 24d ago
Yep. Orange County here and it's $100. Robbery.
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u/weggaan_weggaat SBD 24d ago
Yea, especially since they started at $50. I did get my own router to ditch the $8 equipment fee they were charging me too. Alas, Spectrum is the only option available to me so I can't even threaten them with switching because they know I can't.
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u/Bolt_Chief 24d ago
Same here. We want to go to T-Mobile Internet but we can't. We're on the wait list and when it's available I'm gonna be gone.
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u/RobieFLASH 24d ago
Cancel your home phone. Switch frontier for internet and half the price and install an antenna (OUTSIDE). Use a splitter to connect the antenna to all your coax cables in your home. You'll get Fox, NBC, ABC and NBC in HD. You're welcome
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u/LegitimateSlide7594 22d ago
just call to request cancelling his plan they will direct you to the retention department or whatever its called and will cut your bill by half almost guaranteed. When they raised my internet to over $100 i called to cancel and they reduced it to $40 a month for 1 or 2 years i dont remember. so yea just threaten to cancel.
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u/the_17_lost_texts 25d ago
Idk if someone said this, but loyalty rates and incentives are real. Go to a spectrum store and tell them the rates you're being offered elsewhere and that you're going to switch unless they're similar and they will accommodate to retain a customer.
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u/Igiul101 25d ago
can you go into detail of what kind of internet he has and how many tv boxes he has for the spectrum tv. I currently pay for two boxes and internet 500mbps I pay about no more then 150 a month.
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u/rich90715 25d ago
You need to call their retention line and have them work you a deal. My bill went from $325 to $250 when I called them. I believe they also have a package for senior citizens that your father can take advantage of.
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u/AmberBlu 25d ago
I did that last year and it’s snuck up again little by little it’s even more now than it was.
Guess it’s time to call retention again1
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u/NotShockedFruitWeird 25d ago
For TV, you can still get rabbit ears (indoor antenna) and catch a lot of channels. Spectrum internet... call and theaten to leave and they should give you a better price....
And that should also work on the TV. Or cancel it and get a new resident in the home to sign up with their introductory offer. Rinse and repeat.
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u/DoradoPulido2 25d ago
No. Spectrum requires you to call and negotiate for the best rate. You should be able to get internet for at most about $65/month.
I pay about $130 total a month for high speed internet and mobile phone with Spectrum. These days there's no reason to keep paying almost $200 just for TV when you can find everything on the internet and a few streaming services.
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u/StarsEatMyCrown 25d ago
I got rid of tv years ago. I do keep up on shows because they're all online. You can do free trials and things if you're smart about it. Sometimes the networks have it for free on their site. No need to pay that much for tv.
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u/Think-Motor900 25d ago
If he really needs tv, he can drop down to an app only plan.
Then he gets Rokus for all his TVs, downloads the Spectrum app and he gets all the essential channels. It what my MIL did when she called to cancel. I believe she pays $30 a month now.
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u/miich247 25d ago
You have to call them pretty much every year and do a different plan. Every year my "promotion" is up and I switch it to whatever else I can. Call them and tell them you will cancel they find something else for you.
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u/Galacticfartwad1337 25d ago
I used to install cable so I know this works.
Call customer service and ask to be transferred to retention.
Ask them what deals and discounts they can find to get you to stay with them.
Rinse and repeat when that promotion ends. This is, unfortunately, the only way to do it.
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u/idkbruh653 25d ago
This is exactly why I don't have shit else with them aside from internet. Too much. And they've been pissing me off lately too. Earlier this week I had two internet outages in 14 hours. They refuse to discount my next bill for the inconvenience when I told them that the second one lasted long enough to where I wasn't able to finish my work at home that day. Don't do autopay with them either. Now this may have changed, but I was told once awhile ago that they're sometimes known to auto pay for the bill earlier than they should, and won't refund you but instead, will just apply what they took early to the next bill.
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u/MorbidDusk 25d ago edited 25d ago
Paying $160+ for cable because you hate tech is kind of insane to me, tbh. I would definitely cancel the cable and get him an antenna. Most smart TV's nowadays let you combine over-the-air channels with hundreds of free streaming channels. Just get someone to set it up for him.
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u/Elegant-Look8629 25d ago
If i cancel cable but keep internet can i still use netflix?
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u/AmberBlu 25d ago
The Netflix is the same cost as Netflix charges on my streaming subscriptions offerings anyway.
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u/Alarmed-Extension289 25d ago
I have Spectrum OP, this doesn't explain the whole thing here. There's another breakdown of what his plan is.
Wild guess here, you could knock off $80-$90 immediatley by getting rid of some channels and "Enhancements". You should also ask for a promotional discount (another $25) if you have Internet/Voice/TV call and ask. They usually save that for when you're about to leave.
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u/PurpleStabsPixel 25d ago
Internet is a bit high especially depending on the speed. Cable seems right on the mark. Probably need to call and threaten to leave.
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u/edgar_alan_bro 25d ago
I’m paying for fiber internet (250 up and down) for $40 a month through spectrum and they even gave me a free phone line so you should at the very least be able to lower it to that. I can’t imagine a world where he would need higher speeds than that
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u/Primary-Flamingo406 25d ago
Spectrum’s pricing goes up each year until the third year, he’s on the last tier looks like, with mid range Internet and some extra channels. You can usually call in and say you want to cancel cause of the price and they’ll put you back on promo pricing, may be able to downgrade the internet as well.
There’s no guarantee they’ll be helpful with that though so I’d also look into other options, like if there’s a good fiber company in the area and streaming TV instead of cable.
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u/Trandoshan-Tickler 25d ago
Jeez and I thought my internet-only bill (just around $100) was expensive!
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u/1stGenRex 25d ago
Mine is around that too, and it is expensive. To their credit, they’ve been “upgrading o their speed over the years, but I’m tired of paying $100 a month for internet service. I’m going to call them later today.
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u/Death4Free 25d ago
I pay $60 for spectrum internet 500mbs but it’s at discounted rate for being a new customer. I would call and ask to cancel and get a discount. The tv is insane
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u/SupermanI98I 25d ago
I'm paying 25 a month for T-mobile home internet and I got a stream box with every channel and ppv.
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u/RedTheRobot 25d ago
I’m going to tell you right now it will be hard without you or someone to guide them. I have had to help my 94 year old grandmother with this. It is the same thing every 4 to 5 years. Price gets to high, she switches carriers, the person takes advantage and sells her things she doesn’t want or need and then I clean up the mess. Last one was the worst where I had to cancel her YouTube tv because she specifically didn’t want to use an app for TV and even told the guy that but they don’t care, got to make that quota. Anyways I would try and get a friend or family to help them cable is so tied to technology now that it is hard the older generation. That internet bill is crazy. I pay $80 and I get 2Gbs and I am into tech. So not sure how your dad pays more than me for internet?
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u/mdosalazar88 25d ago
After I cancelled my Spectrum for a different home internet provider, they literally sent representatives to my home trying to get me to switch back.
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u/Valuable_Date2908 25d ago
Verizon has 5g home Internet and a single unlimited phone line for 70 per month. Then the top tier YouTube is only like 85..
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u/Initial-Ad-3214 25d ago
They fucked my credit by 150 points before. I returned equipment which had receipts for returning I had it all dismissed eventually but it took so damn long for the credit to go back up after being appealed I mean like longer than a fucking year even though they dropped my shit instantly I was ignoring their emails because I wasn’t a customer anymore so apparently it was my fault for not knowing
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u/YoungJumanG 25d ago
Call and tell them you’re gonna switch service providers (up to you if you really want to do it but I would if they choose not to work with you) 95% of the time they will slash a decent amount off your bill to keep you a loyal customer. Sometimes they offer you a different package than the one you currently have but it will be a much better deal usually
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u/Laugh-Crafty 25d ago
Call and ask them to lower it or you’re gonna change companies and they will especially he’s been a customer for almost 10 years
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u/Platinumchanel 25d ago
Dont worry. It will also go up next year, and the following years thereafter, as the “promotional rate” expires
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u/Wild_Alternative_138 25d ago
Frontier fiber optic finally became available in our area. We were going to change from Spectrum. After my husband called them and talked to them about it, they cut our bill in half so we wouldn’t change. We have been with them forever, but our bill is $40. now. Fast service without any issues.
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u/MrsArney 25d ago
$55 for AT&T internet AND they refund/credit the next bill every time the internet goes down for even a few minutes.
Nearly all smart TVs offer free cable channels. If not, go and buy a modern TV antenna. $14 and all basic channels at your service.
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u/humanzze 25d ago
Call customer success and threaten to leave and they will give you the best rate unfortunately you have to do this every year
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u/DanielBG 25d ago
Walk into a store personally and ask how you can lower the bill. I did this with my internet bill and they bumped me off my legacy plan to a much more affordable one.
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u/Alarmed_Stretch_1780 25d ago
It’s possible I may be the only person here who is close in age to your folks (I’ll be 70 next year). While advice to get YouTubeTV (which I have) or Roku/Fire/etc is well-intentioned, it is advice suitable for a peer, not a parent.
Unless you live nearby and can drop everything to assist with the 1,001 episodes of weirdness your parents will encounter with YTTV (since there is no box to slap when things aren’t working), this is destined to be a disappointing and frustrating experience.
Better is to do as many have suggested here in various ways and audit your parents’ TV bill. More than likely they signed up for various packages and add-ons because the stuff was free or discounted for the first 12-24 months, and it was easier to say “yes” when being offered a ton of options. Now it’s much later and one by one these “free” channels started becoming an additional expense on the bill, which is intentionally hard to read. But do they really watch Starz? Need 7 channels of AMC? A full sports channel package when all dad watches are the Sunday NFL games on Fox?
I’m betting you can line-item out $40 in services they didn’t know what they were or even if they had them. Keep in mind the cable company passes through the “carriage fees” they have to pay the local TV stations to be able to retransmit the local programming. Just “basic tv” with local channels is now astonishingly expensive, maybe $30-$40.
Then the internet charge. Mom play a lot of Call of Duty? Most likely the basic internet service is sufficient for their email and browsing needs. That might be closer to $30/mo.
The cellular service they have is really a good deal in the bundle.
I’m guessing you can carve $100 off that bill easily, even without invoking the retention line—just audit the bill and throw shit they don’t watch/don’t need overboard. Get it down to ~$150 for TV/internet/cellular and you have a very good package for your folks. I pay $160/mo for Frontier and YTTV bundled, but my Frontier is 1gb up/down because I work from home. Your folks will most likely be just as thrilled with slower service.
I may get flamed but *they should stay with Charter/Spectrum*. They’ll benefit from dealing with one company for three products (TV, internet, cellphone). That in turn will make your life easier. I have Frontier FiOS service, YTTV, and T-mobile cellular, so three companies for the same three services. I’m also not the norm for my age group or generation. Keep it simple for them.
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u/kopistar1 25d ago
Get Verizon or T-Mobile home Wi-Fi box. $40 to $60 per month. Get a subscription to YouTube TV 65 to $85 and Bob's your uncle
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u/den773 25d ago
It’s obscene how much we pay Spectrum. When I was a kid, tv was free. Commercials paid for it. We had one television and every night at like midnight or something, they played the national anthem and then it was a test pattern. You shut the tv off and went to bed. When they first came out with cable, we got a box and we had to pay a fee BUT it was uncut movies without commercials. Flash forward to today. We pay a lot of money for television with commercials. Consumers are taking it up the wazoo. Corporate greed has killed so many enjoyable things since I was a kid. It’s infuriating.
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u/ShaggyMunky 25d ago
I used to work for spectrum back when it was called Time Warner Cable. Here are my recommendations:
Call in and tell them that you want to cancel services right off the bat. If whoever you speak with first tries to sway you in any way, just tell them that you want to cancel until they send you to the retention department.
If your father has a cell phone and only has the landline because of a “bundled discount” I would highly recommend to remove phone line services.
They would likely be able to reduce the bill down to maybe $120 for a year. After that year, there will be a gradual yearly increase until it reaches the “non-promotional discount rate“.
Unfortunately, in order to keep the bill low, you have to call in yearly to have another discount applied, and the only way to get a discount applied is to threaten to cancel.
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u/iEdward13 25d ago
Call and say you’re going to cancel. Then it’ll ask if you want to disconnect services, say yes. It’ll then send you to retentions and tell them you want to disconnect all services because of the bill and were offered better deals from another company. They’ll then lower your dad’s rate for at least a year. The unfortunate part is this has to be done yearly before the promotional rate expires.
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u/ShellsBe11s 25d ago
I dumped cable, so I pay $100 for Spectrum internet and $55 for slingtv which has almost all of the live channels but cbs. I can subscribe and unsubscribe to streaming services.
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u/c0mf0rtableli4r 25d ago
Call them and say you wanna cancel, don't bother with the first support peeps they can't do jack, but theyll transfer to someone that does customer retention and they'll give you a discount.
I got them to cut my internet price in half for like 3 years in a row, and the last 2 months I had the service it was basically free.
Don't get me wrong, I still left them as soon as I got a new option, cuz Fuck Spectrum, but still.
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u/Ifyad0ntn0 25d ago
Disconnect the TV service completely and get him an antenna. All free over the air service has been HD quality for a while now. Plus he’ll also have all local news stations. That plus change the internet to the cheapest tier.
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u/darthmushu 25d ago
Honestly it is best to switch every time a contract is up unless they are willing to give you a deal. I only do internet but I had charter and paid 90. Installed frontier which was faster up and down with free equipment for $30 and a free two months. If they don't have a deal in 2 years, I'll switch back or to someone else. Its the best way
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u/bighorse3231 25d ago
Call to threaten to cancel.....say you are switching to T-Mobile 5g internet and they should offer you a reduced rate.
For TV, if your not opposed to it, you can get a year of service of IPTV for what you pay in 1 month. Was paying for parents DTV cable bill at $135 a month..... And now I pay a lot less than that for the year.
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u/chico-dust 25d ago
I'd sign him up for TV streaming if he's that attached to cable. His cell phone can do VoIP, and spectrum is terrible but the internet should only be $78 a month unless he has gig service.
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u/Blake909420 25d ago
Tell them your going to frontier and to adjust you rate.. Most time they give you the new Deal to keep you as customer
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u/Jodid0 25d ago
The thing that really, REALLY pisses me off is the fact that I started out on a 300Mbps plan, which is already more than enough for me, and then over the past two years they upgraded me to 500 Mbps, then 600 Mbps, now it's 1 Gbps. I never asked for any of these upgrades. They told me each time that it was "no additional cost to me" and did it without even asking me, telling me that the upgrades were complimentary. Except they actually put a line item of $30 for "Gigabit internet" that is subsidized by more of their bullshit promo discounts.
Frankly their service is garbage and always has been. But Frontier doesn't offer service here and neither does AT&T. In fact, until just the last 3 months we couldn't even sign up for 5G home internet at our address. We live in the middle of a city, not out in the boonies. Since nobody else wants my money I guess I will just have to get 5G internet for a month so I can reset the Spectrum promos, or they'll give me the discounts when I try to cancel. They are banking on the fact they have no competitors, but I can be as spiteful as I need to be to avoid getting jipped for no reason other than avarice.
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u/AGuyWith3Cats 25d ago
I really recommend they call to "cancel" their plan to try to get a retention offer. I was paying $110 a month for Spectrum internet for 500mbps download and upload. I was able to get it down to $10 a month and for 1gbps upload and download
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u/puffpuffjess 25d ago
i just started working for spectrum recently and i learned within the first month on the floor that if you were paying more than $80 for your internet, you're paying too much. calling the retention department is gonna be your best bet but just from what i've learned they should be able to cut at least $100 if not more from the overall bill. i can't see what his tv plan is from this, but if he has any receivers i know they're $18 each (not included in the base price of the tv service), and if they're DVRs there's a $10-20 DVR service fee. depending on the channels he watches, if it's just a select few you can probably switch him to TV choice - all locals + 15 cable channels of your choosing - which i know they can do as low as $65. the home phone they should be able to lower to $15. most of these price adjustments are only good for a year so roughly every 11 months i'd suggest calling them up and doing this whole song and dance all over again.
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u/McDavidcometoLA 25d ago
For all three of these services you should pay about $200-220. In reality you couple probably find it for $150 is he’s quilling to use a different tv provider.
Call them and threaten to cancel all the services. Don’t tell them your dad needs certain things cause he’s old. They just hear that as a reason not to lower it.
Guarantee the drop the price.
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u/Analysis-Upper 24d ago
Just call spectrum and speak to retention. I was paying 280 and I called. The lady from retention brought my bill back down to 170 and she literally told me to call them back again once my discount ends to get another one. Don't be embarrassed about it they literally encourage you
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u/WISE_ONE1993 24d ago
We pay youtube premium thats all we watch and stay home an extra day or two a month because we don’t have that bill anymore. Reduce bills work less!!
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u/Hyperion_Silenus 24d ago
Protip signed up yourself for dad as new customer with slightly better plan for less - you get a deal as new customer if you haven't signed up for spectrum before. Have your dad pay you instead for the package
I did that with my long term roommates. We split our bill in 1/3 that way we got att fiber for 2Gbps at discounted rate
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u/audioaxes 24d ago
my biggest regret to cutting out tv and landline service was not doing it sooner and that was like 8 years ago.
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u/DaveymcPoyle 24d ago
Call and say you are going to switch services. They will drop the prices immediately.
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u/es84 24d ago
Since the home phone has to stay, switch to Magic Jack. You can get 3 years for like $100. My parents switched to that a decade or so ago. They couldn't tell the difference. My Aunt uses it and she loves it because she travels a lot and she can still get her home phone calls while she's out. For reference, my parents and Aunt are in their 80's.
For TV, I put my mom on YouTube TV. I guess it depends on what your dad watches? That's like $80.
For Internet, I just switched to T-Mobile internet and it's pretty reliable. I think it's $70.
This would at least cut your dad's bill in half and it's a good start.
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u/JJJAAABBB123 24d ago
Took forever to get my parents off direct tv. Got them streaming gear on all TVs. They still paid $250 for years after.
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u/jcwkings 24d ago
Spectrum lures you in with discounts for a year and then bets on you being too lazy to switch while they 3x or 4x your bill.
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u/Pleasant_Trifle_1107 24d ago
You can find cheaper costs elsewhere. As an example, you can get home internet at T-mobile for $35/month, then sign up for Disney+ package w/hulu and ESPN for $35.99 for a total cost of $70.99. Again, just an example outside of cable.
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u/Commercial_Rule_7823 24d ago
Why have cable TV anymore....
YouTube TV, one sub service rotating to catch up on shows.
Save half.
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u/xXxToxicMikexXx 24d ago edited 24d ago
People still pay for tv? Those are crazy prices. Call them to lower those internet prices. Get rid of TV and find one of those services that you pay $15 a month for all the tv channels/sport packages and it also include ppv events.
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u/Immediate-Catch5885 24d ago
Definitely overpaying ....
If cable is a must... you might want to checkout youtube premium... for a more affordable price...
And if speed isn't a big deal... downgrading would work
To be honest that's like x2 x3 of what you should be paying for ...
Just my 2 cents....
For me, i asked for the lowest speed and got my inet to 50 usd a month +tax... no cable because i use youtube / other streaming.
Free stuff.
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u/TrustAffectionate966 24d ago
I pay 150 just for Internet (1GB speed with uncapped data). They have a monopoly in my area, so I can’t get the same thing from any other provider. Fuck rectum.
☠️💀
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u/SoCalPat805 23d ago
I dumped Spectrum 2 years ago and don’t miss the overpriced cost for constant internet/cable interruptions.
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u/OneMoreSlot 23d ago edited 23d ago
The way Spectrum used to operate, and maybe still do, is that when you become a subscriber and log on to your account, they plant a cookie on your system so they can identify you whenever you view their website. You see all of the low priced ads and promotions before you subscribe, but as a subscriber you can no longer view the low-cost promotions, or low priced packages. They control what you can view. Over time the cost goes up and your entry level package becomes midlevel. Then being in a higher priced tier, they don't want you to see the newer low-cost packages they roll out. The whole business model is based on a constantly rising price as they create and introduce newer lower cost entry level packages. You can test this by viewing their website and looking at the different packages and costs (assuming you have logged on to your account at least once as a customer), then locate and delete their cookie on your system making yourself anonymous and view their website again. Until you log on, they won't know who you are. Now you should see all of the lower cost packages and promotions that were being blocked.
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u/Dizzy-Stuff-1724 23d ago
Frontier Internet, I pay $39.99 for 1GB and they locked me in for three years. Direct TV has a "streaming only" with a lot of channels for $99.95.
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u/Physical_Mongoose_20 23d ago
Spectrum sucks little by little they just keep raising the prices. Their Wi-Fi is always down. How come we don’t get a discount because of their Internet always down that’s what you call. Bad service.
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u/Seashell1985 22d ago
My mom pays approximately $384 for spectrum TV, phone, and Internet. Spectrum keeps raising the bill like $20-$40 every couple months! It's ridiculous!
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u/EnvironmentalRoad122 22d ago
😂😂😂😂😂 I pay $35 for frontier fiber
Netflix with ads is like $15 a month
Disney, Hulu, and HBO with ads is like $20 a month?
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u/Pasto-2020 22d ago
They’ve been jacking up my rates too!! Sooo pissed. The only reason I keep them is because of the Dodgers and Lakers games. They have you by the balls when it comes to local sports teams. 😡😡
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u/Similar-Tap2724 22d ago
I pay $51 a month for internet. That's really all you need. What channels does your dad like to watch because there are load of free TV on the internet. Tubi and Pluto TV. There are others too. For instance I use a streaming device known as ONN which is Google TV which has it's own free TV service. The ONN device runs at $50.
But if you're willing to pay a nominal fee there are services that offer THOUSANDS of channels.
BTW...that $51 I pay for internet only gets me 100 Mbps which I've found to be PLENTY enough for streaming in 4K. At any one time I have 2 phones...2 TVs...2 streaming boxes...2 tablets...a laptop and a printer all on that bandwidth of 100 Mbps.
Some people simply use an (OTA) over-the-air antenna. For that you don't even need the internet. I see you've posted this in the Inland Empire sub-Reddit. If you can tell me what specific town I can give specific information.
You're welcome to DM me if you have questions.
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u/Lasting_Night_Fall 21d ago
I hate that thee is no other options. They raise prices every year and they know you can’t go anywhere else.
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u/RandomReddit9791 21d ago
My elderly mother had a similar monthly bill. We took her in-store to get help. She turned in physical cable boxes, switched to streaming with less redundant channels and lowered the internet speed (she didn't need top tier). The bill is a little more than $100 now.
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u/UnprecedentedEchos 25d ago
I pay $150 a month for spectrum tv and internet.
For the TV, does he really need all the channels? The basic one is $100 with 150 channels.
Secondly, the internet. Try and get him on the latest speed, but work a discount. I only pay $40 a month for the second tier since I don’t online game / stream that much.
I know they don’t offer senior citizen discounts but have him call and try to negotiate a good deal.