An Honest Spectrum Internet Review, According to Customers (2024)

Spectrum Internet is the way to go if you need a reliable home Wi-Fi connection and can’t get fiber internet in your area. You would get faster speeds from most fiber providers, but Spectrum is much more widely available and still gets you excellent speeds at a reasonable price.

“I would say it’s standard and reliable,” Sakia Anwar, a Spectrum customer in Queens, New York, told Reviews.org in an interview. Like many customers, Anwar chose Spectrum because it’s the fastest and most reliable option in her area.

“They’re very affordable, and if I’m having an issue, they’re very good about troubleshooting,” said Sakia Anwar, a Spectrum customer in Queens, New York.

If you’re looking to save money, a 5G home internet provider like T-Mobile would be a better pick than Spectrum. But Spectrum’s cable connection is far more reliable and consistent than 5G. Plus, you can also take advantage of Spectrum’s regular slate of deals and promos—including a mobile phone bundle that gets you an Unlimited Mobile plan free for a year.

“They’re very affordable, and if I’m having an issue, they’re very good about troubleshooting,” Anwar said. “If needed, they’ll send a technician out right away and get it resolved.”

We took a deep dive into Spectrum Internet and spoke with customers and experts to see what it’s all about. Read on for our comprehensive review.

On this page:

• Spectrum plans and pricing
• How did we research this review?
• Our take on Spectrum Internet
• Deals and promotions
• What customers think
• Does Spectrum have fiber internet?
• Spectrum vs. the competition

Spectrum Internet plans and pricing

Spectrum offers three internet packages: Up to 300Mbps for $50 per month, 500Mbps for $70 per month, and up to 1Gig for $80 per month. Speed tiers and prices vary slightly depending on the region you’re in. But a customer can get download speeds up to 1,000Mbps over Spectrum’s “hybrid fiber coaxial” network. Spectrum’s network mostly consists of cable coverage, but customers can get fiber-to-the-home connections in limited areas.

Spectrum also has options for bundling internet with TV and mobile (through the Spectrum Mobile brand), and small businesses can sign up for Spectrum Business Internet.

You get a decent deal from Spectrum—compared to similar cable internet providers, the prices are similar and the terms are better. The modem includes an arbitrary-seeming $5 monthly fee just to use Wi-Fi, but that gets canceled out with a $5 monthly AutoPay discount. (You can also waive the $5 Wi-Fi fee if you buy your own modem.) The monthly bill goes up by $20 after a year of service, but customers get unlimited data and don’t have to sign an annual contract.

Which plan is right for you?

Spectrum's 500Mbps plan is the right plan for most internet users, since it offers the most value regarding speed, price, and data. Since all packages offer unlimited data, the key differentiating factors are price and download speeds, and the $70 per month 500Mbps plan hits the sweet spot.

While the 300Mbps plan is the cheapest Spectrum internet plan, it may not be fast enough if you have more than two internet users or multiple connected devices, such as security cameras or smart home equipment.

Most users don't need gigabit speeds, but for just $10 more than Spectrum's 500Mbps, Spectrum's 1Gig plan is a great choice for large families or users with media-heavy professions.

Spectrum fees for modem and installation

Spectrum Internet—What deals and promotions can you get?

Spectrum add-ons and perks

What do customers think of Spectrum Internet?

Most of the customers we spoke to about Spectrum decided to sign up because they had no other viable options. Cable internet companies tend to hold a lot of sway in the regions where they operate, and it’s not uncommon for a brand like Spectrum to be the only high-speed internet option in an area.

“Spectrum was the only service provider that offered anything faster than 100Mbps download,” said Sean Huntley, a documentary producer who lives in Glendale, California with his girlfriend, Alex Brown.

“What, are you going to go to a different water company? It’s a water company,” he said.

Huntley and Brown both work in the film industry (Brown is a film editor) and their jobs require them to have a gigabit home internet plan to work from home. So they go for the fastest-possible Spectrum plan. Their speeds usually clock in at around 400–500Mbps. That’s below the 1,000Mbps ceiling that is advertised on their plan, but it’s common for internet connections to fall short of the absolute max. They still get plenty of bandwidth to handle downloading large video files, although uploads take longer.

They have rare outages, and setup was quick. All in all, they’re pleased with their service, even if they would prefer fiber. “It’s been competent—and compulsory,” Huntley jokes.

"Spectrum is competent—and compulsory." - Sean Huntley

Some users report poor customer service and inconsistent speeds

Conrad Burnham, a Spectrum user in Los Angeles, doesn’t have to wait long if there is an outage in his area. “They seem to respond quickly and take care of problems pretty fast,” he said.

But things haven’t gone as smoothly for other Spectrum users—experiences that mirror Spectrum’s middling ratings for customer service. When New York City customer Sakia Anwar experienced a service outage recently, she contacted technical support, only to get stuck on the phone with an upselling customer service agent. He tried to sell her a cable TV plan as she raced to get her internet back up to make it to a work call.

“I told him three or four times, ‘No, I am not interested,’ and he just would not stop,” Anwar recalls. “I think he was reading off a script or something. He was like, ‘Oh, okay, thank you for your feedback,’ and he would keep going on. I wanted to punch him in the throat.”

"I told [the customer service agent] three or four times, ‘No, I am not interested,’ and he just would not stop.” - Sakia Anwar, customer

Robyn Straw, a Spectrum user in St. Cloud, experienced daily outages in summer 2023 that took hours each time to fix. She has missed work calls over Zoom and is now fed up with the long waits that come when she contacts customer service through the My Spectrum app.

“It’s not very customer friendly,” she said, noting that she’s now considering a switch to satellite provider Starlink.

Need to contact Spectrum customer service or tech support?

• Call customer service at +1-888-369-2408, Monday through Friday.
• Send a message through chat support.
• Download My Spectrum App.

Does Spectrum have fiber internet?

Spectrum’s internet runs over what it calls a “hybrid fiber coaxial” network. That’s a fancy term used to describe a typical cable internet network: fiber-optic infrastructure makes up a provider’s regional backbone, and then the network switches to coaxial cable for the “last mile” to deliver data into peoples’ homes. That’s not to be confused with a fiber-optic internet service, often referred to as fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), which delivers internet entirely over a fiber network.

But while the bulk of its customers get cable internet only, Spectrum has actually been offering fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) in parts of the country. “It’s a real thing. The company installs it in ‘green’ markets not claimed by other fiber providers,” said Kevin Parrish, a staff writer (and longtime Spectrum customer) at HighSpeedInternet.com. “What it doesn’t do is install FTTH in areas it already delivers cable internet.”

"It's a real thing." – Internet expert Kevin Parrish on Spectrum fiber

It’s not clear how many homes Spectrum has connected to fiber so far—a spokesperson declined to give Reviews.org an exact number. Regardless of the network size, Spectrum’s cable offerings could eventually become as powerful as fiber as the company works to upgrade its core network to support 10Gbps symmetrical speeds.

“Our multiyear network evolution now underway will give us the ability to deliver symmetrical and multi-gigabit speeds across our entire footprint in the coming years,” Bret Picciolo, Vice President of Communications at Charter Communications, tells Reviews.org in an email.

Where is Spectrum Internet available?

Spectrum Internet vs. the competition

Although Spectrum has plans in the making to compete with fiber, it still can’t top fiber-optic rivals like Verizon or Google Fiber in terms of speed or price.

Spectrum’s cable internet customers simply don’t get the symmetrical upload speeds that fiber internet customers do. With slower uploads, you get longer wait times and more buffering when you upload large files, post to social media, or host a livestream. Many fiber internet providers also don’t impose price hikes on their plans, so you end up paying less over time than you would with a cable provider like Spectrum.

“Spectrum needs to get rid of promo rates and drastically lower their regular rates to be competitive in areas with fiber,” one Reddit user, teavoo, told Reviews.org. “I would need a very significant discount to give up fiber for Spectrum, like maybe $35 [per month] on a regular [rate], not a promo rate.”

Compare internet providers and prices

5G home internet is a low-cost Spectrum alternative

Spectrum also isn’t as affordable as 5G home internet options from T-Mobile or Verizon. However, you're better off with Spectrum if you need fast speeds and a reliable connection.

With price hikes baked into the deal, Spectrum’s plans end up costing customers more than a 5G plan, which usually comes with a fixed price for two years or longer. 5G home internet also doesn’t have extra fees for things like installation or equipment.

However, Spectrum still beats 5G when it comes to speed—a cable connection is much more consistent than a wireless connection beamed from a cellular tower.

Spectrum Internet FAQ

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