Time Warner Cable Is Now Spectrum - still sucks

My tale of woe continues.

We just got transferred over from the 'old' Time Warner Cable lineup to the new Spectrum cable line up.

We got bumped to a different tier channel line up and I lost a bunch of channels.

So, to get them back I have to pay more.

The worst part is Spectrum has dropped the local FM feed from the San Diego stations.

I no longer get my beloved KSDS/Jazz88 feed!!

I was so upset, I called the customer support only to have them confirm that all the SD stations are not available, that the onscreen display saying they are available to purchase thru customer care is false because Spectrum doesn't even list them anymore in their channel lineup.

When I asked to talk to a supervisor if there are any future plans to add them back, even at a charge, I got put on hold for 20 minutes only to be told that due to the call volume a supervisor will call me back *within an hour*....um...it's been WAY longer than an hour, and still no call.

F' me in the heart.

 

As much as I hated TW since this switch it has been worse. PlayStation Vue I think will be my next stop to get the few remaining cable channels I watch anymore.

 

They're definitely pretty bad. Many times the speeds in the area are barely faster than about fifteen years ago.

 

Yep. Ever since Spectrum took over, my speeds seemed to have dropped off (I feel like I am getting throttled,) I also get intermittent lag spikes and disconnects, just enough to disrupt what I am doing. Also, I used to be able to have simultaneous things going. For example, I used to be able to stream a live video and either play a game or download something at the same time. Now when I try to do that, either the video is choppy with pauses in video (sound usually keeps up but not always) or the lag spikes in any online game I play causes disconnects. Of course I can't prove that they are throttling speeds and bandwidth, but based on how it was prior to them taking over, I never had problems.

Also, as mentioned by others, my cable TV tier package remained the same but they removed some channels from the tier and if you want them, you have to pay extra.

 

I have the 300 meg internet and it has been rock solid. No spikes or disconnects and streaming in 1080p is smooth.
Consistent gaming performance and absolutely no throttling or data caps.
I use my own modem and pay $65 per month. Pretty fair deal, imho.

 

Just got a call from a 'supervisor'.

Yup - confirmed that Spectrum is permanently dropping all the FM station feeds.

Since we were told twice 1)initial phone call to customer support, 2)in store representative, that we would lose NO channels, the supervisor apologized and offered to give me a $25 discount off of the next bill.

Awesome.

F' me in the heart.

 

Please, anybody: I have Spectrum and am curious about this. What Spectrum channels do you find the local FM stations on? Is this FM feed just a local service to San Diego or do they have it all around the country. I'd like to see what this is about before they drop them.

 

Could just be the San Diego area.

But I used to get channels 1958 thru 1968 for local FM station feeds. 1967 being jazz88

 

I can't wait to decide on a streaming service and cut the landline phone and tell these turkeys to take a hike.

 

I'm trying to figure out the easiest and quickest way to getting jazz88 back into my sound system.
May start with a simple audio cable from my android phone to my int amp inputs.

Then start digging around for something more 'permanent'.

 

Me too. Those nice push button cable boxes, a feed to the airport security camera, and channel J!

 

You must not be watching their commercials: "It's A New Day!" Sunrises! Happy People! Higher Cable Bills! (more of nothing you want and the ESPN subsidy will continue)

 

We just dumped ATT Uverse cable and internet and went with Spectrum internet and Dish for TV. ATT was giving me 20 Mbps down and 2 Mbps up. Spectrum is a lot faster, about 118 Mbps down and 12 Mbps up, and cheaper than ATT. So far, I'm really liking Dish, it's cheaper than ATT as well.

 

Yup things always get worse dont they??

Its very sad......

 

just got my latest bill.....5 more channels dropped, nothing added.

that's 7 channels gone in the 2 months of spectrum bills i've gotten.

 

In our case I have not noticed any channels gone but channels added ... but I have to pay more to get them. They are all what I would consider"basic cable" channels, too. One of the channels is a classic rerun channel, don't know what it's called but has Barney Miller, All in the Family, Benson, etc. Shows I would watch, but not at an added $10 month to access this one channel.

 

sounds like TV land that is one of the ones they took away from us.

 

I just looked and it's Family Net. Never heard of it before the switch. As far as TV Land goes they took away the HD feed of that channel, only available on the lower SD end. Though you can stream the HD feed via the Spectrum app. Yeah, that makes sense ...

 

i am very concerned that when my promotions run out, (i have a couple of them going right now) i will lose a whole lot of TV.

not a lot of faith in "spectrum"...people always bitched about time-warner, but i think this is going to be a case of "careful what you wish for"

 

FYI

my wife handles her mother's bills and her mom's spectrum bill went up $10 this month.

they charged her $3.95 for voicemail (she has an answering machine, never used voicemail in her life, wouldn't even know how to) and raised the price of renting the DVR to $12.99 a month.

now, we all know that you cannot, under any circumstances, buy a DVR that works with spectrum's equipment, so, to rent a DVR is $155.88 a year.......you read that correctly $155.88 a year.

in 5 years that is $779.40.................and you can't even frickin buy one if you want to.

when you tell them this they say you can get the regular box (no recording) for free! thanks......bastards.

and then i talk to the satellite people and they have problems too. so what do you do, what do you do?

 

i just got off the phone with spectrum, and i was wrong in the above post.......if you do not wish to rent the DVR for $12.99 a month you can get a regular (non-record-able) channel-changer for $11.75 a month.

 

Never had any problems with my satellite through Direct TV, does it lose signal every once in a while with a severe storm? Sure but not for long and not very often. I pay probably a bit more than others, 3 HD boxes plus HBO, Cinemax, and Showtime. Have the super DVR in the main area, pretty much impossible to fill up the memory, have over 120 hours of shows on it and it's only 1/2 full. Records multiple channels all at once, picture quality is great. Pay about $180, was cheaper years ago when I first signed up after ditching Time Warner, all my deals have expired. Not worth chasing a dollar somewhere else when I'm totally pleased with the service I get now.

 

i have almost everything that you have except for the multiple boxes and unlimited recording, add epix and starz, phone service, and internet....about $150 a month.

 

Man, I must be cursed for all things electronic.

Wrecktum picture quality continues be a crap shoot.

Today was watching TCM and the last part of She Wore A Yellow Ribbon and I get *severe* picture pixelation, freeze, and interruption.



Other channels were fine - only TCM.

That tells me service delivery, not my stuff.

This happens off and on for other channels as well.

 

I went to Spectrum to pay a bill and ask about my old modem, which I got from TWC ten years ago and cuts out and reboots sometimes for no good reason.

Long story short, here's a new modem, maybe you want a better router too, and our channel package, five times faster internet and all that stuff and you're bill will go down by $20 a month.

Welllllll.....

I took the modem. I'll keep my old router. $20 a month savings? Even if it's just for now I'm willing to roll the dice. I mean, how much of a let down can the service be compared to my old TWC Legacy package?

Right??!?

Guy in the store was a nice old gent and seemed sincere. Told me to stop in and tell him how I liked the service next time I was walking by (the Spectrum place is in the mall). He wanted to make sure he did the best he could for his customers. He even gave me his card. How could I say no?

One year from now if Spectrum tries jacking me I'll cut the cord and tell them to go screw. I can get by just fine watching Welcome Back Kotter reruns on the antennae. My wife not so much but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.