Old charter customer capped at 20mbps, legacy account or just an old modem?
My grandparents have had charter for years. Our area offers only 100mbit at the lowest package. Our bill is something like $49 for “spectrum internet” plus $9 for the modem rental.
Since new spectrum internet accounts are like $70 and they no longer offer modem rental is it safe to assume we are under some sort of legacy plan? The only reason I ask is because it’s seems like I’ve only seen “legacy accounts” in reference to TWC and BH, companies bought in the buy out. Since charter was always the mother company did they offer legacy plans as well? It seems like they would just raise your rates and force you to upgrade the same way they do with cable.
We have an old Motorola surfboard that has “8 channels” or whatever, which people on here have said may also contribute to old speeds.
I’m going to call spectrum once I get some free time, because lord knows I’m gonna be on hold for a while. I figured maybe someone on here might know something the answer first so I can skip through the “sir please unplug your modem and plug it back in” bullshit if I know the answer.
They’ve had this speed for YEARS now, I’m pretty sure the base speed has upgraded multiple times but they’ve always had the ~20mbps
Posted Jan 27, 2022, 7:21 PM UTC
Yes they are def considered a legacy account. Just an FYI: Spectrum doesn't charge anything for modems now- they only charge if you use their router (please don't). Please let us know that make/model of their modem when you can.
100mb should be just fine for your gparents unless they're playing online games all day and d/l'ing tons of music/video files/etc...
I believe the line of succession went TWC-->BH-->Charter-->Spectrum but not 100% sure about BH though
Thanks! It’s an SB6121. I moved back in to help my grandma. Honestly I hardly download big files and when I do it’s not that big of a deal to wait, but since it’s $60 with the rental I figure $10 for the upgrade is worth it. Plus she’s paying $30 for premium channels she doesn’t use so ive got to call and cancel those anyways.
Is there a chance this can all be done without a cable installer? I’m beefed out with charter from back in 2002 when an installer gave me a lecture for having a dungeon and dragons book then refused to hook up the modem because my laptop did a file integrity check upon boot (like windows xp used to do if shut off improperly). Dude said my laptop was “broke” and gave me the business card of his “friend” who I could pay to fix it.
Ok so I would highly recommend that you get them on a current plan. You'll need to bring that really old modem back to a Spectrum store and they will give you a new one (yes, they're free). No, you won't need an installer as (theoretically) your coax cable is still good.
What router are you using though? I'd suggest getting a new one that's more current- the Archer series are good (A7 or A9 or AX10).
And the days of those type of installers is long gone thank goodness.
No succession....Charter bought Time Warner and Brighthouse, and merged into Spectrum.