NY AG Sues Charter Communications Over Slow Internet Speeds

Charter Communications is in hot water with New York's Chaser General over Cyberspace speeds. Chaser Full general, Eric Schneiderman, sued Charter—the 2nd largest US Internet access provider (ISP)—and its subsidiary Spectrum, formerly called Time Warner Cable (TWC), on charges of "systematically and knowingly" promising customers with Internet speeds it could non deliver. The accommodate seeks to recoup afflicted customers for "five years of broken promises", totaling in "hundreds of millions of dollars" of restitution and amercement.

Spectrum-TWC's marketing, since January 2022, has promised subscribers a "fast, reliable connectedness" from anywhere in their home, but a 16-month investigation by the AG's office found that is non always the example, and customers have been "dramatically short-changed", according to a news release.

Based on its investigation, which included a review of the visitor'due south internal corporate communications along with hundreds of thousands of speed tests, Schneiderman'south office institute that wired Internet speeds for the visitor's premium program have been upwards to seventy% slower than promised. Wi-Fi speeds are even worse, in some cases lxxx% slower than what a customer paid for.

In a statement, Charter Communications said it's "disappointed" with the lawsuit, adding that it covers claims TWC made prior to its merger with Charter in 2022.

"Charter made significant commitments to NY Country as part of our merger with TWC in areas of network investment, broadband deployment and offerings, client service and jobs," the company said. "In addition, Lease is amidst the highest rated broadband providers in the 2022 FCC Broadband Report. Charter has already made substantial investments in the interest of upgrading the TWC systems and delivering the best possible experience to customers. We will continue to invest in our business and deliver the highest quality services to our customers while we defend against these allegations involving Time Warner Cable practices."

In 2022, Schneiderman opened an investigation into Verizon, Cablevision, and TWC, asking each for copies of disclosures made to customers and details about speed tests. He later launched an online form that allows consumers to run into whether their advertised speeds are accurate.

In June 2022, Schneiderman'southward office urged Lease to brand TWC Internet service less "bottomless". In a letter to Charter CEO, Tom Rutledge, at the fourth dimension, Tim Wu, Senior Enforcement Counsel and Special Adviser to Schneiderman, called on the Internet access provider to exercise more than re-brand as it integrated with TWC.

Today, Schneiderman's office said Spectrum-TWC executives knew 'bottlenecks' in their network would cause regular slowdowns, lag fourth dimension, and buffering but their marketing promised seamless video streams and online gameplay.

"These executives traded on the fact that well-nigh subscribers had a limited pick of Net service providers and that the technical complication of deducing the bug would make information technology difficult for subscribers to pin the arraign on the visitor," the announcement reads.

"Spectrum-TWC has been ripping you lot off," Schneiderman added. "Today's action seeks to bring much-needed relief to the millions of New Yorkers that Spectrum-TWC has cheated for far as well long. Even now, Sit continues to offering Cyberspace speeds that nosotros plant they cannot reliably evangelize."

About Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo is PCMag'due south expert on fitness and smart domicile products. Teaching yoga for nearly x years has helped her in evaluating a range of continued health products including fettle trackers, middle rate monitors, rowers, smart scales, stationary bikes, forcefulness training machines, treadmills, and more. Angela also tests smart home devices from her ranch in Florida, including air purifiers, kitchen appliances, and robot vacuums, just to proper name a few.