The state claims TWC didn’t provide fast-enough modems for lease to deliver speeds promised, it didn’t provide wireless routers fast enough to deliver speeds promised (and made some outright laughable claims in its advertising about the abilities of its Wi-Fi), and it didn’t improve “last mile” infrastructure which delivers that coaxial cable into your home to sufficiently provide speeds promised.įirst, let’s look at the modems TWC leased to customers. Per the state’s complaint, TWC did three things that meant it could never deliver the speeds it was promising to customers - particularly to those paying for 100-megabit-per-second (Mbps), 200-Mbps, and 300-Mbps speed tiers. Second, that the company repeatedly promised reliable, “no buffering,” “no lag” internet, especially to services like Netflix or to online games like League of Legends, but was in fact purposefully letting the interconnections between TWC and outside companies degrade to an alarming degree - unless the companies, like Netflix, were willing to start paying for access to TWC customers. The complaint boils down to two essential charges: First, that starting in 2012, TWC began aggressively pushing customers to sign up for higher-priced internet-service subscriptions for ostensibly faster speeds - speeds the company knew it couldn’t deliver because its hardware was old and its infrastructure was decaying. It’s one where engineers and customer-support reps repeatedly and consistently bring up problems about the company’s internet-service plans, only to have their solutions shot down by execs higher up the ladder as being “too costly.” If the government’s case is accurate, it shows the combination of deceit and intentional neglect that created an ISP that sold customers one thing and provided something else altogether. But more importantly, thanks to numerous internal emails and documents from TWC, it gives a glimpse of the corporate culture inside TWC.
Partly, this is because of the deep insight it offers into potentially why - particularly from 2012 to 2014 - your Time Warner Cable internet sucked.
The full complaint is one of the rare legal briefs that makes for good, compelling reading, particularly for any Time Warner Cable customer who has stared at that “Netflix is having trouble loading” screen even though they’re paying for more than enough speed for Netflix, and they’ve already been on the phone with Time Warner Cable like four times about this, and Jesus Christ, just play some episodes of 30 Rock, please? After reading the full complaint against Spectrum-Time Warner Cable, I’d say the state is accusing Time Warner Cable less of “ripping off” customers and more of “pissing on New Yorkers’ heads and telling them it’s raining.” Schneiderman was no doubt using the strongest language he could in a government statement. “The allegations in lawsuit confirm what millions of New Yorkers have long suspected - Spectrum-Time Warner Cable has been ripping you off,” said Attorney General Schneiderman in a press release. The company formerly known as Time Warner Cable - now known as Spectrum after a merger between Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable - is being sued by New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman for allegedly lying to customers, since at least 2012, about their internet services.