Spectrum internet was ordered to pay a whopping $18.8 million over slow internet speeds in California. This payment will finally allow Spectrum to move on from allegations that its predecessor, Time Warner Cable, was misleading in their advertising campaigns targeting California consumers.
The contention was that Time Warner Cable advertised high-speeds for their internet services in California that the company was completely incapable of delivering. Clearly is some truth to that accusation given the massive amount of money that Spectrum was willing to settle for. This $18.8 million settlement is the largest settlement secured by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office to date.
According to the terms of the settlement, Spectrum has agreed to pay $16.9 million in restitution to the more than 170,000 California consumers who were directly affected by Time Warner’s false advertising. Spectrum will also have to pay an addition $1.9 million to the three prosecuting agencies that have been involved in the case to cover all their costs that were associated with the investigation and subsequent prosecution.
Affected consumers can be divided into two basic groups: those who paid for internet speeds that Time Warner was not even capable of deliver due to their infrastructure, and those that purchased high-speed internet but were given a modem that was not capable of delivering those speeds.
Consumers will receive a portion of that $18.8 million depending on how they were affected. Some will receive a $90 one-time credit on their monthly bill, while others who received an outdated modem or internet speeds that were drastically different than those they thought they purchased will get a $180 credit. Spectrum is under deadline to deliver those credits before the end of April.
Spectrum will also offer three free months of Showtime programming for their cable customers and or one free month of one of the Spectrum Choice entertainment packages for those customers that only subscribe to their internet services.
While Spectrum never admitted liability through these proceedings, they did agree to not advertise internet speeds that they know they can’t deliver on in the future. This is a great example of why all consumers should do their own research before signing up with a new internet service provider.
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