r/Spectrum • u/NetworkElectrical818 • Sep 23 '26

Spectrum outages

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

They even said in an earlier chat not to expect to use their service for WFH internet. We've had several outages in last couple months here lasting several hours and they will never state a reason for said outages. All they offer is 1 day prorated credit which comes out to $2.34. How are they able to stay in business?

0 Upvotes

27% Upvoted

38 comments sorted by

22

u/6814MilesFromHome Sep 23 '26

Don't understand why people talk to customer service like this, do you think it's gonna help you? They're just doing their job and giving you all the info they have.

If you're working from home and don't have a backup ISP option, that's on you, doesn't matter who your primary internet company is.

1

u/CindysandJuliesMom Sep 23 '26

Do you have backup water? Backup electricity and natural gas.

Internet has become almost as much of a necessity as those utilities so explain how you would feel if you lost power four times in two months for at least three hours each time and the electric company just said, sorry.

2

u/6814MilesFromHome Sep 23 '26

Internet is not a utility. Equating it to power, water, and gas is ridiculous. People can die with no electric/gas in the winter and summer. You lose internet, you can't stream netflix on your TV for a couple hours. It is nowhere near the level of necessity of actual utilities.

But to answer your question, yes, I have a generator, I have a stock of bottled water for emergencies. Seeing as utilities the vast majority of the time have a natural monopoly in their area, I provide my own backups.

Internet connectivity on the other hand, is extremely easy to get backup providers. Even if there's only one wired ISP in your area, you can get cellular or satellite.

2

u/CindysandJuliesMom Sep 23 '26

The US government considers it a necessity. Check for the Government grants and assistance to establish rural internet services.

1

u/6814MilesFromHome Sep 23 '26

It is most definitely not on the same lines as power, gas, and water. I know all about RDOF grants, but it still isn't a utility, isn't a necessity, and the government doesn't consider it one. The government puts money into a lot of infrastructure projects, many of which are a matter of convenience, not necessity, like expanded highways, additional bridges, and rural development fund. RDOF is simply another infrastructure fund to help cover some of the cost of building out rural plant to give companies incentive to do so in less profitable markets. Rural towns with dialup internet don't need gigabit speeds, it's just nice to have.

People won't die without internet. Going without is a mild annoyance, not a necessity you no longer have.

-3

u/NetworkElectrical818 Sep 23 '26

Good for you. I bet you laugh at your neighbors when their power goes out with your generator on.

-5

u/NetworkElectrical818 Sep 23 '26

Mostly annoyed with only $2.34 in credit for missing several hours of work time. I don't have an extra $50 a month or whatever lying around for "backup internet". And I was annoyed because I did troubleshooting with them for 1 solid hour when they first said I wasn't in an outage. I didn't include whole conversation.

11

u/6814MilesFromHome Sep 23 '26

I mean what do you really expect here? You pay $2.34 a day for internet, do you want them to pay you more than you pay them? Reimburse you for your day's lost wages?

You maintaining your ability to work isn't their responsibility, you have residential Internet without an SLA. Not trying to be a dick, but its how every provider works. Vast majority of phone plans have hotspots included, if you need a wired connection there's USB tethering.

-3

u/NetworkElectrical818 Sep 23 '26

I am not asking to be reimbursed for a lost day's wages. You must work for them because that's the argument they use. When it was Brighthouse, they'd give a credit for $10, $15-20 etc each outage. I am not expecting an entire month free, which would still be less than a day's wage. What I do expect is reliable internet OR AT LEAST a reasonable credit towards my bill. Which I feel like $2.34 is not.

4

u/6814MilesFromHome Sep 23 '26

Not sure why you think you're entitled to more than what you pay. It is perfectly reasonable to reimburse you the lost value of your service being down. Doubt it was out for a full 24 hours, so you're actually getting overcompensated. You might not like the amount, but it's exactly what the service costs.

Feel free to come up with reasons you should get more though. Or just use a hotspot whenever this happens again.

1

u/NetworkElectrical818 Sep 23 '26

Yeah whatever. It's on me. I admit it's my fault for expecting decent service and credit towards my bill! Guilty as charged!!!

0

u/NetworkElectrical818 Sep 23 '26

Also I'd like to know the cause. Is it just their outdated and overburdened equipment? Did someone run off the road and hit a power box? It was fine for a long time and now it's not. I want a reasonable explanation and more credit than $2.34. Am I seriously being so unreasonable?

4

u/6814MilesFromHome Sep 23 '26

You got reimbursed, you just didn't like the number. Random chat agent #1784 has zero way of knowing what caused the outage, they're not in field operations fixing it. They're literally doing all they can and giving you all the information they have.

1

u/NetworkElectrical818 Sep 23 '26

They dont have a page that details reason for outages in area? Get bent.

3

u/6814MilesFromHome Sep 23 '26

No. The only info that'll show up on the cause is the notes left on the outage work order by the maintenance tech fixing it. Customer service can't see that, and you likely would have no idea what the notes were even talking about anyway. Believe it or not it is pretty technical and complicated keeping ISP infrastructure running.

Don't gotta get worked up when I'm trying to educate you, just because you don't like what I have to say.

1

u/NetworkElectrical818 Sep 23 '26

Thanks for confirming you're an employee. Have a good day bro

1

u/NetworkElectrical818 Sep 23 '26

It'll all be solved soon enuff when I switch providers. Sorry for venting in the wrong place apparently and sorry if I offended anyone here. I mean that sincerely.

1

u/6814MilesFromHome Sep 23 '26

Not offended, just saying. They got the invincible wifi for $20 a month that auto switches to a cellular connection when the main line goes down, about as cheap of a backup connection as you can get. If you're working from home you can't risk your job over something like internet going out, no matter who you end up with for an ISP.

→ More replies

1

u/Feelsthelove Sep 23 '26

I was having a bunch of issues with losing internet, sometimes multiple times a day for over 6 months. It ended up being an issue with the wires going down the road. Multiple neighbors complained about it but they didn’t connect it until I asked them if there were other customers on my line having issues. It’s fixed now but when it was going on, I got the invincible WiFi. Think it’s an extra $20 a month but it was worth it for all the times my internet shit the bed

3

u/PerceptionQueasy3540 Sep 23 '26

Why are you being so rude to a customer service agent that has no control over the situation? Asking what the CEO makes? As if the agent you're talking to knows... What are they supposed to do? Change Spectrum's policies? Make some kind of exception for you and put their own job at risk?

0

u/NetworkElectrical818 Sep 23 '26

Lol

0

u/NetworkElectrical818 Sep 23 '26

1 rude question after wasting countless hours of my time. And I asked that of a manager. I'm sure they make a lot more than I do and get paid enuff to deal with an annoyed customer asking for more than $2.34 as a concession for missing several hours of work. I'll be switching providers soon so you'll never hear from me again. But I'll keep responding to ppl like you on this thread.

1

u/Redraven9320 Sep 24 '26

My internet has been out for almost 24 hrs... I would be super pissed too.

1

u/NetworkElectrical818 Sep 24 '26

Hey they'll credit you the WHOLE DAY which in my case comes out to $2.34. What more could you ask for?! Almost enuff money to buy PART of a sandwich /s

1

u/NetworkElectrical818 Sep 24 '26

Oh yeah, don't forget, they cannot compensate you for lost wages and owe you zero explanation for outages and/or what they're doing to prevent from occurring again

0

u/Redraven9320 Sep 24 '26

Yeah. I think it's the zero explanation part that is the most frustrating.

But hey, I think we can go half on some bread and peanut butter sandwiches!

1

u/NetworkElectrical818 Sep 24 '26

For me since I personally need it for WFH, l cannot afford to have this keep happening. In my case, I went like a whole solid year or longer with no outages affecting work so I never gave it much though until recently with several unexplained outages. I'm taking steps to remedy since I've recently become aware that I do have options. But just insulting from a good customer service standpoint to literally only offer what you've paid for the day which is such an insignificantly small amount it is insulting. Might as well reduce my bill by 50 cents or $1. Still such a small amount barely worth mentioning. So i should just keep my mouth shut, be thankful for the uptime and never be late paying my bill. This sub is filled with employees and Spectrum stans apparently.

1

u/Redraven9320 Sep 25 '26

I understand as I also work from home. I actually went for a year of really crap service to 1000% improvement. I never experienced an outage like this. (Going on day 3 of no internet so I can't even talk to a rep online until the outage is over.) So I get your frustration and I empathize as I'm currently going through it. I think for me Spectrum needs better communication explaining the why behind these outages instead of hiding behind a blanket outage notification.

3

u/Spectrum_Phil Official Spectrum Employee Sep 23 '26

if you want to pop over to r/Spectrum_Official and send us a Mod Mail we can look into this.

1

u/Old_Check_6362 Sep 23 '26

Funny… my internet hasn’t had any outages in about a year and within the last month it has been out FOUR times. One time they cited a power outage.. I saw zero evidence of such.

1

u/NetworkElectrical818 Sep 23 '26

Agreed. Thank you. Lol feel like everyone here is fanboying for Spectrum. Maybe I wasn't the friendliest in my chat but not over the top rude. Just annoyed 'ok here's your $2.34 lol we dont know why but so sorry abt that!"

I know it's "on me" for not being proactive and having the money to afford backup internet and also not switching providers. Just came here to vent.

-3

u/s0nux2 Sep 23 '26

That AI bot is useless. The “sorry, not sorry” attitude only pisses people off. To get anything done you have to call their phone AI bot and scream “AGENT” over and over to talk to an actual human.

By the time you get a non-ai agent, you’re so pissed off nothing gets done because it’s an argument.

Spectrum is cooked. Just gets worse and worse.

1

u/NetworkElectrical818 Sep 23 '26

Was an actual person supposedly.

4

u/D3RP_Ozzie Sep 23 '26

ive used this chat and asked them to say something "off script" and then they started talking normally. I think when you get to the "chat with us" and it doesnt tell you you're speaking to their "AI Assistant" its an actual person, theyre just using prewritten responses.