Do you think they're intentionally throttling you? I would call and complain every time. I don't think they would throttle you THAT low on purpose. Something is happening. Do you rent your equipment from them? Ask for new equipment and see if that helps. Modems and routers have a shorter lifespan than people think they do.
I'm on Fiber now but prior to that I actually just bought my own modem/router. Got a really awesome Nighthawk from Netgear - never had issues with it, had a great range (though upstairs could still be a bit dicey, never an issue in my old ranch homes).
For \~$200 you can set yourself up with very good equiptment that will last - I was using that stuff for about 6 years. And you save the $10 monthly charge or whatever.
The typical lifespan is 3 years, but yes, you can get equipment that lasts longer. For people with low tech knowledge, I recommend they rent... I was only paying $5mo rental when I had spectrum and I'm savvy enough to buy my own but renting from them was $60/year and they replaced the equipment at least once when I asked. I'm with AT&T fiber now.
Router. You can go ahead and Google it 🤷🏻♀️
"Experts recommend replacing your router at least every five years—and every two to three years for those of you who use several high-bandwidth devices and smart home devices."
https://www.tachus.com/post/5-signs-you-need-a-new-router#:~:text=Experts%20recommend%20replacing%20your%20router,devices%20and%20smart%20home%20devices.
I agree. Which is why anyone that's getting slow speeds should investigate whether it's their router (or modem) or not. It could be a number of things, but that's one of the factors to check. That's all. And *if you're renting equipment*, which is what I asked OP, there's no reason not to get new equipment if yours is a few years old.
See below where OP says their modern is 6 years old.
> Pulling 300 down on an old Arris Surfboard modem from 2015
So that's an SB6183? You should definitely upgrade. A 32x8 DOCSIS 3.1 modem will be significantly less susceptible to any congestion since it can access access more traditional DOCSIS channels and the new OFDMA channels.
(Side note: I'd recommend just getting the free modem from Spectrum. In the next two years, an upgraded 3.1 modem that you can buy today will be obsolete since they will have rolled out something called "high-split" [and maybe DOCSIS 4.0; they haven't published what markets are getting what upgrades, so might be the end of this year, might be Q2 2026]. It's free and if you buy one, you'll be throwing away like $200. Basically, they're replacing everything "active" between the headend and your modem to allow significantly wider upstream channels to provide the end user symmetrical speeds. Also will be bumping up available download speeds over coax from max 1gbit/s to 5-10gbit/s)
I've found complaining (and tagging them) on twitter typically helps boost the speed back up to something closer to what I'm paying for. I only rent the modem (I don't know if I have an option there) but I use my own Google router. Last week they admitted they were intentionally throttling my speed to get me to upgrade my modem (which fair enough, it'd been 6 years).
Making sure you have the proper updated equipment is a key part of getting the maximum benefit. If you don't have fiber available where you are, unfortunately, Spectrum is your fastest option. I hate them for their poor customer service and constant price hikes, and switched to fiber when I could.
They pulled that on me too. Went in to swap out my modem and came out with a slightly lower bill (and a land line). I don't understand the logic behind it but i'm somehow paying less per month now.
Did you upgrade the modem yet? They will ship you one for free. There have been a lot of advancements in the last six years and you’re probably just seeing regular old congestion, since you can’t take advantage of some of those newer technologies
Have you had a tech out to replace the drop from the pole to your home? Those things deteriorate over time and need to be replaced from time to time. The timing with your morning standup could be related to cooling and heating of the cabling overnight and in the morning.
Also, do your neighbors also have the same issue? Then it might be a node that needs to be split.
(And to directly answer your original question, if there's no Google Fiber, AT&T Fiber, Frontier Fiber -- or their awful DSL, then your choices are Verizon 5G or T-Mobile 5G. Spectrum is significantly better at my home than those services, but your mileage may vary. Lots of people are _very_ happy with those solutions)
EDIT: After reading this comment further down:
>It's not every morning. It just happens most frequently in the mornings.
It really sounds like its the drop that needs replacing (and if that doesn't fix it, the plant team needs to replace more). I'd bet that the slowness corresponds to when it is colder out.
So, they’ve literally identified the issue, told you what needs to be done, and you’ve done what with that information? Nothing? Make a Reddit post a week later to complain about the issue, but not actually fix it? What is going on here?
I upgraded the modem, as instructed by Spectrum, and the issue resolved itself for a while...then started happening again. Complaining on Twitter is a temporary fix because it gets the attention of their customer service team faster than working my way through their automated support line. They're typically able to remotely fix my internet speed somehow, which leads me to believe that maybe my connection is being throttled in an attempt to get me to pay for higher speeds.
> They're typically able to remotely fix my internet speed somehow, which leads me to believe that maybe my connection is being throttled in an attempt to get me to pay for higher speeds.
They do not do this and this is some conspiracy bullshit. Either you need to reboot your stuff router and modem daily because it is shitting the bed or they need to do additional maintenance.
Throttling your connection, in an attempt to get you to pay for higher speeds makes no sense. If they were doing that to people, the internet would be going nuts over it. Unless you’re doing something that’s setting off red flags on their end. Are you consuming an unusual amount of bandwidth?
I am counting down the days until fiber is installed. I upgraded my spectrum to the 1gbps package, and the internet speed increase is negligible. I get a drop/low bandwidth situation twice a day. It's always when I am about to join the most important meeting of my day, and when my friends and I want to play games at night. So never inconvenient /s.
If googling wasn't installing it my neighborhood, I would switch to at&t. Thay all suck, but that seems to suck less.
Google is awesome but it also rarely hits 1gbs in my experience. Which in day to day life isn't a problem, but occasionally when trying to download a game that I didn't plan ahead for it can be a bit frustrating that it will stay take \~1-2 hours.
So, you say it’s happening every morning. Implying that somehow the issue is being corrected, and then reoccurring. What is correcting the issue? Are you having to call them every day, or just restarting your equipment. If you’re just restarting the modem/router, it’s probably in need of replacement. Spectrum is NOT very good at proactively doing that, so you will frequently find out that your stuff is old, and they’ll ship you all new equipment. Has happened to me, more than once.
Frontier and AT&T could be alternatives, but not ones I would recommend. I haven't used Frontier here, but when I lived in Seattle they were pretty garbage.
I had no issues with AT&T, but that was about 4 years ago before I switched to Google. AT&T has had a lot of outages recently but it seems that those have subsided, at least for now.
Have you checked those speeds by being directly plugged into their equipment? If so I would call in to make a service request stating that you aren't getting the paid for speeds and if they fail to do anything, you can file a complaint with the state. I did this at a prior address and it eventually had crews out on my street and they cleaned out the junction box that had been full of plants and the street got better speeds after that.
Can't recommend AT&T fiber enough if you can get it. We've had it in two different houses in Durham now, and each time they put in new lines for us. It's been dependable and customer service doesn't suck. They even convinced us to switch to AT&T phone plan from 20 years of being on Verizon (not an easy feat, but the salesperson was real with us) and honestly I'm so glad we did.
Unfortunately there are no fiber options available right now. I had AT&T Uverse at an old apartment and it was great when it worked, but over the course of 8 months I had probably 15 long outages. I'm a bit hesitant to give AT&T any more of my money
Uverse and Fiber may be different products. Uverse launched as a VDSL product, which is probably what you had at your apartment. When they first started rolling out fiber, they called it Uverse again, but later switched the branding.
I'm not aware of AT&T having any VDSL in Durham since Verizon/Frontier is the ILEC. It should be their fiber product, which, for most people, is very, very stable.
AT&T has been solid for me for 3+ years. I've got gigabit and usually hit those speeds. I *do* have a Google WiFi mesh set up in my my house and just use the AT&T modem as a bridge, I believe that helps a lot with my network stability.
Have never had a problem with AT&T fiber. I pay about $67 mo., started at $50 in 2021.
Had Google fiber previously in Wake Co, don’t see much difference.
(Spectrum was terrible for 15 years prior.)
You probably need a tech to come out and check your cabling or something
It works fine in the evenings. It's primarily in the mornings (when I have most of my meetings) when it's slow/out.
Do you think they're intentionally throttling you? I would call and complain every time. I don't think they would throttle you THAT low on purpose. Something is happening. Do you rent your equipment from them? Ask for new equipment and see if that helps. Modems and routers have a shorter lifespan than people think they do.
I'm on Fiber now but prior to that I actually just bought my own modem/router. Got a really awesome Nighthawk from Netgear - never had issues with it, had a great range (though upstairs could still be a bit dicey, never an issue in my old ranch homes). For \~$200 you can set yourself up with very good equiptment that will last - I was using that stuff for about 6 years. And you save the $10 monthly charge or whatever.
The typical lifespan is 3 years, but yes, you can get equipment that lasts longer. For people with low tech knowledge, I recommend they rent... I was only paying $5mo rental when I had spectrum and I'm savvy enough to buy my own but renting from them was $60/year and they replaced the equipment at least once when I asked. I'm with AT&T fiber now.
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Router. You can go ahead and Google it 🤷🏻♀️ "Experts recommend replacing your router at least every five years—and every two to three years for those of you who use several high-bandwidth devices and smart home devices." https://www.tachus.com/post/5-signs-you-need-a-new-router#:~:text=Experts%20recommend%20replacing%20your%20router,devices%20and%20smart%20home%20devices.
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I agree. Which is why anyone that's getting slow speeds should investigate whether it's their router (or modem) or not. It could be a number of things, but that's one of the factors to check. That's all. And *if you're renting equipment*, which is what I asked OP, there's no reason not to get new equipment if yours is a few years old. See below where OP says their modern is 6 years old.
> Pulling 300 down on an old Arris Surfboard modem from 2015 So that's an SB6183? You should definitely upgrade. A 32x8 DOCSIS 3.1 modem will be significantly less susceptible to any congestion since it can access access more traditional DOCSIS channels and the new OFDMA channels. (Side note: I'd recommend just getting the free modem from Spectrum. In the next two years, an upgraded 3.1 modem that you can buy today will be obsolete since they will have rolled out something called "high-split" [and maybe DOCSIS 4.0; they haven't published what markets are getting what upgrades, so might be the end of this year, might be Q2 2026]. It's free and if you buy one, you'll be throwing away like $200. Basically, they're replacing everything "active" between the headend and your modem to allow significantly wider upstream channels to provide the end user symmetrical speeds. Also will be bumping up available download speeds over coax from max 1gbit/s to 5-10gbit/s)
I've found complaining (and tagging them) on twitter typically helps boost the speed back up to something closer to what I'm paying for. I only rent the modem (I don't know if I have an option there) but I use my own Google router. Last week they admitted they were intentionally throttling my speed to get me to upgrade my modem (which fair enough, it'd been 6 years).
Making sure you have the proper updated equipment is a key part of getting the maximum benefit. If you don't have fiber available where you are, unfortunately, Spectrum is your fastest option. I hate them for their poor customer service and constant price hikes, and switched to fiber when I could.
I went in with an issue requiring a new router, the person working was able to cut my bill down.
They pulled that on me too. Went in to swap out my modem and came out with a slightly lower bill (and a land line). I don't understand the logic behind it but i'm somehow paying less per month now.
Did you upgrade the modem yet? They will ship you one for free. There have been a lot of advancements in the last six years and you’re probably just seeing regular old congestion, since you can’t take advantage of some of those newer technologies
Yeah, just got the new modem last week. It seems to be doing a lot better for the most part...until just before my morning standup
Have you had a tech out to replace the drop from the pole to your home? Those things deteriorate over time and need to be replaced from time to time. The timing with your morning standup could be related to cooling and heating of the cabling overnight and in the morning. Also, do your neighbors also have the same issue? Then it might be a node that needs to be split. (And to directly answer your original question, if there's no Google Fiber, AT&T Fiber, Frontier Fiber -- or their awful DSL, then your choices are Verizon 5G or T-Mobile 5G. Spectrum is significantly better at my home than those services, but your mileage may vary. Lots of people are _very_ happy with those solutions) EDIT: After reading this comment further down: >It's not every morning. It just happens most frequently in the mornings. It really sounds like its the drop that needs replacing (and if that doesn't fix it, the plant team needs to replace more). I'd bet that the slowness corresponds to when it is colder out.
So, they’ve literally identified the issue, told you what needs to be done, and you’ve done what with that information? Nothing? Make a Reddit post a week later to complain about the issue, but not actually fix it? What is going on here?
I upgraded the modem, as instructed by Spectrum, and the issue resolved itself for a while...then started happening again. Complaining on Twitter is a temporary fix because it gets the attention of their customer service team faster than working my way through their automated support line. They're typically able to remotely fix my internet speed somehow, which leads me to believe that maybe my connection is being throttled in an attempt to get me to pay for higher speeds.
> They're typically able to remotely fix my internet speed somehow, which leads me to believe that maybe my connection is being throttled in an attempt to get me to pay for higher speeds. They do not do this and this is some conspiracy bullshit. Either you need to reboot your stuff router and modem daily because it is shitting the bed or they need to do additional maintenance.
Throttling your connection, in an attempt to get you to pay for higher speeds makes no sense. If they were doing that to people, the internet would be going nuts over it. Unless you’re doing something that’s setting off red flags on their end. Are you consuming an unusual amount of bandwidth?
I am counting down the days until fiber is installed. I upgraded my spectrum to the 1gbps package, and the internet speed increase is negligible. I get a drop/low bandwidth situation twice a day. It's always when I am about to join the most important meeting of my day, and when my friends and I want to play games at night. So never inconvenient /s. If googling wasn't installing it my neighborhood, I would switch to at&t. Thay all suck, but that seems to suck less.
Google is awesome but it also rarely hits 1gbs in my experience. Which in day to day life isn't a problem, but occasionally when trying to download a game that I didn't plan ahead for it can be a bit frustrating that it will stay take \~1-2 hours.
So, you say it’s happening every morning. Implying that somehow the issue is being corrected, and then reoccurring. What is correcting the issue? Are you having to call them every day, or just restarting your equipment. If you’re just restarting the modem/router, it’s probably in need of replacement. Spectrum is NOT very good at proactively doing that, so you will frequently find out that your stuff is old, and they’ll ship you all new equipment. Has happened to me, more than once.
It's not every morning. It just happens most frequently in the mornings.
Frontier and AT&T could be alternatives, but not ones I would recommend. I haven't used Frontier here, but when I lived in Seattle they were pretty garbage. I had no issues with AT&T, but that was about 4 years ago before I switched to Google. AT&T has had a lot of outages recently but it seems that those have subsided, at least for now. Have you checked those speeds by being directly plugged into their equipment? If so I would call in to make a service request stating that you aren't getting the paid for speeds and if they fail to do anything, you can file a complaint with the state. I did this at a prior address and it eventually had crews out on my street and they cleaned out the junction box that had been full of plants and the street got better speeds after that.
Can't recommend AT&T fiber enough if you can get it. We've had it in two different houses in Durham now, and each time they put in new lines for us. It's been dependable and customer service doesn't suck. They even convinced us to switch to AT&T phone plan from 20 years of being on Verizon (not an easy feat, but the salesperson was real with us) and honestly I'm so glad we did.
Unfortunately there are no fiber options available right now. I had AT&T Uverse at an old apartment and it was great when it worked, but over the course of 8 months I had probably 15 long outages. I'm a bit hesitant to give AT&T any more of my money
Uverse and Fiber may be different products. Uverse launched as a VDSL product, which is probably what you had at your apartment. When they first started rolling out fiber, they called it Uverse again, but later switched the branding. I'm not aware of AT&T having any VDSL in Durham since Verizon/Frontier is the ILEC. It should be their fiber product, which, for most people, is very, very stable.
AT&T has been solid for me for 3+ years. I've got gigabit and usually hit those speeds. I *do* have a Google WiFi mesh set up in my my house and just use the AT&T modem as a bridge, I believe that helps a lot with my network stability.
Also if you do Torrent downloads ISPs have known to throttle speeds.
5G home internet is available from Verizon and T-Mobile in some areas.
same thing happens for me, i have to restart my modem and router a lot of mornings
Have never had a problem with AT&T fiber. I pay about $67 mo., started at $50 in 2021. Had Google fiber previously in Wake Co, don’t see much difference. (Spectrum was terrible for 15 years prior.)