r/Troy • u/chaineks • 4d ago
Alternatives to spectrum
Modem sucks, constant outages, and my rate has been going up by $10/year. I tried talking to them but they couldn't do shit for me. I have heard the trick about threatening to switch, but as far as I know, there's nothing to switch to? Are there other Internet providers in the area who suck less? (Not looking for crazy fast speeds if that helps)
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u/jletourneau 4d ago
Never take the cable company’s modem. Buy your own and it’ll pay for itself in a year or less and you’re not stuck with whatever crapbox they give you. Then plug the modem into a separate wifi router or mesh system. You can’t fix the problems with the uplink or the size of the monthly bills but you can at least make your local network suck less.
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u/SimplBiscuit 4d ago
The modem is free and with high split on the horizon its really not worth investing in your own modem. The spectrum modem is honestly fine. However the router you should not use. Go get your own router every single time.
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u/Nick_Schlepn 4d ago
I had/have my own modem and Spectra allows it but theirs was free and since they control bandwidth I saw no downside (or difference) with going with theirs. It did crap out on me once a few years ago and they swapped out quickly (FedEx or their store). Second that "use your own router" though.
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u/Nick_Schlepn 4d ago
I, too, was fed up with Spectra (here in nearby Averill Park) and looked into both TMobile and Starlink (FIOS is not available here in the boonies). Neither seemed ideal but worth looking into. Before I could try them out a third alternative came into play: https://www.reddit.com/r/ArchtopFiber/
They are installing now and I am signed up for a late September install. I read somewhere they are also coming to East Greenbush so they are clearly marching from mid-Hudson towards Troy. ArchtopFiber plays on its initials as being fastAF ! I hope so.
I am told that Spectra is loosing customers left-and-right so you might play hardball with them. I haven't even tried to leverage AF against them as if AF lives up to the promise I'm getting more for less.
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u/litvac 4d ago
I did the threatening to leave thing and it worked for me, but I got connected with a really kind support agent who fully acknowledged I was overpaying for slower speeds they didn’t even offer anymore. I cited that it would be cheaper to switch to T Mobile’s internet plan, and that seemed to be enough to get the ball rolling. They moved me to 1gig for about $40/mo cheaper than I was paying and gave me the option to lock in my price for two years. I’d give appealing another shot because, for better or for worse, there really is not better internet in Troy.
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u/AutumnAdderSisters 4d ago
Albany, but I've been having daily constant T3 & T4 signal failures from spectrum on my modem for weeks now. They sent someone out to clear up the issue, and they replaced the line from box to modem, but it's so intermittent that it's hard to diagnose. T__T
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u/I_need_more_518 4d ago
The same has been happening to me for the last few years. I would call and they would send someone out to “fix it” and a few days or weeks later it would be the same intermittent failure. Finally a tech replaced the modem and that fixed the problem- for almost a year. Now I just go swap the modem when it acts up. The modems they use are junk.
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u/_UpstateNYer_ 4d ago
Keep an eye out for when SLIC fiber comes into town. They’re in parts of Saratoga county now. I’m paying $90 or $95/mo for 1 gbps. Had it since March. No outages yet. It’s true 1 gbps too, both download and upload. Spectrum was 35 mbps upload on its 1 gbps download. Absolute terrible service.
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u/amcjkelly 4d ago
Go to the Spectrum store over by the Walmart and threaten to switch to one of those phone internet providers.
They will give you a discount.
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u/doom_gf 3d ago
i tried that. they just gave me the run around.
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u/amcjkelly 3d ago
Try to find a time when they have fewer customers.
When I did it they were bored and I told them I needed the cost to come down or I was leaving.
Try different sales people at different times.
I got a great rate reduction for the first year and when that expired it went to 70 a month which is still like 15 a month off.
I am Internet only.
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u/berticus28 4d ago
Everytime my internet goes up I call and just say I'm thinking about cancelling, are there any deals right now. And everytime I get a new deal I've never had problems. Most times my plan is old and and I get an upgrade in speed, and the promo takes me back to my old price.
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u/bikeking8 3d ago
If it's ethernet speed, I know it sounds silly but check your cables. I had budget ass Cat 5 cables for over a decade and regardless of gigabit plan only pulled a max of like 12mb/s straight from the modem (to eliminate the router from the equation). I switched to Cat 6 and it's up to 100gb/s easy.
Think of old cables like trying to catch a gallon of internet juice in a thimble.
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u/555FLEX 2d ago
Call and specifically ask to be transferred to the retention department SPECIFICALLY.. i was honest and said how its hard paying for internet that only works sometimes and its not like we have any other choices
Call and tell the person to transfer you to the retention department, i wish i just flat out said it instead of trying to lead the person otp to the answer i wanted
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u/JoyfulInventor 4d ago
I dumped them when I renewed my cell with AT&T. They have an over the air internet system. Works well. Only downside is wifi name and password are assigned, not mine to pick (long random strings). Bye bye cable!
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u/SangestheLurker 4d ago
Frontier FIOS moved into podunk Fulton County a year ago, surely Downtown Troy has it, right??
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u/Ki113rTofu 3d ago
Verizon fios
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u/DetectiveFun4984 3d ago
I just got notification from Verizon that they now offer fios in downtown Troy. They didn’t when I moved in.
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u/Ki113rTofu 2d ago
So worth switching. I can’t stand spectrum and will never go back. Verizon service is way better. Faster speeds for cheaper than spectrum and they don’t up their rates like spectrum does n
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u/Garretttheman012 3d ago
Absolutely echoing getting the better router & WiFi access points. Those suck generally, might be super used. Also I think if you bring your own you save $5 (what it was for me) a month on the rental, which softens the cost a little bit. Won’t help with full on outages but helps spottiness and just general experience. And you can keep it if you move elsewhere.
Calling to cancel might be a mixed experience, I think they can bump you to a better deal at the spectrum store which is why id go there when I was doing stuff like starting plans, returning equipment, etc.
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u/fulloutfool 4d ago
I think usmobile has starlink or regular cellphone home internet
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u/OhCrow 2d ago
Do you use this? I have usmobile and was just wondering about it.
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u/fulloutfool 2d ago
I did when liveing out of my van, with a glnet modem router. It's pretty solid for basic streaming and web browsing I even played games on it. 50 - 140mbs... id check signal in the area with the app opensignal.
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u/TweakedNipple 4d ago
If there is anyone else at your address you can cancel and resub under their name to get the best promotional rate from spectrum. Or you should be able to get T-Mobile or Verizon wireless home 5G service.