Charter and New York reach deal allowing ISP to remain in the state

[onetheycallEric]

Big quote: "Charter and the Department believe that this action is an important step forward in making high-speed broadband available to all New Yorkers,” said Charter in a statement. “It allows the parties to move forward with the critical work of expanding access to broadband, by resolving their disagreements without the need for costly litigation. As a result, Charter will invest even more money in New York State than originally planned, bringing the educational, economic and social benefits of high-speed broadband to areas where access is often limited.”

Charter Communications, operating as Spectrum in New York, has reached a deal with the State of New York that will allow the ISP to remain serving its customers. The tentative deal comes after New York sued the company and Charter signed a $174 million settlement.

The New York State Public Service Commission had effectively booted Spectrum from the state, and revoked its approval of Spectrum's merger with Time Warner Cable. As of Friday, both sides appear to have reached an agreement.

The new arrangement will see Charter investing in an even more significant broadband build out -- to the tune of an additional 145,000 homes and businesses in upstate New York. According to the commission, this means Charter will have to double its initial investment in the area. Pursuant to the agreement, Charter will also spend $12 million for broadband expansion projects in certain upstate areas, undetermined as of yet.

In order to retain compliance, Charter will need to complete the build out by Sept. 30, 2021. According to Charter, the deal is neither an admission of any violation or a penalty. The deal will still have to be approved by the Public Service Commission at large, and undergo a 60-day comment period.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/79740-charter-new-york-reach-deal-allowing-isp-remain.html

 

[Clamyboy74]

Wondering where this went since last fall. Too bad I won't be in upstate NY anymore soon.

 

[Uncle Al]

I do enjoy their internet service but their "cable offerings", which includes their streaming service leave a LOT to be desired. Hopefully some day they will get somebody in charge of programming that actually pays attention to what the public wants!

 

[brucek]

I really enjoyed the original legal complaint from the NY Attorney General, which explained in clear detail and layman's language how customers were being taken unfair advantage of.

Many people who don't know better tend to give the ISP the benefit of the doubt, thinking bandwidth issues may be out of their control, that it's all "Netflix's fault", etc.

The complaint was awesome in showing the reality that the cable company was installing modems that were not capable of reaching the speeds that were being sold; that the company had internal policies for keeping congestion at barely-usable levels for competing video providers, all while heavily featuring those same competitors on the marketing materials used to recruit new customers; and how easily and at what insubstantial cost compared to the rates being charged the congestion could have been cleared.

A great read for anyone who is interested in the topic

https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/summons_and_complaint.pdf

 

[seeprime]

This case stinks of corruption and payoffs. If they were told to get out for not complying, then Charter should be forced out. Let smaller ISP's bid for what's left. The consumer will be far better off, possibly not immediately, than they are with a sleazy firm like Charter.

 

[Lionvibez]

This case stinks of corruption and payoffs. If they were told to get out for not complying, then Charter should be forced out. Let smaller ISP's bid for what's left. The consumer will be far better off, possibly not immediately, than they are with a sleazy firm like Charter.

Agree with you.

Charter would pay a fee x10 that to keep competition out of their market.

 

[mgregjr]

I really enjoyed the original legal complaint from the NY Attorney General, which explained in clear detail and layman's language how customers were being taken unfair advantage of.

Many people who don't know better tend to give the ISP the benefit of the doubt, thinking bandwidth issues may be out of their control, that it's all "Netflix's fault", etc.

The complaint was awesome in showing the reality that the cable company was installing modems that were not capable of reaching the speeds that were being sold; that the company had internal policies for keeping congestion at barely-usable levels for competing video providers, all while heavily featuring those same competitors on the marketing materials used to recruit new customers; and how easily and at what insubstantial cost compared to the rates being charged the congestion could have been cleared.

A great read for anyone who is interested in the topic

https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/summons_and_complaint.pdf

I read through the first few pages, up to the background, and it paints a very vivid picture of corporate greed and the effects of a lax regulatory environment. The FCC should never have looked the other way. I wouldn't expect the current iteration of the FCC to care about consumers, but this malfeasance happened under a different administration, one that supposedly had the consumers' backs.

Never, never, never trust a corporation's PR and marketing. No matter how cute and cuddly the mascot is, in the end a corporation has exactly one interest in mind: profit. Profit for increased shareholder value and profit for its own sake. Without strict regulation and real enforcement, they will take any action they can to increase profits. Spectrum shouldn't have been allowed to buy their way out of this. Start giving these CEOs and CFOs the Bernie Madov treatment for defrauding consumers and it'll get the attention of anyone else contemplating profit over ethics.

 

[wiyosaya]

Spectrum will be Spectrum. I am willing to bet that this is a move and they will not fulfill their promise.

I dropped them because of their crap service. I now have a 4GLTE data only plan that is far better. And soon to come to my neighborhood, 500Mb/s down / 50Mb/s up fiber for $50/mo. Then, Spectrum will have unbeatable competition in my neighborhood, at least.

 

[avioza]

I dropped them because of their crap service. I now have a 4GLTE data only plan that is far better. And soon to come to my neighborhood, 500Mb/s down / 50Mb/s up fiber for $50/mo. Then, Spectrum will have unbeatable competition in my neighborhood, at least.

I see the trucks running fiber in my area as well. At least Spectrums failure to act opened the door to smaller utility companies like Rural Electric.