New York attorney general sues Time Warner Cable for not delivering promised internet speeds

The New York attorney general is taking Time Warner Cable to court, for not delivering promised internet speeds.

NY attorney general Eric Schneiderman charged Spectrum Management Holding Co (Time Warner is changing the name of its broadband services unit) and Charter Communications, the new owner of Time Warner Cable yesterday, with defrauding broadband subscribers with internet and WiFi speeds far slower that what they had been promised. Charter acquired TWC in May 2015. The suit was filed in the New York Supreme Court.

According to the suit, as far back as January 2012, marketing from Spectrum-TWC had promised a "fast, reliable connection" anywhere in their home. But the AG's office found after a 16-month investigation that provided broadband speeds were 70 per cent slower than promised and WiFi speeds 80 per cent slower than promised. (See: Time Warner Cable's internet speeds abysmal: Probe)

The complaint further charged that some subscribers paid as much as $109.99 monthly for the service, and got only a third to a half of the download speeds they paid for. ''The allegations in today's lawsuit confirm what millions of New Yorkers have long suspected -- Spectrum-Time Warner Cable has been ripping you off,'' Schneiderman said in a statement.

The suit, covering around 5 million subscribers during the time period, sought restitution for consumers, along with upgrading of Spectrum-TWC's network capacity and replacement of deficient modems and wireless routers.

According to Schneiderman, top executives at the company continued to sign up customers, though they were well aware that it was not possible to deliver the higher speeds.

According to Schneiderman the legal action followed complaints from thousands of subscribers.

The suit further stated that at least 640,000 subscribers paid for high-speed internet service, but got slower performance.

Many could not gain access to staples such as gaming platforms, Netflix and Facebook.

The complaint further alleged that Time Warner Cable leased older modems to 900,000 subscribers - knowing the ageing devices could not deliver high-speed internet.