Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is suing Time Warner, now a subsidiary of Charter Communications, for not providing users with promised internet speeds.
The lawyer stated the lawsuit charged both Spectrum Management Holding CO (Time Warner’s broadband service brand name) and Charter for providing New York state users with slower bandwidth than they had initially advertised.
Legal proceedings will take place in the New York State Supreme Court. Chater Communications indicated that they had invested a lot to improve the Time Warner Cable systems to provide customers with the best possible service.
Customers only get a third of what the Internet plan they chose
A 16-month investigation into Charter and Spectrum’s broadband service revealed that such companies provided Internet speeds 70% slower than those posted on online ads. They also provide users with WiFi connections that were 80% slower than what was promised.
Some users currently pay an average of $110 for Internet service provided by these distributors. However, they are only getting about a third of what they should receive in their homes. There are currently about 5 million subscribers in New York alone.
The lawsuit intends the companies to provide restitution to all the affected customers and also requires Time Warner to upgrade its technological platform.
“Today’s action seeks to bring much-needed relief to the millions of New Yorkers we allege have been getting cheated by Spectrum-Time Warner Cable for far too long,” Schneiderman added in a later statement.
Charter Communications is blaming Time Warner
The former expressed disappointment towards the Attorney General’s office, saying that it had made “significant commitments” to the northern state in the areas of “network investment, broadband deployment and offerings, customer service, and jobs.”
The company also added that it was among the “highest-rated” broadband providers in the United States, according to an FCC report. Charter pledged to continue investing in their broadband business as they defended from the state’s allegations.
The corporation released a statement saying that they could not be blamed for Time Warner Cable’s “practices,” as the reportedly false advertisements belonged to this company and were in place before the merger took place.
The Charter-Time Warner deal received the official FCC seal of approval in May of last year, creating the second-largest TV and Internet provider in the entire world. Charter acquired the cable company for 79$ million.
Time Warner provided voice, video, and high-speed data services to more than 16 million customers in the United States. It is unclear whether this problem affects New York residents only or if it extends to the whole country.
Source: USA Today