Spectrum, which offers mobile, internet, and cable TV services operated by Charter Communications, is struggling to shake a major customer problem.
The company is rapidly losing a large number of customers, despite recent attempts to keep them from leaving. Amid this shift, the company is flagging why it remains a challenge for it to retain customer loyalty and how it plans to win it back.
In the first quarter of 2026, Spectrum lost a total of 120,000 internet customers, compared to a decline of 59,000 during the same quarter in 2025, according to Charter Communications’ latest earnings report. Revenue from its internet business also dipped by 1.3% year over year.
The elevated losses come after Spectrum angered some customers by raising prices on several older internet plans in July last year. More recently, some customers have even reported being notified of a rate hike for internet plans in January.
More consumers nationwide have become less tolerant of rising internet bills this year and are canceling their service as a result, according to a new survey from Reviews.org.
How Americans are battling rising internet bills in 2026:
- About 73% of Americans saw their internet bills rise this year (up from 43% last year), with 30% seeing monthly increases of $10 to $20.
- Roughly 67% have switched or are considering switchinginternet providers due to hidden or unexpected charges (up from 56% last year).
- Also, 30% have either canceled or downgraded their home internet service in the past 12months due to rising costs.
Source: Reviews.org
“While having speed issues or bad service can be frustrating, facing unexpected costs is the worst issue customers experience with their internet service providers,” wrote Trevor Wheelwright, TV, streaming, and internet expert at Reviews.org, in the survey release.
“That means consumers want to see clear, transparent pricing that includes any and all additional fees, including service fees, taxes, equipment rentals, or anything else that will drive up their costs,” he continued.
Spectrum flags rising competition as customer losses mount
During an earnings call on April 24, Charter Chief Financial Officer Jessica Fischer said that heightened competition in the broadband industry contributed to rising customer losses during the first quarter.
“The operating environment for new sales, in particular internet, continues to be competitive,” said Fischer. “We continue to see expanded fixed wireless competition and higher mobile substitution, as well as ongoing fiber overlap growth at a rate similar to prior quarters.”
Wireless providers such as AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile have reported increased demand for their fixed wireless internet (or 5G home internet) services.
Fixed wireless internet offers lower prices and greater availability in rural areas compared to traditional wired internet, so it is no surprise that customers are flocking to this service.
Related: Spectrum revamps internet service as customers exit
AT&T and Verizon have also recently been expanding their nationwide fiber internet coverage, which they will leverage to offer customers bundled mobile and internet deals, posing an increased threat to cable companies that have similar offers.
To ramp up this strategy, Verizon acquired Frontier in January for $20 billion. AT&T also completed a $5.75 billion acquisition of Lumen’s Mass Markets fiber business the following month, making AT&T’s fiber internet service available across 32 states.
On top of battling rising competition from wireless providers, Spectrum faces the growing threat of satellite internet, which specializes in serving consumers in remote/rural areas.
SpaceX’s satellite internet service Starlink has attracted more than 9 million customers since its launch in 2019. Amazon reportedly also plans to offer satellite internet plans through its Amazon Leo service, which it’s rapidly developing.
Charter CEO Christopher Winfrey said during the earnings call that Spectrum is keeping a close eye on the rising popularity of satellite internet service.
“We do not underestimate any competitor, particularly one that is as well-capitalized and innovative as they are, not just Starlink but also Amazon and others,” said Winfrey. “So far, our tracking and data do not suggest a significant customer share loss to satellite.
More Telecom News:
- T-Mobile drops 2 new phone plans to stop customers from fleeing
- Verizon CEO shifts gears after 2.25 million customers depart
- AT&T closes billion-dollar acquisition to win back customers
“We do see evidence that in some of the subsidized rural footprint, we would be doing even better if some of that market had not been preceded by satellite, which, in certain low-density markets, long-term is actually a great product,” he added.
Overall, Winfrey emphasized that cable companies in the telecom industry are “competing against national and global competitors,” which is a new challenge for Spectrum.
“In each element of the space that we operate in, it is much more competitive than it was five or certainly 10 years ago,” said Winfrey.
In response to this new reality, NSR analyst Vikash Harlalka wrote in a recent note to investors, obtained by Fierce Network, that Charter should merge with Comcast to gain a leg up on its growing competitors.
“We continue to believe that a Comcast-Charter merger should and can happen,” wrote Harlalka. “The industrial logic and synergies would be transformative for both companies. Not least among these would be the potential to acquire at least a 50% share of T-Mobile and create the country’s third converged player to stand up to AT&T and Verizon in a facilities-based way.”
Weiss/Shutterstock
Spectrum hopes major changes will win back customers
Amid growing competition, Spectrum is betting big on its new Invincible Wi-Fi product, which launched in February, to attract more internet customers.
Invincible Wi-Fi includes a battery unit and a backup 5G cellular connection to keep customers online during network disruptions or power outages. These are features that Spectrum claims its rivals don’t offer.
Winfrey said that customer demand for this product is already exceeding expectations.
“The upgrade and attach rate was much higher than expected, and we have had to prioritize our supply to a smaller audience until we get the right level of supply,” he said. “It is a little frustrating short term, but Invincible Wi-Fi is a great way to add utility to our service, which improves quality, lowers churn and earns more revenue.”
In addition to relying on Invincible Wi-Fi to repair its internet business, this month, Charter will begin its $34.5 billion acquisition of Cox Communications.
This will allow Charter to invest billions of dollars to upgrade Spectrum’s network and deliver high-speed internet service to homes and businesses nationwide, especially in rural areas.
Fischer said the acquisition will also help Spectrum weather the current housing environment, which has seen low move rates, a trend the company believes has a negative impact on its business.
“More movement — people moving from one household to — continues to be a net benefit to us,” said Fischer. “So more movement between homes in the marketplace and more movers is an overall benefit, to the extent there is a recovery in the housing space. As we think about joining our footprint with the Cox footprint, that will improve as well.”
Charter CEO addresses pressing concerns about Spectrum’s prices
As Spectrum expects its internet business to recover down the line, it doesn’t plan to change its pricing strategy, which includes two- or three-year price-lock guarantees for bundled internet services.
“We like our pricing and packaging strategy; it works,” said Winfrey. “Clearly, we would like to be having more sales on the front end, and so we are thinking through whether there are other ways to go to market and get a better response rate from customers. We are constantly evaluating that.”
However, he said Spectrum is open to testing new pricing strategies in the future to grow its broadband business.
“There is no pride; if we see things that are working elsewhere, we would be happy to adopt them,” he said. “When we have run some trials around five-year guarantees or five-year price locks, trying different things, we have not seen the necessary lift ourselves, but maybe that is because we did not do it at scale.”
Winfrey also confirmed that the company has not yet planned any future price increases for its services.
“We have not made any determination on that yet,” he said. “For obvious reasons, it has always been our strategy to try to keep prices as low as we can so that we can have enhanced competitiveness. That allows you to have better acquisition and better retention. That is still the case. So we try to minimize price increases but also recognize that we are still, in certain parts of the business, in an inflationary environment.”
Related: Spectrum owner seals billion-dollar acquisition as customers flee
#Spectrum #suffers #heavy #loss #customers #ditch #service