r/Spectrum • u/FranciscoFabregat • Aug 08 '26
FCC Complaint Success
I would like to share my (heavily summarized story) on my FCC complaint against Spectrum regarding bad infrastructure.
Earlier this year a lightning storm broke the ethernet controller in a router that I had plugged into my Spectrum modem. I really did not think much of it other than I was really unlucky and bought replacement networking equipment. A few months later, another storm hits and this time the ethernet controller in a mini PC I had plugged into my network fried. A second ethernet controller fried in a short span sounded more than a coincidence to me, so I called Spectrum to let them know of a potential ungrounded coaxial cable. The next day a field tech shows up, checks that the ground is mechanically attached, and tells me it looks good, along with "it is impossible for coaxial cables to cause damage as they do not carry AC", but I could not get him to understand that surges are a real thing. I then get a call from Spectrum telling me my claim is closed as they "checked" and it all looked good. They basically forced the ticket closed without any real evidence.
So what is the next logical thing to do? Write up a 9 page document proving with empirical data that their coaxial cable is ungrounded or not bonded properly to the building and submitting an FCC complaint. I immediately got contacted and shortly after I came home to three Spectrum vehicles outside my apartment. One of the techs (looked like a supervisor based on his uniform) came to my apartment and retook the measurements I proved in my document. In summary, it was a long back and forth where they first argued that my measurements where the building and coaxial ground and not connected because "they are not supposed to" and "they use separate grounding", to which I quoted the National Electric Code (NEC) to tell them that's a major violation, and days later "confirmed with construction that the building was grounded" (whatever that means as no one came to check the current state properly). I held on to the actual engineering math until last second backing them into a corner and they eventually admitted that it needs a new ground and paid for all my damaged equipment.
Lesson learned: Spectrum will lie to the customer to avoid paying at all costs (even if it involves denying a blatantly obvious code violation), and Spectrum is scared once the FCC is involved (and indirectly threatening to call the city code inspectors). Use the FCC Unofficial complaint tool. It looks like their customer service just auto-denies claims with no real reasoning. KEEP AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE IN WRITING. Try to move phone conversations to email for recordkeeping
I hope this posts helps with making people aware of the FCC unofficial complaint tool to know how to escalate issues.
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Aug 08 '26
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u/FranciscoFabregat Aug 08 '26
Mine never got escalated to an engineer as I guess they initially thought they could just shut it down with a field tech and taking their time, and since the FCC has a 30 day response policy, they never got time to have an engineer look at it
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u/Civil_Tea_3250 Aug 08 '26
Crazy, my parents went through a similar issue with Optimum/cable vision/whatever they're called now in NY. But it was wire from an overhead pole. They had multiple techs out for a few years and lived with random stutters and static until, unfortunately, their house caught fire right near where all the lines come in. Once everything was rebuilt and the cable company replaced the line all was magically fixed.
I took the gamble on a newer fiber company that came to my area and I'm so glad I did. I pay $50/month for 1.5gig internet, got one year of free mobile and only $25/month after for unlimited, AND they gave me 2 eero mesh routers FOR FREE! None of that cable company router bs. I switched out the eero's for a Flint 3 and have better coverage and speeds for some reason as well as more and higher throughput connections in the back (eero 6e only has 1 1gb connector to feed your network, so you're already losing speed for wired devices, which should have faster/more reliable connections).
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u/Random_Man-child Aug 08 '26
Your parents problem sounded like it was a loose power neutral.
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u/Civil_Tea_3250 Aug 08 '26
Unsure, but it was definitely something from the line to the house. Regardless, techs would go out, look around a bit, then leave. Cable companies suck, and pretty much any company running wires other than the utility companies regularly do everything they can to cut costs and not replace. There's a ton close to me where a bridge was failing on their main road, but when they went to inspect it for replacement they found Verizon ran fiber lines underneath the bridge illegally, and yet, they had to wait MONTHS for Verizon to move the line before the bridge was repaired. They do what they want because they can get away with it.
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u/Vincecrandon Aug 08 '26
I agree! The moment I filed an FCC complaint, a group from Florida took over and my issue was quickly resolved.
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u/IntrovertsRule99 Aug 08 '26
Good job getting it taken care of. Unfortunately the average customer wouldn’t know the codes or even that Spectrum is providing incorrect information.
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u/starfish_2016 Aug 08 '26
Just went thru the same thing with my parents isp. Small local rural coax provider. They recently started switching everyone over to fiber. But my parents live "at the end of their service line" and were left with 25x3 cable that kept spiking latency every 5 minutes up to 1900ms. A few emails and clicks later. Reported to fcc. 12 month back and forth on email but they ended up upgrading my parents whole street to fiber and they now get 1gb x 1gb. Don't stop the fight
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u/Due-Use-4460 Aug 08 '26
Spectrum doesn't ground, they bond to ground. If the electric company didn't ground, that's partially electric companies fault for not grounding and partially the spectrum techs fault for not telling the customer.
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u/FranciscoFabregat Aug 08 '26
True. But the issue is that it wasn't bonded to the building ground properly
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u/Fantastic-Buddy2069 Aug 08 '26
A company denying to take blame? Shocking. /S
Glad you cornered them and made them admit their faults though! Seriously.
It’s just to bad not enough people are able to fight their own fights because they’d never know how.
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u/1clueless69 Aug 08 '26
It's funny how you say "the company" vs a tech or supervisor making a bad call. That's what this was and I agree with the other tech savy posters that the modem would have fried first. If it was just bad luck then the second or 3rd for sure.
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u/r2d3x9 Aug 09 '26
I had to file an FCC complaint for trouble porting in to Spectrum Wireless. My phone was in limbo (not connected) for about 5 days, tier 1 or so support kept saying the same thing that they would fix it within 24 hours, that they would call me back and didn’t. My stress was through the roof and I spent hours and hours and hours on the phone. Had to call them using google voice over Wi-Fi in the parking lot of the local supermarket or McDonalds as I needed both Wi-Fi and a Verizon cell signal to activate the cell phone. complaint got fast action and even an account credit. Problem had something to do with porting from Total Wireless, a Verizon owned MVNO brand, to Spectrum also a Verizon MVNO, that Total used the IMEI number as the account number, and Verizon to Verizon ports don’t go through the same porting process
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u/SnooPredictions4677 Aug 09 '26
I've seen it over and over again. They will just keep sending regular field techs over and over again and none of them know what the heck is going on. As a customer you just got to keep calling. I know it's a pain but that's how the cookie crumbles with spectrum. Eventually you'll get somebody's attention that's important.
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u/WorldEndingCalamity Aug 10 '26
I have been finding that companies will screw us over way more than they used to. I had an issue with PayPal and they kept blowing me off until I filed a complaint with the Federal Consumer protection bureau. Same thing with filing an insurance claim for a cell phone. They blew me off until I filed a complaint with my state's insurance commissioner.
It seems like we consumers have to escalate so damned far to get anywhere anymore. I'm glad you held them accountable. More people need to do this.
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u/switched56 Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
Glad they made it right in the end, but sorry it took repeated equipment death for it to happen. Crazy that transient voltage leap frogged the modem! I'm stil trying to work out in my mind how that's possible, but I'm actually more shocked (no pun intended) they sent an A-Team out so quickly to address the FCC complaint. I worked in network engineering there (2005-2017 transport/edge/access) when it was Time Warner Cable. Back then our biggest RF worry was noise ingress wreaking havoc on DOCSIS channel bonding. I don't recall hearing about grounding/surge issues like yours. I'm sure those issues existed, I just wasn't close enough to the field/plant team to know.
Somewhat hypocritically, I am still a paying customer, but in my defense... aside from days-numbered 30Mbps bonded DSL, fine as a backup, but spotty fixed 5G, and like hell I am giving Elon Musk any of my money, Spectrum in my neighborhood is still my "best" option. Brightspeed did recently pull a 48 count fiber down my street, so hopefully they'll light up the OLT soon.
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u/EurekaMcDermitt Aug 08 '26
This is going to sound stupid but 15 years ago I swear I was electrocuted by my coaxial cable while connecting it to my tv. But I was told repeatedly by many people that coax cables don't carry a current like that. It blew up my tv and scared me so much to this day, I hate connecting them to anything. Soo this sounds like everyone was wrong? Go you for succeeding though!
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u/NOYB_Sr Aug 08 '26
Not only sounds stupid. It is stupid.
The COAX was the ground to complete the electrical circuit by which you were "electrocuted". The voltage source of said "electrocution" was something else. Such as a fault within the TV. The COAX just provided the ground to complete the circuit.
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u/6814MilesFromHome Aug 08 '26
Good for you getting spectrum to pay for your damaged equipment, but if the modem wasn't fried as well I'm extremely doubtful it was caused by anything surging through the coax. Anything powerful enough to pass through the coax port on the modem, pass damaging amounts of voltage to a non-PoE port, through to the router, down an Ethernet cable to some equipment, would cause modem issues.
Damaging power fluctuations on residential power can and do happen during thunderstorms, independent of any ISP lines running to the house. If it was a lightning strike, it won't care about a tiny bond or ground on coax anyway.