Spectrum Gig Internet Package
Spectrum offers three internet plans and Gig is their biggest and fastest option. For just $10 more per month, you get twice the speeds of the Ultra plan. As with all Spectrum plans, there's also no data cap or contract required. So, everything being equal, we highly recommend upgrading if you need the extra speed.
Regarding equipment, Spectrum's modem is included free (a nice perk). For WiFi, however, you'll either need to use your own or rent theirs. We always recommend against leasing internet equipment since they can be purchased at better prices and used with other providers in the future. If you do decide to lease, Spectrum charges $7/month for their router. It does work well and provides adequate security so not a bad option until you get your own.
PERFECT FOR: large households or folks who work from home that need heavy resources.
For starters, here are all three Spectrum internet plans:
Spectrum Gig Internet features
This plan qualifies you for all of Spectrum's internet bonuses. The WiFi hot-spots and zero data cap provide the most value...
Spectrum offers all customers free access to over 550,000 public WiFi hot-spots. When you're away from home, it'a a great way to stay connected... reliably.
One of Spectrum's best features, surf without worry of being throttled, ever. A lot of other providers, like Xfinity, have caps that occasionally come into play.
As mentioned, you get a modem free for life. For WiFi, if you don't own your own router, rent theirs for $7/mo.
What can you do with 1,000 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload?
As you probably guessed, you can literally do anything online with 1,000 Mbps. That's fiber internet speed delivered via coax. It's also plenty for a household of well over five. They could all be streaming movies, live streaming to Facebook, TikTok, etc. It's actually quite difficult to go over 1,000 Mbps.
If you ever to do exceed it, technically, you'll momentarily be slowed until your data transfer goes back down. But, in our experience, we've never actually seen that happen (even when we massively spiked bandwidth).
Check out the table below for more activities and their average bandwidth requirements...
So, for example, you could literally stream about a hundred HD movies at the same time without exceeding 1,000 Mbps. Yeah, it's a ton.
Price, Fees and Discounts
That's everything you get with this plan. So, what's the damage? Not as much you'd initially guess. First off, it's only $10/mo more than the previous plan (Ultra, 500). That's double the bandwidth for about 15% more in cost. That's good value in our book. But are there extra fees in play? Let's take a look:
Spectrum Gig fees
Router (Advanced WiFi)
We already touched on this one. $7/mo. to rent Spectrum's router. No extra fees on top of that.
Activation fee
A one-time charge for use of their services. As done with other providers, this is Spectrum's way of offsetting the risk of customers canceling the service after just a few months in. New accounts are charged a one-time fee $30 for activation. If you call up and plead your case (e.g., letting them know you'll be a customer for at least a year), there are ways to waive the fee.
Monthly Tax
Typical government fees, few bucks a month.
Spectrum Gig discount(s)
Auto-pay credit
Similar to other providers, they always prefer customers set-up a billing option for their account. If you do so, Spectrum will knock $5 off your bill. You're gonna pay for it anyhow, always worth it to set-up Autopay to save $5*12 a year.
Sample Spectrum Gig Bill
Ok, let's wrap all those costs into a sample bill. This assumes you're using your own router:
- auto-pay discount
- ($5)
Woah, what about hidden fees?
You won't get price-gauged with Spectrum. You'll pay the line items above and that's it. No sneaky, fine-print fees to surprise you.
- Late payment fee - any month that you're late with a payment will cost you $6.75 to $8.95 in a late payment fee.
How to get this plan
As of today, the Spectrum Gig plan's best price and promos are below. Calling tends to be the best way to make sure everything is setup correctly right from the start...
- Spectrum Gig Internet for as low as $79.99/mo
- 1,000 Mbps download, 10 Mbps upload
- No contract (ever)
- No data cap (with any plan)
- Access to Spectrum public hotspots
- Qualifies you for bundling deals with TV/phone
