Spectrum vs. EarthLink: Choose Better Internet for Your Money

When it comes to value for money, Spectrum is a little better than EarthLink, too. Spectrum, like many other providers, offers a promotional rate for the first year, after which it increases its prices by around $20 per month. Thankfully, Spectrum doesn’t have annual contracts, so you won’t get charged an early cancellation fee if you decide that Spectrum isn’t for you within that first year. However, Spectrum does impose other fees. For example, you have to pay $65 for professional installation, and you still get charged a fee if you self-install: $30.

EarthLink is a little pricier. EarthLink’s fiber service is actually quite good value for money. However, EarthLink’s price is usually higher than the price of the same plan offered by the network’s original provider. For example, AT&T’s 500Mbps fiber plan costs $65 per month. But if you get the same from EarthLink, you pay $79.95 per month—almost $15 more. In other words, if you find that EarthLink fiber in your area, it’s worth looking at what other providers offer fiber in your area. It’s likely that EarthLink uses the infrastructure of those other providers anyway while charging a premium. EarthLink still charges additional fees too. Unlike Spectrum, EarthLink does impose contracts on its customers and does charge customers up to $200 for early cancellation. Installation costs $19.95 and is actually usually provided by the original infrastructure provider. Not only that, but EarthLink charges an expensive $14.95 per month for the modem/router, which is far higher than Spectrum’s $5 per month. Thankfully, EarthLink doesn’t impose automatic price increases, unlike much of the competition.

The difference here is pretty clear. While you could score a deal with a superfast EarthLink fiber connection, you’re likely paying more than you have to—resulting in EarthLink really offering worse value.

Spectrum’s customer service isn’t great, but it turns out that EarthLink’s is even worse. HighSpeedInternet.com’s 2023 customer satisfaction survey put Spectrum right in the middle of providers for overall customer satisfaction. Customers seem mostly happy with their service. However, we did talk to a number of customers who find Spectrum’s technical support to be subpar.

But EarthLink is even worse. In that same customer satisfaction survey, EarthLink tied with Optimum as the lowest-rated in customer service and the lowest overall in customer satisfaction. That more or less tracks with customers that we spoke to. We found that some were generally happy with their service, while others were highly disappointed. One customer we spoke to was unable to install EarthLink’s equipment herself, and still didn’t have a connection weeks later and after many phone calls to EarthLink.

Neither of these two providers offer great customer service, but Spectrum’s is slightly better than EarthLink’s.

For a generally fast and mostly reliable service, Spectrum is the better provider. However, in reality, things are a little more complicated than that. If you have an option between Spectrum’s cable and EarthLink’s fiber internet, then EarthLink’s fiber connection is likely to offer faster speeds and better value. But in that case, it’s worth looking at other providers in your area to find the one providing the fiber infrastructure to EarthLink (and probably charging a lower price at the same time).

If prices are similar for similar speeds between Spectrum and EarthLink, we still recommend Spectrum. In some situations, you may find EarthLink to be a better option, especially if you want to avoid price hikes and plan on remaining a customer for at least a year. But again, those on the fence should just go for Spectrum.