I switched to Spectrum Mobile two months ago, and I'm already regretting it

This past April, I unexpectedly switched phone carriers (again). After a year of using and loving Visible, Spectrum Mobile made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. As part of a promotion with my home internet plan, I could get two lines of Spectrum Mobile Unlimited Plus for only $30/month per line — with that price guaranteed for two years.

Considering Spectrum Mobile Unlimited Plus lines normally cost $40/month, and my Visible plan prices had just increased, it made sense to switch to Spectrum Mobile. My monthly phone bill would go down, I’d get exactly the same Verizon coverage I had with Visible, and I would have more than enough high-speed data every month. What wasn’t there to like?

Fast forward two months, and I’m already regretting my decision to join Spectrum Mobile.

Spectrum Mobile started out great

To Spectrum Mobile’s credit, the last two months haven’t been a complete disaster. In fact, from a service and coverage perspective, my experience has been pretty great.

I switched two lines from Visible to Spectrum Mobile — one for myself and one for my partner — and the transfer process was (mostly) painless. I received a physical SIM card for my Pixel 10a, which took all of 10 minutes to activate once it arrived in the mail. My partner received an eSIM for their iPhone 17, and while we had an issue with the original eSIM activation link not working, a 20-minute phone call was all it took to get a new link and have service activated on their phone.

Besides that one hiccup, Spectrum Mobile has worked flawlessly. Our coverage on Verizon’s network is no different from when we had Visible. If anything, it seems a little stronger. I’ve also gotten some truly ridiculous 5G download speeds around town — sometimes well over 800Mbps.

I’ve not had any problems with phone call quality. RCS messaging has worked beautifully, as has my mobile hotspot. It’s also been nice having my internet and phone bills lumped into one app, rather than scattered across two separate ones.

Simply put, Spectrum Mobile has worked incredibly well for us. But if that’s all true, where’s the regret coming from?

Where it all went wrong

When I received my first Spectrum Mobile bill for $99, I didn’t think much of it. One of the lines included a prorated amount for the remainder of April and all of May, so I just assumed the numbers made sense and that my first “normal” bill would be the $60 total I was expecting (as it should be for two lines at $30/month).

However, that’s not what happened.

My second bill came in at $70, and upon further inspection, I saw that only my partner’s line was receiving the $10 discount, bringing their line cost down to $30. Meanwhile, my line was being billed at the non-discounted $40 rate — hence the $70 total.

I first tried chatting with Spectrum Mobile via the My Spectrum app, but after a few back-and-forth messages, I was told I’d need to call the sales team to get this fixed. Fine. I called the sales team a couple of days later, and after the first agent couldn’t figure out what was going on, I was transferred to someone else.

After the second agent put me on hold to talk with their superior, I was told that the promo I had been offered back in April just … didn’t exist. Less than two months ago, I had a 45-minute phone call with Spectrum and was sold on the following:

• $40/month for my home internet
• $60/month for two lines of Spectrum Mobile Unlimited Plus
• $100/month total for everything
• Guaranteed price for two years

But now, for some reason, another Spectrum agent was telling me that the Spectrum Mobile discount is only eligible for one line, and that the company doesn’t offer the discount for two lines on a single account. In other words, my $70/month Spectrum Mobile bill was technically correct, even though that’s not at all what I signed up for.

Thankfully, I was given the $10 discount on my phone line for the next 12 months — meaning I now have the $60/month Spectrum Mobile bill I was expecting. But instead of getting that total price for two years, I only have it for one.

Am I going to stay with Spectrum Mobile?

So, where does that leave us? My Spectrum Mobile service is working as intended, and my bill is corrected to what it should be. However, this whole thing has left an awful taste in my mouth. I was effectively lied to about the promotion I’d receive, and while I do appreciate Spectrum discounting my line, it’s still not the deal I originally agreed to.

I’ll keep my Spectrum Mobile service for the next year while I’ve got both phone lines discounted, but after that, I’ll almost certainly transfer my phone service elsewhere — and do the same for my partner’s phone once their discount expires in two years. Even if Spectrum Mobile continues to work fine for us, I’m not keen to stay with the company longer than I need to after this whole situation.

Maybe we’ll go back to Visible. Perhaps we’ll check out Mint Mobile, Google Fi, or US Mobile. The good news is that there’s no shortage of great carriers/MVNOs to choose from, and if this is how Spectrum Mobile wants to treat its customers, I’ll happily go to one of its competitors without thinking twice.