GoKawiilTwo of the country’s largest internet providers have officially become one, as existing Cox customers will start getting their monthly internet bills from Spectrum from Wednesday.
Charter, which sells phone, internet and TV services under the Spectrum brand, agreed to buy Cox in May 2025, but the deal didn’t clear its final hurdle until the California Public Utilities Commission approved it last month.
The acquisition creates the largest internet provider in the country, with Charter now boasting more than 35 million customers. While internet monopolies are a major problem in the US — over a third of Americans only have access to one or no internet provider — this acquisition won’t necessarily make that problem worse. That’s because Charter and Cox have very little overlap in the areas where they operate.
“No consumer is going to lose a competitive offering they currently have,” Blair Levin, a telecom industry analyst at New Street Research, told CNET. “There’s no reduction of competition in any relevant geographical product market.”
The deal could be a welcome change for Cox customers. Cox received a score of 68/100 in the most recent American Customer Satisfaction Index survey, while Spectrum earned a 71/100.
However, a CNET analysis of internet plans found Spectrum’s price hikes to be steeper, with Spectrum increasing prices by an average of $37 monthly after one or two years, depending on the location. Cox’s plans increased by $28 per month, but only after two years.
Spectrum says Cox customers won’t have to do a thing: Prices and plans will stay the same, and they can keep using their existing Cox equipment. Spectrum is also offering a year of free mobile service to Cox customers who make the jump to Spectrum Mobile, plus a slew of new streaming subscriptions for customers on eligible Cox Contour TV plans.
Some critics argued that the Federal Communications Commission should have done more to help consumers before granting Charter approval.
“The FCC approved the largest cable merger in nearly a decade and did not require Charter to do anything it wasn’t already planning to do,” John Bergmayer, legal director at the consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge, said in a statement. “Consumers, as always, will bear the costs of reduced competition.”
As part of the approval process, Charter agreed to move all of Cox’s offshore jobs to America within 18 months. According to a post on its website, Charter says it has a 100% US-based workforce as of Dec. 31, 2025.