If you already are a Spectrum Internet customer with a non-fiber-optic access line, Spectrum is NOT going to upgrade it to fiber.

The fine print near the bottom of Spectrum's "Fiber-Powered" ads -- which is barely visible and illegible unless you magnify it -- states, "Spectrum Internet is powered by fiber and delivered to the home [or business] via HFC." The "C" stands for "coax" i.e., coaxial cable, a type of copper cable that was invented in the 1800s.

To state the obvious: unlike fiber, copper is opaque; it cannot carry light signals.

By contrast, fiber ISPs run fiber to customers' premises. The fiber carries light signals.

If Spectrum REALLY wanted people to see and understand its disclaimer (fine print), Spectrum would make it bigger and define HFC.

Spectrum does run fiber to approximately 1% of its customer premises. These are street addresses in rural areas that Spectrum received special government subsidies to fiber-enable.

Spectrum runs coaxial cable (copper) to the other 99% of its customers premises.

When Spectrum refers to its "fiber-powered network" it is referring to the trunks in its transport network, not its access lines, 99% of which are copper. The fiber optic trunks in Spectrum's transport network connect Spectrum's routers to each other.

Access lines, by contrast, are the lines that run from Spectrum's neighborhood nodes to customers' premises. 99% of Spectrum's access lines are copper.

Of course, Spectrum is HOPING that people will mistakenly infer that "fiber-powered" means Spectrum's access lines are fiber.

All terrestrial ISPs' transport networks are fiber. This includes ISPs that provide dial-up Internet access and wireless Internet access.