CenturyLink continues to revamp and simplify the company's pricing in the wake of customer defections and numerous lawsuits regarding the company's billing practices. Users in our forums note that CenturyLink recently shook up the company's pricing in Nevada, and several customers have written in to note that the company has also expanded this improved pricing to Portland, Oregon.
In these markets, the company is now offering (assuming your line can handle these speeds and has been upgraded) 1.5 to 25 Mbps service for $40, 25-80 Mbps service for $50, 81 to 100 Mbps service for $60, and 101 Mbps to 1 Gbps service for $80 per month. Users in these markets have the option of either buying their modem for $100-- or renting it for $10 a month.
Of particular note is that CenturyLink also appears to be getting rid of the company's frequently-criticized "Internet cost recovery fee."
Since around 2013 CenturyLink has been charging its customers the fee, which the CenturyLink website explains as such:
quote:
This fee helps defray costs associated with building and maintaining CenturyLink's High-Speed Internet broadband network, as well as the costs of expanding network capacity to support the continued increase in customers' average broadband consumption.
The problem is...
that's what the rest of your bill is for. Again, all CenturyLink is doing is using a misleading fee to artificially keep advertised rates low(er). Were regulators doing their jobs this wouldn't be allowed. But since they're not, CenturyLink notified users late last year that it would be
doubling the fee to $4. Not only do such fees let ISPs falsely advertise a lower rate, it lets them falsely claim that they haven't technically hiked their broadband prices in "x" years.Centurylink has yet to confirm whether this pricing is going nationwide, only saying it's exploring the potential of such a shift. Of course while revamped pricing can certainly help retain frustrated customers, it only addresses part of the problem. Many of the company's defecting customers simply want faster speeds, something CenturyLink -- like countless other telcos -- has long been hesitant to invest in at any real scale.