No CenturyLink IPTV for Qwest Customers...Yet Prism Service Will Pass 1 Million Homes, Just not Qwest Homes Thursday May 05 2011 18:35 EDT Despite pioneering in the IPTV field, latter day Qwest wasn't much on the idea of getting into the TV business, repeatedly insisting they supported the idea of an "over the top" solution. Granted that was partially because Qwest spent the last few years shopping itself around, and made debt reduction its first priority. In contrast, new Qwest owner CenturyLink offers an IPTV service dubbed Prism, but only in select markets. Speaking on a company conference call, CenuturyLink today stated Qwest customers shouldn't expect IPTV service anytime soon, as the company's primary plan in Qwest markets will be to slow and reverse Qwest customer erosion to cable companies and CLECs. quote: "We are getting more local -- competing with the CLECs and cable companies who have been taking market share from Qwest," Puckett said. As for rolling out IPTV to former Qwest markets, those decisions will take more time and be influenced by the cost of pushing fiber closer to customers, Post said. Prism TV will pass 1 million homes by the end of the year elsewhere in CenturyLink-land. "We do not expect any additional IPTV rollouts in new markets," he said.
While extending fiber further is costly and takes time, companies like Qwest are losing subscribers to cable because the cable triple play is luring customers away from DSL with faster broadband speeds. Offering discount DSL instead of getting the network upgraded to next-generation services will only help up to a point, and any telco planning to nurse rotting copper for the next decade (Frontier comes to mind) has an uncertain trajectory at best if they face cable competition. CenuturyLink recently indicated they plan to phase out the Qwest brand completely by August. |
TransmasterDon't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus join:2001-06-20 Cheyenne, WY |
and this is a suprise?The only thing I expect to change at my house is the company name and routing number to pay the bill on my iPay account with First Interstate Bank. | |
| phxmarkWhat Country Are We Living In? join:2000-12-27 Glendale, AZ |
Closing barn doors after horse has already leftI think it is a little to late for CenturyLink to close the barn doors. In my neighborhood, over 90% of the households have already switched to COX from Qworst. | |
| | Hanko join:2001-12-28 Eatonville, WA |
Hanko
Member
2011-May-5 5:57 pm
At my place there is no door on the barn and it doesn't matterI live 8 miles outside of the Tacoma area and Qwest is the only "High Speed" internet provider here. Just over 4 years ago they finally put in remote DSL DSLAMS and will only sell us 1.5M/876K.
There are no plans to upgrade us in the next 5 plus years. But just 8 miles away they are competing with Comcast and Rainier Connect and offering 30Mb/s. for less than I pay for 1.5
IPTV wont be happening here anytime within the next 10 plus years. | |
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Re: At my place there is no door on the barn and it doesn't mattI live in Auburn, and it's the same out here depending on where in the city you are. They only offer 1.5/896k, but just up the street they have faster services. We had qworst for a while, but their service is slow, expensive, and unreliable. Comcast keeps improving their speed. | |
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ipvideo to phxmark
Anon
2011-May-6 1:43 pm
to phxmark
Re: Closing barn doors after horse has already leftI'm between Issaquah and Renton WA, and same story here. Lucent Stinger DSLAMs which were up-to-the-minute a decade ago, and are capable of more speed, but Qwest offers only up to ~1.5mbps broadband access.
So we have Qwest old-fashioned phone lines (when we have power outages, the router of course goes down too, so VoIP is not an option). Comcast for broadband (just tested 24mbps down and 2.6 up). DISH for TV (including Sling and Google TV/Logitech Revue). T-Mobile for cell phone. Sprint for long distance. Three ISPs. In other words, we are a bit atypical of many communications consumers these days but not too far out of normal.
I have no illusion that Qwest will upgrade Western WA anytime soon. The investment would be huge just to catch up with Comcast broadband, and too big for managed, facilities-based IPTV, given that satellite and Comcast are entrenched incumbent video competitors already. This situation probably relegates Qwest's fixed-line offerings to near obsolescence. The observations made about similarities to AOL cornering the dial-up market, and the horse being out of the barn - spot on.
As for the union-bashing vs union-supporting part of this thread... the Qwest technician that came and installed an add'l line at our house was the stereotypical 57 year-old curmudgeon wearing a hat full of American flag pins. He was an old 'tip and ring' and 'I remember Strowger switches' kind of guy and knew nothing whatsoever about video. Something got him whining against Obama 'socialism'. A minute later, he said he was just a couple of years from retirement with company-paid health care and good financial benefits. Didn't seem consistent to me, but that's just my opinion. | |
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FFH5 Premium Member join:2002-03-03 Tavistock NJ |
FFH5
Premium Member
2011-May-5 5:45 pm
Plan for the pastquote: company's primary plan in Qwest markets will be to slow and reverse Qwest customer erosion to cable companies and CLECs.
So, it seems their grand plan is to get landline phone business back, while landline phone lines are being dropped for cell phones by more and more people. Sounds like AOLs old plan of cornering the dial-up market. | |
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Re: Plan for the pastNo, sounds like they're going after T1/Ethernet customers who defected from Qwest to Cbeyond, XO or someone else similar. $500+ per month per account vs. significantly less.. | |
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nonymous (banned) join:2003-09-08 Glendale, AZ |
nonymous (banned)
Member
2011-May-5 6:29 pm
Top downBut techs walk around like hot stuff whining as can not afford to retire at 30 years at 55. Centurylink might cut their retirement a little as no healthcare. Cry up a storm. Union and employees care as little about the customer as does the new owner centurylink. i dont think Century has a clue to what is has gotten itself. A bunch of old at or near retirement employees with entitlement on their minds. Plant that has not been rehabed in years. Management that has been beaten by upper levels then by the rank and file. Rank and file make jokes of most managers even if they are good. never say any manager is good unless say grandfathered from many many years ago. the divide is solid. then newer hires. Walk amongst the old grandfathered trees. We have many years and do little or think we do lots. We get healthcare with retirement but gave away your starting salary. Still vote for us. Why? Basically it stinks from top down now. in fighting, union vs employee vs management at all levels. each is the very best especially if old ma bell. | |
| | bbbc join:2001-10-02 NorthAmerica |
bbbc
Member
2011-May-5 7:54 pm
Re: Top downNice union bashing. Maybe the techs should retire at 80 with no healthcare. Sorry, but mid-level management opted to take the jobs they have.
CenturyLink will probably offer up to 10Mb dry loop DSL for $30 like they do in the Las Vegas market. | |
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viperlmw
Premium Member
2011-May-6 11:35 am
Re: Top downsaid by bbbc:Nice union bashing. Maybe the techs should retire at 80 with no healthcare. Sorry, but mid-level management opted to take the jobs they have. QFT | |
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hjinx
Anon
2011-May-5 7:41 pm
Stop customer erosion?That would mean plant investment and improvement as the Qwest 1.5 mbps max in my neighborhood is .... well a looser of a service. | |
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