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Qwest Unveils 40Mbps/20Mbps Service
Rumored VDSL2 expansion finally lands...

Back in June we were the very first to report that Qwest was getting close to launching new VDSL2 service in select markets that would allow Qwest to offer faster broadband speeds, something that was important for a carrier whose ADSL2+ service offered top upstream speeds of just 896kbps. This morning Qwest finally confirmed the news, announcing via press release that they're offering new VDSL2 service to select markets that top out at 40Mbps downstream and 20Mbps upstream. The new pricing, straight from the announcement:

quote:
•Connection speeds of 40 Mbps downstream with 5 Mbps upstream, starting at $99.99 a month for the first 12 months when combined with a qualifying home phone package.

•Connection speeds of 40 Mbps downstream with 20 Mbps upstream, starting at $109.99 a month for the first 12 months when combined with a qualifying home phone package.

•An introductory rate of $5 more a month for qualified customers with 7 Mbps, 12 Mbps or 20 Mbps speed tiers who upgrade to 5 Mbps upstream speeds.
According to Qwest, they've only just started deploying VDSL in a limited capacity in Denver, Tucson, Salt Lake City, and Minneapolis/St. Paul, and will ultimately deploy the service in "select" portions of 23 markets, including parts of New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Washington.
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iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Screenshots? Golden?

If I could get this service I'd probably stick with 40/20 for a month or two, then downgrade to 12/5. Then again, I'll bet DOCSIS 3 will be launched in Denver and my area by the time Qwest gets VDSL to my location.

So does anyone have any screenshots of the residential package selection screen? What area are you in? How distance-dependent (probably a lot) is the service?

If Qwest can get this deployed in a decent manner then Comcast DOCSIS 3 actually has some competition...I'd much rather have 40/20 than 50/10.
TheMayor
join:2002-05-09

TheMayor

Member

Re: Screenshots? Golden?

Is this what you were looking for?

»/speak ··· NA%3D%3D

This came from the "new signup for 20/5.." thread
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Screenshots? Golden?

Something like that, though another one would be nice. I saw that one when it was posted.
iansltx

iansltx

Member

85% Rule

Looks like they're still including verbiage about their connections only reaching 85% of advertised speeds...in 2009. Hey guys, ever heard of something called "overprovisioning" to get the connection up to the actual advertised speeds? Comcast does it and guess what, you're competing against them.
azzonie3
join:2004-04-13
Phoenix, AZ

azzonie3

Member

Re: 85% Rule

The overhead has nothing to do with "overprovisioning". The advertised speed is what the device trains at. Read here about DSL overhead.

»pflog.net/dsl_overhead/
said by iansltx:

Looks like they're still including verbiage about their connections only reaching 85% of advertised speeds...in 2009. Hey guys, ever heard of something called "overprovisioning" to get the connection up to the actual advertised speeds? Comcast does it and guess what, you're competing against them.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: 85% Rule

I'm very aware of ATM (not necessarily DSL) overhead. If all internet had ATM overhead then okay, maybe advertising one speed and delivering another would be justified. However cable internet and non-ATM DSL techs (including GPON) don't have the majority of that overhead, and Comcast actually overprovisions their cable services to make perfectly sure everyone gets the speeds adversied, even when PowerBoost wears off.

So I maintain that Qwest should either overprovision the line or stop the false advertising of their, for example, 12 Mbit service as a comparable alternative to Comcast's service of the same speed.

Before you say anything else, I have had a Qwest DSL account, have used Qwest DSL recently and have used another provider's DSL that doesn't overprovision (Windstream in my area) but still uses ATM. I've also used providers that do overprovision (Comcast on cable, Embarq on DSL) and it doesn't take much to square speeds away with what people actually expect. I think it's not too far-fetched to actually be able to push 875 KB/s over a 7 Mbit connection, even if I have to use UDP to do that.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536 to iansltx

Premium Member

to iansltx
said by iansltx:

Looks like they're still including verbiage about their connections only reaching 85% of advertised speeds...in 2009. Hey guys, ever heard of something called "overprovisioning" to get the connection up to the actual advertised speeds? Comcast does it and guess what, you're competing against them.
So does verizon DSL. but this is qworst. standard operating procedure for the bottomfeeder of telco's.
15% of 40mb and 20mb is 6mbps down and 3mbps up is what you're giving up because they still want to cheap out and use tired old PPPoE/PPPoA.
it'll be still distance sensitive so don't think just because you have 1.5mbps qwest DSL that you can pick up the phone and upgrade to 40/20!
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: 85% Rule

It's not PPPoX that kills most of that 15% (though it does shave off a bit). The big problem is ATM...that's where the big performance losses are, because ATM cells are 53 bytes and nothing else is that length.
brianw1957
join:2006-01-24
West Jordan, UT

brianw1957

Member

Cherry Picking... again. "Select markets"

I can say this, I live in West Jordan, UT, and I'm still only getting 1.5. The promise of faster service has again failed to make it to less than profitable areas and markets.
It looks again like a bit of cherry picking from where I sit.
Does anyone know the secret to getting a remote terminal upgraded? I was told to write a letter to the CEO, but haven't figured out just where one would send it.
Anyone else in WJ wishing or have any luck with this?
Thanks
MightyPez
join:2002-05-01
Saint Paul, MN

MightyPez

Member

Re: Cherry Picking... again. "Select markets"

Even worse, I have lived in Saint Paul and surrounding suburbs. I have never been able to get above 1.5mbit service from them despite advertising their 7mbit service for years.

I'll believe this when I see it.
Big Dawg 23
join:2002-03-27
Northfield, MN

Big Dawg 23

Member

Re: Cherry Picking... again. "Select markets"

I am in Northfield. Thankfully I have Charters 20/2mb not the fast 1.5mb they tried to sell me

TuxRaiderPen
A Warm Embrace
join:2009-06-02
Outer Rim

TuxRaiderPen

Member

Re: Cherry Picking... again. "Select markets"

Upon canceling my account (Crap 1.2 Mbps), the cs person sorrowfully told me, "Oh, sorry, looks like we don't offer any higher speeds for your area..., would you like six months free....". In any event, I flat out told her, "Look, your CEO said people don't care about speed, just "service". That philosophy is what lost me, you can't compete with DOCSIS 3.0, nor do you intend to do so. Please cancel my account.".

I hope they "recorded and analyzed my conversation with the service associate".

Transmaster
Don't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY

1 recommendation

Transmaster to brianw1957

Member

to brianw1957

I am so excited

Qwest annouces they will offer 40Mbps/20Mbps service in Cheyenne, Wyoming starting in the Spring of 2025. I can't wait.
AstroBoy
join:2008-08-08
Parkville, MD

AstroBoy

Member

Re: I am so excited

said by Transmaster:

Qwest annouces they will offer 40Mbps/20Mbps service in Cheyenne, Wyoming starting in the Spring of 2025. I can't wait.
In 2025, that will be really slow!

Transmaster
Don't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY

Transmaster

Member

Re: I am so excited

said by AstroBoy:
said by Transmaster:

Qwest annouces they will offer 40Mbps/20Mbps service in Cheyenne, Wyoming starting in the Spring of 2025. I can't wait.
In 2025, that will be really slow!
Of course, Cheyenne will alway get 10 year old service today.

Omega
Premium Member
join:2002-07-30
Golden, CO

Omega

Premium Member

Re: I am so excited

said by Transmaster:

said by AstroBoy:
said by Transmaster:

Qwest annouces they will offer 40Mbps/20Mbps service in Cheyenne, Wyoming starting in the Spring of 2025. I can't wait.
In 2025, that will be really slow!
Of course, Cheyenne will alway get 10 year old service today.
That's why I went with Bresnan...8mbit is nice, and ironically it's the fastest internet I've had, having lived in populated areas of California and Ohio, it was a suprise to me to see 8mbit avilable in Cheyenne. 16mbit is also avilable through them, but I will wait on that one.
TransitJohn
join:2009-05-08
Denver, CO

TransitJohn to Transmaster

Member

to Transmaster
Yep. They will not upgrade any town in Wyoming, ever. The actuarial tables make it unprofitable for too long.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx to brianw1957

Member

to brianw1957

Re: Cherry Picking... again. "Select markets"

VDSL is a short-range tech last I checked, so you're MUCH more likely to get ADSL2+ than VDSL. Problem is, you're probably on a bonded-T1-powered node at the moment so they'd have to first upgrade you to FTTN before going to VDSL2 (which probably won't happen).

I'm in an urban area in Golden, CO (not far from Denver). No ADSL2+ here; a block over 7 Mbps is the top speed. At my location, 5 Mbps is (minus overhead of course). Yes, it's better than 1.5 but Comcast has made the upgrade to DOCSIS 2.0 at this point, so even when FTTN comes out it'll already be out of date.

Put into perspective, Comcast's second-lowest tier (Economy is cheaper than Qwest dry-line DSL FWIW) is faster in every way than Qwest's highest ADSL tier here. One megabit on uploads vs. about 716 after overhead, six megabits on downloads vs. about that much after overhead on Qwest. Except on Comcast PowerBoost will double or even quadruple download speeds and push uploads to 8-11 Mbps for the first few seconds of a download, while Qwest sits at their prescribed speeds for the entire duration.

Of course Golden, filled with college students as it is and relatively dense, would be a nice place to put some VDSL, but we don't even get FTTN so 99% of the people I know off-campus have Comcast.

Transmaster
Don't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY

Transmaster to brianw1957

Member

to brianw1957
said by brianw1957:

I can say this, I live in West Jordan, UT, and I'm still only getting 1.5. The promise of faster service has again failed to make it to less than profitable areas and markets.
It looks again like a bit of cherry picking from where I sit.
Does anyone know the secret to getting a remote terminal upgraded? I was told to write a letter to the CEO, but haven't figured out just where one would send it.
Anyone else in WJ wishing or have any luck with this?
Thanks
Go here: »news.qwest.com/company-m ··· -mueller
brianw1957
join:2006-01-24
West Jordan, UT

brianw1957

Member

Re: Cherry Picking... again. "Select markets"

To bad the email link is bogus...
Time to ask my Qwest employed brother for a hand here.
Thanks

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

2 edits

FFH5

Premium Member

Re: Cherry Picking... again. "Select markets"

said by brianw1957:

To bad the email link is bogus...
Time to ask my Qwest employed brother for a hand here.
Thanks
You can send an email to Corporate Communications VP here:
Nicholas.sweers@qwest.com

and also get high visibility here on Twitter:
»www.twitter.com/monicamartinez
»www.twitter.com/rtoevs

There are other relevant email addresses and Twitter links on this web page:
»news.qwest.com/contact-media

qworst
@comcast.net

qworst to brianw1957

Anon

to brianw1957
as a Sandy resident I had the same problem. It's inexcusable to only be able to get 1.5 megs in a fairly well populated and affluent area. I eventually got sick of Qwest's games.
I dropped Qwest for Comcast and have never been happier.
rahvin112
join:2002-05-24
Sandy, UT

1 edit

rahvin112

Member

Re: Cherry Picking... again. "Select markets"

Accidental Double post. Sorry
rahvin112

rahvin112 to qworst

Member

to qworst
I'm in Sandy at around 9500 south 2200 east. There is Remote CO (Brick building, probably 10x15 in size) that I know has a fiber loop to it from the CO that is probably less than 1000' from my home and I can only get 1.5 down. I made the mistake of sticking to 1.5 when the initial offer of DSL was available, because IIRC they did offer 7down in my neighborhood. I think the link is so saturated with customers that they will only offer 1.5 down now and they won't upgrade anyone.

To upgrade my neighborhood I think all they have to do is upgrade the equipment on either side of the Fiber loop so they have more than T1 capacity and it's been that way for more than 2 years now. Although the equipment isn't cheap it's way cheaper than digging a new fiber into the ground and they still haven't done even that. That's how bad their finances are. Don't hold out hope they will upgrade you to VDSL or ADSL2, they are going to hit urban denver as much as they can then ignore the rest us. The only area in SLC that's going to see the new speeds is likely Daybreak.

woodward
XMission Internet
join:2000-12-28
Salt Lake City, UT

woodward

Member

Re: Cherry Picking... again. "Select markets"

In north Sandy, a few blocks from the Midvale border, I can still only get 256k.
dynodb
Premium Member
join:2004-04-21
Minneapolis, MN

dynodb

Premium Member

Re: Cherry Picking... again. "Select markets"

said by woodward:

In north Sandy, a few blocks from the Midvale border, I can still only get 256k.
Have you checked recently? I heard that some VDSL2 remotes have been added in the Sandy area just in the past 3-4 weeks. No idea if any are close enough to you though.

woodward
XMission Internet
join:2000-12-28
Salt Lake City, UT

woodward

Member

Re: Cherry Picking... again. "Select markets"

said by dynodb:

Have you checked recently? I heard that some VDSL2 remotes have been added in the Sandy area just in the past 3-4 weeks. No idea if any are close enough to you though.
Just tried again on your suggestion. Still 256k. Hasn't been an upgrade in the area in the 6 years I've owned the home.

MSauk
MSauk
Premium Member
join:2002-01-17
Sandy, UT

MSauk to woodward

Premium Member

to woodward
well I live around 700 east in Sandy and I just looked today and I now can get speeds up to 12/896 which is a huge upgrade from 1.5/896 this address has seen the last 8 years....

Might actually order now...
skriefal
join:2002-12-26
Sandy, UT

skriefal to woodward

Member

to woodward
I'm in northern Sandy... and according to Qwest's web site I qualify for the 40/20 service. I've had the 12/.896 service for about a year, and might go for the 12/5 upgrade.

toby
Troy Mcclure
join:2001-11-13
Seattle, WA

toby

Member

hmm

Great, so the people who can already get the 7 Mbps, or 20 Mbps, can now get the 40 Mbps service.

Where the people who can get 1.5 Mbps service will be for ever stick at that service speed.
almaden
join:2004-03-03
Renton, WA

1 edit

almaden

Member

Re: hmm

Exactly, how about finishing the 12/20Mbps deployment before embarking on another project?

I've been looking to upgrade to 12 or 20Mbps (from 7) here in the suburbs of Seattle for the last year. Qwest even had a "fiber optic" billboard advert about 2 miles from my house.

I regularly go to Qwest's "Notfiy Me when new speeds are available" webpage. Half the time it says I don't have a valid Qwest phone number, and the other half it fails to load w/o a page error.

••••••

danawhitaker
Space...The Final Frontier
Premium Member
join:2002-03-02
Thorndale, ON

danawhitaker to toby

Premium Member

to toby
I still can only get the package 1.5/896 here in Urbandale. Of course, the catch in my area is that they want to downgrade you to 640/256 or lower because they are having problems they can't fix and the modems won't train properly. I'm staying with Mediacom at the very least until 7mbit becomes available.

What's more frustrating is that late last spring and summer the new tan DSL boxes started springing up everywhere around here, except for my neighborhood. I might have to fire off a letter to someone like other people were mentioning, it's inexcusable that every area in Urbandale around mine can get higher speeds but my area cannot.

ARGONAUT
Have a nice day.
Premium Member
join:2006-01-24
New Albany, IN

ARGONAUT

Premium Member

wow

After seeing comments it makes me glad I have cable net with InsightBB.
patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY

patcat88

Member

Re: wow

said by ARGONAUT:

After seeing comments it makes me glad I have cable net with InsightBB.
Shows how DSL basically doesn't exist in the USA except as a budget service for people who think cable is too expensive.

Its funny, outside of North America, Cable HFC or plain 1 way analog Cable is almost non-existent. Cable TV is purely an American invention. In europe is OTA, or if your rich, satellite, same thing with 3rd world. The only wireline TV you can get is IPTV over ADSL from your incumbant telco, or from CLECs operating IPTV over copper ADSL, or recently FTTH was installed in your city (IPTV again).

Ignite
Premium Member
join:2004-03-18
UK

1 edit

Ignite

Premium Member

Re: wow

said by patcat88:

Shows how DSL basically doesn't exist in the USA except as a budget service for people who think cable is too expensive.

Its funny, outside of North America, Cable HFC or plain 1 way analog Cable is almost non-existent. Cable TV is purely an American invention. In europe is OTA, or if your rich, satellite, same thing with 3rd world. The only wireline TV you can get is IPTV over ADSL from your incumbant telco, or from CLECs operating IPTV over copper ADSL, or recently FTTH was installed in your city (IPTV again).
Not sure if my cableco would agree with that being that they pass about 50% of the UK's homes. The analogue bit I'll agree on though, think you guys are pretty rare in upgrading HFC networks to higher frequencies to make room rather than just dropping analogue MATV signals.

Someone like Liberty Global's UPC might have questions too! »www.lgi.com/

You guys are certainly the daddy for cable TV though and you're dead right it's by far more ubiquitous in the US than anywhere else in the world except maybe Japan.

Don't need to be super rich to have satellite by the way, some quite decent relatively inexpensive deals are available

The Beer
I Love It When A Plan Comes Together
Premium Member
join:2001-07-24
Lincoln, NE

The Beer

Premium Member

No Omaha

I mean REALLY!????

Heck even Windstream is using the Qwest wire to do this now and they don't?

In the mid 90's Qwest was so competitive in Omaha with Cox, now they just gave up.

I swear if I hear or see a commercial or billboard for "Fiber Optic Qwest" again I am calling the PSC.

They claim to offer it, and put it in like 1 CO.
Bink
Villains... knock off all that evil
join:2006-05-14
Colorado

Bink

Member

Useless Marketing Banter

More useless marketing banter. Wake me when these fast speeds are available to the majority of Qwest’s subscribers.
sonicmerlin
join:2009-05-24
Cleveland, OH

sonicmerlin

Member

meh

This technology is 10 years too late and far too expensive.
dynodb
Premium Member
join:2004-04-21
Minneapolis, MN

dynodb

Premium Member

Re: meh

said by sonicmerlin:

This technology is 10 years too late and far too expensive.
Wow. Do people really have such a short memory?

Broadband was still in it's infancy 10 years ago. Of those who could get it, 1.5M was fast, upstream speeds of 128k-384k were common, and 256k/256k was quite popular. FTTN and FTTH was almost completely unheard of outside of a pipe dream.

Just 5 years ago 5M was considered fast.
elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA

elray

Member

Re: meh

said by dynodb:

said by sonicmerlin:

This technology is 10 years too late and far too expensive.
Wow. Do people really have such a short memory?
Unfortunately, its worse than that. People have NO memory.
"I want it all, now. And I want someone else to pay for it."

(Oh, and any firm that risks billions to develop and deploy the technology is evil if they don't deliver it to me immediately at my price. Profit is bad, m-kay?)

I, unfortunately, DO remember when we paid $.25/minute to call across the street, when we had to move to have dialtone to stay in business, when telco considered "data quality" to be 300 baud, when we had exactly *12* wireless phone channels for the whole county, when there was ONE movie channel, no cable, and it was on 6 hours a night, for $20 a month. As a kid, I used to fantasize that "some day" we would have what is now the Cartoon Network and cable television.

Of course, there are still problems with telco, cellco, the cable and broadcast business models and corruption thereof, but what we have today is an order of magnitude better than anything in the past, and in most cases, competition (including mere duopoly) is sufficient to overcome any complaint I might have.
gworkman
join:2005-10-18
Las Vegas, NV

gworkman

Member

Qwest - Fix your website !

Here's the response I get when I try to check my number.

We're Sorry...

To provide you with the best offers available, the system is currently down for routine maintenance. This interruption is only temporary.

Check back soon to see what's new at qwest.com!

FrostyMelon
join:2006-02-06
Colorado Springs, CO

FrostyMelon

Member

Re: Qwest - Fix your website !

I checked my area out of curiousity, and it's still the 20/896 package they started offering a year ago.

fonzbear2000
Premium Member
join:2005-08-09
Saint Paul, MN

fonzbear2000

Premium Member

This ISP still remains a HUGE joke where I live!

The VERY BEST I can get from them is 1.5/896! While Comcast offers ALL tiers up to 50/10(BOTH mbps!)!!!

••••

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536

Premium Member

Hmmmmm

Hmmmm. I see no mention of phoenix.
Guess they don't want to compete against cox here.
Bink
Villains... knock off all that evil
join:2006-05-14
Colorado

Bink

Member

Re: Hmmmmm

Don’t worry. Even if it said Phoenix you still might not get the service. I live in Denver, where this stuff is supposedly deployed, and ADSL2+ and VDSL is nowhere to be found near me.

WiseOldBear
Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Premium Member
join:2001-11-25
Litchfield Park, AZ
Motorola MB8600
Synology RT2600ac

WiseOldBear

Premium Member

And Yet!

And yet their infrastructure continues to decay and they lose customers throughout the system. The corporate wienies are useless and should all be terminated and they should hire some good engineers and tech folks who can build the ENTIRE system up to fast, reliable levels.