dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
Search similar:


uniqs
3107

RoadRunner2
@qwest.net

RoadRunner2

Anon

CenturyLink Pure Broadband price bump +$2.00 (11/26/13)

So along with my Black Friday/T-day ads in the snail mail....came this...
A notice for a $2.00 price bump for DSL/Pure Broadband starting with the next bill in December. Happy Thanksgiving to you too, CL
Wasn't there a price bump snuck in the misc bogus add-ons a month or so ago?
:-p
rjohnk
join:2013-10-26
Eden Prairie, MN

rjohnk

Member

I got this too. I love how "timely" means less than a week from December.

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

toby to RoadRunner2

Member

to RoadRunner2
What a joke considering the terrible service they offer.

They know they have a monopoly.

It won't be too many months until the fees increases too, their 99 cents fee recently was just a feeler fee.
colorbars
join:2003-03-20
USA

colorbars to RoadRunner2

Member

to RoadRunner2
Their explanation for the $.99 below the line price jump a few months ago was that it would all go toward infrastructure and they weren't adding to their profit. Since they already took care of their additional infrastructure costs back in July, by definition this price jump is pure profit. I can't wait to see how they spin this one.
ArizonaSteve
join:2004-01-31
Apache Junction, AZ

ArizonaSteve to rjohnk

Member

to rjohnk
I never got anything like that but what is "Pure Broadband"? Is that different than regular broadband?

Kosh
We are all Kosh
Premium Member
join:2005-11-16
Z'ha'dum

1 edit

Kosh

Premium Member

I believe it's their marketing terminology for 'dry loop' or 'naked' DSL service - in other words, you aren't bundling Internet service with TV or phone.

It's not terribly surprising to see an increase - they probably know that the local Cable co. just raised prices (cox added $7 extra per month here in AZ, AFTER a separate increase in February) and decided to 'enhance your experience' similarly. :P
brad152
join:2006-07-27
Chicago, IL

brad152 to RoadRunner2

Member

to RoadRunner2
I cannot wait until my degree is done so i can try to live overseas for a bit and see what the broadband is like over there, as i'd almost guarantee it's 10x better than anything here.

I have friends in the UK and they have much faster internet for way cheaper than we pay here.

Oh well, each place has it's up's and downs i suppose but I do think the experience would be fun

Simpsons11
@qwest.net

Simpsons11 to RoadRunner2

Anon

to RoadRunner2
I called today and there was no knowledge or information on this $2 increase...
gapmn
join:2013-11-10
Saint Paul, MN

gapmn to brad152

Member

to brad152
Don't forget, gas is $6 a gallon and taxes are double....

RoadRunner2
@qwest.net

RoadRunner2 to ArizonaSteve

Anon

to ArizonaSteve
"what is "Pure Broadband"

Yes...Pure Broadband is just that, nothing but internet DSL, no TV, no Phone...commonly referred to as 'naked DSL' or 'Dry Loop'....as 'pb5k' posted (ty btw)

Giving CL the benefit of the doubt(acknowledging the recent speed increase but ignoring the 'recovery fee' add-on)...
CL did move their Jurassic truth-in-advertising butt a few months ago to actually provide at least the Mbps that you are paying for...so perhaps now they are recouping that FCC prompted goodwill gesture to regain their profit margin...just a thought. Ftr I have a 12 Mbps/896kbps contract which was improved from 10.8 Mbps/810kbps to 13.5 MBps/810kbps = 25% increase....but really only a 12.5% increase from what I was originally paying for and not receiving(12 Mbps). Thus the $2.00 price bump amounts to a 4% increase.

So for me it translates to a 12.5% speed increase for a 4% rate hike. Note: all of this is ignoring the $.99 'internet cost recovery fee' (venture capitol/cost of doing business fee) and let's not forget taxes.

The CL current up-sell price plans upgrade speed(12>20Mbps) for about $10.00 ($.80/Mbps)... and the $2.00 bump for a 1.5Mbps increase amounts to $1.20/Mbps, the price bump is NOT a good deal in any upgrading of services as $.40 of that is pure profit(increase)....or 'cost recovery'(increase) ... however CL wants to spin it.

>gpmn
Not sure where you're paying $6/gal for gas...but it's been below $3/gal here(NM) for a month or so....currently in low $2.90's, even over T-giving holiday.

TAZ
@qwest.net

TAZ

Anon

said by RoadRunner2 :

CL did move their Jurassic truth-in-advertising butt a few months ago to actually provide at least the Mbps that you are paying for...so perhaps now they are recouping that FCC prompted goodwill gesture to regain their profit margin...just a thought. Ftr I have a 12 Mbps/896kbps contract which was improved from 10.8 Mbps/810kbps to 13.5 MBps/810kbps = 25% increase....but really only a 12.5% increase from what I was originally paying for and not receiving(12 Mbps). Thus the $2.00 price bump amounts to a 4% increase.

If you were trained at 12M before and weren't on a congested DSLAM (Qwest FTTN DSLAM so this isn't an issue), you were receiving 12M before. Internet connections aren't typically sold based on TCP goodput. CL only decided to do that to make themselves look better for the FCC, as you said, but of course I won't complain.

That overprovisioning amounts to a configuration change, and costs them nothing. It certainly didn't result in them performing any upgrades. (FTTN DSLAMs already are provisioned for at least GigE, and that wouldn't have changed as a result of the overprovisioning. Congested T1/DS3-fed DSLAMs were congested prior to the overprovisioning and will remain that way, since CL doesn't seem to have much of an interest in fixing that.)
gapmn
join:2013-11-10
Saint Paul, MN

gapmn to RoadRunner2

Member

to RoadRunner2
Read Brad152 above

RoadRunner2
@qwest.net

RoadRunner2

Anon

>gapmn
"Read Brad152 above"

Ahhh...got it...overseas...UK. Soooooo I guess I need to hope that the pluses and minuses balance out and re-budget my gas monies to my broadband lol. At least you can say they are being transparent about the price hike rather than the longstanding industry-wide practice of hiding it below the line. So a small victory there I guess.
brad152
join:2006-07-27
Chicago, IL

1 edit

brad152 to RoadRunner2

Member

to RoadRunner2
I have friends who moved from the US to the UK, and while they do pay more for gas, the public transportation system actually works there so they did not even bother getting a car, so for them the cost of living actually ended up being cheaper since they no longer have a car payment, gas, insurance, etc.. and the taxes only ended up being ~10% more than in the states, and they were pulling a six-figure salary here before going.

I visited London last year and did not need nor want a car once.

Also, i just received my bill in the mail yesterday and opened it today, there was no notice of any increase here in Phoenix. Although, i'm in a 1yr agreement for $19.99/mo for 40/5

crazyk4952
Premium Member
join:2002-02-04
united state
Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite
Ubiquiti UniFi AP-LR
Polycom VVX300

crazyk4952

Premium Member

said by brad152:

Also, i just received my bill in the mail yesterday and opened it today, there was no notice of any increase here in Phoenix. Although, i'm in a 1yr agreement for $19.99/mo for 40/5

I am on a 1 year agreement, too. So, my price won't go up until the end of the promotion.

The notice is actually not part of the bill, it is a 4 x 6 postcard that comes in the mail.
I just got my notice today.


Midniteoyl
join:2013-11-22
Knox, IN

Midniteoyl to brad152

Member

to brad152
$20 for 40 megs..

IceGuy
@qwest.net

IceGuy to RoadRunner2

Anon

to RoadRunner2
Got the same thing today, thought about the site first thing.
It even applies to "promo" pricing like "loyalty" discounts.
I'm only loyal because CL @ 1.5 is the only game in my neighborhood.
$22.99 for 1.5Mbps is pathetic. It'd be even more pathetic to pay $47.99 for the same service, because I don't qualify even for 7 @ 52.99 (an extra 5.5Mbps for $5, IF you are blessed with an upgrade.)
Affordable+Reasonable home LTE will probably be available in my area of Colorado Springs before VDSL2.
Fortunately, I was able to "uncap" my line somehow (I think?) by flashing my Q1000 with OEM firmware and now get a speedy 1.8/640. Either that or they've started over-provisioning a bit.
I have an FCC/SamKnows whitebox that's been recording my horrible service, maybe that's responsible too.

TAZ
@qwest.net

TAZ

Anon

said by IceGuy :

Fortunately, I was able to "uncap" my line somehow (I think?) by flashing my Q1000 with OEM firmware and now get a speedy 1.8/640. Either that or they've started over-provisioning a bit.

They are overprovisioning now. Provisioned rate is set by the DSLAM, it's not something you can override on the modem side (unlike with DOCSIS). When you flashed your Q1000, that also required you to retrain and that's why the speed increased.

Also, what's with the 640K upload? It should be 896K.
brad152
join:2006-07-27
Chicago, IL

brad152 to Midniteoyl

Member

to Midniteoyl
Yes, it's $26.93 after my static ip and internet cost recovery fee.

And, i just received my post card in the mail today about the price increase.

IceGuy
@qwest.net

IceGuy to TAZ

Anon

to TAZ
I have a SNR margin of around 6/6, that's the minimum CL DSLAMs will train at.
Qwest allowed margins so low, the modem would sometimes (falsely) report negative numbers. That made for a connection that would drop out several times a day. My 1.5 is solid for months at a time, but sometimes gets flaky for a few weeks then returns to normal. I'm weary of truck rolls. Techs have run out of things to improve (short of adding a remote terminal here, and it's not a rural area) All they really do is lock me in to horrible service like 1024/640 or 640/256. I'm sure it's not their fault, probably higher-up suggestions on what to do with problem lines. At times I wish I could provision myself instead of going back-and-forth with tech support, who'll have me going through baby steps like modem resets to appease them.
10 years of this and I probably know as much about ADSL as a field tech by now, possibly more.
Such is life in the 20th century(link).
At least I'm not paying full price.
Sorry for the long, sort-of off-topic posts, need to vent.

TAZ
@qwest.net

TAZ

Anon

You can control the minimum SNR on the modem, to both increase and decrease above the 6 dB DSLAM-suggested minimum. That could effectively allow you to provision your own speed.

Telnet into the Q1000 and do "xdslctl configure --snr 1" to effectively uncap it (should be about ~0.5dB minimum I believe). If xdslctl doesn't work, try adsl or adslctl. I'm not certain what the exact formula is for the number; it appears to be an offset. You can play with the numbers at least. At least it'll give you a chance to get the full 896 when the line is stable.

(My own experience, on a very consistent line: no retrains so far, running several days at 20M ADSL2+ with 2.5 dB SNR.)

Midniteoyl
join:2013-11-22
Knox, IN

Midniteoyl to brad152

Member

to brad152
Damn it...
brad152
join:2006-07-27
Chicago, IL

brad152

Member

It helps that Cox is quite competitive with speed and price for the most part in Phoenix when you bundle, so us Phoenicians get a decent deal when we call in and are nice to the lady on the other end haha

Still sucks it's going up 2.00 but if my level of service continues to be as solid as it's been since going pair bonded, I'll be happy to pay the extra.

LtnKreationz
Premium Member
join:2009-11-11
Mesa, AZ
Netgear CM1100
Asus RT-AX86

LtnKreationz

Premium Member

said by brad152:

It helps that Cox is quite competitive with speed and price for the most part in Phoenix when you bundle, so us Phoenicians get a decent deal when we call in and are nice to the lady on the other end haha

Still sucks it's going up 2.00 but if my level of service continues to be as solid as it's been since going pair bonded, I'll be happy to pay the extra.

I agree! I just called the other day and had another promo added. My service has been rock solid for the past 3 years since 40/20 was introduced in East Mesa. Before that I had Cox which sucked to no end with the constant modem reboots. People rip on DSL but I'll take it over Cox any day. I did have my Zyxel Q100 modem die so I had to run to Best Buy to purchase the Actiontec C1000A.

And just to add.....I'm now synced at 45/20.

TAZ
@qwest.net

TAZ

Anon

Same story here in Tucson, though with Comcast. I really have no idea why cable companies are seemingly unable to run a reliable network. Night and day compared to CL (& Qwest too) which literally never drops.

The large-scale FTTN investment back in 2008/9 might have been one of the best business investments Qwest ever made, seeing how common this "poor cable service vs. amazingly reliable DSL" story is. DSL isn't dead; with some tricks (bonding and vectoring) it can be just as fast as cable in many cases.