 
solarified
Premium
join:2002-11-02
Delafield, WI
clubs:
1 edit | Nice but..... How about a three meg DSL package at a competitive price instead?
edit=typo | |
|  | Gr8typist
join:2004-02-03
Kansas City, MO
| Re: Nice but..... said by solarified  :
How about a three meg DSL package at a competitive price instead?
No kidding. I have a good friend who lives in rural Missouri and is stuck with CenturyTel. She's already got DISH - most rural customers already have satellite from what I can tell - what she wants, has begged for, and has been told there are absolutely no plans to ever offer to her is DSL. There is absolutely no possibility of any broadband options in her little town unless she shells out the $$$ for satellite Internet - expensive startup, higher monthly cost than DSL, and service that is at the total mercy of the weather. | |
| | evoxfan
Waiting On Dsl Or Cable
join:2004-02-12
Daleville, AL
| Or, how about just rolling out DSL at all! There isn't any DSL available for miles in my area. How about putting our $$$ to use on something we actually want and need; RT's with remote DSLAM's.
--
WinXP_Home, 1.8GHz P4, 512DDR, DAK421_P15, DW4000 Two-Way, SRS, SatMex5, 1130MHz, Proxy on, DrTCP. | |
| | Mrquin27
join:2003-11-24
Denmark, WI
| Yeah Centurytel makes DSL available where nothing else is so that they can jack the prices sky high and give bad speed, and then there is nothing you can do but change over to dial up.
Oh and you can get 20 dish networks where ever 3 meg would be nice | |
| 
inteller
Sociopaths always win.
join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK | not possible no, thats where CenturySuck makes all of its money, ripping off rural customers who have no choice. If they were forced to compete with someone, they'd fold faster than a paper bag. | |
| jporter07
join:2004-03-22
Mobile, AL | now i can save $2 dollars! And I can't use DishNetwork's online Account Manager!
Thanks Centurytel! | |
| 
Apophis
Jaffa Kree
Premium
join:2001-12-27
Holmen, WI
clubs: | Death to CenturyTel How about the death of CenturyTel. | |
| |
inteller
Sociopaths always win.
join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK
| Re: Death to CenturyTel the reason centurytel exists is because they buy up all the unprofitable wirelines in rural areas, then jack up the rates for lack of competition.
i would like them to go under too, but it isn't going to happen until they make themselves look tempting to buy. | |
| | | 
Butch5
@centurytel.n | Re: Death to CenturyTel And what I want to know is how the hell they get away with it without breaking antitrust laws! There's got to be a class-action suit waiting to happen here. | |
| 
chronix_10
join:2004-02-05
Tarzana, CA | next Microsoft Wow echostar is combinign services with everyone including SBC. That company is going to become teh next Microsoft. LoL. | |
| | | 
insomniac
Oh Yeah
Premium
join:2002-09-22
Naperville, IL
clubs:
 ·AT&T Midwest
| Re: CenturyTel? I'm with you. The only reason I knew they existed prior to this news article was because I know someone in rural southern Wisconsin who's stuck with their service.
--
If everything seems to be going well, you've obviously overlooked something. | |
| | | | | Mrquin27
join:2003-11-24
Denmark, WI | Good for you you dont want to get mixed up with them, i dont really like paying 55$ a month for 25$ dsl | |
| 
chd176
join:2003-01-10
Winfield, AL
·CenturyLink
| it's ok CenturyTel did a good job rolling out broadband but they could really use some better packages...I'm paying $54.95 a month for 1500/256...that's crap...but I'm in the middle of nowhere so I guess it's as good as I'm gonna get. It's either CenturyTel DSL or Satellite...I've already had my fair share with Satellite and I would take the "expensive" DSL any day. | |
| |
solarified
Premium
join:2002-11-02
Delafield, WI
clubs: | Re: it's ok Yeah, but it would have been nice if they let you know about the 1.5/256 package. I was paying $49.95 for 512/256 for half a year before I pursued the matter after being told many times that it wasn't available in my area. Thanks CenturyTel. | |
| | Mrquin27
join:2003-11-24
Denmark, WI | Hey the prices went down 5$ a month by me 49$ a month for 1.5mbps/256kbps | |
| 
winterforge
Premium
join:2000-07-23
Seattle, WA
clubs: | Phone Giant? Phone Giant? Am I missing something here? Verizon is a phone giant. SBC is a phone giant. CenturyTel, who the f#*k is that?
--
Guild Wars | winterforge | |
| | 
RR Conductor
RailRoadDude
Premium
join:2002-04-02
Redwood Valley, CA | Re: Phone Giant? Why not do a search in Yahoo instead of showing us your lack of language skills  | |
|
quit griping
@centurytel.com
| Insider info on this deal Ok. For those who want to know who CenturyTel is, go to »www.centurytel.com . We are the 8th largest telco in the US, but we serve rural America -- not large metropolitan areas where I'm sure some of the gripers live.
The decision to do this deal was based on economics for sure, but what you guys don't know is that DSL offerings are about to increase in areas it makes sense to deploy. I'm sure we could raise rates on regular phone service to allow us to put switches all over the place to overcome the distance limitations of DSL. Would some of the griping people out there want their bill to go up enough to cover putting a switch within range of their house? I didn't think so. It would be like putting in a water treatment facility that handles a million people only to serve a few hundred. Economically feasible -- I don't think so. That's why the population in those areas have wells and septic tanks. The areas we serve are rural and water companies don't run lines to service these areas. Too expensive. Do the customers complain? No, they build a well.
There is a balance between giving the customer what they can get in the city for cheaper (costs spread across tens-of-thousands of customers) and getting, in the tone of this board, "subpar service" because they are unwilling to pay for the higher level of service. We can't put switches all over the place because of cost, so we decided to do this EchoStar deal. As one person said, "most rural customers already have satellite from what I can tell." They get satellite because cable companies won't reach them either -- because of cost. You guys aren't griping about not being able to get cable, now are you. There are many things that are cheaper when you live in a metropolitan area. Gas (usually) is cheaper due to bulk purchases and transport costs in large areas. You guys aren't saying anything about the costs of gas in rural areas, but you all know it's more expensive. You aren't screaming "monopoly" at the gas stations. One person asked about that and why there aren't any class action lawsuits. CLEC's (Competitive Local Exchange Carriers) are more than able to start up in rural areas. Why don't they? They'd be using our plant facilities -- so that's not an expense they have. They wouldn't have to "build" anything. They wouldn't have to maintain anything (when the ice storm hits, we have to fix the lines, not them). Where is their operational expense? We are regulated by the Public Service (or Utility) Commissions in each state and by the FCC. We have to show where we spend money and why it costs X amount per line. We have regulated price caps on what we can charge CLEC's and that's across the industry. The reason they don't come in is because they can't make money on such a small number of customers. You know that nebulous "Universal Service Fund" on everybody's phone bill. That helps keep costs down in rural areas. We get money from that fund that all phone customers pay in to in order to help defray costs. If we let costs get out of hand, we actually get penalized and receive less money -- unless we can show why the costs went up. As employees, we get screwed too. We have contacts at other companies like Alltel, SBC, etc. and we know what our peers make at these other companies. We aren't up to par, so don't think your phone bill goes to our pockets. Our execs don't make the pay that other execs at telcos make either. Do your homework on the SEC site and look at filings -- you can see the execs pay and bonuses. We aren't a wasteful, overstaffed company, so don't point to that either. My staff just got trimmed by 30%. No more pay for those who are left to pick up the slack though.
We have to charge more for the same reasons rural gas stations, grocery stores, and other utilities/necessities have to charge more. Location, location, location. The only difference we have are the price caps. Gas goes up continually without them. You don't gripe much about that, do you?
DSL is about to enter more markets we serve, and even in those markets we are going to offer this EchoStar deal. DSL, however, is still limited in range and unless the costs for new infrastructure are recouped somewhere, we will find alternatives that we feel are beneficial to the customer. If you want cheaper options, more options, etc., then move where they are available, or start a CLEC and see how long it lasts. Contact your state Public Service Commission (or Public Utility Commission) and complain, but you'll find out from those Commission members that we are keeping costs down and trying to roll out technologies that won't break your bank or ours. | |
| |
BamaRob
@12.6.x.x
| Re: Insider info on this deal Thanks for posting your response. It's nice to see that someone on the "inside" is actually paying some attention to consumer concerns.
If you happen to read this, I have a question that perhaps you can answer. I've been calling and emailing CenturyTel for a few years now just trying to get some idea of when DSL will be available in my area. I'm confident that it's coming (nearby communities recently got it), but would like to have some idea of when it will be available. I commute 50+ miles each way to and from work 5 days a week. Reliable DSL service would allow me to telecommute part of that time saving me lots of money in gasoline. Plus, each day that I worked from home would free up 2-2.5 hours for church, family, hobbies, etc.
I live in Glen Allen, AL. Other CenturyTel service areas nearby (Winfield, Hamilton) have recently received DSL service. I don't know if you can provide information on one particular remote switch (Glen Allen, AL at the intersection of AL Hwy 129 and Fayette Co. Rd. 24), but if you could, that'd be great. My wife tells me that she's been seeing lots of CenturyTel trucks riding the roads in our area for the past few days, so maybe something is happening?????
BTW, calling/emailing the "support center" does no good. I always get the same answer. "Service is not available in your area. We'll notify you when it is." Well, that's great. But, for planning purposes, it'd help to know when it will be available.
Thanks,
BamaRob | |
|
fly on the wall
@bellsouth.net
| shame on you gripers centurytel is in the rural community to provide telephone service because no other company wants to serve you. the other bigger telco dont want it because of the aging equipment and no big profits. you better be glad you have companys like centurytel they are at least trying to provide you with broadband options where bigger telcos wouldnt even think about it. it only makes sense that it would be more expensive because of the population. dont be so hard on centurytel you may not have broadband options but if anyone can get them for you they can in the future! | |
| | Mrquin27
join:2003-11-24
Denmark, WI | Re: shame on you gripers well then centurytel probly does very well making twice the money SBC does on a single person i would do the same thing | |
|
CRABASS
@centurytel.net | small town crap Come check this site out ..lots of talk about dsl and century tell www.halemichigan.net | |
| rlonghofer
join:2001-01-27
Lake Dallas, TX
| Im switching to centurytel The new triple play package is a good deal. I live in the Dallas area, where centurytel has probably about 30k users. The finally got competitive with cable, and I am sick and tired of the cable service calls to any place other than the USA, over the last two years, we have been down with our cablemodem over 20 times, with outages as long as a week. My first question was where is your tech support located, and they stated all in the USA. Ok great, then the next question was if you can beat my cost of telephone, cable tv, and internet cable, you have my business. Well the speed of 768/10000 with 100 channels of tv, (lineup on their site looked good), telephone, and sat tv came to a total of 101$ for one year, then going up to probably 125. Which is still less thang the 135 combined i pay now. Startup was 49 dollars. | |
| | | |
|
|
CenturyTel, EchoStar Partnership
CenturyTel?