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Qwest: Remember How We Said Speed Didn't Matter? Forget That.
Those speeds we said you didn't want? Well, you want 'em.

Given Qwest lacks the resources to deploy fiber to the home, and their recent ADSL2+ service only topped out at 896kbps upstream, they've been trying to argue that speed didn't matter and it's the broadband "experience" that counts. Last month, Qwest COO Tom Richards insisted that customers really didn't want faster speeds, and Qwest didn't want to get caught up in the "speed game." "What's important is the actual experience, and if they can discern the difference," proclaimed the COO.

Qwest CFO Joe Euteneuer agreed, telling investors recently that "speed is almost a non-issue for the consumer." Or not. As Erik Sherman notes, Qwest's tune changed substantially when they issued a press release promoting their new VDSL service, which we explored last week. The new service, assuming you can get it, can offer up to 40Mbps downstream and 20Mbps upstream. In promoting the launch, Qwest seems to forget they just got done telling us speed didn't matter:

quote:
Speed is almost a non-issue for the consumer.
-Qwest CFO Joe Euteneuer, shortly before launching faster speeds.
This is all about perfecting the customer experience by anticipating their needs and delivering products and services that often exceed expectations. By delivering the speeds customers want, we are able to complement their lifestyles with new capabilities that will enhance their broadband experience.
So in other words, those faster speeds you didn't want? You're supposed to want them now. Unfortunately for many Qwest customers, this service won't be an option, as Qwest lacks the funds to deploy it to the vast majority of its customers -- many of whom are still stuck at 1.5Mbps. For those who can get it, some forum users have signed up and are giving the new service a whirl, and early speeds seem as good as advertised.

As we noted, the new speeds cost $100 per month for 40Mbps/5Mbps, or $110 a month for 40Mbps/20Mbps. Both tiers require that you bundle local phone service. As for distance restrictions "the reach varies," Qwest spokesperson Monica Martinez tells us. "The average length of the VDSL2 technology is around 3,000 to 4,000 ft.," she notes, "while the 40 Mbps downstream and faster upstream speeds that VDSL2 delivers will reach a little less."
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ztmike
Mark for moderation
Premium Member
join:2001-08-02
La Porte, IN

ztmike

Premium Member

Stimulus

I'm going on a limb here...but don't ISP's that deploy faster tech for more speeds..aren't they then getting that stimulus money from Obama?

If so ..I think its flawed a bit..they can deploy it to barely any of their customers and say they are doing the best they can. (which we all know is a lie)

needforspeed59
Cruise Ship Just Passing Through
join:2001-05-02
La Place, LA

needforspeed59

Member

Re: Stimulus

said by ztmike:

I'm going on a limb here...but don't ISP's that deploy faster tech for more speeds..aren't they then getting that stimulus money from Obama?

If so ..I think its flawed a bit..they can deploy it to barely any of their customers and say they are doing the best they can. (which we all know is a lie)
The BB stimulus funds have not been handed out yet. I think they are still determining the criteria, but it will probably be to un-served or under-served areas. How they determine what under-served means is still open unless someone else has other news.
nonymous (banned)
join:2003-09-08
Glendale, AZ

nonymous (banned)

Member

CEO

The CEOs daughter who had free company jet rides in high school probably needs faster speeds thus the rollout to select areas.
Baff
join:2007-12-05
Murrieta, CA

Baff

Member

Re: CEO

No, they already get FiOS.
patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY

patcat88

Member

sandvine

Lets have Qwest partner with Sandvine and on the fly reencode all Flash video (FLV) data to a lower bitrate, the HD button will be on, but nobody really knows what HD quality is in the first place (especially if the resolution and aspect ratio is the same), so they will never mind. DRMed content such as MS VC-1, gets packet lossed so the server changes the bitrate it to a lower bitrate, or Sandvine can sign a license agreement with MS and Apple to break the encryption and reencode then reencrypt the stream.

Your still going to have the "HD experience" according to a double blind study.

danclan
join:2005-11-01
Midlothian, VA

danclan

Member

In other news Chevrolet reintroduces the buggy whip

A Chevy spokesperson stated today, "We are bringing back the whip because of all excitement it brings. The user really gets a great experience. They have stated over and over again how they miss the old days so we thought this would be a great way to

rcdailey
Dragoonfly
Premium Member
join:2005-03-29
Rialto, CA

rcdailey

Premium Member

Re: In other news Chevrolet reintroduces the buggy whip

Too bad the Amish can't read your message.

RARPSL
join:1999-12-08
Suffern, NY

1 recommendation

RARPSL

Member

Re: In other news Chevrolet reintroduces the buggy whip

said by rcdailey:

Too bad the Amish can't read your message.
OTOH, The S&M crowd is cheering the renewed availability of this training aid.

Hpower
join:2000-06-08
Canyon Country, CA

Hpower

Member

Idiots

These people at Qwest really need to get a wake up call. Stop trying to deploy VDSL which barely anyone can get and focus on your pre-existing DSL customers @ 1.5MB DSL that are pretty much 90% of your customer base anyway. How stupid are today's CFO and CEO's really? We keep seeing these idiots make these promising comments without understanding one bit about how their network is doing, and what customers are saying. They really need to hire people who are more knowledable about the product than stupid revenue numbers and big phony press releases talking more bullshet.

Kfedka
Premium Member
join:2005-05-06
Spokane, WA

Kfedka

Premium Member

Re: Idiots

All the people I know in my area, all are stuck on qwest 1.5 for past 5 years. Some of us dont' have comcast available, so we are stuck at these speeds.

PolarBear03
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium Member
join:2005-01-03

PolarBear03

Premium Member

Re: Idiots

Comcast's internet footprint is much larger than Qwest's in Spokane. If your friends can only get 1.5m from Qwest and can't get Comcast, then they're not in Spokane, they're in Colton, Nine Mile, Otis, Liberty/Newman, etc.
fiberguy2
My views are my own.
Premium Member
join:2005-05-20

fiberguy2 to Hpower

Premium Member

to Hpower
So what you're saying is they should continue to deploy and maintain outdated DSL services and NOT start moving on towards the next generation faster speed services? (Looks to see if I'm on broadbandreports.com)

What I don't get is that people can sit here acting like an arm-chair quarterback making these calls. This is a business Qwest is running, not a charity. They need to make business decisions. The 90% figure you gave is 100% incorrect, by the way. No one owes anything to anyone..

I applaud Qwest for finally moving out of the current DSL model into the next stage.. it's about time.. and yes, even for a cash strapped company - or does that not mean anything to you? Remember, and I'm going to throw out a phony number too, ... 90% of the people on this site BITCH about what they're paying for DSL services now, which is dirt cheap, and yet they complain that the company won't dump a wad of money into upgrading the infrustructure. Meanwhile, Comcast and other cable operators, who are charging a reasonable realistic price for their services, are deploying DOCSIS 3.0.

The moral is that you get what you pay for. Since you're in CA, I"m sure you have nothing to worry about since you don't live in Qwest territory.
hroo772
Darkness Fears Me
Premium Member
join:2002-04-05
Mclean, VA

hroo772

Premium Member

The Reach

Even though the CEO can now pimp these new speed tiers, you have to be neighbors with the CO or a VDSL box. So you can tout a new package to actually compete, but because of your super short sighted business decision of using dying tech, only 1% of the subscribers can even be offered the package. Great job quest!

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

WiseOldBear

Premium Member

Qwest Senior Management-IDIOTS

Subject line says it all. They are also self-serving, conniving, brainless, arrogant, perfidious, sucky, slime. Yes, I have no strong feelings about them.

Hpower
join:2000-06-08
Canyon Country, CA

Hpower

Member

Re: Qwest Senior Management-IDIOTS

Yup. Described them really well.

n2jtx
join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY

n2jtx

Member

Is the clock ticking?

I am curious as to how long Qwest will be able to survive as a standalone company before either at&t or Verizon gobbles them up. It seems inevitable and these genius executives will get a very handsome payout in the process. Makes me wonder what would have happened to MCI had Qwest gotten them instead of Verizon.

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

MSauk

Premium Member

Re: Is the clock ticking?

I just ordered their service which I guess finally was upgraded from 1.5 to 12 down...

I am getting 10.5 on a consistent basis to all servers and pings below 90 as well. That is pretty good

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

dvd536

Premium Member

Re: Is the clock ticking?

said by MSauk:

I just ordered their service which I guess finally was upgraded from 1.5 to 12 down...

I am getting 10.5 on a consistent basis to all servers and pings below 90 as well. That is pretty good
Are you still at the max 32ms on the interleave setting?

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

MSauk

Premium Member

Re: Is the clock ticking?

How can I find out?
tarwood
join:2004-05-25
Kaysville, UT

tarwood to n2jtx

Member

to n2jtx
Problem is nobody wants Qwest... They still have a lot of debt, their customer base is so far spread apart compared to what AT&T and Verizon have it is pathetic... Scary thing is, it seems that if anyone gets Qwest it would be the likes of Windstream or someone of that sort... Who wants a company that has outdated facilities and equipment that they are going to have to spend millions to billions on to upgrade??? No, unfortunate for us Qwest users, we will be stuck with this rotting old corpse of a company...

Erik Sherman
@verizon.net

Erik Sherman

Anon

It's been a marketing game for all the carriers

Thanks for the link to my BNET article. I suspect that all of the carriers have been trying to install higher speeds because they think they'll need them in the future, because the issue of congestion on the Internet is a real issue. It's just that other companies have been faster and so were able to portray themselves as giving customers something better. Qwest just got caught explicitly in the marketing hype because it had been trying to justify lagging behind competitors.

Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02

Karl Bode

News Guy

Re: It's been a marketing game for all the carriers

...with language primarily aimed at easing investor worries that they were falling behind in the rat race....which they still are....

w0g
o.O
join:2001-08-30
Springfield, OR

w0g

Member

good job

Looks good to me, with Qwest finally getting competitive with speeds I'd choose them over Comcast for the more reliable line and the upload speed, better packaging/features for servers and static IP addressing, etc.
OCP
Premium Member
join:2004-10-11
USA

OCP

Premium Member

That's great and all

BUT, I just checked and despite being about 5,000 feet from the CO, I'm not eligible. AND, holy crap that's a lot of money for internet access. Those prices will be about 30% higher after they tack on all of the fees and "taxes". And odds are that you have to pay more because you didn't opt for the feature laden land line to go with it. Then you have to HOPE they also upgraded their connection between your city and the rest of the internet to handle all of that bandwidth. You have better odds betting the lottery in some ways.

If it's your only option and you're addicted to speed... they might sell it to 2% of their customers. Maybe.

Salesrep
@qwest.net

Salesrep

Anon

Re: That's great and all

The "taxes" you are complaining about on Qwest bills apply to the land line not DSL and most states have no taxes at all on DSL. The pricing is with a phone bundle (as stated) but is marginally more expensive without.

RayW
Premium Member
join:2001-09-01
Layton, UT

RayW

Premium Member

Utah wanted lower speeds so we filed lawsuits for them...

QWEST spent their money on keeping UTOPIA (among others) from being viable. The promise of 15 up/down that the masses did not want (ignore the voters folks, they do not know anything) was something that had to be stopped at all costs.

OFBulldog
@qwest.net

OFBulldog

Anon

VDSL2

We had this service here in Phoenix. I was less than 1000' from the RT. They told me the most I could get was 3Mbps then they cancelled the service saying it wasn't being used and converted everyone back to ADSL2+.

If they're now talking about re-deplying VDSL2 again, I'd take it with a grain of salt 'cause to me it's like vaporware. Don't believe it until you see it...

Hpower
join:2000-06-08
Canyon Country, CA

Hpower

Member

Re: VDSL2

Less than 1000 ft away from CO and they said you can't get VDSL2? how lame.

alanhdsl
Premium Member
join:1999-10-09
Phoenix, AZ

alanhdsl

Premium Member

Re: VDSL2

The old service was VDSL and used its own RT (remote terminal) -- few people were served directly by a CO. The new VDSL2 uses different equipment, and they aren't necessarily being deployed where the VDSL remote terminals were.