CenturyLink Follows Comcast's Lead, To Start Charging Broadband Overage Fees

from the more-money-for-the-same-shitty-product dept

Fri, Feb 12th 2016 6:31am — Karl Bode

You can add CenturyLink to the growing number of ISPs charging more money for the same product thanks to limited broadband competition. The company told attendees of an earnings conference call this week that it would be following Comcast's lead and conducting a "trial" of broadband usage caps and overage fees sometime later this year. The company lost 22,000 DSL customers last quarter, and clearly believes that layering an already inferior product with new restrictions and higher prices will surely make its customers happy:

"...Regarding the metered data plans; we are considering that for second half of the year. We think it is important and our competition is using the metered plans today and we think that explore those starts and trials later this year is our expectation."

According to CenturyLink's "excessive use policy," the company has capped customers on 1.5 Mbps or slower lines at 150 GB a month. Customers on lines faster than 1.5 Mbps enjoy the luxury of a 250 GB monthly limit. And whereas ISPs used to provide bullshit justifications for such restrictions (the network congestion bogeyman! it's only fair!), as those excuses have been shown to be nonsense over the years, ISPs have just stopped offering any. Here's how CenturyLink's website justifies these glorified price hikes:

"CenturyLink is committed to providing an optimum Internet experience for every customer we serve. To accomplish this, CenturyLink needs to ensure that customers are on the rate plan that meets their data download requirements. Of the millions of CenturyLink High-Speed Internet customers, a very small fraction has exceeded the download usage limits provided with their monthly plan. It is for this reason that CenturyLink has made the decision to place download limits on residential plans.

That's not really a reason, that's just words arranged to look vaguely like sentient logic. Of course the real reason is because they can.

In most markets CenturyLink enjoys either no competition at all, or they face a cable provider that also has usage caps in place. That's why with the exception of a few cherry picked markets in places like Seattle, CenturyLink users still enjoy speeds circa 2001 or so. And why not add insult to injury, and combine pathetic last generation broadband speeds (which cost very little to actually provide already) with aggressive restrictions and cutting edge, next-generation overage fees?

Like Comcast, CenturyLink calls this a "trial" to keep regulators at bay, since "creative pricing experimentation" sounds so much better than "price gouging uncompetitive markets and erecting unnecessary obstacles to innovation and streaming competitors." Given the FCC has yet to bat an eyelash at the practice, this logic appears to be working. The FCC's also apparently blind to the fact that nobody is confirming whether usage meters are accurate, or that ISP's are now exempting their own services from unfair competitive advantage.

So while you'll hear a lot of media hype about cherry picked gigabit broadband deployments paving the way to our glorious connectivity future, a lack of competition, usage caps and zero rating are ensuring that for broadband customers in most markets, the reality is going to look decidedly less futuristic.

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Filed Under: broadband, broadband caps, competition, dsl, net neutrality, overage fees
Companies: centurylink, comcast

33 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 12 Feb 2016 @ 6:44am

This is a sign of technological regression.

We went from slow speeds, caps (minutes), overage charges and gated internet (aol) to faster speeds, unlimited access, no overage and open internet.
Now we're going back to slower speeds (throttling), caps (data), Overage charges (data) and gated internet (Facebook's attempts in India won't be the last).
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Mason Wheeler (profile), 12 Feb 2016 @ 6:46am

It's right there in the name: it takes a century to link you up with the data you want.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Feb 2016 @ 6:53am

Are the crappy ads exempt from usage caps?
If not, then I guess they will stop bitching about ad blockers - nah, that would mean they actually thought about it.
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hegemon13, 12 Feb 2016 @ 7:24am

This is nothing
My mom lives just outside a small town where the only option is DSL from one company. Her promised speed is 5MB, but her actual result tops out at about 1.5. That rules out most streaming services, but that doesn't matter because her DSL connection has cap of 10GB per MONTH! I blow through that in about the first 12 hours of the month. She's moving to a Verizon LTE hotspot because it's cheaper and faster with a higher cap! The takeover of "broadband" by extortionate conglomerates is destroying internet access in even semi-rural midwest. My dad also has a rural provider, and his speed has topped out at 3Mbits with no improvement at all for over 5 years.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Feb 2016 @ 7:27am

Re:
Which is exactly why we should be treating the ISPs as a utility.
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JD, 12 Feb 2016 @ 7:29am

Let's see the data
I'd love to see the major ISPs have to produce charts of the:

- median
- 90th percentile
- 99th percentile
- 99.9th percentile

monthly broadband usage by their customers, up and down. After a few months it would be pretty easy to see the trends as over-the-top video adoption and HD/UHD usage becomes more widespread.

But of course then the public could see exactly where the ISPs were trying to draw a line in the sand, and how quickly the average user would get caught in their caps.
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Violynne (profile), 12 Feb 2016 @ 7:32am

Of the millions of CenturyLink High-Speed Internet customers, a very small fraction has exceeded the download usage limits provided with their monthly plan. It is for this reason that CenturyLink has made the decision to place download limits on residential plans.

We threw the baby out with the bathwater because someone peed in your neighbor's pool.

Makes perfect sense to me. :\
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andrew_duane (profile), 12 Feb 2016 @ 7:58am

Doing the math
150GB at 100% of 1.5Mbps =

150,000,000,000 * 8 / 1,500,000 = 800,000 seconds
800,000 / 3600 = 222 hours / 30 = 7.4 hours per day

That's assuming anyone actually gets 100% of the "1.5Mbps". It seems to me that the lousy speed is the real data cap here.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Feb 2016 @ 8:03am

The race to the bottom continues
I have always maintained that the American people won't rise off the couch and revolt until someone messes with their TV.

Congratulations, ISPs. You may be the spark we needed and, ironically, for that, I am oddly grateful.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Feb 2016 @ 8:08am

150GB on Centurylink? Wow, they provide speeds that can actually download that much? Everyone I know can barely get 600kbps if they are lucky.
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CenturySlow, 12 Feb 2016 @ 8:45am

But there is no higher speed plan...
CenturyLinks EUP says: "Customers will be given options to reduce their usage, subscribe to a higher speed residential plan, or migrate to an alternative business class High-Speed Internet service."

I have been conscientiously exceeding CenturyLink's 250GB/month usage cap for YEARS in the hope they will offer me a higher speed plan...
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Richard O, 12 Feb 2016 @ 9:09am

Wondering how this will shake out here
CenturyLink in the Denver area has a wide mix of DSL and high speed options. It varies from new 1 Gbps fiber in small areas to really crappy 1.5 Mbps in many areas. Personally, I'm on a 40/4 Mbps plan (and I actually get it) with fiber to the node and copper from there. Comcast also serves the same areas so there is some actual competition if you aren't in one of the crappy zones. Although I hate even the idea of Comcast, if CL implements caps here I'd certainly take another look.
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Chris Rhodes (profile), 12 Feb 2016 @ 9:38am

Re: But there is no higher speed plan...
Seriously. If they could give me more then 6 Mbps, I'd gladly pay a premium for a business account.
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Chris K., 12 Feb 2016 @ 10:08am

CenturyLink Cancelled
There is NO way to check your usage online either. You have to call.

I did and found that my household used 410GB of the 250GB cap in January.

I am moving to cable, while capped at 1TB/mo, it's also 5x faster download, 10x faster upload and half the monthly cost of CenturyLink DSL.
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John85851 (profile), 12 Feb 2016 @ 11:41am

Re: CenturyLink Cancelled
Wait, you have to call them to find out that you're over the limit?
Isn't this open for abuse when you can't check the usage yourself or have a running total every day or every week? What's to stop them from pulling a number out of their butt and charge you overage fees? It's not like the average customer will argue it... and we're back to the first point about how customers can't prove their own usage.
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Joe V, 12 Feb 2016 @ 12:36pm

I want to know where Clinton and Sanders stand on ISPs, lousy service and data caps
I follow telecom and technology regularly. Another friend told me that I'm "too obsessed" with internet service providers and their business. Here's the thing: without internet, we cannot communicate the ways we are today through social media, gaming, video, internet streaming, and even business. That's a fact.

A month ago I spoke to a brilliant mind and engineer who he and his partner both work for a major telecom named CenturyLink in this country. He shared his views of why his company is having difficulties deploying internet in the areas it serves. He explained to me that CenturyLink has grown through mergers and acquisitions with the last one completed by merging with another telecom Qwest Communications in 2011. The problem for CenturyLink is that Qwest was a former baby bell (from MA BELL) that did not keep a good track record of the assets (hardware, centers, central offices, inventory) in which some of that information has been lost. Without the correct asset information, CenturyLink has to start all over and track every piece of hardware, every cable, every wire-al of that information to accurately assess each area/every state they serve to know what they can deliver and if that outdated hardware is worth upgrading for better service.

That is the case for every other technology/telecom company that decides to buy out another.

Frontier Communications is set to take over a $10.54 billion buy from Verizon in the states of California, Florida and Texas at the end of March 30, 2016. Already the company has started the transition in northern Texas doing a conversion from all Verizon peering points to others. This is a massive undertaking and I sincerely want Frontier to succeed.

The other reason I heavily follow telecom is because wall street is trying to pressure them into implementing data usage caps on wireline networks nationally-in other words you get a certain amount of data, and then if you go over, you are charged additionally. I can see this works for cellular/wireless, but this is screwing people over of their hard-earned money out of greed.

And now the federal government is providing $1.5 billion CAF II funding for these companies to expand internet to areas that are either not served or underserved. Here's the problem though :

If there is any more reason enough as to where the CAF II funding to expand and improve internet access ACTUALLY goes, THIS is the reason. Executives sitting on their thrones making decisions to cut the people that actually do the work versus the poor decision makers or the processes that are too time-consuming to actually get the work done because of all the “templates” or “reports” that need to go out. How many executives would give up part of their compensation to help the company??? NONE OF THEM.

Take a look and decide for yourselves if these people deserve this kind of compensation in exchange for the sub-par or NO service you get in the areas they are currently or supposed to serve :

Consolidated Communications CEO Bob Udell
Total Compensation (2014): $846,825
Total compensation (2013): $1,256,508
Salary: $323,000
Other compensation (stock awards, bonuses, etc.): $523,825
Duration with company: Since 1993

FairPoint CEO Paul Sunu
Total compensation (2014): $2,559,319
Total compensation (2013): $2,359,299
Salary: $815,000
Other compensation (stock awards, bonuses, etc.): $1,744,239
Duration with company: Since 2005

TDS Telecom CEO David A. Wittwer
Total compensation (2014): $2,616,877
Total compensation (2013): $2,322,278
Salary: $587,000
Other compensation (stock awards, bonuses, etc.): $2,029,877
Duration with company: Since 1983

Cincinnati Bell CEO Ted Torbeck
Total compensation (2014): $3,339,000
Total compensation (2013): $5,338,744
Salary: $750,000
Other compensation (stock awards, bonuses, etc.): $2,589,000
Duration with company: Since 2010. Torbeck took over the CEO post from John Cassidy, who retired in 2013.

Windstream CEO Tony Thomas
Total compensation (2014): $3,367,476
Total compensation (2013): $2,121,115
Salary: $538,461
Other compensation (stock awards, bonuses, etc.): $2,829,015
Duration with company: Since 1998

Frontier CEO Dan McCarthy
Total compensation (2014): $3,979,239
Total compensation (2013): $2,611,725
Salary: $658,333
Other compensation (stock awards, bonuses, etc.): $3,320,906
Duration with company: Since 1990

Level 3 Communications CEO Jeff Storey
Total compensation (2014): $10,850,861
Total compensation (2013): $8,018,232
Salary: $978,846
Other compensation (stock awards, bonuses, etc.): $6,872,015
Duration with company: Joined company in 2008 as COO and became CEO in April 2013.

CenturyLink CEO Glen F. Post III
Total compensation (2014): $13,131,448
Total compensation (2013): $8,993,247
Salary: $1,100,000
Other compensation (stock awards, bonuses, etc.): $12,031,448
Duration with company: Since 1982

Verizon Communications CEO Lowell McAdam
Total compensation (2014): $18,306,509
Total compensation (2013): $15,826,606
Salary: $1,580,769
Other compensation (stock awards, etc.): $16,725,740
Duration with company: Since 2000 (inception of Verizon Wireless)

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson
Total compensation (2014): $23,984,315
Total compensation (2013): $23,247,167
Salary: $1,691,667
Other compensation (stock awards, etc.): $22,292,648
Duration with company: Since 1982

http://www.fiercetelecom.com/special-reports/10-highest-paid-ceos-wireline-2014

I wonder how much longer are Americans going to continue to put up with B.S. like this before we finally as a collective come together and realize that we are being screwed?

Case in point : my dealings with AT&T. After the last two bills of $84.00 with bogus usage charges on a 6-meg, 150 gigabyte a month capped last mile DSL connection. Worse, a badly designed, difficult to navigate website and the meter was not accessible most of the time. I finally said goodbye to them and moved to Comcast internet which for now, they are pretty good and reliable. However we all know that they have usage based trials happening in certain uncompetitive markets/monopolies/duopolies they serve. In the Bay Area, Comcast has temporarily suspended the data caps but they are coming.

Unfortunately the problem with internet access goes deeper than the monopolies, acquisitions and too few competition.

Whether you are on AT&T, Time Warner, Comcast, CenturyLink, Cox, Charter, Mediacom, SuddenLink, or Brighthouse, do you really want metered internet (which has already proven to be inaccurate as people have been billed for usage they did not do) every time you watch Netflix, Amazon Prime, HULU, or use your PS4 or XBOX?

Also, where are the CEOs of streaming and gaming services Netflix, Amazon, Sony, Microsoft? Where do YOU stand on this?

We already pay A LOT of money for internet that in many places is either ok or lousy. Many if not all of you use the internet for one form of communication or another at any given moment.

Telecom is a big issue for me. So far, neither Sanders nor Clinton have said enough on this issue.

This affects all of us.
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Chris K., 12 Feb 2016 @ 12:43pm

Re: Re: CenturyLink Cancelled
Indeed on all counts.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Feb 2016 @ 12:50pm

Re: Re: CenturyLink Cancelled
I can prove it... of course, I'm an engineer who builds network equipment for a living. I've already made several complaints to our local telecommunications board about century link.

Once they made an appointment with us, we stayed home... they failed to show. We complained, they said they'd be out right away the next day... the next day they decided not to show. I was (and still should) send them an invoice for $1000, approx what I'd bill for two days of my time.

The other thing they tried to pull is when we were moving, they wanted the crappy (several years old) modem back. Never got the return package from them, called several times... eventually told to just recycle it (I did not). Six months later, on christmas eve (no shit), I get a call from them wanting to collect $100 from me... I told them in no uncertain terms to piss off.
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ECA (profile), 12 Feb 2016 @ 12:52pm

no logic in ISP's
REALLY..
Yahoo has increased the size of video..
Hulu has a HD format..
Netflix...
Many sites have HD videos..

My ISP has 5mb data for $50 unlimited..
50mb for $50 with a 300GB cap..
150mb for 8$80 with a 400GB cap

Game downloads, and updates can kill your cap..
Standard PC game is 16+ gig.. updates can be as large..
WOrld of Tanks, High Res version is 78gig..

Can anyone explain TRIPLE my speed and raise the cap only 100GB??
HD video on Youtube is 5mbps.. Can anyone tell me WHY they lag during the day, but not in late nite??(IM a PC person for years and understand Networking and most of whats happening) but the funny part is I am loosing NONE of the video, no loss..it pauses..SITS..so someone is throttling..
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Feb 2016 @ 1:19pm

With my plan, I can end my month of allotment in 18 hours.

I'll cancel and run a local fiber into my apartment before I deal with a single day of this in my market.
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ECA (profile), 12 Feb 2016 @ 2:10pm

Re: Doing the math
Now apply this to a family plan..3-4 people using the data cap..
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dogwitch (profile), 12 Feb 2016 @ 9:44pm

you know their bad
when you rather deal with comcrap any day then them!
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Feb 2016 @ 11:29pm

I got rid of the cell phone almost three years ago. I wish Comcast would drop the sword and cap our broadband already, bye, bye Comcast. FTISP. Another license to steal as far as I am concerned.
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Whatever (profile), 13 Feb 2016 @ 12:18am

Re: Re: Re: CenturyLink Cancelled
If your time is worth $500 a day, I would say you could probably afford either something better than centurylink, or to hire someone to watch your house for the day to wait for them.
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ECA (profile), 13 Feb 2016 @ 12:24am

Re: The race to the bottom continues
There is a Strange ideal... of trying to find, how miserable you can MAKE someone before they get upset..
THEN that is set as the BAR to stay AT/Above..

I will also give you the reverse..
I have customers that only need ENOUGH speed to wonder the net and get email..how much do you Think they pay for HOME net access?? And do they have a choice?
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Feb 2016 @ 1:00am

Re:
HEY
You can get 700 on a good day okay
Why u so mean
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nasch (profile), 13 Feb 2016 @ 1:59pm

CenturyLink
That's why with the exception of a few cherry picked markets in places like Seattle, CenturyLink users still enjoy speeds circa 2001 or so.

Well, they didn't say which century.
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Fallout-er, 14 Feb 2016 @ 1:45am

150 GB?
What is that? Three PS4 games? Four Blu-Ray quality movies? One day (out of thirty-some) worth of service? What a pile of rubbish at rubbish speed of 1.5 Mb! I have got 250 Gb downstream for €35 with unlimited "bottle caps."
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Feb 2016 @ 12:08pm

looks like the future of cable is just getting better
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Feb 2016 @ 6:24pm

Heh, Amonymous, Suddenlink just pulled the same BS with their cable.
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Gee, 22 Jul 2016 @ 7:34pm

Re: Wondering how this will shake out here
Also in Denver, but on a worse plan requiring some of their worst hardware and getting charged way too much for it. Their press release alone is just about enough to make me cancel, even if this "trial" hasn't rolled out here yet.
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Centurylink, 18 Apr 2018 @ 9:15am

There is no wonder that newer and faster internet connectivity could lead to a possible resolution of such prevalent issues. Talks about 5G are around the corner and if ISPs can consider upgrading their technology then such issues wouldn’t arise. However, this may take a long time in order to become effective, unless some breakthrough offers a possible way out of such situations.
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Jenny Wilson, 20 Apr 2018 @ 6:55am

We Need A Technological Breakthrough
There is no wonder that with what the situation has to offer at the moment unless we find drastic changes in the provision of services that releases the hold ISPs have on the current market, one can only pray that in the future we can have more freedom when using internet services. Such can be possible if a technological breakthrough is achieved which makes these tactics redundant and users are allowed to use internet according to their wishes.
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