I have (almost) always received a great deal from CenturyLink. But to get those deals, I have always had to be in the position of calling to cancel my service. I don't even remember the initial offer I received, it's something my old roommate negotiated on my behalf. He was doing a lot of SEO work, and needed bandwidth. So when he saw a special price for 40 Mbps service and a chance to get away from Comcast (about which I had been whining a lot), he contacted Qwest (who was later acquired by CenturyLink) and got me a sweet deal.
Well after that offer ended they jacked my price up to something that I was not willing to pay, so I called to see if I could negotiate something better. When I did that, their Customer Service department told me there was no way to continue the special offer, so I told them I wanted to cancel. Then when I got to the department that handles cancellations, they told me they actually could continue the offer. I think that covered the first two years. But now the interval seems to be getting shorter every time I call. Also the last time I called I had to downgrade to 20 Mbps service.
I currently don't have anyone renting from me, and my own personal use is just for Facebook, email, and the occasional Hulu video. Video streaming uses a lot of data, but I normally record the shows on my DVR anyway. It's not like there will be a large void in my life without that. For the low data use, I still have my FreedomPop hotspot which gives me 500 Mb for free every month. Also being in grad school means I spend a lot of time at the library and various coffee shops, where they have free WiFi.
The vast majority of my personal internet use is on my mobile phone. I can add tethering for $15 per month. That would suffice for now. Whenever I rent out my extra bedroom again, I will consider Comcast and CenturyLink at that time. The only reason I would need tethering would be for streaming video. Since I have 5 GB of data available to me each month, I could watch a couple of videos here and there, but it's not really worth $15 to do that. I actually opted out of Amazon Prime for Students before I was charged, so I'm not going to be streaming that. If I sign up for Netflix again, it would mostly be for use on my phone anyway, but I am not planning to do that in the near future either. I really don't have time for anything more than the shows I record on my DVR and the occasional Redbox rental anyway.
This blog is just me venting about my experiences. I plan to call CenturyLink during my lunch break, so I guess I will soon know what they are willing to offer me this time.
***UPDATE: After calling them and waiting on hold for 20 minutes, I was allowed to cancel. Perhaps it's because I never brought up Comcast. I told the rep that I was planning to use my cell phone, but I never mentioned the $15 tethering fee. Perhaps he would have counter-offered if I had mentioned a dollar amount. But I really am tired of having to watch my bill like a hawk because of the way they jerk me around on the price. So for now, it's goodbye and good riddance. I can live without DSL until I find a new renter.***
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