CenturyLink bill

[CTTB78]

We live in the boonies and have been stuck with 0.5 Meg 'high speed' internet service from CenturyLink. They allowed us discounts in the past because of the poor service and our bill was $54/mo. Even though the service is still crap, they are now increasing our bill to $103/mo. in order for us to "pay what we should have been paying".

We'd love to dump our CenturyLink friends but options here seem limited. Satellite options any better?

 

[mywayorcyway]

At those speeds, is a mobile hotspot an option?

 

[Gossamer]

we had the same issue with them. I threatened to disconnect and they dropped it to $80. I hate them. Loathe isn't strong enough.

 

[iowastatefan1929]

can you provide a more precise location?

 

[aauummm]

We live in the boonies and have been stuck with 0.5 Meg 'high speed' internet service from CenturyLink. They allowed us discounts in the past because of the poor service and our bill was $54/mo. Even though the service is still crap, they are now increasing our bill to $103/mo. in order for us to "pay what we should have been paying".

We'd love to dump our CenturyLink friends but options here seem limited. Satellite options any better?

Have you tried these satellite guys (Hughes). It looks like $40/mo, 25 Mbps download, 10 GB/month limit and $80/mo, 30 GB/mo limit. 24 month contract. Probably some equipment costs also.
https://www.satelliteinternetnow.com/.
For Wisconsin:
https://www.hughesnetinternet.net/local/Wisconsin/

 

[CTTB78]

can you provide a more precise location?

The driftless region of SW Wisconsin. The hills and valleys are beautiful, but unfortunately not internet service friendly.

 

[heitclone]

We live in the boonies and have been stuck with 0.5 Meg 'high speed' internet service from CenturyLink. They allowed us discounts in the past because of the poor service and our bill was $54/mo. Even though the service is still crap, they are now increasing our bill to $103/mo. in order for us to "pay what we should have been paying".

We'd love to dump our CenturyLink friends but options here seem limited. Satellite options any better?

Satellite was our only option after moving to the country, we have had hugesnet and exede, speeds were ok for streaming, if you were the only one using the data at the time.Sounds like you're probably used to that though with your slow speeds. Our only real issue with the services were the data limits and the fact that you are never going to get anywhere near advertised speeds.

If you do go with satellite, go with the cheapest, lowest data plan. The reality is you are always going to hit your limit, even with an unlimited ($150+) plan, so you get knocked down to the overage speed. From speaking with the tech that's been out to our place a few times, he recommends the lowest plan because after a week or so due to the limit, you and the guy with an unlimited plan will be at the same speeds regardless of how much data you have bc you hit your limit (even unlimited plans have a cap and overage ). It can save you about $100 a month, we had to learn that the hard way. This way has worked for us, we hit the limit a week or so earlier but it hasn't had a noticeable impact on our service.

 

[Gunnerclone]

Sounds like a great time for an INFRASTRUCTURE WEEK.

 

[ArgentCy]

If you have decent views of the southern sky satellite internet is superior. It's a little expensive but works fairly well. The speed is pretty good but there is a delay so gaming is pretty much out. That and data caps make streaming difficult but I doubt you did any with a 0.5 Gb connection. We've used Exede / Viasat for 4 years or so.

 

[MeowingCows]

If you do any online gaming, you'll hate your life trying to do that over satellite -- the latency will be unbearable, and that's a natural consequence of the satellite medium.

If you don't care about that, then it's probably an option apart from the comically-miniscule data caps. I'd probably look into cell hotspots first for a generally-better experience (assuming decent reception), but they probably cost a lot more.

 

[CTTB78]

Just got a call back from our friends at CenturyLink. After getting nowhere from the first rep, and then the supervisor, I was transferred to "the Retention department". Amazingly, they could take off $30/mo. and offered a 'lifetime rate' of $65.

Thanks for everyone's input.