urbanMSP

Every 12 months when my promotional rate expires, I call CenturyLink and say, "Hey I noticed my promotional rate expires at the end of this month and that the full rate is $xx (usually ~$70). I would like to stay with you guys, but Comcast is offering yy Mbps for $zz (usually something like 50 Mbps for $40). If you can't at least match their offering, you're not giving me a reason to stay with you and I'll have to switch." Then I get offered whatever sweet promotional rate they have for the next 12 months. They key is to talk to someone from the Customer Retention Dept. The first person you speak to on the phone will not be able to offer you the same deals someone from the customer retention department will.

Thought I would drop by and update on a few reasons for this announcement;

Travis, thank you for your insight and update. It's exciting to think that there will finally be some really good competition in this market, even if some of us have to wait five years to get it.

They key is to talk to someone from the Customer Retention Dept.

I had a very amusing call with this department when I cancelled DSL a while back.

CL: Why are you cancelling and what can we do to make you stay with us?

Me: I'd like nothing more than to stay with you but my signal is unusable every time it's humid, moist, rainy, etc. It used to work fine, all you need to do is find the problem on your line and fix it.

CL: Oh I'm sorry, I guess there is nothing we can do to change your mind, have a nice day.

A search didn't find a top level topic for cable television service. Hopefully I'm not duplicating a more appropriate one by starting this.

The City Council approved Comcast's request to transfer its franchise agreement to "GreatLand Connections":

http://www.southwestjournal.com/news/ci ... -greatland

Anyone have a clue on timelines or what it might mean for current Minneapolis cable subscribers? Will we finally get competent technical/customer support?

So this is apparently a shell company majority owned by Charter and partially owned by Comcast (!!!). So we'll still get serviced by one of the two in the long term.

It means little. All the while google is expanding again, maybe they'll be here in the next 20 years.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/26/79191 ... -charlotte

In other news, people still pay for television service.

Not that I've ever paid for cable TV, but I am happily about to cease being a Comcast customer entirely, by switching to USI fiber. The only thing that could make me spring for cable TV is if the Twins were having a killer season, I'd probably pay for cable for a summer. Hopefully MLB will figure out a standalone web-only service soon, so it never comes to that

For sports fans and HBO devotees cable the only option right now. I don't illegally download television or movies and don't mind paying for stuff I value.

Hopefully MLB will figure out a standalone web-only service soon

That's actually been around for quite some time:

http://www.mlb.com/mlb/subscriptions/

Only the offseason subscription is being offered now for $25. The regular season is something like $100-$120 for the entire season and you can watch or listen to live games on the web, Roku, PS3, XBox, iPhone, etc... Anything that has the MLB.tv app. The only caveat is your local geographic team. You can't watch that game until 1 hour (or was it 24 hours?) after the game officially ends.

SlingTV streams, or will be streaming, ESPN, ESPN 2 as well as Disney Channel, ABC Family, Food Network, HGTV, Travel Channel, TNT, CNN, TBS, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim for $20/month, no cable needed. A standalone HBO service will be coming out in April...

In other news, people still pay for television service.

I pay for cable right now, but can justify only by Comcast's ridiculously high prices for internet that made adding TV about $10 more a month.

Can't wait for HBO's standalone service to launch because that + Netflix + Hulu Plus pretty much eliminates the need for it based on what I watch.

I don't pay for cable, but I also don't even get over the air that well, which sucks. Sometimes it's nice to just turn on Late Night, SNL, or watch Parks & Rec not online the next day.

In other news, people still pay for television service.

I find the legal streaming services to still be quite sub par in terms of show selection, time available, etc. If you ala carte purchase TV shows thrown in with a couple of $7-10 streaming subs you can quickly get up to the cost of digital starter tier on Comcast. I've done the math and it hasn't been worth cutting the cord for me yet.

Unclear what the Minneapolis change is going to mean for Comcast customers but I suspect it will largely be a name change and not much else impact otherwise, at least initially.

Hopefully MLB will figure out a standalone web-only service soon

That's actually been around for quite some time:

http://www.mlb.com/mlb/subscriptions/

Only the offseason subscription is being offered now for $25. The regular season is something like $100-$120 for the entire season and you can watch or listen to live games on the web, Roku, PS3, XBox, iPhone, etc... Anything that has the MLB.tv app. The only caveat is your local geographic team. You can't watch that game until 1 hour (or was it 24 hours?) after the game officially ends.

Just use a VPN.

...
The 2015 build-out schedule should be posted end of January and we are going to increase the speed of deployment. Anyway you look at it, Minneapolis is a large area and it will take time to get everywhere.

Thanks.

-Travis / USI

Just figured I'd ask about this. I'm excited to know more details and I have neighbors and friends who are as well

Likewise... Please make sure to include the Northrop neighborhood in the first phase of 15... I am thoroughly disappointed with my other options.

I'm anxious to hear as well. CenturyLink is starting to pop up around town more as the link in this forum shows- http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r298516 ... win-Cities

So I've been on USI fiber since 2/1. I have the $30 plan (25 Mbps).

I signed up online a week prior, and on the day I moved in I got an automated phone call telling me that the connection was live. Every unit in my building is already pre-wired with Cat6. The ethernet port was in a perfect location (right next to outlets and the now obsolete cable port).

I'm paying $30/month less than what I was giving Comcast. Life is grand.