If I die suddenly, look at CenturyLink

08 May, 2023

United States-based ISP, CenturyLink (CL) has decided to raise their rates recently. I signed up over 3+ years ago on their "Price for Life" (P4L) plan for symmetrical fiber, 1 GB for $65 in Minnesota, to escape the 1 -2 year price match time waster between them and Comcast Xfinity. The CL service itself has been great, and it plays nicely with an OPNSense router👌

JSkier's Blog
Ad copyright / trademark CenturyLink. I added a red box.
Picture: CenturyLink P4L advert from over 3 years ago

Being a skeptic, I always check my inbox bill price every month. Fast-forward to May 2023, and for some reason there is a $10 increase in my bill. Hmm, checks pulse 🩺, still alive. Strange. Some folks have claimed that Ms. or Mr. CL has died. However, I assure you, even without a 💓 they still appear to be fully operational. I proceeded to reach out to chat with support, they claim I was never on a price for life plan, sorry.

For the record, some folks have stated they were sent a notification about the rate increase. I never was, it just showed up on my bill to be paid by autopay. I was able to do an auto-dispute on the CL portal and remove the $10. However, I'm certain that is temporary (support made no mention of this option at all). If you do so, do so at your own risk, as I'm uncertain if they reset TOS or do other potential shady things with the automated dispute process.

I proceeded to go submit a complaint to the FCC (resources for you). Some folks on Reddit claim to have had success with this, as magically, CL admit a mistake was made on their end. Are they going to do anything proactive about this significant mistake? Who knows?

Being the middle-aged angry with the unethical behavior of others person I am, I decided to hit up CL support on the bird site DM during business hours. Same response as chat, until I asked they escalate to a supervisor (currently in progress). I will provide an update from this, the FCC complaint, and if those fail, the State AG complaint.

Lastly, CenturyLink is advertising the same fiber speed plan today at $70 a m o n t h f o r n e w c u s t o m e r s . I t s e e m s l i k e l y t h e y c a r r i e d m e o v e r w i t h e x i s t i n g p r o m o s f r o m y e a r s a g o, d r o p p e d t h e P 4 L, t o a$ 20 a month "discounted" today price of $75, f r o m y e a r s a g o . I n m y o p i n i o n, a s e e m i n g l y p r o f i t a b l e, c o n v e n i e n t m i s t a k e t o g e t P 4 L c u s t o m e r s t o p a y e v e n m o r e t h a n t h e c u r r e n t g o i n g r a t e f o r t h e s a m e p l a n . S e e t h e$ 5 🥕 which would reset the TOS support claims they cannot find the P4L on? Yikes.

Resources

Ticket type billing: FCC Complaint form
Attorney General for Minnesota customers: MN AG complaint forms

Disclaimer

The title of this post is satire (mostly).

#centurylink #internet #isp