Qwest to see how many suckers live in Minneapolis

qwest

Looking to put a nail in its own coffin, Qwest is now offering 20Mbps DSL service in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area for $119.99 per month ($109.99 per month for the first year) in order to compete with Comcast‘s high speed internet service, which offers speeds of up to 12, 16, or 50Mbps for $42.95, $52.95, or $152.95, respectively.

Qwest’s 12Mbps offering, for comparison, carries a regular price of $69.99 per month, about 34% more expensive than Comcast’s comparable plan. To be fair, you can lock in 12-Mbps Qwest service at $56.99 per month if you sign a two year contract. You also get $5 off of your monthly internet service if you have a landline through Qwest.

According to the Star Tribune, “The higher speeds are made possible by installing fiber-optic lines as far as Qwest’s neighborhood ‘nodes.’ Qwest can’t afford to run fiber-optic lines all the way to customers’ homes, so copper wire handles the last part of the trip.” Classy.

I tried both Qwest and Comcast when I lived in Minneapolis. I went with Qwest’s basic $34.99 per month plan (1.5Mbps) to try to save a little money but after taxes and modem rental and all that stuff, I was still paying $50 per month. And it was slooooow.

It’s really the lesser of two evils here. Comcast charges up the wazoo for internet service, but at least it’s pretty fast. Paying over $100 per month for 20Mbps DSL seems downright ludicrous, though. I’m really interested to see what happens to DSL providers once WiMax starts rolling out everywhere.

Thanks to windexh8er for the tip.