Qwest has heavily marketed the idea of locking in the rate for pay for their DSL service, but you're left wondering if it's really that good of a deal. An in-depth look reveals that they can revoke that discounted price if you change speeds, move, change your service provider or cancel service before the end of the two-year contract. Early cancellation also brings a whopping $200 fee, though there's no word on if you have to then retroactively pay the difference for all the months of service you've already gotten, something Comcast will do if you break your contract. (I have a feeling that Qwest will try the same thing.) Considering that speeds are due to be rising substantially in the next 5 years, it seems like chaining yourself to a particular service plan is a bad deal for you but a sweet one for Qwest, a company experiencing a high churn rate as Internet users go to other companies and VoIP providers like Vonage eat away at their core business operations.
(See full article here.)
