Qwest descended from US West thanks to Philip Anschutz taking over US West in 2000. The now famous and convicted felon Joe Nacchio was picked by Anschutz to head Qwest but proceeded to pretty much run the organization into the ground. Nacchio was replaced in 2002 by Dick Notebaert, a past Ameritech & Tellabs CEO. Notebaert has been replaced (2007) by Ed Mueller who is another "Bell Head" CEO from the likes of Bell South, Pacific Bell & Ameritech.

The AzureusWiki site has recently branded Qwest as a bad ISP along with several others. The report can be found here. As reported, Qwest, based on internal policy, throttles certain subscriber data streams. In my opinion, you would be wise to take anything and everything coming out of Qwest with a grain of salt. As a passing comment, I don't understand how the Colorado PUC or Attorney Generals office can let Qwest misrepresent things to the degree they have.

As of this date (Aug. 2007), Qwest still has fully $14 billion in debt with sales still falling. Yearly CAPEX is also falling meaning the introduction of new technology is also slowing. In my view and barring anything coming from the new "Recovery Act", I don't see major investment by Qwest in Western Colorado any time soon.

A favorite past time for Charles Ward is to travel the State doing high profile PR appearances and giving scripted interviews. Just like TDS, Qwest is very good at targeting the educational scene trying to look like the "good guys" when really they are just a bunch of bums investing few if any dollars in network modernization. So thank you Montrose Press. Qwest has contributed $7100 in bread crumbs to the schools while millions are needed to bring the Qwest network in Western Colorado from the stone age into the current century. No self respecting institution of higher learning would be caught dead using anything similar to what Qwest and TDS offers for broadband in Western Colorado.

From the Qwest graphic pictured to the right, one would think that Qwest is offering a brand new service of extending high speed fiber all the way to the customer's home. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you read the fine print (Below) of what is being offered, you will find that the fiber only extends to the nearest Remote Terminal (RT) sometimes called a Digital Loop Carrier (DLC) cabinet. The term "New" is also misleading in that fiber to the RT or DLC dates from the late 80's and 90's and is hardly new technology. A Qwest representative in Grand Junction verbally stated that the faster 12 & 20 Mbps service is not available anywhere on the Western Slope.

Following is the transcribed fine print from the qwest.com/free website -

Qwests' fastest quoted broadband speed is 7 Mbit/sec and runs approximately $37.00/mo. The "Windows Live" feature of their service is advertised as requiring Windows XP, SP-2. None of this, of course, makes any sense to those of us using the free Linux operating system. Qwest does offer naked DSL for a monthly fee of $60.00 per month. A static IP address will cost you an additional $6.00 per month plus a $25.00 one time. Total cost without voice phone service totals $66.00 per month. Direct TV adds another $50.00 per month for a total of $116.00/mo. Very basic phone service (non-digital) adds $15.00/mo. for a grand total of $108.00/mo. As a reminder, $100/mo. in Utah will purchase 100 Mbit symmetrical service that includes phone, data and TV. This service is 14 times faster than Qwest. As reported, $88.00/mo. in France will buy you service that is approximately 350 time faster than Qwest. Remember, as with TDS, the speeds quoted on the Qwest website are largely fictional for rural dwellers. If you are but a few thousand feet from a central office or a Remote Terminal (RT), you MIGHT see something close to what is advertised but I wouldn't hold my breath.

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• The REAL Qwest
• Qwest; Bad ISP?
• The Real Qwest
• Qwest Start Page
• Qwest Naked DSL
• Qwest Static IPs
• Mescalero - Metaswitch
• More Lower Costs
• Falling Behind
• Executive Summary
• Internet2 Statement - Page 152
• What Is The Internet2
• Colorado OCC Telephone
• Colorado CCR's
• PUC 4-CCR-723 Index