Qwest Communications replaces telco TV pioneer in favor of DirecTV

5266 Views 17 Replies 15 Participants Last post by dishlover2, Oct 26, 2008

Steve615

Discussion Starter · Oct 10, 2008

Qwest Communications International Inc. is phasing out Choice TV,and offering to convert their existing customers to their DirecTV resale product in 2 markets.The markets mentioned consist of 1 in Arizona and 1 in Colorado.
Choice TV was launched by Qwest in 1998 in the 2 markets.It is arguably the first true commercial deployment of telco TV in the U.S.
The original telco TV platform was built on ATM,unlike the IP plays of today,and utilized VDSL.The deployments were limited to one market in Arizona,and an additional smaller market in Colorado.At their peak,they had approx. 50,000 subscribers.
More info at the following link.

http://www.lightreading.com/blog.asp?blog_section_id=706&doc_id=165688

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/127579

1 - 18 of 18 Posts

machavez00

· #2 · Oct 10, 2008

I had Choice tv when I lived in Gilbert and it was great. When I moved back to the neighborhood I grew up in Phoenix, Choice TV was not available, The USAM had been installed, but never hooked up to the fiber network, so I signed up for Directv through Qwest. Last year Qwest pulled out the old USAM and replaced it with a brand spanking new DSLAM and started to offer 20Mb DSL.

jasonblair

· #3 · Oct 11, 2008

1) Who is Qwest Communications?
2) What is telco TV?
3) What is ATM? (I assume it is not an automated teller machine)
4) What is an IP play?
5) What is VDSL?

I assume since this was posted on the main page of the website it is important, but your post is like a foreign language to me.

Grentz

· #4 · Oct 11, 2008

You dont know who Qwest is? They are one of the largest telephone companies in the US.

Telco TV is TV delivered from your phone company. In a nutshell, a few years back many telephone companies explored ways to use their networks to deliver TV services as well. Instead of your typical Cable or Satellite "Signal" type broadcast, the telcos explored using their internet deployment methods to deliver TV via IP (internet protocol).

VDSL is a type of DSL Service (digital subscriber line)...I am sure you know what DSL Internet service is. These day ADSL and its versions (such as ADSL2+) are the common form of DSL service.

MIKE0616

· #5 · Oct 11, 2008

jasonblair said:
1) Who is Qwest Communications?
2) What is telco TV?
3) What is ATM? (I assume it is not an automated teller machine)
4) What is an IP play?
5) What is VDSL?

I assume since this was posted on the main page of the website it is important, but your post is like a foreign language to me.

IIRC, QWest is the old Baby Bell phone company that was Mountain Bell at one time.

Think of Telco TV as using the local phone company network system to deliver services that are more or less delivered by cable companies. The difference in cable systems and Telco systems is primarily their method of and hardware used for delivery.

ATM is asynchronous transfer mode for data transmission. It is a technical term that describes the methodologies used to move data for a particular purpose.

IP play is using the network connections and hardware that are currently in use for IP traffic to move data, including internet data, video, etc. traffic. Think IP based subscription services or VOD that comes in via the internet (ala D*) for this one.

VDSL (aka VHDSL) is a type of (Very High Bitrate) Digital Subscriber Line (usually offered by phone companies) that is designed and "tuned" to carry massive amounts of data over twisted (or untwisted) pairs of copper wires.

From the news release, it appears that QWest is getting out of the subscription TV business, which was their attempt to do what Verizon has done with FIOS and ATT has done with U-Verse. As to why they did it, only 50,000 customers after 10 years appears to me that they never really tried to be in the business.

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Unknown

· #6 · Oct 11, 2008

and Qwest use to be US West also.

Budget_HT

· #7 · Oct 11, 2008

There are two parts to Qwest: local telephone service (in 14 western states, formerly U S WEST Communications) and national and international long distance and transport services.

U S WEST was formed at the 1/1/1984 Divesture of the old Bell System and was comprised of the former Pacific Northwest Bell (Washington, Oregon and part of northern Idaho), Northwestern Bell (Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa) and Mountain Bell (Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Montana and southern Idaho).

The long distance and data transport side of Qwest was originally part of Southern Pacific Transport (Railroad), although the Qwest name came along later as part of an acquisition.

Qwest acquired U S WEST in 2000.

For more Qwest information and history see http://www.fundinguniverse.com/comp...ations-International-Inc-Company-History.html

curt8403

· #8 · Oct 11, 2008

jasonblair said:
1) Who is Qwest Communications?
2) What is telco TV?
3) What is ATM? (I assume it is not an automated teller machine)
4) What is an IP play?
5) What is VDSL?

I assume since this was posted on the main page of the website it is important, but your post is like a foreign language to me.

QWEST is a phone company in the mountain west area
2 Telco means phone TELephone COmpany, so it is a TV service directly proviced by the Telephone Company, as opposed to one that is resold, like Directv.
3 ATM is a network standard, it was superfast for it's time, but never really got accepted, and so it died
4 IP means Internet Protocol, and usually refers to an application used on the internet like Voice over IP or Television over IP
VDSL usually means something like Virtual DSL it is a program or service that acts like DSL but is not real DSL, They tend to be even faster than real DSL

Steve615

Discussion Starter · #9 · Oct 11, 2008

Another article with some specific information from Qwest Communications and their plans with DirecTV .
They expect Choice TV to be phased out in Highlands Ranch,CO by the end of 2008.
They also expect the service to be phased out in the Phoenix,AZ area by the end of 2009.

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=165690

Bronco70

· #10 · Oct 11, 2008

machavez00 said:
I had Choice tv when I lived in Gilbert and it was great. When I moved back to the neighborhood I grew up in Phoenix, Choice TV was not available, The USAM had been installed, but never hooked up to the fiber network, so I signed up for Directv through Qwest. Last year Qwest pulled out the old USAM and replaced it with a brand spanking new DSLAM and started to offer 20Mb DSL.

Wow 20Mb DSL. You're certainly ready for HD streaming. At less than 3Mb in this house, I'm envious.

Joe

colavsfaninnwia

· #11 · Oct 12, 2008

Qwest has 20 meg DSL available in parts of quite a few cities. I know of Minneapolis, St. Paul, Denver, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Colorado Springs, Portland, and Seattle. I know they are in alot more cities than that. But, the city im in can only give me 7, and my particular location its 3 meg.

boilerjt

· #12 · Oct 12, 2008

I am already paying my DirecTV bill through Qwest and $5 bundle discount. Now if only they'd get the 12 and 20 Mb here in Rochester...

djwww98

· #13 · Oct 12, 2008

Qwest used to be my telephone company. I stress "used to be". THE worst, most incompetent customer service I have ever experienced. Even worse than DirecTV. This will make a great combination. :nono2:

colavsfaninnwia

· #14 · Oct 12, 2008

Qwest and Direct TV have been partners for years. And the combination has much improved even in the last few months. Now Qwest and Verizon Wireless are partners so I'm sure that will be shaky for a while but improve. Its just that in a portion of Denver and Phoenix, Qwest had its own TV service, which was almost a different company. And they are migrating those customers over to Direct TV.

machavez00

· #15 · Oct 12, 2008

My sister has Choice TV/Online and has not received any notice yet. Hmmm I wonder, can I get the refer a friend bounty when she switches over?

convem24

· #16 · Oct 12, 2008

machavez00 said:
My sister has Choice TV/Online and has not received any notice yet. Hmmm I wonder, can I get the refer a friend bounty when she switches over?

She will be offered a better deal than the refer a friend offer. I know that for a fact since I have a friend in the Phoenix area that was offered the new offer for Choice TV customers. If you want to do refer a friend that is ok but if she wants the combo bill and discount with Qwest from the get go of her DIRECTV service she will need to sign up through Qwest and Qwest cannot offer the refer a friend offer.

Reggie3

· #17 · Oct 14, 2008

colavsfaninnwia said:
Qwest has 20 meg DSL available in parts of quite a few cities. I know of Minneapolis, St. Paul, Denver, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Colorado Springs, Portland, and Seattle. I know they are in alot more cities than that. But, the city im in can only give me 7, and my particular location its 3 meg.

Lucky guy - I only get 1.5megs - hoping that they get fiber into my neighborhood soon

dishlover2

· #18 · Oct 26, 2008

Unknown said:
and Qwest use to be US West also.

us west and continental cable which became media one which at&t bought out and out bid comcast which eventually led to uswest continental splitting up then became media one then at&t then at&t became comcast then att and comcast parted ways att bought tci out too at one time some atts went under cablevision others comcast and storer

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