Windstream Promising Faster Speeds as Frustrated Users Flee Like Frontier, CenturyLink and other telcos, Windstream has been losing a notable number of broadband subscribers that are so frustrated by the company's slower speeds, they're fleeing to cable competitors. FCC data shows Windstream is one of the worst ISPs in the country at actually delivering advertised speeds, and our DSLReports user reviews aren't much better. But the company has been on a PR tear the last year or so trying to convince the press and public things are getting better despite sagging subscriber numbers.

Speaking at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2017 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference , Windstream CFO Bob Gunderman promised faster speeds and lower prices, but not necessarily at the same time -- for the same customers. Gunderman said the company intends to raise speeds in cable areas to better compete, and raise prices in non-cable areas to take advantage of a lack of overall competition. “Within our markets, we have the more competitive markets where we go against the national cable competition and we have a lot other markets where it’s a lot less competitive,” said Gunderman. “We have the unique opportunity to grab share back in the more competitive markets and in the less competitive markets, we’re going to try to move those customers up and increase ARPU on those customers in the range of $10-20.” Gunderman stated that 80% of Windstream's customer base is still below 25 Mbps, so the company has its work cut out for it in an era where cable operators are deploying gigabit capable DOCSIS 3.1 speeds uniformly across their networks. Windstream saw a subscriber loss of 22,000 subscribers last quarter, up from a 3,000 user loss the quarter before. And with Windstream still only targeting upgrades in select markets that fall well below gigabit speeds, it's likely those customer defections will continue. Gunderman stated that 80% of Windstream's customer base is still below 25 Mbps, so the company has its work cut out for it in an era where cable operators are deploying gigabit capable DOCSIS 3.1 speeds uniformly across their networks. Windstream saw a subscriber loss of 22,000 subscribers last quarter, up from a 3,000 user loss the quarter before. And with Windstream still only targeting upgrades in select markets that fall well below gigabit speeds, it's likely those customer defections will continue.







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Most recommended from 29 comments



P Ness

You'Ve Forgotten 9-11 Already

Premium Member

join:2001-08-29

way way out 11 recommendations P Ness Premium Member m o n o p o l y abuse...where is the FTC? lol so he openly admits he has the ability because he has a monopoly in area's.....



i remember back in the day they used to fix this sort of thing. davidhoffman

Premium Member

join:2009-11-19

Warner Robins, GA 1 edit 5 recommendations davidhoffman Premium Member Windstream Fantasyland. Every year for 25 years Windstream has made grandiose statements about how things will dramatically improve in the next handful of years. Every year they move another teeny tiny step forward, nothing close to the big splashy announcement. I do not expect them to meet thier big announcement this time either.



Edit: tinny to tiny AckAck

join:2011-06-02 4 recommendations AckAck Member Entertaining Speaking at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2017 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference, Windstream CFO Bob Gunderman promised...



Windstream must have been providing the Entertainment. They have one hell of a tap dance routine.

Anon3ed83

@rr.com 3 recommendations Anon3ed83 Anon Newark Ohio So what's the actual uptake in Newark these days? 5% of homes passed? 10%? Why would anyone under the age of 85 want anything to do with a 3mbps Shitstream DSL line for $80/mo when Verizon sells unlimited prepaid LTE voice/data lines for the same damn price? Ostracus

join:2011-09-05

Henderson, KY 3 recommendations Ostracus Member Com-pe-tition. Wait, what? There's competition to "flee too"? What's this world coming to? videomatic3

join:2003-12-12

Pleasanton, CA 2 recommendations videomatic3 Member LOL what! glad i dont live in a windstream area

at least hes pretty blunt about having a monopoly in areas, soon to find out which places get the rate hikes

no other company is willing to admit they have a monopoly, saying satellite is competition and stuff.

Anon2e7cc

@myvzw.com 2 recommendations Anon2e7cc Anon 30 Mbps? Dream Windstream bandwidth performance in southwest Iowa is so far under the delivery rate sold, in most industries they would be investigated for consumer fraud. In Fremont County Iowa, we pay $105/month for "8 Mbps" which never is able to deliver more than 1.5 Mbps down and 0.25 Mbps up. Any upload like Dropbox sync will usually kick latencies to around 16,000 to 30,000 ms (yes, really) and realize packet loss to upper 90%.



As a former international internetworking engineer trained through Cisco's CCNA/CCNP and intimate with carrier wide area network engineering, I never encountered South American networks as dreadfully mismanaged as Windstream's rural U.S. network. It's evident they offer numerous excuses around their technical problems, almost always starting with the customer being blamed until that's proven otherwise. The reality appears to be a terribly oversubscribed network with very dated equipment and inept engineering.



Incidentally, we're suffering the latest regional outage. Windstream's Twitter account is so overwhelmed that they're not even able to reply to all those who reach out. State public utilities commission action and Federal/state fraud investigations regarding systemic delivery of service a fraction of what was sold should also be pursued. etaadmin

join:2002-01-17

united state 2 recommendations etaadmin Member A cynical approach to things. quote: Gunderman said the company intends to raise speeds in cable areas to better compete, and raise prices in non-cable areas to take advantage of a lack of overall competition.

"Intends" Just do it dimwit, right there I reached the conclusion that nothing will be done.



"And raise prices in non-cable areas" $10~$20 more for doing nothing? Are these guys for real? I thought that Spectrum was the exception but it looks like it is the norm in the industry, at least Spectrum offers faster speeds (albeit a $199.99 BS upgrade fee) of 100Mbps and in some markets 300Mbps. Just do it dimwit, right there I reached the conclusion that nothing will be done.$10~$20 more for doing nothing? Are these guys for real? I thought that Spectrum was the exception but it looks like it is the norm in the industry, at least Spectrum offers faster speeds (albeit a $199.99upgrade fee) of 100Mbps and in some markets 300Mbps.