The thing with these plans (at least back when the situation above occurred), is that you have to sign at least a 1 year contact. Since I already signed with CenturyLink as Comcast wouldn't budge, I didn't even have the option of taking the counter-offer (not that I would have, as I can be a bit stubborn at times and wouldn't want to reward Comcast for being shitty).

Although I'm back at Comcast out of necessity now (only one servicing my area). But right before I moved I heard that CenturyLink switched to a "plan for life" now that you don't have to call each year to argue down rates. If it works as they say it does, that would be a step in the right direction.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do when my current plan runs out in 7 months. Going to try and call a bit ahead of time to see if I can 'extend' my plan farther. But I'm pretty much SOL if they decide to double my rate with no additional discounts, as 2 members of my household work remotely and can't afford to go without internet.

The only thing keeping me optimistic is that I live in a particular part of the country that's been fighting big ISPs to pass local broadband initiatives lately. It's going to take about 4 years before city run broadband is functional, but at that point, Comcast and Centurylink are going to disappear from the map.