A chat with a new hire about old school ISP contracts made me feel old

I was training a new guy on our main account setup process, and I mentioned the old 5-year, iron-clad contracts we used to push. He just looked at me and said, 'You guys actually signed those? That's like buying a car without test driving it.' It hit me because he's right, that was the standard for so long (I remember a 2012 deal for a 100 Mbps line in Phoenix that locked us in for half a decade). Now everything is about month-to-month flexibility and cloud-based failover. It's wild how the whole mindset shifted from 'lock it down forever' to 'be ready to switch next month.' Makes you wonder what the next big shift will be. What's the shortest contract term you've been able to get a decent enterprise circuit on lately?

3 comments

3 Comments

kelly.robin1mo ago

I mean that 30 day term story is wild, I remember a 2013 deal with a regional fiber provider in Austin that had a 60 month minimum and a 400 page contract binder. Idk maybe it's just me but I still find myself waiting for the other shoe to drop with these month-to-month setups, like when we had a 200 Mbps line from a big carrier that they let us cancel with 14 days notice and I kept checking my email for a week thinking it was a trap. The whole mindset shift is real though, I've seen some of these newer providers offer 30 day terms on gigabit fiber with no install fees and it honestly feels like they're giving stuff away compared to the old days.

williamt4414d agoTop Commenter

Man, I read something just last week about how some of these smaller ISPs are basically running on a handshake model now (which is insane if you remember the old Comcast days). It makes you wonder if @hall.alex had to suffer through one of those 400 page monstrosities too, because I heard a story about a guy who got a 30 day term but the fine print still locked him into a year of router rental fees or something sneaky like that. The whole "no install fees" thing on gigabit fiber honestly feels like a loss leader to me, like they're trying to hook you before adding hidden charges for static IPs or whatever. Still, I'd take that over a 60 month prison sentence any day.

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hall.alex1mo ago

Got a 30 day term once but the contract was so thick they probably hoped I'd never read it.