CenturyLink Military: $10 Vacation Hold, Quantum Fiber Now AT&T

Start with the name on your bill, because it now decides who you deal with. On February 2, 2026, Lumen completed the sale of its consumer fiber-to-the-home business in eleven states, including Quantum Fiber, to AT&T, and kept its copper-based consumer services. Lumen’s release says the customer relationships in those states moved with the network. Quantum Fiber now runs under a subscriber agreement titled Quantum Fiber From AT&T, version dated the same day, naming AT&T Enterprises, LLC as the provider. CenturyLink.com still carries a CenturyLink copyright and links to Lumen. Neither brand publishes a military discount or a military cancellation desk (read October 9, 2026).

The two brands against § 3956

Each company’s own pages and agreement, checked October 9, 2026:

Quantum Fiber customers should not assume AT&T’s military forms reach them. AT&T’s military cancellation page, last updated August 25, 2026, covers AT&T wireless and AT&T Internet, Phone, and U-verse TV, and never mentions Quantum Fiber. The statute does not depend on that page; the written notice in the checklist below works for either company. AT&T wireless lines are covered on the AT&T military page, and the general rules for internet contracts are in the phone, cable, and internet guide.

CenturyLink’s term-plan charge, worked out

CenturyLink’s homepage sells “Month-to-month only” service with “zero termination fees.” Its Internet Subscriber Agreement still governs customers who ordered with a term commitment, and the clause is specific. The early-termination charge equals 100% of the monthly rate times the months left in the first 12 months of the term, plus 40% of the monthly rate times the months left after the first 12. The same clause says “moving, changing your internet service provider, or making a change to any part of your service that carries a term commitment is considered termination of the entire service.” It also warns that a move or upgrade can restart the term.

CenturyLink prints the formula, not a dollar figure, so run it on your own bill. For illustration, take a 24-month term at a $50 monthly rate, cancelled after 9 months for a PCS:

• Months left in year one: 3 × $50 = $150.
• Months left after year one: 12 × 40% × $50 = $240.
• Charge under CenturyLink’s formula: $390.

On qualifying orders, § 3956(e)(1) says a provider “may not impose an early termination charge” on a contract ended under the section. That $390 drops to $0. The agreement adds that CenturyLink may waive the charge on its own, and that it is waived if you object to the terms within 30 days of ordering.

Pausing instead of cancelling

CenturyLink’s Vacation Service pauses internet for $10 a month to keep the account active, one to nine months in most areas, and Florida customers pay nothing for internet on hold. You keep your phone number, your modem, and your CenturyLink email. Two limits matter. After nine months, the discount drops off and billing returns to full price, even though service stays on hold until you call. In former Qwest areas, the page lists a different structure: 50% off the monthly rate in most states and a suspension or reactivation charge of up to $28.52.

For a 6-month deployment, the internet hold costs 6 × $10 = $60 and keeps everything in place. On Pure Broadband internet, the page adds half the usual access-line fee during the hold, with no dollar figure, so check your bill. For a deployment longer than nine months, or a PCS outside CenturyLink’s footprint, cancelling on the orders is cleaner.

Quantum Fiber has its own version. Section 11(e) of the AT&T agreement allows a Pause Service of 30 days to nine months, and Quantum Fiber’s support page says you start it on the web. Service shuts off the day you pause, the current month is refunded only if you pause on the first day of a billing cycle, and the billing date resets to the day you resume. AT&T also says it does “not guarantee” you keep the pricing, plan, discount, or speed you had. The agreement names no monthly charge for the pause, so confirm the cost on your account before you rely on it.

Lower-cost options. Quantum Fiber lists Simply Fiber, 200 Mbps for $30 a month, for households where someone takes part in programs that include the VA’s Veterans Pension or Survivor Benefits, checked through SheerID. CenturyLink’s homepage lists its modem at up to $17 a month to lease or up to $200 to buy; a modem you bought stays yours when you cancel, and CenturyLink offers to recycle it for free. The SCRA’s own protections generally end with active service, so for a veteran these plans, not § 3956, are the lever; see whether the SCRA covers veterans.

Getting the equipment back

CenturyLink. Its cancel page gives 30 days after cancelling to return a leased modem or Connected Voice adapter “to avoid an equipment charge of up to $200.” Returns go only through UPS: print a label from CenturyLink’s UPS returns site, or get a QR code and bring the boxed modem to The UPS Store, where the clerk prints the label and ships it. CenturyLink says no physical CenturyLink location accepts equipment, and more than four WiFi pods go in two shipments. Its closing-bill page says the final bill is not prorated, a revised final bill picks up unreturned-equipment charges, and any credit or deposit is mailed by check 30 to 45 days after the account reaches a zero balance.

Quantum Fiber. Section 11(c) of the AT&T agreement gives 30 days after termination and three options for AT&T: charge up to the equipment’s full retail cost if it is late, charge up front and credit it back when the gear arrives, or keep billing for it until it does. AT&T emails return instructions after you give notice.

Under § 3956(e)(3), provider-owned gear goes back within 10 days after disconnection. Hand it to UPS before you leave and keep the receipt.

Cancel CenturyLink or Quantum Fiber on orders

1. Find the provider name on your latest bill: CenturyLink (Lumen) or Quantum Fiber (AT&T). Confirm your orders qualify with the eligibility rules.
2. Deployment of nine months or less with nobody at home: set up Vacation Service in My CenturyLink, or Pause Service on the Quantum Fiber website, instead of cancelling. On Quantum Fiber, pause on the first day of a billing cycle.
3. Cancelling CenturyLink: call or chat, as its cancel page directs. Quantum Fiber: use the account portal or chat at QuantumFiber.com, as Section 11(b) of its agreement directs.
4. Send written notice with a copy of your orders and the termination date, per § 3956(a)(3). Ask the company to confirm no early-termination charge applies under § 3956(e)(1). The letter generator drafts it.
5. Ship leased equipment through UPS within 10 days and keep the tracking number.
6. Watch the final and revised final bills. Put the dates in the deadline checker.

The internet line is one item on the move list; the rest is in the PCS money checklist.

The law behind this: 50 U.S.C. § 3956

Termination of certain consumer contracts: internet access, mobile, landline, TV, gym, and home security: read the statute , or read § 3956 in plain English, with its enforcement record .