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Review by Secretagtman See Profile

  • Location: La Crosse, La Crosse, WI, USA
  • Cost: $49 per month
  • Install: about 42 days
  • Telco party CenturyTel
Speed is as advertised.
Not as fast as I would love to have!
After a few hurtles the speed is nice to have.
Pre Sales information:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

11/21/14: This review is from 2001 and most likely no longer relevant to services one would find today. It made its way back to the top from an accidental edit.

--Original Review--

I got ADSL when it first was introduced and have had wonderful download and upload speeds since then. I usually get around 430kbps down and 150-200kbps up. The service and CenturyTel is nothing fantastic, but they can usually get the job done. When I ordered the service it took about 1 month for the modem to arrive, and about 6 weeks for them to turn on the switch, they were not exactly in a rush to give me service I guess. The self-install kit was very straight forward. The day they said the switch was going to be on, I set it all up, got to the point where I needed my username and password and realized that I did not have one. I called the support number and the rep. said that their computers showed that I didn't have one registered with them either. After about 35 minutes on the phone getting that fixed, I got a username, put it in my router, and was set to go. I have experienced downtime on their end only a couple times, but that issue was quickly resolved, and have also gone through a period of very poor speeds, but that is way in the past since they put in some faster lines. I believe it was due to over-subscribing users to the service. Using a newer firmware release and my Linksys router has been great. No need to bother with computer end installed software, and if the connection is dropped the router will automatically log back on to keep the connection live.

I would love to have minimum 3 times the speed, but I still can recall the days of dial-up service.



member for 23.4 years, 357 visits, last login: 1 year ago
updated 9.3 years ago

System

Anon

OUTAGE

Well, I am back online after a 5 hour downtime courtesy of the good folks at CenturyTel. They seem to have MAJOR problems with their network, and their DNS servers are sending out pings at an extraordinary rate. "Live" online tech support was less than helpful, intimating that they were "aware of the problem". Damn, could've gotten that response from the minimum wage earning telephone tech support.....but then I suppose they are the same people, just gave one of them a workstation to play with.
banddirector
join:2000-11-28
La Crosse, WI

banddirector

Member

CenturyTel DSL slipping just like the cars here...

Yes, latency has been quite unacceptable for the last several weeks here in La Crosse. CenturyTel assures they are continuing to check the problem, but I am having my doubts. The CenturyTel experience started off well, but my satisfaction level is declining...
System

Anon

Re: CenturyTel DSL slipping just like the cars her

I live in Sparta, WI. The DNS server is down much of the time. The first time I called support they told me to go to dslreports.com to look for solutions. The second time, the support person said she had never heard of the problem. I told her that others using different ISPs had the same problems with Enternet, and she suggested I try Mac Poet. At that point, I told her that they should support the software they provide! I am filing a complaint with the state consumer protection office. The are promoting DSL like mad around here, but are not delivering the quality service.
mastamsm
join:2001-03-12
La Crosse, WI

mastamsm

Member

Re: CenturyTel DSL slipping just like the cars her

Well if you get anywhere by filing a complaint with the state consumer, please notify us because centurytel's service is crap... (La Crosse, Wi).. I had the same problem with Enternet freezing up.. I even asked a technician, and he said that HE HAD PROBLEMS WITH IT TOO!.. Routers are pretty cheat so I suggest getting one.. $99 at best buy.. It gets rid of the buggy software Enternet and you seem to always be connected.. now if they could only work on their bandwidth..latency..
-Marc
Secretagtman
join:2000-11-01

Secretagtman to Anon

Member

to Anon

Re: OUTAGE

I must of missed the outage. When did it occur? The past couple of days there has been a major show in decreased latency. Last night and tonight I have had download speeds around 50k, horrible horrible horrible......
System

to Anon

Anon

to Anon

Centurytel dsl slower than slow

I signed up for adsl the first day they would take applications and had dsl on about the first day it was setup. Everything worked great until about 3 weeks ago when my speed just went way down. I game online and my ping is always visible. My pings have risen from about 100ms to 500-1000ms in servers, 56k'er ping about 300+. I started using neotrace to ping various sites thru out the country and yes, early mornings and late evenings, no pings exceed 100ms but evenings from 5;00 to 10:00 pm, OH BOY, everything pings from 400 to 1000ms at every hop after the first two centurytel routers.

Five phone calls to tech and 3 emails to centurytel support, 2 emails to techs, at their request with traces, have yielded no answers and only the hint that there may be upgrades coming by the first week in March.

Have anyone else experienced the same troubles and lack of support in the La Crosse area? Just an answer as to when or if this is going to be fixed would be nice. They will never keep me in a two year contract if this continues. Glad to have a place just to share this.
riverrat6
join:2001-12-09

riverrat6

Member

Router Woes?

I'm not sure why you are having troubles with the LinkSys Router. I have the same model and have NEVER been dropped after getting it config'd correctly. I have similar results in download and upload speeds.

Overall I have no complaint with Centurytel, other than the standard of they are the only DSL ISP in the area and your stuck with no other options.

RRat
[text was edited by author 2001-12-09 09:13:28]
Secretagtman
join:2000-11-01

Secretagtman

Member

Re: Router Woes?

Due to a lack of visiting this site I have not updated my post. But, my router connection problems have long been fixed with a firmware upgrade from linksys. I dont recall the release version as of then, but shortly after I posted they released a new version which solved all my connection problems and have had (almost) great surfing since.
Bryant