 Review by chd176 
member for 10.2 years, 2968 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 274 days ago
 Winfield,Marion,AL
 $40 per month- (12 month contract)
 about 3 days CenturyTel "DSL in the sticks, GREAT local techs" "only game in town, slow on upgrades" "CenturyLink is ok if you have no other options"
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(ratings match consensus)
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I just got CenturyTel DSL installed at my location today and after being on dialup for 4 years then satellite for a year I was ready for real broadband...The local field techs told me I should be able to get DSL in October or November. Sure enough on Tuesday (10-5-04) I placed the order for DSL...the CS agent said I more than likely couldn't get DSL because I was 12 miles from my CO but the RO only 1.3 miles away was being upgraded with a DSLAM and she said I could only get it from the CO even though I knew otherwise...I asked for a Tracking number but I was told it isn't available to the public then I called back the next day and I was told to call back friday to get the tracking number...I called back today and while she was looking up my information UPS ran and I had my modem...something happened with my line and the Local field techs were there before I could call em and asked if I had a problem with my phone and if I ordered DSL I was thinking to myself "WOW that is some fast service" They then asked where I wanted to use the modem then they wired that jack for DSL only so I wouldn't have to use the filters...great job on their part I was thinking of doing that myself but kudos to the local field techs for taking that extra step...when I got the modem hooked up I noticed I couldn't log on I called in and was told that tuesday was the date for the line to go live...I called back asking if there was anything that could be done then a tech rep got my account active and I was able to log on....and wow speeds are great I ordered the 1.5/256 package and it is great I get speeds of 1.3/186 pings are ok between 65 and 90 ms setting up the modem to play nice was a little tricky and required an additonal call with tech support but they got me up and running in about 10 mins...btw I am using the westell 6100...I've heard that a new speed teir 3000/512 is being tested and I see on a few speed test here of those speeds I plan on getting that package as soon as it is offered and if it is for Residental I have the full 1536/256 sync on my modem and great line quality...so far CenturyTel has been a great taste of real broadband I have downloaded several linux ISOs something I couldn't even think of doing on dialup or satellite
******************************update 11/6/2004*****************************
Well it has almost been a month on Monday so I thought I would update my review. So far the service has been very stable with no disconnects. I did however run into a problem with my speed degrading over a period of about three days. I called tech support to see what may be causing that and due to a mess up I was sent an extra modem so I could do some additional troubleshooting of my own before I called in. I noticed that when it slowed down I could unplug the modem for about ten seconds then plug it in and instantly my speeds were back up. I thought this may be with the one modem so I tried the other I was sent. The same thing happened again so this time I called Tech support and I informed them of what I did so far and they went in and changed my MTU...that did NOT help actually it made my speeds lower and I had to re-tweak and change it back. The agent I was on the phone with was very rude and eager to get me off the phone and basically said that MTU will work try that for three days and call back. I was tired of dealing with support for awhile so I continued to do some troubleshooting and I realized I didn't try a different power supply I had used the same one with my orignal modem. I then swaped the power supply and my connection has been fine since. I am really enjoying the speeds realiabilty of DSL compared to satellite I was thrilled when I was still online when my DirecTV went out yet I was still able to surf. I am really looking forward to the 3000/512 package that is expected sometime in the first quarter of 2005 and I will order it as soon as I can. I would highly recommend CenturyTel DSL but since this is my first true broadband connection I can't really compare it to any other services.
********************************update 2-5-05**********************************
well it's been almost 3 months since I had CenturyTel DSL installed. After getting over the first few billing issues it has been great for the most part. I did have some trouble with my pings going sky high for about 3 weeks but after several calls to tech support and emailing a "traceroute team" the issue was finally resolved. I even had a person come out to check my line. I was told that I had almost no noise on my line and it can support speeds up to 8 MB which is nice but that also raises another point. CenturyTel has now rolled out a new speed tier 3.0/512 but it is only available in MO still. This tier has been out for a little over a month now so I think they are quite slow in getting this new tier out to all CenturyTel service areas and I am still on 1.5/256 although I get really good speeds I normally get 1308 down and 212 up not bad. My pings have also improved from an average of 85 ms to an average of 60 ms now. I look forward to when I can upgrade my speed tier and get even better speeds and pings. I have had NO downtime (at least that I have noticed) in the 3 months that I've had DSL. It is very stable and my speeds never fluctate. Tech support is generally helpful I'm not sure if I got a few good people but they knew what they were talking about so it made the process smoother. The only thing I would change is the price and speed. It's 2005 and I am paying $45 for 1.5/256 while some other ISP's are only charging $30 for 3.0/768 I know that this is a larger company and out here CenturyTel is the only game in town so they can charge a higher price. I recently replaced my RJ-11 line with Cat5 and noticed a slight improvment in pings but no improvement in speed so I assume that was one of the factors. I just hope that the new speed tier gets rolled out quickly but overall I am still satisfied with CenturyTel.
********************************update 4-19-05**********************************
well four months later everything is finally starting to look up for DSL here. Starting yesterday I have been getting speeds 2 MB and up, keep in mind I am still on the 1500/256 plan because we don't have the upgrade available yet. I downloaded a Microsoft update for office yesterday that was 16 MB and I had a 243 KB/sec download. I am also really impressed about the routing issues they have fixed. When I first signed up I had pings in the 90ms range which for DSL is pretty bad, I now have pings that average about 41ms MUCH better than before but it could still be better. I have heard through the woodwork (CenturyTel chat techs) that my area is undergoing "testing" for the new speed tier that is why I am seeing such good speeds. I haven't went through the trouble of disconnecting my modem and checking the sync rate on the modem but I am just VERY happy with these speeds and ping times. I just hope CenturyTel offically releases the 3000/512 tier here very soon. I have only had two short term (a few mins) outages in the four months since I have last updated this. I am glad CenturyTel is finally moving in the right direction. The only thing left to do now is for them to lower the prices because compared to other DSL providers it's pretty pricy (then again I do live in the middle of nowhere and I should be thankful JUST to have DSL).
********************************update 10-6-05*************************************
It's been over a year now since I got DSL with CenturyTel and I am now no long in a contract and could disconnect with them anytime I like but I choose to stay with CenturyTel, the main reason is because there is no one else around to provide high speed. The second factor is my connection has been pretty much rock solid except for 4 disconnects (that I know of) in the last year. Most of them last only a few mins but one lasted for 5 hours. As far as speed and pricing goes I either wish the speed would increase or the price would go down. I am paying twice as much as my friends with Bellsouth, but I don't really have a choice for another provider in my area. I would still recommend CenturyTel to anyone interested. I still think I am very lucky to live in such a rural area and have access to DSL. CenturyTel did a great job by installing a DSLAM in our local RO to provide DSL to everyone. I haven't had to call tech support in about 5 months now so the reliability has been great. I've learned that if there is a problem just wait it out. Hopefully CenturyTel replaced their PPPoE servers because that was the issue each time my DSL went out. If you can't get cable CenturyTel is the way to go.
********************************update 6-4-06*************************************
I was going to wait until I upgraded my speed package (which should be available sometime this month) until I updated my review, however during an issue tonight I thought I would go ahead and do the update. I just through chatting with "tech support" and I had to call "tech support" to get a trouble ticket setup. I use that phrase lightly at best. I have been running into an issue for the past month or so where my speeds will greatly diminish, much of the time over half of my normal speeds. I didn't bother speaking with a "tech" before because it was a known issue when I called the support line, only after being told to do so by the online support, it's really great that they communicate well! Anywho tonight I had a problem again and I isolated it to CenturyTel by bypassing the router and trying three different computers. Here is a transcript of the online chat (I edited the techs name)
Connecting to server. Please wait...
Connected to netagent.centurytel.net Tech I has joined this session!
Tech says, Welcome to CenturyTel's Internet Tech Support Chat. Just a moment please while I read over your message.
Tech says, Have you run any speed tests?
You say, yes and they are about 512 - 582 and I'm on the 1.5 package
You say, these were the centurytel speed test also
Tech says, Do you have a DSL filter on all other devices that use the same phone line/number? (phones, satellites, security systems, fax, DirectTV, etc.)
You say, got a dedicated line run (ie: home run) the filter is installed at the NID
Tech says, I am not showing any trouble reported in the area. I suggest you call in at 1-800-809-1410 to have a repair ticket opened to have this checked out.
as you can see the online support is pretty pathetic but the phone support is just as bad because I was asked the same questions by the phone agent as well. I even told her that my S/N ratio was a lot lower than it normally was and it normally stays around 25.2 but tonight it was 16.3 and I'm not kidding she said "what is that?" I was spechless...and she didn't know what DHCP was either because I told her that I had connected PPPoE on my other computers and she said the Westell 6100 didn't support that if that was really the modem I was using. When I asked her if CenturyTel switched to DHCP she said "I don't know what that is I just know we use a user name and password to connect". I get a ticket put in so who knows what will happen now. When I first got CenturyTel the techs were great and the service was really stable. I don't know what happened but things REALLY went downhill, I do have to admit that the local techs are still as good as ever! I also have to report at least one good thing. I contact a Corp office at CenturyTel and told them about how I was paying for a service that I never recieved fully for an entire month and I did get a month of DSL for free, so I can't complain there. I hope that my issues are just caused by CenturyTel getting ready to roll out the two new tiers here and after that happens things will go back to the way they were. I have high hopes for CenturyTel, perhaps it's just because that's all I can get here, but right now they are slipping.
********************************update 3-5-08*************************************
Well after some up and downs with CenturyTel I am quite content right now with them. I had some issues with a hop on CenturyTel's network that a lot of other people in my area were having problems with and it was slowing mine (and everyone elses) speeds way down during peak times. This has since been corrected and I haven't had any problems since. My pings average about 25 to 40ms and speed test are about 1520/270, quite exceptable since I have the 1.5/256 package. Which brings me to another problem since I've had DSL in late 2004 I have yet to qualify for a higher speed package when the CO about 8 miles from my location has went from 1.5 to 3.0 to 6.0 and now has 10 MB speeds so I would like to get a higher throughput but as I said I can't really complain since I live so far out.
********************************update 5-7-08*************************************
Well I finally got a speed boost! It wasn't quite what I was expecting but I will take it with NO compalints. I was having some issues dropping my landline to go with dry DSL online (CenturyTel calls it "Pure Broadband") that was quite a hassle. I had spent about 2 hours total over 4 or 5 days trying to get it switched. I finally got that resolved thanks to dsldude08!
It was switched over in a matter of minutes (maybe an hour I don't remember lol) also since he was so great in finally getting my dry DSL I asked like I normally do every few months about a faster speed (at this point I was just asking for some more upload) and what do you know turns out 10 MB was available, needless to say I jumped all over that! I then realized I had a older Westell (6100 b90) and it wasn't capable of handleing the speed. No problems though dsldude08 hooked me up again and the very next day (today) a tech was to come out, switch ports to the new ADSL2 equipment and bring my new Westell.
When the tech got here at around 9:30 AM he asked if I wanted just the 6100 or the 327w. Since I already had a linksys router that was working just fine for my wireless connections I opted for the 6100. I connected it and I was still at 1.5 MB. I was a bit disappointed and was thinking that I may not be able to get 10 MB out here after all. Well after a brief call to the CO from the tech my modem lost sync and when it synced up again I was syncing at 12474/894. I was estatic! I started to test it out right away and I noticed at first I was only getting around 3.8/720 I thought it was no problem I just had to do some tweaking. Well I ran cablenut and rebooted then my speed was around 5.1/740 better but still the DL was only half of what it should be.
I asked for help online again and dsldude08 come through for me again. He spent several hours researching it for me and in the end it turns out that technically I'm only supposed to get 3 MB max from my RT because the limit any one customer can have out of my RT is 6 MB. This was a little disappointing but coming from 1.5/256 I'm estatic to have 5.1/740, I was told that 5 MB will be on the high side and may drop below that when other customers come online that are served out of my RT.
Overall I'm very happy because I got to keep my 10 MB package and I'm still synced at 12747/894 with NO problems at all. Also the best part is when the 10 MB finally is brought out here I won't have to do anything I will just noticed an increased download!
*************************update 5/14/08*************************************************
Well after being quite pleased with the upgrade in speed my hopes were dashed as CenturyTel decided that since my RT couldn't support 10 MB they would drop me back to 1.5 apparently that is the top speed available to me despite the fact that I am now connected to ADSL2 equipment and I'm still synced with ASDL2 heck even 3.0 is apparently not available. So now I am stuck at 1.5 again and now I'm stuck in a contract for 12 more months but at least the price dropped to only $29.99 since I switched to dry DSL so I am actually getting ready to switch to a WISP in my area that offers 15/5 for $89.99 a month so I will keep CenturyTel for another year while I'm in contract and in 12 months when I am able to cancel without and ETF I will weigh my options to stay with CenturyTel or the WISP if after a year the only thing CenturyTel can offer me is 1.5 still then I'm done. This is 2008 not 2000 we should have faster speeds than that. When a small locally owned ISP can out perform a national ISP you know that something is wrong with that picture.
*************************update 5/14/08*************************************************
Wow after 6 years I'm still stuck on 1.5/256 I seriously doubt my RT will ever be upgraded to support more than that. Each time I call they'll say 10 MB is available put in the order I'll get a sync increase and then a couple of days later I'm downgraded back to 1.5. My line will support 10/768 it's just the backhaul to my RT is seriously lacking, which brings us to an entirely different issue.
For months I've been having erratic speeds, mostly in the afternoon/night time hours. I'm fully aware what's happened CenturyLink yet again, has oversold the bandwidth in my area, by the time they get around to fixing it then it's only another 6 months or so before it's oversold yet again. This is another reason I doubt I'll see more than 1.5/256 at my location. I really wish I had another alternative for high speed access because I would drop CenturyLink faster than I could blink. I am, however, grateful that they can provide DSL service out in the middle of nowhere, but just 4 miles north of me where the CO is located they have 10 MB service. I don't see why they wouldn't expand that to the RTs, then again I'm not an engineer.
Overall I'm very displeased with the service, when it works it's great but with frequent PPPoE issues and constant bandwidth restraints I can't recommend CenturyLink to anyone, at least in my area, at the moment and foreseeable future.
*************************update 7/7/12*************************************************
Well, I thought the day would never come but yesterday I was officially upgraded to the 10/768 package. So far it's been running really smooth and steady with close to 10/768 on speed tests and real world performance. Last time I was upgraded to 10/768 in error my sync rate was 12474/894 which apparently was an error because this time I'm synced at 11773/894. Either way at least it's better than the 1.5/256 I was stuck on for 8 years.
My stats are holding pretty stable, I just had one small hiccup where I was on interleaved instead of fast path but that was resolved in a couple of hours..
Transceiver Revision: 5.2.2.0
Vendor ID Code: 4
Line Mode: ADSL2+ Mode
Data Path: Fast
Transceiver Information Downstream Path Upstream Path
DSL Speed (Kbits/Sec) 11773 894
Margin (dB) 11.0 12.0
Line Attenuation (dB) 33.0 20.0
Transmit Power (dBm) 19.7 12.2
Not bad stats and they're really stable (just like the 1.5/256 I was on) as stated before speeds are almost to the 10/768 level.
iPhone3,1_5.1.1_9B208_Restore (1).ipsw1,133 KB/s - 153 MB of 784 MB, 9 mins left
Uploaded: 23,679 KB (22%)
Elapsed time: 255 sec
Transfer rate: 95.5 KB/sec
That's pretty representative of the download/upload speeds I'm getting in real world applications. Also below are some speed test I've ran.
Last Result:
Download Speed: 9924 kbps (1240.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 734 kbps (91.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
»www.speedtest.net/result/2050560955.png
Download :: 9.5 Mbps 1.2 MB/s Upload :: 695 Kbps 87 kB/s
Here is a ping test
»www.pingtest.net/result/65943947.png
I've been getting better pings on the 10/768 package than the 1.5/256 while both were on fast path. I must say I'm very pleased so far and I'll update this a few months now the line for more of a long term review. I always want to give a special shout out to Joey he helped me figure out I finally had 10 MB available to me (it still doesn't show my address as getting anything higher than 1.5 on the site!) It's been a roller coaster with CenturyLink over the past few years but hopefully I'll have smooth sailing here on out.
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