 Review by AlexNYC 
UPDATED: 3.8 years ago
member for 8.5 years, 1499 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Edwards,Eagle,CO
 $50 per month
 about 15 days
 CenturyTel
CLEC party: CenturyTel
 "Can use own modem - no contract - Nice courteous people"
 "Not enough capacity to provide adequate service"
 "If you are looking for broadband look elsewhere ..."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
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Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
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After nearly 5 years with AceDSL ( »User reviews - ACE Innovative Networks ) I recently moved to a location serviced only by CenturyTel. Since I did not have any other broadband choices so I either had to choose the CenturyTel ADSL service or stick with dail-up and for me that?s just not an option.
? With AceDSL I was getting 1600/256 with NO PPPoE and a static IP address with PTR records set to my own domain for $50 including tax (no download limit, no USENET limit).
? CenturyTel in comparison offers 1500/256 with 5GB download cap for internet cap and 5 GB usenet download cap. They use PPPoE and a static IP address would cost me an extra $25 per month ?. that is twenty five US dollars per month in addition the other $50 for a grand total of $75 + tax.
As I mentioned before I have no other choice for broadband so I deceded to bite the bullet and order CenturyTel. I called to order and I spoke with a nice lady who took all of my information and said that my order will be processed and in 5 days I will have 1500/256 ADSL. I explained to her that I have my own modem and filters and I do not need anything mailed to me. She checked with her supervisor if I can use my own equipment in order not to be locked in a 1 year contract and said YES. The order process was fast and easy and the person I spoke with was very courteous.
Five days later my modem was not synching as promised so I called to check the status of my order. Imagine my surprise when I was told that CenturyTel does not have a record of any DSL odered for my account. Ugh ? OK ?. So I went through the order process and ordered it again with another very nice and courteous CenturyTel sales representative. I called again 5 business days later because I still had no DSL and was told that there was a note from the CO saying that they need couple of more days. After a total of 15 days since my first order all 3 lights on my WireSpeed bridge where steady indicating that I was synched with the CO. I made a quick call to the CenturyTel and a very knowledgeable and courteous tech told me the VCI/VPI settings that my modem requires in order to work with the CenturyTel DSL service. He also directed me to downloading a utility for the Westell WireSpeed 516 that will do that automatically and I was up and running. I was impressed by the knowledge of the person that I spoke with, as he got right to the point and helped me with exactly what I asked for (VPI/VCI).
On the following day I decided to run a speed test since my service seemed slow for a 1500/256 connection and according to the tools broadband reports I was getting only about 300 to 400 download speed ? So I checked and re-checked all my settings, MTU?s and all the rest of the DSL tweaks, but nothing seemed to help.
Another call to CenturyTel DSL help, spoke with another courteous tech. Reboot this, unplug that, no change: ?OK sir we?ll open ticket with the CO to have the DSLAM checked?
Another few days, no change, another call to tech support: ?Sir, the ticket was closed from the CO because everything is fine with the DSLAM? however my problem has not been solved. ?OK, sir we are sending a tech over to your house with a new modem and a laptop to test the line?
Great, I thought that now we?ll get to the bottom of this for sure. The date and time for the tech to show up came and went, but no tech ?. ?Sir, the ticket was closed from the CO because everything is fine with the DSLAM? ( ?wait did we established that already???) ?OK sir we are sending another tech over?
This time the tech did show up as promised. A real nice phone guy ?. doesn?t know much about computers or DSL, but not afraid to admit it and very friendly. He ran about a million test from his own laptop and modem with the same poor download speed results. Then we both went outside to the phone cable distribution box for my entire condo complex hooked up his DSL modem and laptop. No change, same results, but at least we established that the problem is not caused by my equipment or wiring. I thanked him profusely and he said that he?d have someone call to let me know what is going to happen. Someone did call back and spoke with my wife. Said something about ?too high demand? and ?too many people using DSL? ???!!! So I call back tech support just to get a clarification. I am asked to reboot my computer and DSL modem and do some trouble shooting ? what the f*&%k WHY??? (we know that it?s not my equipment right?!) ?. ?I know it?s frustrating Sir, but please follow my instructions? You darn right it?s frustrating, but I play along so I don?t take it out on the tech. And (big surprise) ? no change ? the tech puts me on hold to speak the CO and his supervisor.
A few minutes later, he comes back saying that currently my CO simply does not have the bandwidth to service all the DSL clients and they have some equipment upgrades scheduled for February 18th that (should/may) improve the situation.
If they had only started with that the first time I called ?.. oh well let?s see what happens on the 18th. Thanks for reading this long review/vent/rant.
Bottom line so far: ?Really nice people that, work for a DSL company that is not able to provide the service that they sell?
**** 03/01/05 Just to give you an update. The situation has not changed. It has gotten little worse actually. All the promises of equipment upgrades did not make a difference. ****
01/28/06 Well, I gave up. In my opinion CenturyTel CAN NOT provide the service that they sell ... 1600 only in their dreams .... I cancelled my service. Thumbs down for an extremelly poor service provider (at least in my area).
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