Review by chelpt 
UPDATED: 80 days ago
member for 97 days, 5 visits, last login: 80 days ago
 La Crosse,La Crosse,WI
 $60 per month (12 month contract)
 about 21 days
 CenturyTel
 "Fiber To The Premise @ 15 meg and Static IP"
 "TV is still being tested"
 "with Static IP, it is a WAY better deal than Charter."
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Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I moved into the La Crosse area about 5 years ago. My path was Onalaska, then to Viroqua, and back to La Crosse. Onalaska and La Crosse are both serviced by Centurytel, while Viroqua is serviced by another company (who will get their own review).
When I first moved to Onalaska I tried the cable company for a static IP. I actually went for it. But I got a speed that was less than the 256k of DSL, and it required to be a business account. That was 5 years ago, but I kept my eyes open. Centurytel was in the area and it was my initial thought that DSL was worse than Cable. After a few months I ditched the business class cable service and I couldn't even use a DynDNS service. I found any server calls were blocked.
I talked to some one that worked at Centurytel's Internet Help Desk and found that such thorough blocking wasn't done by Centurytel. They did block some email ports, and otherwise only major virus ports got blocked. So I changed. I went with just the regular service and I was able to use the DynDNS service as I started my own web server.
Moved to Viroqua for about 2 years, then moved back to La Crosse and Centurytel. My new home is serviced by utility poles, and I found out they upgraded the area to Fiber Optic Heaven! And they were selling a full fledged IPTV service as well (not that web browser based thing, but real chanels to my TV)
Even though I have an old home, I had them upgrade to the FTTP (Fiber To The Premise) service. It took them about 3 weeks to schedule, as it was being done with TV service too (they were fighting a back log, and in this area there is a particular football channel that Centurytel has that the other guy doesn't, probably the sole reason for the long wait).
The upgrade consisted of using an ONT (Optical Network ????) on the outside of the home and a nearly 2 foot by 2 foot board with a battery back up, power supply, apc power strip, 8-10 port Lynksys Switch and a Westel 327 Wireless & 4 Port Router. They wired an Ethernet Connection to my Computer Lab and then an Ethernet Connection to my main TV Connection.
The internet connection has been SOLID. 15 Meg is so Choice.
The TV service could use some work. I've heard we should be getting new TV boxes soon. So I hope that will fix those issues.
--------- 6/10/08-------
A week or two ago the TV went out. This was 2nd bad outage in the last two months. I've heard rumors that they are going to do a major overhaul of the TV system. I got myself a good credit for the TV outage, so I'll keep with it for now. I got a real good fiber internet connection with 15 meg down and residential static ip, so that is keeping me in place for now.
(an FYI about my charges: only includes Static IP and 15 Meg Internet)
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