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Review by Sportsfan See Profile

  • Location: Tucson, Pima, AZ, USA
  • Cost: $25 per month (36 month contract)
  • Install: about 3 days
  • Telco party Qwest
Speeds are better than advertised. Service has been reliable so far.
Internet pricing is for a limited time.
Very good value for new customers.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I was still using 56k dial-up when I found out about Internet Basics, a program for low-income/disabled customers, through a well-hidden link on the Qwest website. I applied and was approved the same week (March 2012). Service was initiated in three days. I was pleasantly surprised to get consistent speeds of 1280/720 with the company-provided ZyXEL PK5000Z modem (advertised speed "up to" 1.5 Mb down). Setup was easy, even for me as a first-time DSL user. Total price will go up to $21.90 in month 13, and special pricing will end after month 60.

Edit: Soon after I posted this review, I began having frequent modem reboots and connection drops after four months of excellent service. I will report back if anything changes.

Second Edit (Oct. 2012): The modem drops stopped around the end of August, causing me to think it was the lightning issue others had reported, but another modem drop occurred today (a clear evening w/ cool temperatures), so the modem itself appears to be the issue, as noted by a commenter.

Updated (July 2014): Price is now $21.90 per month as agreed in contract. Previous modem was replaced by CL, solving disconnection problems. Download speed was increased to 1.8 Mb a few months ago at no additional charge to customer.

Major update (Oct. 2017): Finances forced move to apartment with CL as only option. Received new customer discount (3 yr. $20/mo. "plus fees" Internet with "$45/mo." phone plan.) Originally paid for 12 Mb, received 14. CL upgraded to 20, currently receiving 23. CL did not raise price but will not reveal total final price after offer expires. Service is mostly reliable but had one outage of 12 hr. in good weather. Total bill is around $80/mo. due to below-line costs despite advertised rate being $65. CL provided CT1100-T modem ($99, free after gift card). (My old PK5001's won't work since this line is VDSL2.)

member for 11.9 years, 393 visits, last login: 6 days ago
updated 6.4 years ago


pcopsey
@qwest.net

pcopsey

Anon

PK5000

The pk5000 series routers are trash... just do a search on them and you will find that the actiontec and the zyxel both have the same consistent problems of resetting constantly.

Sadly thats all the centurylink offers right now. You can purchase your own but lose any real tech support and if it dies your on your own again.
tyrant_
Wannabe Billionaire
join:2013-07-07

tyrant_

Member

Only 1.8mbps?

That's it. There's gotta be a competitor or something better than that. I have 40 and thats slow enough..

linicx
Caveat Emptor
Premium Member
join:2002-12-03
United State

linicx

Premium Member

Not Minnesota

CL has a footprint in 38 states. The services offered by CL are not always the same across all states, regions or areas of the US. Be glad you have your 40. CL does not generally offer more than 1 with overhead in most DSL areas. I know. I am in one of the 10/1 areas and I am thrilled.

Anon4c24c
@qwest.net

Anon4c24c

Anon

Dropping cl

Tired of contacting them every 6 months to get deals renewed. $100/month for phone and internet is ridiculous. Unfortunately, the area in which I live is monopolized by cl. I have already unbundled directv from cl and I am prepared to get three different providers if necessary to get control of my charges. Thanks to the AZ Corporation Commission for allowing monopolies by companies such as APS, cl and other monopolies. APS has bought and paid for 3 of the 5 commissioners. You know APS is going to get any rate increase it asks for. I will not have this e-mail address for long...my goal is to be completely free of cl by the end of the month.

Sportsfan
join:2012-03-26

Sportsfan

Member

High-pressure TV sales, low uploads

Amusingly, CL keeps trying to pressure me to buy Prism TV, even though the apartment bldg. already offers free satellite TV. (I watch so little TV that I haven't even tried the satellite.)

I'm a bit disappointed that the upload speed still doesn't hit even 1 MB, but I'm grateful for the low-price offer as long as it lasts.