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Review by wesm See Profile

  • Location: Seattle, King, WA, USA
  • Cost: $109 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 1 days
  • Telco party CenturyTel
Very, very, very fast; reliable connection; no data transfer cap
Expensive; install has some rough edges
If you can get their fiber service, get it
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

My original review is below but here's an update. I moved from one end of Seattle to another and my new residence is also served by CenturyLink fiber. The move went smoothly and they stuck with the install date that they initially quoted me though the four-hour window turned into a six-hour one. Such is the nature of sending people out to houses, I suppose.

My initial 12-month contract was ending at the same time as the move so I asked about new pricing. I received $109.95/month for 24 months (versus $114.95/month for 12 months like I was originally on). I could have done $114 for 12 but I'm never canceling gigabit so I took the longer plan.

Service has still been awesome. I routinely speed test to Portland at approximately 850Mbps each direction and local Seattle servers hit the theoretical Ethernet max of about 980Mbps. I have static IP service so CenturyLink's perpetual ads for Prism don't work on me but that's my only minor annoyance. Even billing after the move was perfect. Unlike my first attempt, ever bill at my new address has been exactly what it should be.

I'm never canceling as long as it stays like this...

==== Original review follows.

I'm in an area where CenturyLink started rolling out fiber-to-the-home in Seattle. Once it I saw it as available on my street through their web site, I took immediately put in an order for gigabit fiber. (Placing an order did result in a hard credit inquiry on my TransUnion report even though they didn't ask for my social security number.)

The first install date was six days after the order was placed but it was missed because the fiber drop wasn't run to my house. This was on a Friday afternoon. After asking CenturyLink's Twitter help account, I had a call from the local supervisor and a fiber install crew at my house first thing on Saturday. The remainder of the install, like putting in the ONT and activating service, was pushed to the following Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the installer arrived at about noon and finished just before 5pm. He mounted a new ONT, ran the data and telephone wiring inside to my basement, and set up the router. I did buy their $99 CenturyLink-branded ActionTec router even though I have a very good router already. The CenturyLink router works well but I want it mainly as a backup if they start blaming mine for any service problems. Once the installer finished, with no hiccups at all, he activated service and was on his way.

My speed tests through Speedtest.net have consistently been above 900Mbps to local servers. I've tested as far away as Dublin, Ireland and still hit speeds of over 100Mbps. To try to "load test" it, I started two downloads of Linux ISOs, a Netflix stream, and a WatchESPN stream from my Roku. Latency (a ping test) to a Dallas, Texas server was still approximately 60ms and a speed test to the same local server still showed about 300Mbps.

I took the $124.95 (plus tax, which I don't know just yet) for gigabit Internet and home phone bundle. This gets me a three-year price guarantee and a one-year required contract. Both of those are fine by me because I'm never cancelling this service. CenturyLink may have crappy copper service but their fiber service has been amazing for the several weeks I've had it so far.

member for 24.6 years, 6811 visits, last login: 5.1 years ago
updated 6.9 years ago