 Review by Hazy Arc 
member for 6.1 years, 2117 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 70 days ago
 29649
 $39 per month about 4 days "Connection is solid during the day" "Connection slows considerably during evening, no forseeable speed increases on the horizon" "Stay away if you can"
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(ratings match consensus)
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This review has several updates, so starting below is the original post, followed by updates in chronological order.
Broadband was not offered at my home within which I recently moved from a bigger city, so I was forced to use Verizon's EVDO card for my laptop. Needless to say, I was stoked when I received a letter in the mail stating that DSL service was now available in my area. I called that same day, and was enjoying broadband once again within 4 days! Installation was pain free, simply plug and play with my existing router.
I purchased the premier data plan for $54 a month which includes 5Mbps download/768kbps upload. Surprisingly enough, I actually receive those speeds at all times of the day. Downloads range from 4500-5000 kbps, while uploads range from 450-650 kbps. Not bad! Probably due to this area just coming online and I have most of the bandwidth to myself. Latency is a little rough...anywhere along the order of 85-115 ms.
Price is a bit stiff, and since I am forced to pay for a land line that I will never use (all of my transactions occur through my cell phone), the price jumps to $74 a month. However, this is a small price to pay for the luxury of broadband...and in SC, it is truly a luxury!!!
*UPDATE 1-11-2008*
Just wanted to follow up on my review. Still, so far so good. Still attaining 5Mbps download speeds with no downtime. Another plus is the fact that I've been able to have my line switched to FastPath which has decreased my latency to 50ms or less. If you are a gamer or user of VOIP, I highly recommend contacting Embarq and asking to be changed to FastPath.
*UPDATE 1-29-2008*
After learning of the ability to have "naked" DSL from fellow Embarq forum members, I called and tried it out. Turns out naked DSL is not available in the SC area (at least according to the CSR). I find out later that this was a blatant lie...as dry loop DSL is available everywhere. However, I was able to get my phone bill reduced from $29 a month to $19 a month while still retaining most features like Caller ID (I don't use the phone anyway so it doesn't really matter). More importantly, she was also able to reduce my DSL portion of the bill from $49 a month to $35 a month for the 5/768 service. In addition to the bill reductions, she gave me a $25 credit applied to my next bill.
*UPDATE 5-5-2008*
Had a strange problem a few days ago. I totally lost dial tone (couldn't make or receive calls), but my DSL would function. Well, I say function, it would limp along and lose sync every 10 minutes or so. I call Embarq around 6:30 PM. On the phone with a tech for about 5 minutes. He states that they will send a technician tomorrow.
The tech came the following day around lunchtime and fixed whatever was ailing my line (I was at work).
*UPDATE 6-20-2008*
I recently moved back to an area that was serviced by cable as well as DSL. I mentioned this in a thread here on BBR and stated that I would leave Embarq for the Cable provider because I was forced to purchase a phone line with DSL, which escalated the price of DSL higher than Cable. Within a few days, I was contacted by an employee from Embarq who was quite courteous and helpful and offered to move my service to my new location AND remove my phone service and provide me with naked DSL (thanks to embarq_cesar!). The transition went smoothly and I was up and running within a few days.
*UPDATE 7-1-08*
I have lowered the connection reliability score because of increases in latency...especially during peak times (early afternoon/evening). See this thread for more details: »Random Spikes of Latency
*UPDATE 7-17-08*
Well, two and a half weeks later and the horrendous latency problem has no hints of going away. All was well a few months ago when I first jumped aboard with Embarq, but the connection is now totally unacceptable. I am starting to reach the end of the line with Embarq. I will not continue to put my money into a service if the service itself is as shoddy as this. Will be dropping the service in exchange for the cable incumbent in the next few weeks if there isn't a marked improvement.
*UPDATE 8-14-08*
After no improvement to the latency situation, I have decided to drop Embarq and go with Northland Cable. »So Long Embarq...
*UPDATE 9-19-08*
I may regret doing this, but I am modifying my review. An Embarq employee e-mailed me 2 days before my cable install was to go through and asked that I give them a bit more time to fix the problem. After 2 weeks, it appears the evening latency problem has gone away *knocks on wood*. As I mentioned in my thread, I'd much rather stick with Embarq than go with the cable incumbent, as I've had nothing but good experiences with Embarq up to this point. Here's to hoping my connection stays stable.
*UPDATE 11-18-08*
After putting up with sporadic high evening latency since July, it appears Embarq may finally be doing something about it. According to the same Embarq employee I mentioned in the previous update, all of South Carolina's backhaul to Fayetteville, NC is maxed at 100% during the evening. They are currently upgrading the infrastructure and expect a resolution soon. I will update this review as soon as anything happens.
*UPDATE 11-24-08*
So far, no change: »/r3/smokeping.···b9c97.NY
Hopefully this week will be the week.
*UPDATE 12-14-08*
I have had it with Embarq. After months of waiting for my latency issues to be fixed, there has been NO improvement whatsoever...even after they have acknowledged the problem and say a fix is coming. Strangely, there is no ETA for when this fix will occur. If anything, my latency issues have only gotten worse. I would have dropped Embarq months ago, but I was given 2 months' credit because of the problems. My credit expires at the end of December, so if there is no change by the end of this month, I'm gone for good.
*UPDATE 12-18-08*
Great news! Embarq engineers finally resolved the latency issues by installing a new OC-12 for Greenwood's use. The evening congestion/latency has disappeared. I was in touch with numerous Embarq employees throughout this entire ordeal, and all of them were extremely helpful. Kudos to Embarq for knowing how to treat a customer. While the fix did take a lot longer than I would have liked, I'm happy I made the decision to stay.
*UPDATE 4-9-09*
My connection is still going strong. Ever since the upgrade back in December, the evening latency issues have been a thing of the past. Keep up the great work Embarq!
*UPDATE 4-20-09*
We had several severe thunderstorms (with reported tornadoes) in my county on 4/10, with massive damage throughout. Luckily, my yard only had a few downed limbs (albeit large ones). A house a half mile down from me had portions of their roof destroyed. I mention this to say one thing...throughout the entire ordeal, my DSL connection was going strong. The only hiccups were when the power was out...which isn't the fault of Embarq. The same can't be said about the incumbent cable company...their service was restored to my neighborhood a few days ago. Great job Embarq.
*UPDATE 6-24-09*
Service and speed is still outstanding. What more can I say?
*UPDATE 8-24-09*
Still going strong. Here's to hoping the upcoming merger with CenturyTel will not affect service in any noticeable way!
*UPDATE 11-2-09*
The changeover to CenturyLink has occurred, but thankfully nothing has changed with my connection reliability. Still top notch with no downtime for as long as I can remember.
*UPDATE 1-13-10*
Connection is still 100%. For those of you who are having trouble, don't forget that CenturyLink has employees who frequent the boards here, as well as a Facebook group where you can post your issues.
*UPDATE 3-2-10*
What else can I say? Perfect.
*UPDATE 9-29-10*
Still going strong. No complaints here.
*UPDATE 1-11-11*
It appears my connection stability has taken a turn for the worse...eerily reminiscent of my evening high latency/low bandwidth issues 2 years back. I'm guessing the addition of customers coupled with the fact that they are using more bandwidth is beginning to saturate the backhaul bandwidth. Judging by the time it took to get that problem resolved, and the countless other complaints very similar to mine on the forums, I'm not expecting this problem to go away any time soon.
*UPDATE 4-4-11*
Still no improvement in the evening sluggishness(»[Embarq] Official NC/SC Complaint Thread). What is most annoying is the fact that Centurylink has plastered billboards all over Greenwood touting their "consistently fast speed." How embarrassing.
*UPDATE 5-17-11*
I had actually considered upping my rating after a few weeks of decent connection speeds during the evening, but the past few nights have ended any speculation that a fix was done. The high latency/slow speeds are back with a vengeance. Thanks again, Centurylink, for providing such a crappy service for the money.
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(topic move) Availability outside of Raeford, NC?
