 Review by Gary A 
UPDATED: 28 days ago
member for 1.7 years, 579 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Bonita Springs,Lee,FL
 $19 per month (12 month contract)
 about 1 days
 CenturyTel
 "Easy self-install, affordable price, reasonable speeds"
 "None so far"
 "A great, reasonably priced, step-up solution from dial-up"
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Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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For many years, my elderly in-laws have been spending the winter in Bonita Springs, FL. When they first got a PC, they used dial-up internet access. This year, I finally convinced them to spend the few bucks more and get high speed internet access. Living in a retirement community with a "private" cable TV service provided by the park owners, meant that Embarq (now, CenturyLink) was the only real option open to them.
In early October, before my in-laws even headed south for the winter, I started IM'ing Embarq_Joey here at DSLR with questions about ordering the service. He gave me just the information I needed to start the process. Next, I contacted John at the local Embarq store in Estero, FL, and found out that I could pick up the DSL modem from his store when we arrived. This worked out better for me and also saved the shipping cost.
John processed the order and I picked up the ZyXEL EQ-660R ADSL modem on Oct. 20, as I drove into town. Later that day, after cabling up their PC tower which came south with us, I started the DSL installation. The modem came with both a 4-wire phone cable and an ethernet cable. It also included 3 DSL line filters for telephone handsets - 2-single line filters and 1-DSL/phone dual filter. This was just enough to cover the 3-corded phones that were in the house.
In less than an hour, I was cabled up, going through the one-time online registration process. The steps included installing some "Help" software on the PC which could not be avoided. Later, I uninstalled this software using Add/Remove programs in WinXP Home.
A couple quick speed tests showed I was getting pretty close to the advertised speeds of the DSL package ordered - 1.5M/512k.
I then connected a Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 wireless router that I had purchased from Newegg.com. The network connection came right up and ran fine, both on their wired desktop and my wireless laptop.
All in all, a very easy self-install of Embarq (CenturyLink) DSL. Both I and my in-laws were pleased with the result.
The next couple days were spent getting pcAnywhere working. While not any fault of Embarq DSL, setup changes to the 660 modem and wireless router were needed. With the help again of Embarq_Joey and several other DSLR members, I was able to get the modem & router configured properly and pcAnywhere running.
See this topic for more details: »pcAnywhere Ebarq DSL W/ Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 Port Forwarding
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