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Review by Anthony28 
Fair warning: reviewer joined this week
updated 1 days ago
 Fruitland Park,Lake,FL
 $74 per month- (12 month contract)
 about 7 days "Solid connection, Quality Cisco Bonded router, fast DSL and outperforms my old Comcast!" "Customer service reps should be trained better in regards to installation details." "Super fast DSL but man, customer service reps need some basic technical training. I kinda feel embarrassed for them!"
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Well I wasn't to happy with my Comcast Internet service as it didn't seem to live up to its specs that I was paying for. So decided to give Centrylink a try. I chose to have the 25 Mbps download with a 2 mbps upload bonded dsl internet package installed. It was a little rocky at first getting my account set up because the first two sales reps didn't understand the installation basics of bonded DSL. They put me into the system as not needing a full install ( outside box work and a bonded modem/router) but was cleared up somewhat when I called a third time with questions about using my own router. The third and aparently trained service rep, informed me that I did need a full install, and I could not use my own modem/router because the bonded dsl needed a specific Cisco bonded router. She corrected all the info in my account for installation and I'm glad she did because it would have been a long drawn out install process because of the confusion it would have caused on the day of connection. The first rep even told me a modem was not needed because I already had a netgear router..... I'm not a tech but that's just bad training! Really bad training..
Ok, now for the good part of the review.
Before they came out, I went ahead and ran my own Cat5 cable throughout my house and fed it to the outside where it would be connected to their box. (It cost me $29 for 100 feet of unterminated Cat5 CMR/CMX cable). I did this because all the reps on the phone said I would be using my exsisting phone lines and I didn't trust the quality of the 25 year old phone wire already installed. When the techs came out to work they were blown away by the fact I had pre-run the Cat5 cable through my house. I showed them the old cracked pre-existing phone line and they said it was very smart of me and that I would now be taking full advantage of their service because of the quality of the cable. I am glad I did because after everything was said and done, through wireless, I pinged 12 different states with a delay average of 56-98 ms, a download average of 21 - 23.2 Mbps and a upload of 1-1.5 Mbps. With a direct connection (hard wired- no wireless) using a cable, I was able to reach a 24.94 mbps download speed! During prime time hours that evening it did not change. I could not be happier! Through my Comcast, their 25 Mbps package only averaged 12-15 Mbps download on a good day... though Comcast's upload was 4-6 Mbps which was better but not what mattered to me.
The Cisco wireless modem/router was a big surprise to me when they brought it in, as it is a quality piece of gear!
So after reading bad reviews about download speeds not being what was promised, I give this tidbit of advice to future customers; use Cat 5 cable and not cheap old phone wire and keep in mind that there will always be at least a 10-15% speed loss due to typical Internet bottlenecking at ISP junction boxes and even websites for that matter.
So hopefully, their service will continue to be reliable and fast. I will repost if I have any issues but at this moment in time, this is the fastest DSL I have ever seen!! HD 1080 Netfix over the Ps3 was flawless with absolutely NO pixelization or drop out what so ever while we used our iPhones and laptop at the same time!! And this was between 7:30 and 10:30 pm here in Lake County Florida. ( Fruitland Park/Leesburg to be exact). Also, I was told by the tech that I was 3000 ft from the fiber optic junction box. Hope this review helps someone!
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Review by Fibre
member for 246 days, 12 visits, last login: 2 days ago
lodged 2 days ago
- Flagstaff,Coconino,AZ
- $36 per month
- about 7 days
- "All around good"
- "Typical VDSL2 speed drops"
- "Good, at least for my area."
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It works, I had DOCSIS 2.0 cable for years at speeds 10/1 for $65 a month, expensive. No drops or inconsistent speeds like a typical cable line would perform but that's it. Qwest was in this area and wow, mandatory contracts, ridiculous speeds for an expensive monthly charge. Since CenturyLink bought them, they seem a better organized service "at least" on the western areas of the country. CenturyLink originating from the eastern states are always complained at which I would assume the problems lie at the "century" old copper wires. But at least here it provides near 40/20 speeds aside from typical speed drops and from ordering the service to downloading, 7 darn days. Q1000 modem works but have it as bridged to my DIR-655 which handles my routing, PPPoE authentication and wireless. But all in all, I have no other choice other than Suddenlink's 15/768k for $50 or so which seems ridiculous or CenturyLink.
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Review by elementface
Fair warning: reviewer joined this week
lodged 4 days ago
- Saint Robert,Pulaski,MO
- Contract price not specified.
- "Internet rarely goes down"
- "Every other aspect is horendus and they have no competition"
- "Please don't contract with them"
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Between the hours of 15-22, internet speed slows to 0.12mb down and 0.08mb up. Pings are in excess of 1s (yes, 1000ms). They have absolutely no competition, so they can get away with shotty service. Contracts are overpriced, and tech support is laughable and frustrating at the same time; my 14 year old sister can solve internet problems better than tech support. All Tech support does is run you through a troubleshooting process that doesn't work, and when it doesn't work, all they do is tell you to do is upgrade your package. The only time Tech support does anything is when construction companies cut the lines.
do not buy; terrible company.
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Review by Mr Matt
member for 4 years, 1056 visits, last login: 1 days ago
lodged 5 days ago
- Eustis,Lake,FL
- $85 per month
- about 7 days
- "Reasonable price, easy installation, very competent technicial support, no contract.."
- "Speed varies depending on time of day. No worse than Comcast was, when I signed up with them in 12/2006."
- "Good value if you can schedule large downloads during off peak periods."
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Please note my previous reviews under Embarq now CenturyLink was for voice service. This review is for CenturyLink broadband service.
I finally received a solicitation from CenturyLink that I was actually interested in. The reason for my interest is that I just received notice from Comcast that as of January 1, 2012 internet access was increasing by $4.00 per month from $43.95 to $47.95 plus taxes and fees. That is in addition to a $1.00 increase last year from $42.95 to $43.95. An increase of about 12% over two years.
The solicitation I received from CenturyLink offered to add 10Mbps down and 768Kbps up, to my existing voice service for $15.00 per month plus modem rental fee of $3.90 per month and taxes and other fees. I was paying $63.04 per month for local service, unlimited long distance and unlimited features. I estimate that my monthly cost will be about $85.00 per month with the addition of Broadband service. The deal also includes a 5 Year price lock and no contract. I will update the cost information when I receive my next bill. Speed varies depending on time of day from 10Mbps+ download speed during off peak hours to as low as 2Mbps during peak hours. When I first signed up with Comcast service in December of 2006 the maximum download speed was 6Mbps and regularly fell to below 2Mbps during peak traffic periods.
Pre-sales information: I was not advised of all costs to install the HSI service. The customer service representative indicated that he was waiving all installation costs. My bill includes a $14.95 Shipping/Handling fee to deliver the modem plus a $15.95 HSI activation fee. There is also a modem rental fee of $3.90 per month which we did discuss. I expect to purchase a modem so the modem rental fee will be eliminated.
Order/Installation: When I confirmed the price I placed the order immediately, for the 10Mbps service. I received the modem in about two days. I had already installed a DSL splitter so all I had to do was plug in the modem and it automatically configured itself. The next step was to fill out some forms on the CenturyLink website to activate service, create passwords and set up a primary email account.
Equipment: CenturyLink sent a ZyXEL EQ-660R-F1 combination modem router. A generic version of this modem router is available at retail under the ZyXEL product code P-660R-D1.
I really did not have any bad experience save the sales CSR not fulfilling his promise to wave the HSI installation fee. On the other hand I was very satisfied with CenturyLinks technical support when I contacted them to learn how to bridge the modem. As soon as the first level technician realized that my request was above their level of knowledge I was immediately transferred to the second level technical support. The technician advised me of how to bridge the modem and warned me to be sure I released the IP address to avoid being locked out of the DSLAM until the lease period of the IP address timed out.
I strongly recommend that anyone not familiar with DSL service read the installation manual for the ZyXEL P-660R-DI to familiarize themselves with the modem router to improve the installation experience.
Compatible Modems: I have already purchased three modems are returned one. The ZyXEL P-660-D1 provides some of the same features and functions that the CenturyLink supplied modem provides. One feature that the retail version lacks is a release and renew radio button that should be used when placing the modem in the bridged mode. The Actiontec GT710D provides similar features and does include a release and renew button. Both modems provided the same performance as the CenturyLink provided modem. Specifically 10Mbps+ down and 760Kbps up. Both modems are on the list of CenturyLink supported modems. I returned a TP-Link TD-8816 because while it was able to provide 10Mbps+ down it was unable to provide higher than 550Kbps up.
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Review by devoidx7
member for 7.4 years, 1 visits, last login: 5 days ago
lodged 5 days ago
- Clermont,Lake,FL
- Contract price not specified.
- "Came out and installed it."
- "A LOT. See review."
- "STAY AS FAR AWAY AS POSSIBLE"
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Sorry for the caps, but I really mean it. This is by far the worst company I have ever dealt with. They came door to door, explaining what they had, and flat out lying about it. They claimed to have full fiber internet, tv, phone. When they came to install it, they wanted to know where my phoneline was so they could install my dsl. Dsl ? I thought it was supposed to be fiber. Oh, well it is fiber up untill it gets to your neighborhood. Hmm less than half the speed of my cable modem, but it is supposed to be faster. It isn't. After trying to cancel it with their tech on the phone for an hour, I got out of him another usefull nugget of info. Every tv they have connected, also gets it's signal through the dsl line. Each line takes about 3mb of bandwidth. So the 9mb line, goes to 0mb if you have three tvs going.
It didn't make it through the weekend before I canceled it. They sent me a bill for $16. Today I got a call from a debt collector, because they said I owed $433. Because I hadn't returned a box. I told them I had, and they looked in the system, and guess what ? I had. It was even in their system as such. Nice way of getting attention to that $16 I shouldn't have had to pay them in the first place.
Stay as far away from this company as possible. If it is your only option, god help ya.
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Review by hazezilla
member for 5.9 years, 935 visits, last login: a few hours ago
lodged 7 days ago
- Kill Devil Hills,Dare,NC
- Contract price not specified.
- "stays on"
- "at best get 1/3 of speed paying for"
- "EPIC FAIL"
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every 6 months the seeped drops thru the floor
tech support says there is no problems.
DO NOT BUY THIS SERVICE unless you have to much money and do not care about getting what you are paying for
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Review by econobarn
member for 20 days, 5 visits, last login: 2 days ago
lodged 9 days ago
- Glendale,Maricopa,AZ
 Business customer- $55 per month
- (24 month contract)
- about 5 days
- "Installation technician was nice and very quick."
- "Expensive prices, poor speeds, poor availability, poor customer service, poor sales department, FALSE ADVERTISING, poor company."
- "Unhappy, no other alternative."
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I'm forced to use this company, I have no local alternative in my area...
Prior to calling CenturyLink I used their website to verify service was available. Their website said 1.5Mbps service was available for $19.95/mo at my address, neat, seemed like a decent deal.
Upon calling to setup an account they are unable to find my address, I have to talk to multiple people to get that resolved. I also find out that the $19.95 package they advertise as available at my address, it isn't. The cheapest package available is ~$65/mo but if they lock me into a contract I can save some money...
This is where I would of hung up the phone and gone somewhere else if I had the choice...but I don't as this is the only ISP available at my office that is just 5min North West of Downtown Glendale, AZ.
Slow speeds, untrained call-center staff, uneducated call-center staff and false advertising...
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Review by ChiefWahoo
member for 15 days, 0 visits, last login: 15 days ago
updated 15 days ago
- Avon,Lorain,OH
- $109 per month
- about 1 days
 CenturyTel- "Responsive tech svc. Had someone at house next day who was incredibly knowledgeable"
- "awful speed for money. $109/mo for 6.5Mbps and POTS"
- "Looking for new option"
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What else is there to say? We have awful speed. They are blaming my internal wiring for the speed, saying it's 10MB to the box. For $109, I should have 50Mb to the box. They want to "give" me another modem, which will lock me in contract-wise, so I refuse. Even 10Mb is bad for the money. Service drops about once every three months. This morning it just slowed to a crawl. Their DNS drops about once a year. (I finally picked new DNS servers so doesn't bother me.) Technical service was admittedly very knowledgeable, both on the phone and in person. Clearly very experienced staff from pre-buyout days. But not enough to make up for the lousy speed offerings when cableco offers so much faster for less $.
I hope people realize that this is not one network and experiences won't be the same. These people just buy up local telcos, some of which were rural providers, some were metropolitan. Someone will be happy with 1.5Mb down, some are going to expect 5Mb up.
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 BigVe
join:2005-07-15
Gulliver, MI | Maybe your fault If they say you have 10Mbit to box you should have it in house.Have you actually checked that your modem support 10Mbit downstream? | |
| | | CenturyLink DSL Hey ChiefWahoo, this is B with the CenturyLink Help Team. I'm sorry to hear you've been having so many issues with your DSL speed running slow. If I can help out with your service, e-mail me at TalkToUs@CenturyLink.com, and I'll check into this for you.
Thanks,
B
CenturyLink Help Team | |
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Review by codynr
member for 16 days, 1 visits, last login: 6 days ago
lodged 16 days ago
- Cedar Rapids,Linn,IA
- Contract price not specified.
- "Worst Service EVER"
- "Over Promise Under Deliver And Just LIES"
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Here is a outline of my latest online chat with CenturyLink:
Thank you for using CenturyLink.com. A CenturyLink Sales and Service Consultant will be with you in just a moment. Your account information is confidential and protected by law. Advise our agent if you prefer that we don't use it to market products or repair your services. This has no effect on the service we provide you.
Thank you for contacting CenturyLink. My name is Lindsay L. (20801). How may I help you today?
Cody Russell: We have had nothing but problems with any ISP in our area... we recently switched from MediaCom Cable to CenturyLink thinking it was a good idea but its been a rather nightmare to say the least
Cody Russell: for starters CenturyLink mispelled the account holders name to the account right away... 2nd CenturyLink promised we would of been connected a day before the actual connection date
Cody Russell: CenturyLink's Technician also in addition while connecting our line installed it to McCloud's Service line instead of your own so we have been down for almost a month
Cody Russell: Called in repeatedly to get this resolved to find out we would have to pay $100 for another technician to come out if the problem was on our end
Cody Russell: and now... the promised speed we are paying for is not as what it is suppose to be
Cody Russell: in addition we didn't want the modem we specified that over the phone and they never got the RMA ready for us so we can return yours as we already have one that will work with your service
Lindsay L. (20801): I am sorry to hear you are having so many issues Cody, what would you like me to do for you today?
Cody Russell: make things right for once
Cody Russell: correct our bill and correct our bandwith speed and get a box ready to RMA our current modem
Cody Russell: i realy don't want to give up on you guys you offered GREAT service as QWEST
Lindsay L. (20801): OK,let me see what I can do with in the limitations of my department, I will tell you that the majority of this issue wil have to be done through our billing department, in which you will need to call, 1800-244-1111 Mon-Fri 8am to 6pm.
Cody Russell: and MediaCom is nothing but lies
Lindsay L. (20801): Is this your number with us *****?
Cody Russell: yes
Lindsay L. (20801): Just to verify that I am speaking with the responsible party on this account, please provide me with your entire billing address, along with either the last four digits of your SSN or three digit account code.
Cody Russell: i am also authorized to this account
Cody Russell: i called in 3 times to make them authorize me
Cody Russell: my address is *****
Cody Russell: ***
Cody Russell: is the account code
Lindsay L. (20801): Who is the billing name on the account?
Cody Russell: incorrectly Faith Jensen
Cody Russell: Should be Faith Simpson
Lindsay L. (20801): Ok, I see, well, you probably will not be happy with what I am about to say, but I do not see your name listed on this account.
Lindsay L. (20801): So at this time, if she is with you, she can chat in today with us and we can open up the account.
Cody Russell: then that is your companies mistake... not mine
Lindsay L. (20801): I understand, but if I do not see your name, I cannot open up the account.
Cody Russell: i shouldnt have to do this EVERYTIME i talk to someone
Cody Russell: this is going to the attorney generals office then
Lindsay L. (20801): I do apologize
Lindsay L. (20801): Is she with you today though?
Cody Russell: she is at school
Cody Russell: im her fiance
Lindsay L. (20801): OK, well the only way we can get that corrected is if she calls in, at this point we cannot release any info to you at this time.
Cody Russell: im calling the attorney general right now
Cody Russell: Iowa Attorney General Consumer Protection Division 1305 E. Walnut Street Des Moines IA 50319 515-281-5926 1-888-777-4590 Fax: 515-281-6771 E-Mail Comments & Questions to: (be sure to add your full name, mailing address, and telephone number) consumer@ag.state.ia.us
Lindsay L. (20801): The FCC has required all telecommunications companies to take additional steps to protect their customers' proprietary account information. The commission has required that we discontinue using information related to you (like your social security number) or your CenturyLink account (like your customer code, services, or bill information) to establish online access to your account or to provide you with call details in our call center.
Lindsay L. (20801): CenturyLink has chosen to meet the FCC order by giving our customers the ability to set up a customized security question and answer. This approach will hopefully make it easy for you to remember this information should you need it in the future.
Lindsay L. (20801): First, however, we had to auto-generate a code for you. By providing you with an auto-generated code first, we can create a mechanism so that the only person who can set up the personalized security question and answer is you.
Cody Russell: *****
Lindsay L. (20801): I still cannot allow you on the account though cody, your name is not listed.
Lindsay L. (20801): did you have any other general questions for me today, Iwill be happy to memo the account with the issues that have been stated.
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| | I feel you... ROFL, had a laugh there. Qwest was no different to be honest and I have had similar chat logs like this with Centurylink. What a hassle. | |
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Review by (hidden by request)
(review was emailed from domain toast.net)
lodged 18 days ago
- Colorado Springs,El Paso,CO
- $81 per month
- (60 month contract)
- Qwest
- "Price"
- "WAY TOO SLOW!!!!!"
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I have been with Qwest (now Century Link) for six years and never had a
problem. I have been working from home since August using VOIP and never
had any issues. I upgraded from 7Mbps to 12Mbps. My system has been
running at an average of 1.5Mbps Download speed and .25Mbps Upload speed
ever since making working over VOIP impossible. I have had a Century Link
tech out 4 times and numerous IT's, bought a new modem, etc. It's been a
nightmare! I don't know whether they've signed up too many people or what
but I just switched to Comcast.
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