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Review by Aquafish See Profile

  • Location: Lincoln, Benton, MO, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified. (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 5 days
  • Telco party CenturyTel
Download speed is as advertized and constant
Upgrading plan cuts your upload speed in half
Slowly Going Insane
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

*July 16, 2012

After my room mate moved in the fall of 2011 I put the phone and internet under my name. Upgraded the plan from .75Mb to 1.5Mb. But the Upload rate went from .38Mbit to ~.24Mbit. I am not the smartest person on earth but shouldn't my upload speed go up, not drop by half. My sync rate is 1760/288 kbit and has not changed since the so called upgrade. According to their FAQ »imgcrave.com/u/5HSMs.png on the 1.5Mb plan, I should get "Up to 1.5M download / 512k upload"

I even have a speed test on the day of the upgrade. (Before and After) »i.imgur.com/e2jDw.png

Here is a more recent speed test »i.imgur.com/fWOOE.png

Why is upload speed important? Lets see video chatting, uploading videos to Youtube, and backing up/sharing files on the clould. Also playing online games becomes impossible if someone else is doing basic web surfing, my bottleneck is at the upload speed. I have already contacted Centurylink by phone and email. They tell me this is normal and maybe I should upgrade *facepalm*, even though I already got screwed over the last upgrade.

I did not want to write all of this out in the open, and have been putting off writting this for some time now (as you can tell) but Centurylink is like chinese water torture, you slowly go insane.

Here is my DSL info from my 2Wire DSL Modem
Current Noise Margin:14.0 dB (Downstream) 22.0 dB (Upstream)

Current Attenuation:56.4 dB (Downstream) 31.0 dB (Upstream)

Current Output Power:17.1 dBm (Downstream) 12.0 dBm (Upstream)

Sync rate is 1760/288 kbit - They don't even sync at the advertised 512k

*Update July 16, 2012

Here is some more DSL line info from a Motorola modem »i.imgur.com/DzFDy.png

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member for 11.7 years, 27 visits, last login: 7.9 years ago
updated 11.6 years ago

Technicholas
Premium Member
join:2010-11-11
West Des Moines, IA

Technicholas

Premium Member

attenuation

Your attenuation is very high. But your SNR's look great. When is the last time you had a tech out do you have a hole house filter?
Aquafish
join:2012-07-07
Saint Louis, MO

2 edits

Aquafish

Member

Re: attenuation

No I do not have a whole house filter, I just filter each phone jack that has a phone attached. I have never had a tech out to really check the line, they just knock on the door to ask if the phone works when I changed my plan.

I did a test with my modem out side my house (on the phone jack outside) a week ago.

The Results
Current Noise Margin:14.0 dB (Downstream) 22.0 dB (Upstream)

Current Attenuation:55.8 dB (Downstream) 31.0 dB (Upstream)

Current Output Power:17.1 dBm (Downstream) 12.3 dBm (Upstream)

Sync 1760/288 kbit

The only thing that really changed was the Attenuation

I have also tried 3 different modems (Actiontec, Moderola, 2Wire) and they all sync at 1760/288 kbit.
BigVe
join:2005-07-15
Gulliver, MI

1 edit

BigVe

Member

Re: attenuation

How you managed to have higher upload with the old speed i have no clue.The normal for 1.5Mbit is 256 up (should sync at 320 not 288) The only way i know to get faster upload it to go to 3 meg down which would give you 512 up.Need faster upload yet then 6 meg and up will give you 768.You need to talk to their customer service what they can provide in your area

Aquafish
join:2012-07-07
Saint Louis, MO

2 edits

Aquafish

Member

Re: attenuation

I just don't understand how they can advertise a 1.5Mb/512k plan on »www.buycenturylink.com/c ··· aqs.aspx and then sync me at half that. I mean most providers at least sync you at the given advertised rate, that way you actually have the possibility of achieving that rate. But with the lower sync rate they are cutting me off at the knees with zero possibility of reaching 512k.

Another thing about centurylink that is shaddy is that I can not find an advertised upload rate anywhere at »www.centurylink.com/ its only download rate. Its like they want to keep it secret. WTF
BigVe
join:2005-07-15
Gulliver, MI

BigVe

Member

Re: attenuation

Like i mentioned before...give tech support/customer service a call since they should honor what they advertise.At the time i had 1.5 all i could get was .256 up so things have changed obviously
Aquafish
join:2012-07-07
Saint Louis, MO

Aquafish

Member

Re: attenuation

As I said in my original post I have already talk to them through phone and email and they don't see a problem with my speed.
BigVe
join:2005-07-15
Gulliver, MI

BigVe

Member

Re: attenuation

Must be a problem if they advertise one thing and give you another

chd176
join:2003-01-10
Winfield, AL
·CenturyLink

chd176 to BigVe

Member

to BigVe
I asked about this as well when I was stuck on 1.5 and the 512 upload is only available in qwest legacy areas. If you weren't in a qwest market 256 is all you can get. Email the people at talktous@centurylink.com they seem to know their stuff and can find stuff a normal rep wouldn't be able to.
Aquafish
join:2012-07-07
Saint Louis, MO

1 edit

Aquafish

Member

Re: attenuation

My line was originally Embarq but now it is Centurylink after they bought it out.
prembar1
join:2011-12-20
Boise, ID

prembar1

Member

Re: attenuation

Centurylink did not buy anything out. "Centurytel", merged with Qwest and formed a new company. Get your facts straight. It is still all of the same backbone and the same tech support. Oh, and by the way, try another speed test, like doing ping tests. Everybody in the industry knows that speedtest.net will give you bandwidth tests all over the board. Also, log into your modem and check the tests that the modem is actually reading. Those readings do not come from Centurylink...they come from your actual modem.
Aquafish
join:2012-07-07
Saint Louis, MO

2 edits

Aquafish

Member

Re: attenuation

Centurytel bought all of Embarq's stock in 2009 (that seems like they bought them out). Then they changed their name to Centurylink. Finally in 2010 they merged with Qwest.

I have already done dozens and dozens of speed test already on different servers, they never change much.
»www.speedtest.net/result ··· 4967.png
»www.speedtest.net/result ··· 3637.png

What modem tests are you talking about? ATM Loop test? Could you be a little more vague. I have already given the sync speed, SNR, Attenuation. Also have tried 3 different brand modems. Not to mention Centurylink finds nothing wrong with my speed, they know my speed and say it A-OK.
Aquafish

3 edits

Aquafish

Member

Re: attenuation

If you knew anything about a DSL Modem you would know that your Download/Upload rates can never go above your sync rates. As my post showed I have a sync rate of 1760/288kbit. So I can never go above those rates, so why do I need to take another speed test considering my Download/Upload rate is already so close to my sync rate.

Review by slewfoot See Profile

  • Location: Vernon Hill, Halifax, VA, USA
  • Cost: $50 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 3 days
nice pretty modem
speed tech useing doubletalk
dont buy this service in a rural area keep dial up
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

speed is not good on end of line,you call tech they run a speed test on there site and shows correct which of course it would i ran my own ping test most test showed lost all sites give this a f rating i have 2 days left on 30 day grace will cancel go to hugesnet most of the time my dial up is faster than centurylink.in our area there were 6 households that wanted to go up from dialup so i was elected to sign and that way the rest would not get stuck with so call highspeed centurylink based on my experience.if lots of people would do that it would save others from a headache.

member for 11.7 years, driveby review (so far)
updated 11.7 years ago

BigVe
join:2005-07-15
Gulliver, MI

BigVe

Member

WHAT???????????

Go to Hughesnet???Are you out of your mind or something? Wouldn't wish their crap on my worst enemy
Aquafish
join:2012-07-07
Saint Louis, MO

Aquafish

Member

Re: WHAT???????????

I'm pretty sure the CIA uses Hughesnet, as a last resort, to break the will of terrorists. Some men just can't take the 2 second latency and bandwidth caps.

Review by mtonkinson

  • Location: Ogden, Weber, UT, USA
  • Cost: $20 per month (12 month contract)
  • Telco party Qwest
Nothing good to say.
CenturyLink seems to be more interesed in aquiring companies than upgrading slow connections such as mine which is 1.5 Mbps
Even though I don't like Comcast, I now have to choose them or CenturyLink since they bought out Qwest, I pick Comcast!
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

This company seems to merge with companies and never improve service. I
am a qwest customer who became a Centurylink Customer due to a merger.
My line is only 1.5 Mbps and I have inquired with Qwest and now
Centurylink on if I will ever have faster DSL options available. Under
Qwest, they did reply and say they are working on it but so far, I
haven't received a single answer from Centurylink. My only other
broadband option is Comcast who I also had bad experiences with but it
looks like if I want faster DSL speeds for the same price I am paying
now, I have no other choice but Comcast. It's unfortunate that
Centurylink is just some company that keeps buying up other companies
and can care less about customers other than receiving money for poor
DSL service. I'm sure Comcast was glad to hear the news when Centurylink
bought out Qwest. In most of the areas that Qwest serves, Comcast now is
the only legitimate choice of a DSL provider. Qwest had the chance to
compete with Comcast but I thought nothing can be worse than Qwest being
unwilling to compete. If only there were other options! I'm not going to
pay the same price for 1.5 Mbps when other Centurylink customers are
paying the same price for a faster connection but I just live in an
unlucky area and Centurylink has no intentions of improving anything!

(review was emailed from domain lavabit.com)
lodged 11.7 years ago


Review by ihatethisisp See Profile

  • Location: Monticello, Jones, IA, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
  • Telco party Qwest
Low amount of downtime
My speed isn't ANYWHERE near what they advertise it was
There are WAY better options than CenturyLink. ONLY GET IF YOU HAVE TO.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Good: Low latency (unless someone else starts downloading things), reliable, semi worth the price, tech support is decent

Bad: Very low speeds for the price, not rly worth the price

Gets the job done. Once a month my connection experiences the actual speed get cut in 1/2. (what I normally get is 100kbps, which is 1/15th of my plan)

Had a TON of latency spikes. Seen numbers in the high 20k's in Ventrilo.

member for 11.7 years, driveby review (so far)
updated 11.7 years ago


Review by Rpedraja See Profile

  • Location: Cape Coral, Lee, FL, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Not what you pay fr
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

prism service is not what they advertise. You can only get 2 hd channels so f you have more hd tv's too bad. Constant freeze frames, blackouts and inconsistent speeds for data. I've complained time and time to CL.

member for 11.7 years, 1 visits, last login: 11.7 years ago
lodged 11.7 years ago


Angie
@cox.net

Angie

Anon

Bundle and service

I requested service through century link, this has been the worst decision I have ever made. Their customer service personnel are rude and are not willing to help customers. I called to pay my closing bill of $421 I attempted 5 to 6 times trough the automated line and it wouldn't recognized my zip code then I tried online and it did the same thing then I called and got a customer service representative that wanted to do the transaction times three times because their system did not take payments more than $200, and he adds " I am willing to do you a favor by waiving the fees" are you kidding me, then I ask for a supervisor and hold on for about 20 minutes just to hear that a supervisor can't waive a four dollar fee, because this supervisor doesn't know anything of why the system can't take payments over $200.00. They don't seem to care nor do they want to loose four dollars to get a payment of $421 but their system doesn't work they still don't care.






Review by (hidden by request)

  • Location: Parker, Douglas, CO, USA
  • Cost: $45 per month
It works most of the time.
Atrocious customer support and billing.
Stay far away from CenturyLink.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

CenturyLink is by far the worst ISP that I've ever had the misfortune of
dealing with.

Twice now I've submitted payments through their billing system and was
provided a confirmation number and no error. Twice CenturyLink has
disconnected my service because it turns out that their billing systems
are defective and never recorded the payment. Then CenturyLink tried to
charge me a reconnection fee and refused to acknowledge their fault or
reverse the charges. To be honest, I think there probably should be a
class action lawsuit against CenturyLink for fraudulent billing. Expect
to spend 1-2 hours on the phone with them just to figure out what's
going on and get transferred through 10 different departments trying to
get help. CenturyLink's customer support team is a joke--avoid them if
at all possible.

The service itself has been marked by regular ups and downs. I wouldn't
describe CenturyLink as especially reliable.

I'll be switching to another ISP very soon and will never do business
with CenturyLink again.

(review was emailed from domain eternitysoft.com)
lodged 11.7 years ago

BigVe
join:2005-07-15
Gulliver, MI

BigVe

Member

must be

What i can see it depends on where you live.Here it works perfect and even better as i found out inside wiring had a 'short' or similar somewhere.New wiring fixed that and now i can't complain.No disconnections any more and i have 6000/750 and that is what i get and a touch over.Can't get no higher speeds due to being 2.3 miles from office
CenturyLink
join:2009-03-09
Boise, ID

CenturyLink

Member

CenturyLink issues regarding connections or billing

Hello,
If you should ever need assistance with either your connection or your billing, we can help. Please email us directly at TalkToUs@CenturyLink.com
Regards,
Steve

Review by realmyrid See Profile

  • Location: Oak Grove, Jackson, MO, USA
  • Cost: $60 per month
It's broadband... somtimes.
Oversold their bandwidth big time.
Not as advertised.
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

We've been customers since the Embarq days, although only briefly through them, as CenturyLink took over a few months after we moved here.

Initially the service was fine. Last summer, however, we started running into bandwidth issues during the evening. We were told it looks like a bandwidth exhaustion issue, it might be a month or two before it was fixed, and were given a discount on the service for a bit to tide us over.

I got busy with work then during the winter and wasn't really paying close attention to it, I didn't have time, and all anyone else does is surf the web. Then in January our modem got fried in a power surge. We were sent a new one and told there would be no charge.

Come this summer, I've sat down to play some online games, and the bandwidth problems are even worse. We're lucky to get 1mbit down on a 10mbit line, and 300-400ms ping times just to the "central office" on the street corner. I tested 0.33mbit down last night. Can't play anything like that. We're lucky if Netflix or Youtube can even buffer decently now.

I've been in contact with numerous people at their technical support department the past two months, but the issue remains unresolved. Not only that, but I got to actually looking at our bill when trying to get this fixed, and it seems we've been charged $10 every month for that modem that was supposed to have been free. We never had a monthly charge for our old modem provided by Embarq.

In short... avoid like the plague. We'd switch if they didn't have a broadband monopoly in our area.

member for 11.7 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 11.7 years ago


Review by (hidden by request)

  • Location: Killeen, Bell, TX, USA
  • Cost: $40 per month (12 month contract)
Nothing
HORRIBLE SERVICE
WORST CABLE COMPANY I HAVE EVER HAD
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

We had switched to CenturyLink from TWC about April 17th of this year. That was one of the worst mistakes i could make. All we have had was problems. We called Techsupport the first time and were told, "we had too many things relying on the internet. We needed to clean the caches and all of our history and unplug the modem once a week." The representative also said that she did not know what the problem could be.

We had the same amount of laptops and phones with TWC and had no problems (changed because it was cheaper) We have had to reset the modem if not everyday, then every other day to get on. We called again and spent about 2 hours on the phone with a supervisor trying to help us with the problem. She tried to help can't complain about her service just their product. Take NOTE! If you do not have maintenence coverage it will cost YOU $80 for them to come by and help you with your problem. The supervisor told me there would be someone calling me and someone should be by Friday. This was Wednesday. No call, and no one came. Someone finally came on Monday and guess what they did? He came and said that he was going to put a splitter on and that will make our connection better since it is going directly to one line. He did not come in and check our connections, check the modem etc. The connection was even worse. Now only one laptop can get online and takes about 2

minutes to load and then freezes when you get on!

I just had my service with them cancelled and switched back to Time Warner Cable. It is faster, and we can all get on at the same time. Also it is not cheaper than TWC at all. CenturyLink was charging $40 including insurance. Time Warner is $38 including taxes. Do your research before you switch. If you are happy with what you have stay with it. Don't do what I did cause now I have to pay a $200 cancellation fee for switching to a crappy service provider. Our service with them was for 2 months!

(review was emailed from domain ymail.com)
lodged 11.7 years ago


Review by few2many See Profile

  • Location: Arizona City, Pinal, AZ, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
The Local tech that comes out is good, quick and knowledgable
Phone tech support, wild varying speeds, drops service often
Its one of two ISPs in my area, I need to call the other guys.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Have had DSL service with them for almost 5 years. For the past 3.5 years, they have been completely unable to keep us with in the promised 80% of our subscribed speed. There used to be a "reason", bad modem(which we replaced, no change), bad connection outside, down the street or a problem back in the office. Now, they cant find a problem anywhere, its just slow. In the summer of '11, they were supposed to be changing all equipment in my area to add bandwidth to support the growing number of customers. No change at all. I am subscibed at 5mb\s. But I regularly see speeds ranging from 56k up to 5mb\s. The most common speeds are below 2mb\s. The problem is, there is no issues with a bad connection or line, we have perfect signal all the way to the office. Supposedly, its not a load or bandwidth problem, either. I found out, The office or server is turning down my subscribed speed from 5.1mb\s, to where ever it ends up and my actual is usually about .5mb\s less. Right now, I show a subscribed speed of 1.6, while a speed test shows 1.3! When I call to talk to them, they want me to unplug everything, plug it in, reset this or that. Sometimes, the speed will pick up, and they say "Fixed it, have a nice day", and thats it! Although the speed picks up, its still around half my subscribed speed. When talking to the "tech support" about it, they say they can not turn down our speed from what we pay for, then another tech says the system does it automatically if there is a problem, but they cant find any problems! One tech turns it back up from the office, no prob. Then, another says they dont have that capability! Either way, I have to notice the lowered subscriber speed and get them to turn it back up! I am calling them weekly!!!

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member for 11.7 years, 1 visits, last login: 11.4 years ago
updated 11.7 years ago


hateCL
@qwest.net

hateCL

Anon

This Company Is Worthless.

MULTIPLE PROBLEMS! Do not get tied into this company. I get so frustrated every time I have to pay my bill because their website never works, and their auto over the phone pay never recognizes my information. Each and every time I have to get charged a $4.00 fee because all of THEIR systems are down. They even lost my payment once and turned off my services. HORRIBLE! DO NOT PURCHASE THEIR SERVICES!

scam detecto
@comcast.net

scam detecto

Anon

Re: This Company Is Worthless.

At least you only get charged a 4.00 fee. They keep charging me a reconnection fee because they can never get my address right. I have been charged 3 reconnection fees already and received my first bill in the mail with the correct address 1 week ago! They can't get it right even though we spell it out to them. This company is running a huge scam!

prismhater
@rylinkservices.net

prismhater to hateCL

Anon

to hateCL
I just had it installed today and have had to call "customer service" twice already with NO resolution. I fear this is the biggest mistake I'll make this year!

Review by inspekta_ge See Profile

  • Location: Saint Paul, Ramsey, MN, USA
  • Cost: $45 per month
Service uptime has been good.
Speeds have been HIGHLY variable and tech support is very un-helpful
If I can't get closer to the speed that I'm paying for, I'm switching to cable.
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I've been a Qwest/CenturyLink customer for nearly 5 years now. I switched from cable which was highly prone to service outages. I've been on the 3Mbs service package for nearly the entire time. Speeds have been fairly reliable until recently when the downlink speeds started to slow to a crawl. Since then it's been repeated calls to tech support, multiple new gateways, and headaches.

member for 11.7 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 11.7 years ago