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Review by huntdog 
UPDATED: 267 days ago
member for 4.1 years, 1408 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Olive Branch,Desoto,MS
 $99 per month
 about 4 days
 CenturyTel
 "Price,bundled package long distance,Dish Network ,DSL"
 "unreliable"
 " works ok now and then"
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$99.00 month, 1500dn/384up
refurb modem Westell 6100-14
self install
local service is ok after you call the tech support, always seems to a problem with Centurytel equipment,after they reset switch it works well until the next storm or heavy rain comes though.
Good experience: quick to respond.
Bad experiences: continued speed problems
Centurytel is probably the worst provider in this area service is all out horrible Tech support is a joke,and Centurytel cannot or will not correct the problem,they bought out Lightcore and added to to the junk they already owned.
I have been in contact with Centurytel Tech Support for almost a year now ,having techs come to the house to tell me the problem is with their network( I've told them that along time ago) but nothing ever gets better,their Tech support call center phone system isn't any better either, I've been disconnected so many times while on hold because the phone system is overloaded, even the local voice service here is very poor,during peak hours you can't even make a phone call,you get the message " All circuits are busy now try your call again later" This happens on a regular basis.
Please see my test results:»/testhistory/1272154/d5012
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 Review by tricouleur
UPDATED: 273 days ago
member for 8.7 years, 202 visits, last login: 150 days ago
O Fallon,Saint Charles,MO
$45 per month (12 month contract)
about 7 days
CenturyTel
"Good reliable connection and speed"
"Honestly haven't run across any yet"
"Good deal for the money, AND IT'S NOT CHARTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
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Switched from Charter cable modem and tv service in Feb 08. Has been a year now and wanted to post a review. Switched to the CT Bundle for Phone, Internet and Dish. Was happy to get away from Charter. Made the switch when I found out CT was offering 10mb package to my address, but was skeptical. Felt the need to post because of how pleasantly surprised I have been with the service. Have had solid connection since activation, no real problems. Got a new laptop for Xmas that is 80211.n as well as new Linksys WR160-n wireless router. Biggest surprise is the consistent near 10mb speed tests wirelessly on the laptop with the n router. Honestly can't say I have any complaints, and the Dish Network service is way better then what I had w/Charter.
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Review by texadian
Posted: 284 days ago
member for 5.4 years, 63 visits, last login: 161 days ago
Denton,Denton,TX
Contract price not specified.
about 1 days
"service is always on"
"tspeed is10% of advertised"
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The conection is reliable but the speed is never there.
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Review by DocJDement
Posted: 295 days ago
member for 295 days, 1 visits, last login: 286 days ago
Boyd,Chippewa,WI
$25 per month
CenturyTel
"Finalyy extended far enough to reach me."
"While uploads are at the level being paid for, download speeds are roughly 20% of what they should be."
"If I had another choice, I would use it, but the only other reasonable option is cellular, and its no better and costs more"
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Centurytel finally extended their service far enough to reach me. I know I way out on the end of the line, but if my upload speeds are exceeding the correct range, download should be, at least, close to the range being paid for. I have the 512 down / 128 up package, my downloads average 100kbs while my uploads are around 256kbs. Makes absolutely no sense, and they haven't been able to fix it.
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Review by stevensan198
Posted: 313 days ago
member for 313 days, 0 visits, last login: 313 days ago
Superior,Douglas,WI
$50 per month
about 1 days
"cheap"
"they do not guarente internet speeds in WI"
"if i didn't have to use them i wouldn't"
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i orderd there 10meg package and never connect faster then 6meg best part is the rep gaurented me the 10 meg when it wasn't and i called i was told he should have never guarenteed me the 10 meg and that it is UP TO 10 meg if you are in the duluth,mn or superior,wi area and can get CHARTER do so they can gaurente there 10 meg matter a fact i had it and never connected below 10-10.7meg
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Review by CaboWabo
Posted: 314 days ago
member for 2.3 years, 18 visits, last login: 33 days ago
Saint Peters,Saint Charles,MO
Contract price not specified.
CenturyTel
"10 Mbps is real"
"Connection down more than up"
"Just a hair better than Charter"
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My last ISP (Charter) was down more than 60% of the time.
See review here: »Review of Charter Pipeline by CaboWabo
I switched to CenturyTel and was pleased to see I actually got the speeds I was paying for.
However, the DSL connection goes down way too often.
During peak hours (everyday for the past 3 weeks), you cannot get on the Internet. The connection is out quite often.
I do not live in the "sticks", I am in a heavily populated area with many businesses near-by. You would think Internet connection would be a given. It is not.
CenturyTel (as well as Charter) over-sell their service and do not have the infrastructure in place to handle the loads. Both ISPs are pretty horrible in terms of Internet connection availability in this area.
I may soon be switching to AT&T if they even offer it in my area.
I cannot believe in this day and age, I have to contemplate switching yet again, moving, or just not care that my Internet connection is down over 50% of the time.
Followup comments:  BigVe
join:2005-07-15
Gulliver, MI | Issues If you have problems then report it.NO chance you will see any AT&T in your area UNLESS they buy out Centurytel. | |
| 
Troger
@centurytel.net
| DSL Issues CenturyTel dsl does not work the same as Charter dsl. You have a dedicated pair right to your house. If CenturyTel had equipment issues, they would fix them. More likely your disconnect troubles are related to your cablepair or inside wiring of your home. Make sure you have dsl filters in all your phone jacks, computer, fax and sattelite also. If this doesnt fix the issue contact CenturyTel to come take a look. And yes, there will probably be a charge if they need to fix the wiring in your house. | |
| | CaboWabo
join:2007-08-01
Saint Peters, MO
 ·Charter Pipeline
 ·CenturyLink
| Re: DSL Issues Thanks for your response.
To clarify my own situation, Charter was via coaxial cable (e.g. cable modem) and CenturyTel is via the phone line (e.g. dsl modem). I am fully aware that these are different technologies, I have worked in the IT industry for over 15 years and have vast experience in this area specifically.
I do have the DSL filters on all my phone jacks, etc. The problem isn't the wiring in my house. I proved this when I had issues with Charter by having both Charter and a third party check the quality of all my lines. Even Charter technicians were completely perplexed when trying to troubleshoot in person. The word for word quote was "That's crazy! I've never seen this before."
In my Charter review, you will read that I even had new lines buried from their equipment through my yard and into my house. During that time, I had my phone lines checked as well because I knew if my problems weren't resolved I would be moving to DSL.
Charter is a whole different issue so I'm trying to keep that discussion in my Charter review thread, they just plain suck in my area (I can verify for TV and Internet in my area)
At any rate, CenturyTel is better than Charter - when it is online. And only because I can get the speeds I pay for.
However, it seems to go down just about as often as Charter. Just this past weekend, the connection was down a lot (showing red on the modem, and according to CenturyTel - indicating that the connection issue was definitely on their end) and would come back for less than 60 seconds before it went back down. This was confirmed via CenturyTel as well and it wasn't until later in the afternoon before it came back. Later that night, same issues and didn't come back until mid-morning the next day.
I'm convinced the problem is over-selling, on both Charter and CenturyTel's part. I haven't been proven wrong yet as I've had both inside and outside lines checked and all are of great quality (they're relatively new now.) My various machines range from 6 years to (at the time) less than 1 month old. All are high-end, and have various different configurations from servers, to desktops, to laptops, to notebooks.
It's quite obvious after all I have gone through, all the legwork, all the checking, there is nothing on my end that is limiting my connection. This is completely between the trunk and the company - though they hate to admit that. Charter tried to play that game with me even when I proved that it was nothing of mine causing limitations.
Again, thank you for your response. | |
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Review by wac
UPDATED: 328 days ago
member for 328 days, 17 visits, last login: 133 days ago
Fall City,King,WA
$61 per month
CenturyTel
"Mostly works. No port-filtering/capping nonsense."
"Poor coordination between wireline and internet units. Static IP overpriced ($20/mo.)"
"A good alternative to Comcast for this area."
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I had the 3M/512K plan for dog years and just upgraded to 10M/768K. More realistically this plan is the "as fast as we can manage to run a link over your copper" down and 768K up plan.
Actual results: 5545 Kbps down, 704 Kbps up. 31ms ping to SpeakEasy Seattle, 16ms ping to Google, 96ms ping to Atlanta. Their upstream for this area appears to be NTT America (AS2914).
The customer support folks I've spoken with are generally in-state and have been friendly. As with most providers there is some level of annoyance in talking to tech support if you know what you're doing and want to avoid the usual FAQ stuff that you've already done on your own.
I have an ancient SpeedStream 5667 (bridge) that came with initial line setup several years ago. I'm having to replace this out of pocket since CT insists on charging an ongoing $3 or $4 per month fee for something newer that actually has diagnostic output.
On the down side, every time I've had a change made to this line, like the recent speed upgrade, something has gone wrong. Today I wound up on an unprovisioned DSLAM port for most of the day during the upgrade. No one from internet group seemed to know what was going on with the physical lines so it led to an annoying 50 minute tech support call trying to get someone to make sure they weren't going to leave things in a broken state over New Years.
It took them several months to roll a truck to get my phone line out of the creek when a tree fell on it a few years ago.
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 Review by Icon
UPDATED: 329 days ago
member for 5.8 years, 2158 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Kimberling City,Stone,MO
$29 per month
about 5 days
CenturyTel
"Reliable connection"
"Pricey services, email servers are crap"
"Not the cheapest, but good services"
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I subscribed to the 1.5/256, dynamic IP package. The service was activated on the day I was told, which was about 5 days after ordering. I provided my own modem (speedstream 4200) and have no contract. I get about 1.4 to 1.45M on downloads, so no gripe there. I do feel that over $40 bucks per month (after taxes/fees) is way too much for 1.5 service. Also, I always run into lots of lag when accessing web based email through Centurytel. Don't know what's going on there, but it's a real pain. We'll see how the next few months go, and I'll decide if I should give mediacom a try.
*Update* After over 2 years using Centurytel, I am still a happy customer overall. Never any outages, and always get my advertised speeds. Some better bundle prices are now available, so that helps the pocketbook out. Just wish now that my remote office DSLAM would get upgraded soon, so I can get faster speeds than 1.5 Mbps.
Using a Westell 327 wireless modem.
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 Review by Eighthman
UPDATED: 332 days ago
member for 8.4 years, 1827 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Troy,Lincoln,MO
$30 per month (12 month contract)
CenturyTel
"Speed stays consistent"
"Price is to high"
"All out reliable"
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As a long time SBC user I am now in the hands of CenturyTel. And to be all fair they have been so for as reliable as my old provider since I have only been with them since this past May of 2006 which is not as long as I was with SBC. I was with them the day DSL was born. So time will tell with CenturyTel. To be all honest where I live now I am sure glad I have broadband even if it isn't my old reliable provider. As they say beggars can't be choosy. And I'll take what I can get as long as it works well.
Well it's been two long years with CenturyTel and I can say it has not been to disappointing as some have wrote in the CenturyTel forums. There has been very slow times but it seems to level it self out in time. I think the price is still a little steep but since my DSL has be trouble free I can live with it for the time being. All I can say keep up the good work CenturyTel.
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Review by Kawfey
UPDATED: 335 days ago
member for 336 days, 4 visits, last login: 326 days ago
Warrenton,Warren,MO
$60 per month
about 14 days
CenturyTel
"Access to the internet, faster than dial-up, fast customer service"
"10 m/bit service usually at 1 m/bit--slow, unreliable, goes out during storms"
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Well. About a year ago I bought the 10 mbps for $60 per month service to finally end the dial up slug. The fact that I'm at least 5 miles from the service provider gives me reason to doubt its speeds. A long two weeks after I bought it the Westell wireless router finally came, and it took about 3 hours to set up.
By the way, to have the internet, you are forced to buy a router for $15, but pay $2.95 a month to...keep it?
Anyways, after installing, I was pleasantly surprised that the dsl was smoking along at 9-10 mbps. The very next day it went down to 6. Next week it averaged 3. Now, "fast" is anywhere from 1-3 mbps...it hasn't seen anything above 5 mbps since the second day I got it.
But slow is another story. During downtime, speeds range from 50 to 250 kbps. Dial up again???
Most of my neighbors have the 1.5 mbps service so I decided to see if it was still that. It was...my neighbors are paying half of what I'm paying for much of the same speed. And during storms, as EMP from lightning crashes my service, my neighbors still get 1.5mbps service.
I called the guys down at CenturyTel and I ended up making a technician come down to see what he could do. He installed new phone lines and other things and somehow, service was back to 8-9 mbps. I was happy. Until it went back to dial-up.
If I pay the premiums for 10 mbps internet, shouldn't I get 10 mpbs internet?
Since my neighbors were getting reliable 1.5 meg service, I decided to cancel the 10meg and get the 1.5 meg. MUCH BETTER. Just as fast as the 10 mbps service.
Followup comments: njt462
join:2006-11-28
Troy, MO
| Speed Issues  CenturyTel is well aware of the speed issues for the area. They have a few things going on that I will shed some light on:
1- They have an issue with their 6,8,10, and 15Mbp DSL speeds that they either can not figure out or are too lazy to repair. Therefore, 3,6,8,10, and 15 are for the same price, cause they know they can not over charge for something that is never going to happen legally. If you are one of those packages it will lock up and has to be reset from the CO to get it back working again. So if you go out on a Friday after 6pm you are out of luck till 9am Monday morning.
2- They do not know how many hook ups their equipment can handle and really don't care. So their Reps. keep selling and selling DSL at whatever package/price you want. And we all know the more overloaded you make something the weaker it gets on speeds.
I have had the 6Mbp DSL for a few months now and I only get anywhere from 3 to 3.5 download. I am staying on the 6 cause the lock up problems were fixed on the 6 in my area but not all areas. It is the same price as 3 so I am keeping it just in case they get off their butts and fix the speed problems. | |
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