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Review by wanderer189  - Location: Falkville,Morgan,AL
- Cost: $47 per month
 CenturyTel
Good "Most tech support folks are great to work with and are in the USA"
Bad "DL speeds seldom reach 1/2 of what is advertised, frequent line drops"
Overall "Best available for price and service where I live"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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Advertised as 1.5mb down and 256k up. Uploads are always good, download speeds occasionally get above 1.0mb. Recently, I have experienced line drops repeatedly everyday, and their tech support can find nothing wrong.
For the most part, I am happy with the service, as satellite was my only previous option on the mountain where I live and I was paying 3 times more for 1/2 the speeds.
UPDATE: CenturyTel sent out yet another tech, he once again verified all was just fine with all of my equipment and settings as they always do, here is a screen shot from just a day or so after, showing my download speed slower than a 28k modem using their site for speed test
Attachments:
member for 10.4 years, 181 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 3 days ago
Comments:
  linicxCaveat EmptorPremium
join:2002-12-03
United State
 ·CenturyLink
| 28 K ? 28K dialup speed was the de facto modem speed 20 years ago before 33.3 modem replaced it, and 8-10 years before the 56K modem was offered. I still have my 56K modem.
You are currently paying for what is almost the slowest possible "Broadband" speed sold. The problem is most likely between your connection outside your house and the old equipment in the central office.
Do maintain inside wiring insurance!
Chances are if you want something faster you will either opt for cable or Exceed Satellite If you lived in rural America like I do you are squeezed by companies that are forced to serve areas they really wish would dry up and blow away. I live in on of those places. Call your state senator.
--
Mac: No windows, No Gates, Apple inside | |
| | | Charter Per your zip code, Charter is available in your area.
Perhaps you should call Charter to see how much it would be (and for a plant extension if needed). | |
| | Reviews:
·CenturyLink
| Re: Charter linicx: I am loving the feed back, I agree with you , but sad to say I am pretty much forced to using unless I use dial-up, even a 4g aircard will only get a very, very poor signal on this mountain. I had hughesnet business a few years back, but the FAP killed me.
wizkid6: Charter is only available in the city limits and very close surrounding area, like less than a mile, they do not offer service as far out as I live, thx for trying to help a friend out and replying, sure is appreciatted.
Thx to all for feedback, keep it coming. gonna try to get neighbors involved in documenting to help build something to submit to FCC, BBB, etc....
Aslo keep in mind, this has been going on for a couple years now, ever since CL was introduced here.... | |
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| Review by OOMJR - Location: Avilla,Noble,IN
- Cost: $45 per month (12 month contract)
- Install: about 3 days
- CenturyTel
Good "Working after another heap through hoops. Things are not getting better."
Bad "Tech support is hard to get, but once you find a good # it's fine"
Overall "Worth it for the end result, just have to bother them on problems. This time around it's taking forever to fix anything..."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
9/20/13 Update
Back again to 70+ ping and 1-3 down on CL tests. Speedtest.net is showing 70 ping with 1 down and .76 up. Pingtest.net is showing 80ms with 90 jitter when on a good day it's 14ms with 0-1 jitter. Sync rates are in great standing. IHD team still emailing engineers but haven't heard back from them. Got a pathetic credit 28$ credit on my 45$ bill. They won't fully credit my account cause it's not bad all the time just when it's busy. Congestion resolution time is 11-15-13... So about two more months. Pathetic. I'm letting it go till then. If nothing changes I might be dropping service and just tether my 4GLTE cell phone that has unlimited data. Rage mode right now.
I suggest avoiding there services if you can and wait till they get things fixed. Wait till you see a good amount of updated good reviews 1st.
8/12/13 Update
Waiting for a response from IHD team. Last night was by far the worse. 2-4 down with 300+ ping. Patience is running dry and every time I touch the internet in anyway it just frustrates me more. So I've been avoiding it all for now and letting CL do their job.
8/8/13 Update
Well, I think the loss balance is effecting me again. Back to how it was in June. Slow at peak hours with high latency. Pretty much worthless again. Emailed my contacts multiple times and no one higher up ,including TalkToUs , is responding back. Pretty upset with it all. Wish there was a different provider up here....
8/6/13 Update
After a balance issue between two near by cities the internet was running fine until the outage on Aug 1st, 2nd. After which the internet was slow and unstable until 8/5/13. It now is running full throttle at 13 ms ping to chicago and 10 down .78 up. As of now I'm happy but I'm hesitant to say I will be forever. Things will happen again, I'm certain.
Support is good if you can weave yourself into the correct #'s. Took me a few phone calls to find the right person to talk to. I know have 3 contacts I can email on the issue that by passes the 24/7 line and chats.
Thanks
Matt
5/8/13 Update
So... Supposedly... The CO supervisor, local tech and his managers are in contact via email with corporate. The fix would consist of moving some DSLAMS to a different rack. They have 3 racks, each can hold 3 DSLAMS, one not being used, one used for 6Mbps or lower and one for 10Mbps. The 10Mbps rack is at 98% capacity at night and they don't see the issue at the 24/7 line, not sure if they can. Each rack is also connected to a gigE fiber line.
Waiting game and contacting them each day for updates.
4/30/13 Update
Check out my test history »/testhistory/1782576/cba7a . During peak hours the line quality tests fail due to packet loss. After peak hours the test works ok but there is packet loss. My connection from my Modem to the DSLAM is 8ms. After the DSLAM that's where the issues are. It's on their end and they can't except that very easily. Took me a 48minute call to the 24/7 line to get this through their head. Their finally looking into the issue.
The Central Office is one street west of my house and this morning there was a Centurylink Van there along with a normal pedestrian car(employee?)
.7 to 10 Down during peak hours(5-12:30) .4-.6 Up. Ping of 100+ to 500.
I can usually ping at 30ms and have 10 down and .78 up to chicago.
Yahoo.com times out on pings and traceroutes.
Google.com pings at at least 130ms.
After peak hours it seems to be testing ok but I'm not home to use it... I work 8-5.
This will be the 2nd time I've had ping/bandwidth issues in my area. The first time around phone support and chat wasn't helping so I filed a FCC complaint. They gave me a new modem for free and fix the issue. If came back about a week later and I was offered a tech's direct number. He went out and switch me to a newer card at the Central Office. This fixed the issues until 4/28/13. I seem to be back where I was before. I'm guessing it's a bad card or they are having packet loss on their end. I called the tech and he doesn't work in my area anymore so he wasn't of any help. I called the 24/7 service line and they said I had to average 300ms ping with low bandwidth for them to issue it as an actual problem. I kept on them and they said they would look into it. Put me on hold a couple times to talk to a 3rd party company(that I assumes monitors and remotely fixes issues). They said they would see if they could remotely fix the issue and if this wasn't possible they would send a tech out. The window of the issue getting fixed is 24-48 hours. I'm expecting this to be done within this given time line. If it isn't I will be filing my second FCC complaint against the company, which I don't want to do but I don't like getting horrible service and paying for it.
-Matthew Raupfer
1-23-12 Update
After about 6 months of service my package 10Mbps down and 860Kbps up has become a horrible experience. I'm getting "the engineers are working to resolve the bandwidth issue in your area" line for the last 4 months... I can't get my 10 down anymore at anytime and during peak afternoon/evening hours I will range from .6 down to 1Mbps. My upload usually stays around 860Kbps. I've contacted Joey once again about the issue and a local store about it. Waiting for replies right now. Online chat hasn't helped one bit with the issue.
Ordered 10Mbps/896Kbps
1st day it was installed was able to ping Chicago server @ 14ms with a bandwidth test of 10.5Mbps/860Kbps
2nd day the ping went up to an average of 50ms to the same server.
Called 1-877-646-3282 to see if they had me set on interleaved rather then fast mode.
They told me since I was using a Actiontec Modem and not a rental that they wouldn't support Fast Mode. Also, I never was able to get a answer out of them what mode they were sending me from the DSLAM. She was running me around. At the end she said that there was a fiber issue in my area and they were working on fixing it... I went ahead and hung up.
Went to »www.centurylink.com/Pages/Support/ContactUs/ and did the online chat.
WOW!!! The customer support rep was extremely nice and answered every question I had. I did have to wait here and there after certain questions due to having to look up the info but in the end she was able to tell me I was connected interleaved. She then went ahead and switch me to Fast Mode, then she tested the line.
Online Chat is Superb so far. Phone Support... don't waste your time.
My ping is now back down to ~20ms to the Chicago server and my bandwidth is doing well at 10Mbps/864Kbps.
Overall,
Service has been up 24/7 for 3 months and online chat support is great.
Phone support is terrible. Rude and just want to get the phone call over with.
member for 2.6 years, 185 visits, last login: 1 days ago
updated 15 days ago
Comments:
| | comments I have heard a great deal of "bad" through acquaintances about cl. You always hear the bad more than the good. This is not an endorsement, although I am considering my options for service at this time. I would like to hear some of what they are doing correctly to help make a decision.
Seems service with a phone call is almost useless, but I see online chats are productive for the informed.
Need more input.
DC | |
| | linicxCaveat EmptorPremium
join:2002-12-03
United State Reviews:
·CenturyLink
| Re: comments Understand. No mega corporation cares one byte about one kid with school work, or a housebound handicapped person; but business, yes.
Truthfully, for the average user who does not download movies, compose symphonies, or create massive scientific projects on line ... 10/2 will support a digital phone and a rock solid internet connection very well, but. When a local CO is pushed to the breaking point it usually does.
The one thing a telephone company can do that cable cannot do is separate the phone side from the Internet side of the service. Thus when the telco and cable are offline, the telco phone will continue to work. It's a federal requirement that telco maintain is backup power for the phone system in their communications center (co). It might be six blocks from your house or 20 miles from your office, but you can bet there is a very large backup power source for your phone.
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Mac: No windows, No Gates, Apple inside | |
| | linicxCaveat EmptorPremium
join:2002-12-03
United State Reviews:
·CenturyLink
| Trawocd, your best bundle is CL landline phone, Comcast Internet speed, and Dish crystal clear signal. It will cost you between $150 -$250 (depending upon the options you chose) plus the cost of installation, modems, etc..
BTW, you need to join us; you will get more help.
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Mac: No windows, No Gates, Apple inside | |
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| Review by babyj - Location: florida
- Cost Contract price not specified.
Bad "horrible speeds"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
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I am paying for 10 for my internet speeds and I only get .42 on speedtest.net. When i call century link, which i have been calling them for over 2 years now, they tell me that i have to go to centurylink.sppedtest.net to check my speeds because the other websites arent good, but low and behold there website says my speeds are alot higher than what speedtest.net shows. OF COURSE!!! After always having the run around with them on the phone, cvoming out to my house, and the server is like 1000ft from my house. There is no issues from there side only on my side. They h ave no idea what it could be. When my internet is slow, it is freaking slow!!! I cant even watch a youtube video in 720p. This is ridicoilous!!! I am typing so fast write now because I am so angry at these people for never fixing my internet speeds. There was one time that some guy came out to the box that was down the street from me and changed a line or something and it wa s great for like 6 months and now once again its the samw thing. They never fix the problem! Try to download a game or your ping for your games, yeah right!! That will take forrever!!! These people suck so bad and they need to fix my internet. I am so sick of paying for 10 and not getting atleast 8 or9. never use these people they always give you the run around and its always the same thing they say. Its my computer, its my line, its my modeom, its my server, its my blah blah blah blah!! They have changed everything that they can possibly think of and my computer and wiring in my house is new so thats not it. Also when they gave me a new modeom/router it was the same exact one. I would think they woiuld have a better one then the one i have,but i am not sure on that one! Never usre these people!!!
member for 16 days, 2 visits, last login: 9 days ago
updated 16 days ago
Comments:
linicxCaveat EmptorPremium
join:2002-12-03
United State Reviews:
·CenturyLink
| I understand There are a many reasons why the Internet is slow. The #1 reason is 30M people on line at the same time. 7-12pm can be very slow especially on weekends. Your distance from office makes a difference, too. 9,000 feet won't get the same speed as 500 feet. How fast is your processor?. i7 is faster than the i3. Also CL is doing a lot of upgrading this summer. It affects a lot of us and it takes a considerable amount of time to finish. Sometimes the six weeks or longer seems like it lasts for a year; it rarely does. Rebooting usually doesn't do anything. Is your flash current? It makes a difference.
The #2 biggest problem in the summer is contractors that cut the local cables or the nick the national backbone.
When you are slow what do you see when you look at your modem and router. Are the lights all green? If so try rebooting your modem, router and pc. If the problem is between the pc and router it might help. If it isn't it won't.
Do you have a bundle with phone? I do. It helped me a lot when the tech separated the phone from the net and installed a whole house filter. Ask if your modem needs an update, or can it be updated? Are they willing to try a different modem. They changed me out to a Zytel.
This is about CL and the equipment in their office. Did tech support check all the lines and connections from your house to the office? Can/did they reboot your modem in their office? Did/can the tech change out your card in the office?
10/1 where I live is a conversion from fibre to DSL POTS that is delivered over copper the last mile. The best uplink speed you can expect is .768. CL is stingy with the uplink speed.
As to speedtest, I get the same speed from it as I do from the CL speed test.
It will all eventually settle down. The people who answer the phone are clueless as to what, where or if there is a problem.
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Mac: No windows, No Gates, Apple inside | |
| | Reviews:
·CenturyLink
| Re: I understand CL is not "stingy" with upload speed. ADSL/ADSL2 can only do ~1Mbps on the upload.
Once your area is upgraded to VDSL2 you will be able to get 2,5,or 20Mbps on the upload.
This is what i get on my CL line over WiFi, this is what you can easily expect once your area gets upgraded:
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| | | linicxCaveat EmptorPremium
join:2002-12-03
United State Reviews:
·CenturyLink
| Re: I understand You're in Phoenix. I can expect 35/20 in the next 35 years. Maybe. But don't bet book on it. CL barely supports tiny markets in rural America - where it has no intention of spending any more money or time than absolutely necessary - to barely maintain basic service. The horrid DSL phone CL used to replace the dependable POTS line barely works this is, of course, when it is not oversold which is pretty much normal S.O.P. when you are the only land line in 500 sq mi., and the competition is another telco. Surprise! They both use the same fibre in the same office to deliver content to the same area at almost the same price. Regardless of whether it is DSL or VOIP, one is still saddled with a cellphone if one expects 24/7 phone service - in rural America where I live.
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Mac: No windows, No Gates, Apple inside | |
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| Review by rbinrr - Location: West Des Moines,Polk,IA
- Cost Contract price not specified.
Good "AVOID AT ALL COSTS ... YOU"VE BEEN WARNED"
Bad "HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE AND ATTITUDE "
Overall "DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
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I just moved and got a Bill from Centurylink for $200 so am pissed. So take that into account. I was with CL for over 2 years and until a few months ago everything was fine. The building I was in got hit by lighting and the modem got fried. OK. So got a new modem from CL; C1000A. I had worked from home 1 or 2 days a week via Cisco VPN and everything was fine until C1000A. Then it wouldn't work anymore. CL support was worthless. Call, call, call. They tried to blame it on my companies IT department. Duh it worked for 2 years with the old freaking modem !!! Then they did conference calls with Actiontec. Again ... worthless ! As far as I can tell the C1000A is a piece of shit and NOBODY can get VPN working on it. This went on for several months until it was time for me to move.
When it came time to move I considered the above and decided to dump CL. Not happy with the choices (Mediacom) but since CL wouldn't allow me to VPN in anymore and didn't care, I decided to switch. Cancellation was a freaking nightmare. They declared that I owed them a cancellation fee ! For what ? They claimed that I agreed to a new service agreement and was breaking it by moving and going with someone else. Bitching to the "retainer" did nothing. I asked to speak to a Manager and it was claimed that they were all busy. So I asked for a call back and was told someone would call me and they never did. Assholes ... all of them.
Here is what really happened. I signed up for their bait/switch of $39.99/mo. Which was for only 1 year and after that it went up to $100 or so. Don't remember what exactly, but they gave me a "deal" which raised it to only $60/mo. Seemed reasonable ... so ok I stayed. For another year when they again jacked it sky high. So I called in again and they said I needed to "bundle" it with something else. I didn't WANT anything else. So they told me that if I signed up for phone service it could stay at $60/mo. I didn't want or need phone service but they said it was the only way and there was no commitment. So I said ok. To be clear. I didn't want phone service. I don't even own a old style phone that plugs into the wall, never plugged one in and never used their freaking phone service. In addition, at that time I already knew that I was going to be moving and wouldn't have agreed to a long term "contract" anyway. Lying assholes.
So now when I move they bill me $200 for breaking a "contract".
Fuck CenturyLink. Anyone who uses them is a fool cause all they do is lie to you. I do admit that their DSL service did work pretty well but given the hassles dealing with them I would NEVER recommend anyone ever use them. That company is just a mess.
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Update:
Jesus the nightmare just keeps getting worse. After the manager refused to call me back I was pissed and decided I wouldn't pay. But kept getting emails. One of which I responded to and bitched them out good. I asked them to contact me about my dispute. NOTHING.
So I called today and talked to one guy in customer service. Who claimed he couldn't do anything. So I waited a long time to get transferred to a bitch who again refused to do anything. From customer server to billing and then they said there was another group who had UPHELD me to the terms of my contract. I didn't sign any fucking contract and if they were reviewing my case to see if it should be upheld why the fuck didn't anyone contact me. She said I could discuss it with them and she would transfer me. I was transferred and the voice response system said it needed code to complete the transfer and the stupid fucking bitch didn't give me a code. So I got hung up on.
People just plain avoid the company. Do NOT do business with them all. !!!
member for 51 days, 3 visits, last login: 16 days ago
updated 19 days ago
Comments:
| | That's easy for you to say! Since they have a monopoly and there's no competition, for most of us there is no other option. | |
| | linicxCaveat EmptorPremium
join:2002-12-03
United State Reviews:
·CenturyLink
| Re: That's easy for you to say! Speaking of no competition... we have a very special phone duopoly. Both use the same fibre in the same office. Company X sells Cable/net/VoIP, whilst Century Link sells ADSL/net/phone and satellite. Naked or bundled, the base product offered by both is mediocre and cost prohibitive.
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Mac: No windows, No Gates, Apple inside | |
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linicxCaveat EmptorPremium
join:2002-12-03
United State Reviews:
·CenturyLink
| Read your bill cover from cover. I just received a triple digit bill, too. For some very peculiar reason my July bill was not due until August when the August bill is due. The math is fuzzy and they pickup a free $10 bill for a late fee because they can.
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Mac: No windows, No Gates, Apple inside | |
| | | Centurylink Their "service" is why I call them "Buttcrak telephone company", and it is really terrible. | |
| | | Talk to your local elected reps about CenturyLink I found (after dealing with the nightmare service) that CenturyLink does have people in contact with local community representatives such as mayors, state reps, etc. Ask around your local government and you may find a path forward. | |
| linicxCaveat EmptorPremium
join:2002-12-03
United State Reviews:
·CenturyLink
| State office The commerce commission PUC or PUB are elected to oversee public utilities. The Internet is NOT a public utility, but a home phone is. Therefore if you have CenturyLink phone you have leverage. If you do not you will not.
As for the modem, it probably has the router built in. My installer turned it off so my own modem would work properly. No problems.
--
Mac: No windows, No Gates, Apple inside | |
| Reviews:
·CenturyLink
| CTL = Shit. I'm a former Employee. When they asked you to bundle it, they stuck you on the 5 year price lock for 59.90/mo with no contract... why you may ask? That customer service rep, who is actually a sales rep got paid a bonus of around 12-15 bucks for doing that. When they bundled you they never ended the contract like they should. Oh and by the way ever rep at CenturyLink can credit up to $250.00 before it needs a sup approval. CenturyLink basically tells all staff "screw the customer unless they are buying something new" and they poorly train all reps so mistakes like this happen and Glen Post can line his pockets. We would get blown out if our avg. credits per customer exceeded $1.50 at the end of the day... not week or month, but day. Just a heads up because I use to work there. Oh and as long as that charge was on one of the previous three months bills it can be credited. And a rep can bypass that 250.00 credit limit as long as it's not all on 1 bill. so basically I could credit $250.00 per bill for the last three customer bills. | |
|  RH
@qwest.net | CenturyLink is booting me Well, this is about the worse company ever in the history of ISP's. We just received a notice that Centurylink is terminating our service because we exceed their "Excessive Use Policy".. WTF is this?? So, just like most families we have laptops, tablets, cell phones and internet tv that all require internet service. We are paying for their highest DL speed package and now it seems we "USE" their service too much and they want to boot us!!! WTF??? Any suggestions?? | |
| | Reviews:
·CenturyLink
| Re: CenturyLink is booting me If you're on a plan which speed is greater than 1.5Mbps you can use 250GB of download data per month, if it 1.5Mbps or lower the cap is 150GB. Uploads should not count towards this limit. Only option if CTL says you are using more than you are allotted is to use a router where you can see the amount of WAN traffic you are using, or upgrade to a business DSL account. You could always go with someone else, which is what I would do if the mom and pop cable company here had internet speeds faster than 1.5Mbps. Here is the link to CTL's Internet Management Policy. »www.centurylink.com/Pages/AboutU···agement/ | |
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| | Very angry All I have to say is dont go with this company they are rude money hungry and yea they transfer you dept to dept with a 30 min wait to do nothing to help you!!! And they jack up the rates out of the blue unless you bundle which i didn't want to do... Stay away stick with Comcast screw century link and their rude ass employees too | |
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| Review by andy2622 - Location: Twin Falls,Twin Falls,ID
- Cost Contract price not specified.
Good "better than cable-one"
Bad "exceptionally poor customer service. Nobody takes responsibility"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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Changed service from cable one in idaho and added service in Minnesota for our college son - 2 accounts. Apparently beyond comprehension. Billing address the same for both (idaho) and agreed to autopay. 35 days later we had paid 2 bills and the service in minnesota was turned off because the bill was returned. Autopay was only started for the idaho account. No attempt was made to contact us. No email. No phone. My son called to notify us that the service was off and after spending 45 min on hold to discover the problem, I went online and paid the bill via amex. The next day there is still no service. I call at 11:00 am and the rep "sees" that I paid the bill so she will "push" the restore service button and transfer me to billing so I can correct the billing address. I waited 20 minutes before hanging up. I, later, called again, waited another 30 minutes, to talk to a manager. Again they verified that the bill was paid so they will now, again, restore service. When I asked why no attempt was made to contact me when the bill was returned, I was told that they don't have access to anything other than the billing address. But they graciously offered to waive the restore fees. The level of incompetence can only be rivaled by the federal govt.
Paying $30 for 1.5 MB service in Idaho and $45 for 3mb service in MN. I got fed up with CableOne's inability to maintain service and discovered that functional speeds were the same with DSL. I'll reevaluate again and shop around for a local provider. Looking for one that makes an attempt to resolve issues that they inflict on their customers.
member for 31 days, 0 visits, last login: 31 days ago
updated 31 days ago
Comments:
| | CenturyLink Bad service I signed up for DSL with CL (my local phone company); after exceptioally stupid and guesswork instructions, I finally got connected to a page telling me how wonderful it was to pay online. Then they just went away(no signal) and never came back. I canceled, but they still charged me for about four hours DSL service! I count myself very luck that they did not messup my telephone account. | |
| | Rob_Premium
join:2008-07-16
Mary Esther, FL | Re: CenturyLink Bad service Why not send one of the techs on here a message, there here to help! »/useremail/u/1627664
-Rob | |
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| Review by raindog308 - Location: Portland,Multnomah,OR
- Cost: $80 per month
Good "Pretty stable"
Bad "Appalling uplink"
Overall "Forget it!"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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Got 7mbps down and have for several years. With online backup, dropbox, etc., I want more uplink.
CenturyLink doesn't offer anything more thank 896Kbps up. Nothing. No option to pay more, no other plan, etc. Even if you get their top 25mbps down, you still only get 896Kbps up.
Even worse, their call center people spent ten minutes trying to tell me that uplink didn't matter.
Time to move on.
member for 36 days, 0 visits, last login: 36 days ago
lodged 36 days ago
Comments:
| Review by jzawacki - Location: Yoder,El Paso,CO
- Cost: $35 per month (12 month contract)
Good "I haven't had any connection issues."
Bad "Upload speeds are unbearable!"
Overall "If you don't need upload, you'll probably be happy."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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My connection has not had an issues yet. My complaint is the fact that they do not list any upload speeds on their site. I purchased the 7Mbps package which is plenty fast for a download speed. The catch is, it's only 512Kbps upload. It took 7 hours to upload a video to YouTube. I can't even believe any company would provide internet with a 512Kbps upload speed. Insane!
Just so other people know, here is what customer service told me:
Download/Upload
1.5Mbps/256kbps
3Mbps/256kbps
4-7Mbps/512kbps
20-25Mbps/1.5Mbps
40Mbps/2Mbps
So, make sure you compare when you shop around. These are the slowest upload speeds I have EVER seen.
James
member for 53 days, 1 visits, last login: 8 days ago
lodged 53 days ago
Comments:
| | 256/512 ? WTH is CL thinking? how is that even going to work in this time and day ? | |
| | | Faster speeds are only available with newer equipment. You can update to 5Mb up if you are in an area with new equipment that can handle it. It's not available over the old 50 year old voice quality phone lines though. | |
| linicxCaveat EmptorPremium
join:2002-12-03
United State Reviews:
·CenturyLink
| Faster speeds Faster speeds are only available when CL upgrades their equipment in the Central Office. CL is incredibly stingy with uplink. I remember the first time i was able to download Netscape in less than 8 hours. That was 14 years ago when broadband wasn't much faster than a 56K modem but it seemed like a jet plane in comparison.
What you are experiencing is not unusual for small mom and pop services. What's unusual for most of us is this. A large American national telephone company that is selling 100 terabytes of fiber to London, and Paris, is going ubercheap in rural Americans from border to border while it promises to roll out 1G to Omaha, and brags it has the world's largest corporate "cloud" for enterprise.
You may have a stealth jet fighter sitting on your desktop runway but the control tower is still being powered by an antiquated mid-1990s (or earlier) Cisco-type array in its central office. For all you know it may still be powered by a mainframe with keypunch cards - just like it was in the 1960s. I typed those cards for IBM mainframes in 1965.
Until the feckless FCC, and deaf Congress, understands this simple concept -- nothing will change. We will continue to pay inflated prices for a download that is one and one-half times faster than the average dial-up speed, and upload that is three-fourths slower than the download.
What CL fails to understand is business is saddled with the same blazing speed as you in the same town. If they offer a business speed they do not advertise it - which is probably why most business where I live switched to the a much faster (15/5), and more reliable local cable company.
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Mac: No windows, No Gates, Apple inside | |
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| Review by JoshMck - Location: Grants Pass,Josephine,OR
- Cost: $81 per month (month by month)
- Install: about 7 days
Good "Connection, speed, no hassel."
Bad "Price"
Overall "Pretty good considering the alternative."
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(ratings match consensus)
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We live in Grants Pass, Oregon. A town of roughly 35K citizens. We have two competing companies, Charter Communications and now CenturyLink. Before they bought or merged with Qwest, Charter was pretty much without competition.
At first we were only doing the 1.5Mbps plan. It was slow, but stable. We've now upgraded to their 20Mbps subscription.
Price for a 1.5mbps connection was $40.00 USD
Price for 20Mbps is $75($90 for the first month after switching.) Mind you that uplink is very slow for streaming anything at .869kbps(Yay, DSL.) This is also a monthly plan.
I personally find it a bit expensive, but this is for internet only.
As of 4:02PM Speedtest.net gives us a ping of 41ms, 19.02Mbps down, and 0.83Mbps up.(50 miles away)
At the opposite end of the country at St. John's, NL the connection speed is 276ms ping, 18.48Mbps downlink, and 0.78Mbps uplink.(3,300 miles away)
Nearly exactly what we have paid for. I've rarely seen it below 15Mbps.
Of course, this is most likely thanks to what I assume to be the DSLAM of my area being only a few hundred feet away at an intersection. For now, I don't believe my area to be as congested with internet traffic. Due to Charter taking most of the business.
Overall, we've been very happy with Century Link.
UPDATE:--------------------------------------------------------
Well, service is still the same. Had a random hiccup with my modem/router. Wouldn't connect for a full day. Called CL up, went through some troubleshooting and were unsuccessful. Scheduled a visit from a repair guy.
I bring my device back into my room and plug it in. Suddenly works.
I call them up and cancel the repair guy.
Worked a day, crapped out again, but this time I had a red light on my Router instead of nothing.
Re-configured it with the disc and now it has been working. This could have been much worse if I didn't know much.
UPDATE:------------------------------------------------------------
8/13/2013
I recently tried to reset my Q1000 modem which I had gotten in the box from Century Link when they first switched. I wanted to do a full reset, no passwords, no nothing. But, sadly the reset button on the back only restarts the system for some reason. I can hold that button as long as I like and it's not going to do anything different.
Since then, the internet has gone out each night; which I notice when I wake up. I only get a blinking DSL Light. I usually unplug it at the and wait a minute or two. Usually after a few tries this works. But, it's still bothersome because I need constant wifi for Skype to receive calls.
I went to the Century Link chat that day, asked about it, and they said they couldn't help. I then questioned if I could get a replacement, but it turns out my Modem is mine now. They don't have any records of me renting it. So, my eyes are now searching for any VDSL/ADSL modems wherever I go. Haha.
If it gets bad enough, I'll go try out by my TeleCom box to see if it's not my line in my house.
member for 290 days, 3 visits, last login: 53 days ago
updated 53 days ago
Comments:
| | Don't recommend century link I've been with century link for a couple years and I really don't recommend it as an onternet service provider. Whenever I want to load a new tab for google chrome, it takes me about a minute and a half to load all of it and if I want to watch a 2:30 video on YouTube, it would actually take me about 10 minutes to load the entire video and watch it. | |
| | | | Re: Don't recommend century link Hi All,
Thanks for taking the time to share your experience about our service. Our DSL Escalations Team is happy to help with any problems you are having with our service. Email us your account information along with any questions our issues you are having TalkToUs@Cetnurylink.com.
Thanks,
Corey Tidwell
Ceinturylink Help Team
TalkToUs@Centurylink.com | |
| | | | Run a speed test first with your wireless disabled an using only an Ethernet cable for your computer then go to ctlhelp. Com and run the test you should get the correct speed by doing that | |
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| | Do NOT get Centurylink! I would not recommend Centurylink to anybody, it is very very very very slow and disconnects a LOT! I still can't belive they call 1.5mbps "High Speed" Yeah, I guess if you consider snails to be "High Speed". On top of it being very slow and constatnly being disconnected, setting up and opening any ports and actually getting it to work for anyone outside your house to access, so they can see your sites or visit your servers, is near impossible. When you call thier "Tech" support, and you say you opened a port and it's not working, the response usally is "Uhhh Port?" A friend and I used to have a lot of servers running with Xfinity, but then I moved and century link was what I got, and for anyone wanting to set up sites or servers, good luck, century link blocks anything of that nature, and thier so called tech support wouldn't know the first thing to do to take steps to unblock it. | |
| | | | Re: Do NOT get Centurylink! Yes, I'll agree that if you're out in the back area of a city; you're not going to get a very good service.
This is a problem that is due to being to far from the DSLAM, yet the company still sold the service to you. | |
| | linicxCaveat EmptorPremium
join:2002-12-03
United State Reviews:
·CenturyLink
| Unless you are a business CL is not going to let you run 3rd party servers. 1.5 Mbps is 'high speed' when compared to a 28.8 modem. First level support of any type/kind is not allowed to open ports for anyone for any reason. That request would be kicked up to top level support - and most likely denied. Their ports are closed for the same reason mine are: we like it that way.
There are many reasons an area receives 1.5Mbps from a telephone company. Distance from the central office, state of equipment in office, state of copper lines are three reasons. I'm sure there are more.
CL, from the Pacific to the Atlantic and from Canada to the Gulf, is uber stingy with upload speed in rural America. Everything from 256 to 768 up is common and normal. None of this uplink speeds will support a digital phone and also the internet on the same line. The two need to be seperated outside at the box on the side of your house? How do I know.
Been there done that. But to get relief after months of non-response and double speak from CL's first-line-of- defense call center, I was forced to contact my state Public Utility Commission. The PUC.PUB and state Commerce Commissions only deal with public utilities that provide a service over some type of "line" into a home or business inside their borders. This generally means gas, lights, and telephone. and NOT cell phones, cable, satellite television, or internet
The other thing to understand is your county seat will have much better services than you (including internet) because it provides services to all residents throughout the county. The largest city, which may not be the county seat will also have better services than you due to population density.
It does not paint a nice picture for CL once residents understand CL provides 100T to Paris and London for their internet. But CL won't provide a reliable internet connection to all of their customrs in rural America.
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Mac: No windows, No Gates, Apple inside | |
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| Review by wxyz - Location: Rapid City,Pennington,SD
- Cost: $130 per month
- Qwest
Good "They have service"
Bad "Only 1.5 MB "
Overall "Settled for them because it was the only workable choice available"
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(ratings match consensus)
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While they do have DSL service available in my area, it is only 1.5 MB speeds and no one I talk to every seems to know anything about getting broadband (FCC describes broadband as 4 MB or faster service) service available. I know talking to a tech, they only need to replace the remote terminal to upgrade, yet that has been years since I was told that. Yet, they continue to send me advertisement, on average 2-3 per week, telling about their great service Other options, such as satellite are not an option because of VPN requirements. I was just informed they are looking to get all lines upgraded (whatever that means) by August 2014, but that is another year away.
member for 10.8 years, 189 visits, last login: 67 days ago
lodged 68 days ago
Comments:
| | Centry Link NO SERVICE These people have no idea what service is about.
My service has been down since 7/30/13 - Talking to then this AM @ 7:30 on and off hold till 10:30 Then I was told that the soonest they could get someone out there was Tuesday the 9th. That's service?? - I'm at my brother's (Cox Service) My next stop is Twitter #CenturyLink
See you there | |
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| Review by hobbit - Location: Denver,Denver,CO
- Cost: $43 per month
- Qwest
Good "they are polite, and if you're really really lucky, you get a tech that knows something."
Bad "Technical support is out of the Philippines, they run scripts thats all."
Overall "If you can avoid the big corps that love 'catch 22' situations, you are better off."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
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Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
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When I was with USwest and then Qwest, I had my DSL modem connected to my local ISP (Denver Exchange) and I bumped my service to 3.3Mbps. That is the max they allow to 3rd party ISPs.
6 months ago I realized I was only getting about 1.3Mbps. I talked to tech support and went through the usual powercycle and unplug and restart and they could not figure out what was wrong (no surprise). They scheduled a technician for Saturday 8am to noon. At 2pm I get a call saying he did something at the street and he would give me a modem that would be much better. I tried the modem, it was worse. I called tech support and went thru some of the routine script tests. They scheduled another tech for Saturday. He never showed. I called and they still wanted me to plug the modem into different jacks, so I did it once, of course no difference. They scheduled another tech for Saturday 2 weeks out. Again no show.
I talked with my ISP who was a wealth of information. What's happened is Centurylink upgraded to fiber and the new equipment is generating noise that interferes with the copper lines. Usually they swap the wires until they find a quiet enough pair. My Signal to Noise ratio was running about 6. Pretty darned poor.
I called tech support. They ran their script and I did a powercycle and unplug but that was it. They didn't have any answers and the "techs upstairs", that only she talked to, stated that the lines are getting old and so my 3Mbps speed is probably not possible anymore but if I switch ISPs to Centurylink now with fibre. That was when I pretty much lost it, I didn't swear nor did I do name calling, but I did let her know that I did not appreciate the BS. I worked in communications for 15 years and I knew it was BS. I escalated to her manager, who tried to run the same script, instead we scheduled a tech for 2 weeks out, Saturday. You guessed it, they didn't show up. I talked with my ISP who gave me lots of technical info and I hooked alligator clips to my modem and walked to the phone closets to look at the punchdown connectors. Not in good shape and it was obvious that other people had worked on it. I traced my wires, cleaning the connections and got my SnR up to 9.5 & 10. Better but still not good enough. I traced it to the demarcation point cleaning a couple more connections but didn't get any more improvement.
2 days later I get appendicitis and I'm in the hospital on morphine wanting for surgery. My ISP calls and says they got a disconnect notice from Centurylink. I expected this, every time I call to fix a problem or change my service, they try to switch me to Centurylink ISP. I called tech support, I finally got a guy that knew a little bit of what was going on. The change ticket said that my ISP had always been Centurylink. I got him to look up my history and he agreed the ticket was bogus. What I didn't know is that Centurylink took it upon themselves to re-provision my line back down to 1.5Mbps.
A few weeks later, I call tech support again. I refuse to cooperate with their script and they keep telling me the problem is because I'm only provisioned for 1.5Mbps. They could not understand that I used to have 3Meg and Centurylink took it upon themselves to change me back down to 1.5meg. They insisted I needed to call the business office and upgrade my speed, I insisted they send a tech. They schedule a tech for Saturday 8am to 5pm. On Saturday I check online and it states the tech will be at my place at 3pm. Ten minutes later he calls. Yay. I explain all I've done. He loved that fact that I'm an engineer and we could talk technical. He traced my wiring and found a couple questionable spots which he took care of but they didn't help. He found what looked like a good spare pair and took off to swap them. He has to change them at the street and then at the central office. Still no joy. The SnR was stuck around 9. He figures it's because I'm almost 2 miles to the CO and that’s just a bit much. Even if they did have me at 3Mbps it probably wasn't very stable (I admitted I did have some weird problems when I was at 3meg. He called the business office and asked if they could just test 3Mbps on my lines.
He was on speaker phone: " Nope," she says "can't change the speed." He explained again he just needed it for a minute and if it worked I would call and upgrade... "Nope" she said, "he was provisioned to 1.5Mbps xx weeks ago and she is not allowed to turn up the speed." "Well you know me, I work for Centurylink", he says, "and I need to just do this speed test and it might make a customer happy...?"
" Nope, can't do it." she said.
So that's my story, now I'm stuck at 1.5Mbps, I love my ISP but Centurylink with their worst marketing logic have capped the 3rd party ISPs at 3Mbps thinking we'll all just switch over to Centurylink. Surprise it isn't happening. You pissed us all off and we're finding other ways to get service and without Centurylink. Can you imagine what kind of a 'catch 22' I would be in if they were also my ISP?
I'm currently looking for some kind of solution so I don't have to deal with the 2 most stupid companies in the world, Comcast and Centurylink. I'm thinking the ClearSpot Voyager may be in my future, and I can still use my local ISP.
member for 78 days, 0 visits, last login: 78 days ago
updated 78 days ago
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