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Review by chd176 See Profile

  • Location: Winfield, Marion, AL, USA
  • Cost: $40 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 3 days
  • Telco party CenturyTel
DSL in the sticks, GREAT local techs
only game in town, slow on upgrades
CenturyLink is ok if you have no other options
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I just got CenturyTel DSL installed at my location today and after being on dialup for 4 years then satellite for a year I was ready for real broadband...The local field techs told me I should be able to get DSL in October or November. Sure enough on Tuesday (10-5-04) I placed the order for DSL...the CS agent said I more than likely couldn't get DSL because I was 12 miles from my CO but the RO only 1.3 miles away was being upgraded with a DSLAM and she said I could only get it from the CO even though I knew otherwise...I asked for a Tracking number but I was told it isn't available to the public then I called back the next day and I was told to call back friday to get the tracking number...I called back today and while she was looking up my information UPS ran and I had my modem...something happened with my line and the Local field techs were there before I could call em and asked if I had a problem with my phone and if I ordered DSL I was thinking to myself "WOW that is some fast service" They then asked where I wanted to use the modem then they wired that jack for DSL only so I wouldn't have to use the filters...great job on their part I was thinking of doing that myself but kudos to the local field techs for taking that extra step...when I got the modem hooked up I noticed I couldn't log on I called in and was told that tuesday was the date for the line to go live...I called back asking if there was anything that could be done then a tech rep got my account active and I was able to log on....and wow speeds are great I ordered the 1.5/256 package and it is great I get speeds of 1.3/186 pings are ok between 65 and 90 ms setting up the modem to play nice was a little tricky and required an additonal call with tech support but they got me up and running in about 10 mins...btw I am using the westell 6100...I've heard that a new speed teir 3000/512 is being tested and I see on a few speed test here of those speeds I plan on getting that package as soon as it is offered and if it is for Residental I have the full 1536/256 sync on my modem and great line quality...so far CenturyTel has been a great taste of real broadband I have downloaded several linux ISOs something I couldn't even think of doing on dialup or satellite

******************************update 11/6/2004*****************************

Well it has almost been a month on Monday so I thought I would update my review. So far the service has been very stable with no disconnects. I did however run into a problem with my speed degrading over a period of about three days. I called tech support to see what may be causing that and due to a mess up I was sent an extra modem so I could do some additional troubleshooting of my own before I called in. I noticed that when it slowed down I could unplug the modem for about ten seconds then plug it in and instantly my speeds were back up. I thought this may be with the one modem so I tried the other I was sent. The same thing happened again so this time I called Tech support and I informed them of what I did so far and they went in and changed my MTU...that did NOT help actually it made my speeds lower and I had to re-tweak and change it back. The agent I was on the phone with was very rude and eager to get me off the phone and basically said that MTU will work try that for three days and call back. I was tired of dealing with support for awhile so I continued to do some troubleshooting and I realized I didn't try a different power supply I had used the same one with my orignal modem. I then swaped the power supply and my connection has been fine since. I am really enjoying the speeds realiabilty of DSL compared to satellite I was thrilled when I was still online when my DirecTV went out yet I was still able to surf. I am really looking forward to the 3000/512 package that is expected sometime in the first quarter of 2005 and I will order it as soon as I can. I would highly recommend CenturyTel DSL but since this is my first true broadband connection I can't really compare it to any other services.

********************************update 2-5-05**********************************

well it's been almost 3 months since I had CenturyTel DSL installed. After getting over the first few billing issues it has been great for the most part. I did have some trouble with my pings going sky high for about 3 weeks but after several calls to tech support and emailing a "traceroute team" the issue was finally resolved. I even had a person come out to check my line. I was told that I had almost no noise on my line and it can support speeds up to 8 MB which is nice but that also raises another point. CenturyTel has now rolled out a new speed tier 3.0/512 but it is only available in MO still. This tier has been out for a little over a month now so I think they are quite slow in getting this new tier out to all CenturyTel service areas and I am still on 1.5/256 although I get really good speeds I normally get 1308 down and 212 up not bad. My pings have also improved from an average of 85 ms to an average of 60 ms now. I look forward to when I can upgrade my speed tier and get even better speeds and pings. I have had NO downtime (at least that I have noticed) in the 3 months that I've had DSL. It is very stable and my speeds never fluctate. Tech support is generally helpful I'm not sure if I got a few good people but they knew what they were talking about so it made the process smoother. The only thing I would change is the price and speed. It's 2005 and I am paying $45 for 1.5/256 while some other ISP's are only charging $30 for 3.0/768 I know that this is a larger company and out here CenturyTel is the only game in town so they can charge a higher price. I recently replaced my RJ-11 line with Cat5 and noticed a slight improvment in pings but no improvement in speed so I assume that was one of the factors. I just hope that the new speed tier gets rolled out quickly but overall I am still satisfied with CenturyTel.

********************************update 4-19-05**********************************

well four months later everything is finally starting to look up for DSL here. Starting yesterday I have been getting speeds 2 MB and up, keep in mind I am still on the 1500/256 plan because we don't have the upgrade available yet. I downloaded a Microsoft update for office yesterday that was 16 MB and I had a 243 KB/sec download. I am also really impressed about the routing issues they have fixed. When I first signed up I had pings in the 90ms range which for DSL is pretty bad, I now have pings that average about 41ms MUCH better than before but it could still be better. I have heard through the woodwork (CenturyTel chat techs) that my area is undergoing "testing" for the new speed tier that is why I am seeing such good speeds. I haven't went through the trouble of disconnecting my modem and checking the sync rate on the modem but I am just VERY happy with these speeds and ping times. I just hope CenturyTel offically releases the 3000/512 tier here very soon. I have only had two short term (a few mins) outages in the four months since I have last updated this. I am glad CenturyTel is finally moving in the right direction. The only thing left to do now is for them to lower the prices because compared to other DSL providers it's pretty pricy (then again I do live in the middle of nowhere and I should be thankful JUST to have DSL).

********************************update 10-6-05*************************************

It's been over a year now since I got DSL with CenturyTel and I am now no long in a contract and could disconnect with them anytime I like but I choose to stay with CenturyTel, the main reason is because there is no one else around to provide high speed. The second factor is my connection has been pretty much rock solid except for 4 disconnects (that I know of) in the last year. Most of them last only a few mins but one lasted for 5 hours. As far as speed and pricing goes I either wish the speed would increase or the price would go down. I am paying twice as much as my friends with Bellsouth, but I don't really have a choice for another provider in my area. I would still recommend CenturyTel to anyone interested. I still think I am very lucky to live in such a rural area and have access to DSL. CenturyTel did a great job by installing a DSLAM in our local RO to provide DSL to everyone. I haven't had to call tech support in about 5 months now so the reliability has been great. I've learned that if there is a problem just wait it out. Hopefully CenturyTel replaced their PPPoE servers because that was the issue each time my DSL went out. If you can't get cable CenturyTel is the way to go.

********************************update 6-4-06*************************************

I was going to wait until I upgraded my speed package (which should be available sometime this month) until I updated my review, however during an issue tonight I thought I would go ahead and do the update. I just through chatting with "tech support" and I had to call "tech support" to get a trouble ticket setup. I use that phrase lightly at best. I have been running into an issue for the past month or so where my speeds will greatly diminish, much of the time over half of my normal speeds. I didn't bother speaking with a "tech" before because it was a known issue when I called the support line, only after being told to do so by the online support, it's really great that they communicate well! Anywho tonight I had a problem again and I isolated it to CenturyTel by bypassing the router and trying three different computers. Here is a transcript of the online chat (I edited the techs name)

Connecting to server. Please wait...

Connected to netagent.centurytel.net Tech I has joined this session!

Tech says, Welcome to CenturyTel's Internet Tech Support Chat. Just a moment please while I read over your message.

Tech says, Have you run any speed tests?

You say, yes and they are about 512 - 582 and I'm on the 1.5 package

You say, these were the centurytel speed test also

Tech says, Do you have a DSL filter on all other devices that use the same phone line/number? (phones, satellites, security systems, fax, DirectTV, etc.)

You say, got a dedicated line run (ie: home run) the filter is installed at the NID

Tech says, I am not showing any trouble reported in the area. I suggest you call in at 1-800-809-1410 to have a repair ticket opened to have this checked out.

as you can see the online support is pretty pathetic but the phone support is just as bad because I was asked the same questions by the phone agent as well. I even told her that my S/N ratio was a lot lower than it normally was and it normally stays around 25.2 but tonight it was 16.3 and I'm not kidding she said "what is that?" I was spechless...and she didn't know what DHCP was either because I told her that I had connected PPPoE on my other computers and she said the Westell 6100 didn't support that if that was really the modem I was using. When I asked her if CenturyTel switched to DHCP she said "I don't know what that is I just know we use a user name and password to connect". I get a ticket put in so who knows what will happen now. When I first got CenturyTel the techs were great and the service was really stable. I don't know what happened but things REALLY went downhill, I do have to admit that the local techs are still as good as ever! I also have to report at least one good thing. I contact a Corp office at CenturyTel and told them about how I was paying for a service that I never recieved fully for an entire month and I did get a month of DSL for free, so I can't complain there. I hope that my issues are just caused by CenturyTel getting ready to roll out the two new tiers here and after that happens things will go back to the way they were. I have high hopes for CenturyTel, perhaps it's just because that's all I can get here, but right now they are slipping.

********************************update 3-5-08*************************************

Well after some up and downs with CenturyTel I am quite content right now with them. I had some issues with a hop on CenturyTel's network that a lot of other people in my area were having problems with and it was slowing mine (and everyone elses) speeds way down during peak times. This has since been corrected and I haven't had any problems since. My pings average about 25 to 40ms and speed test are about 1520/270, quite exceptable since I have the 1.5/256 package. Which brings me to another problem since I've had DSL in late 2004 I have yet to qualify for a higher speed package when the CO about 8 miles from my location has went from 1.5 to 3.0 to 6.0 and now has 10 MB speeds so I would like to get a higher throughput but as I said I can't really complain since I live so far out.

********************************update 5-7-08*************************************

Well I finally got a speed boost! It wasn't quite what I was expecting but I will take it with NO compalints. I was having some issues dropping my landline to go with dry DSL online (CenturyTel calls it "Pure Broadband") that was quite a hassle. I had spent about 2 hours total over 4 or 5 days trying to get it switched. I finally got that resolved thanks to dsldude08!

It was switched over in a matter of minutes (maybe an hour I don't remember lol) also since he was so great in finally getting my dry DSL I asked like I normally do every few months about a faster speed (at this point I was just asking for some more upload) and what do you know turns out 10 MB was available, needless to say I jumped all over that! I then realized I had a older Westell (6100 b90) and it wasn't capable of handleing the speed. No problems though dsldude08 hooked me up again and the very next day (today) a tech was to come out, switch ports to the new ADSL2 equipment and bring my new Westell.

When the tech got here at around 9:30 AM he asked if I wanted just the 6100 or the 327w. Since I already had a linksys router that was working just fine for my wireless connections I opted for the 6100. I connected it and I was still at 1.5 MB. I was a bit disappointed and was thinking that I may not be able to get 10 MB out here after all. Well after a brief call to the CO from the tech my modem lost sync and when it synced up again I was syncing at 12474/894. I was estatic! I started to test it out right away and I noticed at first I was only getting around 3.8/720 I thought it was no problem I just had to do some tweaking. Well I ran cablenut and rebooted then my speed was around 5.1/740 better but still the DL was only half of what it should be.

I asked for help online again and dsldude08 come through for me again. He spent several hours researching it for me and in the end it turns out that technically I'm only supposed to get 3 MB max from my RT because the limit any one customer can have out of my RT is 6 MB. This was a little disappointing but coming from 1.5/256 I'm estatic to have 5.1/740, I was told that 5 MB will be on the high side and may drop below that when other customers come online that are served out of my RT.

Overall I'm very happy because I got to keep my 10 MB package and I'm still synced at 12747/894 with NO problems at all. Also the best part is when the 10 MB finally is brought out here I won't have to do anything I will just noticed an increased download!

*************************update 5/14/08*************************************************

Well after being quite pleased with the upgrade in speed my hopes were dashed as CenturyTel decided that since my RT couldn't support 10 MB they would drop me back to 1.5 apparently that is the top speed available to me despite the fact that I am now connected to ADSL2 equipment and I'm still synced with ASDL2 heck even 3.0 is apparently not available. So now I am stuck at 1.5 again and now I'm stuck in a contract for 12 more months but at least the price dropped to only $29.99 since I switched to dry DSL so I am actually getting ready to switch to a WISP in my area that offers 15/5 for $89.99 a month so I will keep CenturyTel for another year while I'm in contract and in 12 months when I am able to cancel without and ETF I will weigh my options to stay with CenturyTel or the WISP if after a year the only thing CenturyTel can offer me is 1.5 still then I'm done. This is 2008 not 2000 we should have faster speeds than that. When a small locally owned ISP can out perform a national ISP you know that something is wrong with that picture.

*************************update 5/14/08*************************************************

Wow after 6 years I'm still stuck on 1.5/256 I seriously doubt my RT will ever be upgraded to support more than that. Each time I call they'll say 10 MB is available put in the order I'll get a sync increase and then a couple of days later I'm downgraded back to 1.5. My line will support 10/768 it's just the backhaul to my RT is seriously lacking, which brings us to an entirely different issue.

For months I've been having erratic speeds, mostly in the afternoon/night time hours. I'm fully aware what's happened CenturyLink yet again, has oversold the bandwidth in my area, by the time they get around to fixing it then it's only another 6 months or so before it's oversold yet again. This is another reason I doubt I'll see more than 1.5/256 at my location. I really wish I had another alternative for high speed access because I would drop CenturyLink faster than I could blink. I am, however, grateful that they can provide DSL service out in the middle of nowhere, but just 4 miles north of me where the CO is located they have 10 MB service. I don't see why they wouldn't expand that to the RTs, then again I'm not an engineer.

Overall I'm very displeased with the service, when it works it's great but with frequent PPPoE issues and constant bandwidth restraints I can't recommend CenturyLink to anyone, at least in my area, at the moment and foreseeable future.

*************************update 7/7/12*************************************************

Well, I thought the day would never come but yesterday I was officially upgraded to the 10/768 package. So far it's been running really smooth and steady with close to 10/768 on speed tests and real world performance. Last time I was upgraded to 10/768 in error my sync rate was 12474/894 which apparently was an error because this time I'm synced at 11773/894. Either way at least it's better than the 1.5/256 I was stuck on for 8 years.

My stats are holding pretty stable, I just had one small hiccup where I was on interleaved instead of fast path but that was resolved in a couple of hours..



Transceiver Revision: 5.2.2.0

Vendor ID Code: 4

Line Mode: ADSL2+ Mode

Data Path: Fast

Transceiver Information Downstream Path Upstream Path

DSL Speed (Kbits/Sec) 11773 894

Margin (dB) 11.0 12.0

Line Attenuation (dB) 33.0 20.0

Transmit Power (dBm) 19.7 12.2

Not bad stats and they're really stable (just like the 1.5/256 I was on) as stated before speeds are almost to the 10/768 level.

iPhone3,1_5.1.1_9B208_Restore (1).ipsw1,133 KB/s - 153 MB of 784 MB, 9 mins left

Uploaded: 23,679 KB (22%)

Elapsed time: 255 sec

Transfer rate: 95.5 KB/sec

That's pretty representative of the download/upload speeds I'm getting in real world applications. Also below are some speed test I've ran.

Last Result:

Download Speed: 9924 kbps (1240.5 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 734 kbps (91.8 KB/sec transfer rate)

»www.speedtest.net/result ··· 0955.png



Download :: 9.5 Mbps 1.2 MB/s Upload :: 695 Kbps 87 kB/s

Here is a ping test

»www.pingtest.net/result/ ··· 3947.png

I've been getting better pings on the 10/768 package than the 1.5/256 while both were on fast path. I must say I'm very pleased so far and I'll update this a few months now the line for more of a long term review. I always want to give a special shout out to Joey he helped me figure out I finally had 10 MB available to me (it still doesn't show my address as getting anything higher than 1.5 on the site!) It's been a roller coaster with CenturyLink over the past few years but hopefully I'll have smooth sailing here on out.

*************************update 7/7/12*************************************************

Wow, it's been almost 10 years now since I updated my review of CenturyLink (now Brightspeed). So much has changed since then, unfortunately my speed wasn't one of those changes lol. I have been a customer since October of 2004, that's just 2 months shy of being 19 years ago which honestly is wild to me! Back in April I got something I never thought I would get living in such a rural area and that was FTTH.

I've kept Brightspeed as a backup to the fiber (Freedom Fiber through Tombigbee communications) and unfortunately I've had to use it as we've had a few brief outages on the fiber. I have recently got T-Mobiles home internet to replace Brightspeed as a backup internet connection as it's cheaper and faster than Brightspeed. through all of these years it still blows my mind that I've only had 2 different speeds from Brightspeed even though the name has changed more times than that lol. I've been through CenturyTel, CenturyLink and now Brightspeed.

Back in 2012 I upgraded to 10/768 from 1.5/256 I was on for 8 years from when I first got DSL back in 2004. I was only on ADSL then once I upgraded to 10/768 I was switched to ADSL2+ it blows my mind that for 11 years I have been stuck on the same speed and I still would be if it hadn't been for the new ISP that came to my town back in 2017. It wasn't until February that the new FTTH ISP began running lines in my neighborhood. Finally in April I was able to place my order for service and decided to go with the 500/500 plan.

I had the option of 1,000/1,000 or 500/500 or finally 100/100. Here recently they started to offer 10,000/10,000 (10 gig) which really blows my mind. Unfortunately if I still had brightspeed I'd still be on 10/768 if it was cheaper I'd still keep Brightspeed as a backup connection cause even though it was super slow it had one thing going for it and that's reliability.

There were only a handful of times where my DSL was ever down in the 19 years I had it which was simply impressive. This obviously will be the last time I update this review unless the price drops and I sign back up to use them as a backup connection, it was nice to have that kind of reliability but I'm happy to have real broadband speed as well as amazing ping times that fiber provides.

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member for 21.2 years, 5051 visits, last login: 38 days ago
updated 225 days ago

evoxfan
Waiting On Dsl Or Cable
join:2004-02-12
Daleville, AL

evoxfan

Member

Good for you.....I'm still wishing....

I'm glad you got DSL, but I wish they would get in gear in my area and upgrade my RT for DSL. It's about 2 miles away. There's approximately 100 people living in my area, so I don't know why they won't get DSL here. I'm stuck with Direcway satellite. I think you know how that is! I was hoping the ping times would be better than that though. Anyway, enjoy the "real" thing.

By the way, what's the distance limit for that new tier you've heard about?

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

chd176

Member

Re: Good for you.....I'm still wishing....

I've heard 13,000 ft. A friend of mine is beta testing that new teir now and he is served by his RO about 1.5 miles away...and he's getting 2800/678 and I'm even closer to the RO than he is I just hope this is a resdiental package and not the outragous business package.

groomlake51
@dothan01.al.comcast.

groomlake51

Anon

chd176's Centurytel reviews

I would like to thank you very much for your review and updates of Centurytel's DSL service.I'm thinking of switching to Centurytel's service and found it most informative and helpful.I'm from Alabama also and I have wondered how their service is.Once again thank you very much.
Reilloc
join:2004-11-30
Winfield, AL

Reilloc

Member

Re: chd176's Centurytel reviews

There is no way I can advise you to go with CenturyHell. I've been on the m for almost a full year to no avail. I get loss percentages anywhere from 2 to 20 percent and I'm in Bama too.
Reilloc

Reilloc

Member

Blah!! CenturyHell!!

I'm in Winfield and I've had nothing but trouble out of my connection since I got it last year. I have called them repeatedly concerning my packet loss (anywhere from 2 to 15 percent) with no satisfaction. All they have done is ask me for traceroute after traceroute and then ping tests. Even when they decide they see a problem, they tell me that they'll try and figure it out and put out a work order then call me back. They haven't called.... after several months. If the cable company here knew anything at all I'd switch back to the lower speed just to get out of CenturyHell.
deathfox
join:2006-12-15
Hamilton, AL

deathfox

Member

Hey

Im the first guy to order 6mb dsl in hamilton alabama

can someone help me my speeds are from 2mb - 5.8 and im getting random dsl sync drops

what is wrong how can i fix iv contacted techs but they say nothens wrong
rlonghofer
join:2001-01-27
Lake Dallas, TX

rlonghofer

Member

My experience with the 10 meg

I got tired of the random disconnects and poor service from charter internet. Switched to the triple play from centurytel. At first we had a disconnect problem, but the local guy at the office said due to the length to my house it would not probably run all the time at 10 meg, (I was getting testing at almost 11 meg sometimes) but would get alot of resets. So he knocked it down to 7 meg. Since that, its been ROCK SOLID. So you might ask them to knock down the speed for testing if thats the problem.

The local tech said if the hardware in their office detects to many lost frames, it will automatically reset the modem on your end, that might be some of the problems you experience.

The rest is just either poor lines or something else.

The only gripe I have with centurytel is the ping, which to dallas on charter ran about 20 ms to 60 with centurytel, my gamer kids are bitching. But they say there are no lost packets at all in there games.

Review by ocjosh See Profile

  • Location: Henderson, Clark, NV, USA
  • Business customer Business customer
  • Cost: $65 per month
  • Install: about 6 days
Very un-reliable and slow download for fiber
Bad fiber CS team, very stubborn team and policy; whole day installation open window
Go somewhere else if you can. Bad support to no support.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

My Other Reviews

·T-Mobile
·Verizon Wireless
**3/7/2022
Quantum fiber is down at 8AM in the morning. It took me hours to get an appointment 3 days later. 3 days later, they did it again to unplug the wrong fiber to give mine to another neighbors. Can you believe it?? I have the business line and it happened 3 times with no compensations but 3 days wait for them to re-connect my line back!!

**1/X/2022
My internet is down again. It took me chatting online for hours to get an appointment that's several days away.

**12/9/2021
My Quantum fiber is down. It took me 3 hours to get back on. And I have 2 charges from both CenturyLink and Quantum fiber.

**10/26/2021
I went ahead and upgraded to gigabit speed and told to move to Quantum fiber brand. They would take care of transitions.

**9/7/2021
July 4th holidays, it doesn't slow down too much, only uploads got impacted. But labor day weekends, overall speeds all cut into half. It still has some issues of congestions for fiber service although it's better than before. We have been thinking to upgrade to gigabit plan since day one, what's the point if weekends or holiday might just gone to zero?

** 6/11/2021
After paying more attentions to the speeds, I have found the patterns of slowing, the Friday evenings to Sunday noons, the slowest speeds of last event was memorial holidays when we have tons of tourists coming into Vegas after reopen. I have excellent 104/105 speeds during weekdays. So CenturyLink has limited backhaul for our growing cities in Las Vegas market.

** update after 5 months 5/29.2021
Wow, my fiber download dropped to under 1 mbps while upload is still 104; ping is 2 ms from my 100/100 fiber plan. I went through help pages and all suggested steps reboot and reset etc.
Contacted them and took more than 4 hours chatting with 6 different persons kept transfer me and each single one was not responsive at all. They are taking naps during chatting to you, you have to wait between the line for minutes to get one response not only one rep but all 6!
In the end, they asked you to call the hidden support line numbers, and the guy over the phone is moodier than customers and talked down to you tone. The first tech they can send out is another 5 days away and they will charge if they verdict it's not their equipment issue. I have to change my recommendations that don't get CenturyLink if you have other better choice. This company is a nightmare to use the no support tech department.

*Original 01/08/2021
Order online is better than call, due to prices and accuracy address checks. They limit better pricing without online chatting order or phone ordering. Open window for installation date is the whole day, they don't tell you when during the day. So you'd better wait for them without leaving to buy lunch.
Mine showed up at lunch that I left for 11 mins, they took off when I was back insisting I missed the appointment. So I have to book 2 days later. No attitudes at all!!

They will have unlimited data if you order 940/940 giga fiber internet $65 with their free router or you have to buy or lease their modem/router for $200 router or 15/month. So you will be paying the same and more $65/month but only getting 100/100.

My location is ready for 940/940 but the system marked as 100/100 area only; the business fiber team was told from installation tech guys that my location is gigabit ready. They don't care if the system is out dated. Oh well, I will save $15 a month; plus, my mesh routers, cameras and laptops are not WiFi6 yet anyway. Now after weeks, I kept on getting email saying my address is ready for gigabit if I sign up as new customers, what an iXXX.

And CenturyLink downgraded new customer fiber 100/100 to 1TB capped plan now. I consider I am lucky to have unlimited 100/100 plan and pay less for signing up couple of weeks earlier than Febuary2021.

As a new resident to Nevada where mostly capped internet Cox and CenturyLink zone, I am very blessed I can sign up this old unlimited data plan January 2021 with a promo gift card.


member for 11 years, 1022 visits, last login: 46 days ago
updated 1.9 years ago

rmoonin
join:2000-08-05
Newtown, PA

rmoonin

Member

Internet service

I am also in Henderson,NV and use Cox Gigabyte service with unlimited downloads. It is not cheap but at night I am getting very high speeds (like 850-900). I am using state of the art desktop computer and regular cable (not fiber). I do not like Century Link. Suggest you make the change to Cox.
ocjosh
join:2013-03-19
Anaheim, CA
·T-Mobile
·Verizon Wireless
·CenturyLink

ocjosh

Member

Re: Internet service

Thank you. Our family lived in Cox HSI zone and we knew it's solid. We really hate the monopoly duo situations and prefer to not to have capped data plan nor the upload bottleneck. We use a lot of 4K surveillance cameras, VPN WFH and cloud backups for database. And I heard that cable industries are cutting into upload of 5 mbps from 20 a lot.

dfrandin
Premium Member
join:2002-06-14
Las Vegas, NV

dfrandin

Premium Member

You're Lucky..

I'm currently on Cox preferred (150/10) and sick and tired of paying $88/mo for this. A friend, who lives 4 blocks away, and WAS on Cox until about 4 months ago, called me to say he'd just signed up with CL and got 100/100 fiber service for the $49/mo "lifetime" plan. I quickly called CL to see if I could get it also. Nope, most I can get, 4 blocks away from him, is 10mpbs DSL, for the same $49/mo "lifetime". Talk about pissing me off... smh
ocjosh
join:2013-03-19
Anaheim, CA

ocjosh

Member

Re: You're Lucky..

I won't sign up any capped plan with Cox, ever. I am planning to move if possible to a monopoly zone in NW Vegas. I will use LV.net or other WISPs which I will have more upload speeds than Cox.

dfrandin
Premium Member
join:2002-06-14
Las Vegas, NV

dfrandin

Premium Member

Re: You're Lucky..

I checked out LV.net and found you had to call them to get any info speeds/prices. Bottom line with them, higher price than what I am paying Cox and a lower speed/more latency. Not an option for me. However, I heard about an app/service called called Truebill who, at my request, negotiatied my SiriusXM monthly from over $20/mo down to $8 and change, they ask for 25% of the annual savings as their pay. Since that worked nicely, I had them negotiate with Cox, went from $88/mo for preferred down to $72/mo. They could have gotten lower if I'd been willing to downgrade my tier, but I have to stay on preffered to keep using the city-wide Cox wifi access points. Again, 25% of the annual savings. Sure I probably could have gotten the same deal but I'd rather pay somebody else to deal with Cox. I'll probably have to do the same thing in less than a year since I believe this reduction was for only a year.

Review by kc7gr See Profile

  • Location: Kent, King, WA, USA
  • Cost: $60 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 4 days
Competent field tech, went above and beyond to find good pairs and get the circuit in.
Probably the most grossly incompetent post-sales tech
Don't bother. Stick with Comcast if you're getting a decent deal.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Let me say up front -- I loathe Comcast. For many reasons. The ONLY reason I've stayed with them, and will be staying with them for now, is they're the only game in town which supports my application (self-hosting, private static IP block, etc.) If the City of Kent had gone forward with their (aborted) plan to do municipal fiber, I would have switched in a heartbeat!

But, anyway... I thought I saw an opportunity to get away from Comcast when C-Link started offering up to 60MB VDSL in my area. So, I placed an order. My plan was to get the C-Link side fully installed and tested, with static IP's and modem (a Zyxel C2100Z) in transparent bridge mode, then swing the servers over and personally deliver Comcast's box back to their service center with an... appropriate... 'fare thee well!'

The hardware install and circuit turn-up went, surprisingly, very smooth. I was much impressed with the field tech's level of skill (and I don't impress easily, as I'm an ex-Bell tech myself!)

No, Murphy reared his ugly head after I ordered the static IP block and attempted to communicate with it. With my last DSL hookup, back in the days when 1.5 megs was the norm, getting the static addresses to work was simple: I put the old Cisco 678 in 'RFC1483 Bridge' mode, and wham! All my static addresses became visible to my router/firewall.

Not so with this one! NONE of the 13 usable addresses I ordered were visible in any way from the Ethernet side of the modem. I spent a cumulative total of about four hours on the phone, getting shunted from one alleged "support" group to another, trying to get this issue dealt with. All I got were flip-chart followers who wouldn't know a subnet mask or default gateway if it reared up and bit them in the arse!

I think the ultimate insult was when one rep, realizing she was out of her depth, said she was transferring my call to the "static IP group" -- and it ended up on the night-answering number for a laser hair-removal salon. No, I'm not kidding! You can't make this sh*t up!!

Thankfully, I was within the "30-day Money-Back Guarantee!" Window, so I cancelled the service and returned the modem to the local service center (yes, I got a receipt for it).

Bottom line: If all you're looking for is a basic Internet hookup, great! C-Link will probably work pretty well for you. HOWEVER -- If you're trying to self-host (run your own servers), with static IP's, look elsewhere!

---UPDATE, 24-Aug-21

So -- Thought I'd try again, just to see if C-Link had learned anything in the intervening years. Silly me! :-P

That's a short way of saying 'no, they didn't learn a bloody thing.'

While their tech "support" has gotten slightly better (they actually know what reverse DNS is, now), they're trying to offer static IP's over PPPoE on at least their copper circuits. This means the static assignments will work -- IF your modem is in 'Bridge' mode AND each every server you've got hooked up is equipped to do PPPoE authentication, AND claim its specific address! Letting C-Link's modem do the authentication still doesn't allow your static addresses to be visible on the Ethernet side, nor does letting your firewall (in my case, a Watchguard Firebox M400) handle the PPP Auth.

This discovery prompted me to do some heavy research into the PPPoE protocol. What I found is it was never designed, from the ground up, to deal with static addresses. As for adding PPPoE auth to each server, it's difficult at best for *nix-based systems -- and I'm sure as blazes not trusting my web and mail infrastructure to Windows boxen!

C-Link, in my view shouldn't even be offering statics with PPPoE circuits.

My original 'bottom line' remains true: If you're self-hosting your own Internet presence and you lack access to municipal or community fiber or other broadband, independent from Comcrap or CLink, your best bet is going to be a Comcrap 'Business' class line with a static block.



member for 10.8 years, driveby review (so far)
updated 2.5 years ago


Review by dmxrob See Profile

  • Location: Centerville, Reynolds, MO, USA
  • Cost: $59 per month
  • Install: about 21 days
  • Telco party CenturyTel
Absolutely nothing.
Everything. No customer service. Techs don't care.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

My Other Reviews

·Charter
·StarLink
·Suddenlink
What a joke of a company. They consider 6MB DSL "blazing fast" and act like you should be lucky to get it. Their infrastructure (wire, etc) is so old that most boxes along our road are rusted and falling apart - open to the elements. Tech comes out and just shrugs shoulders. I never seen such a joke of a company in my life. Stay far, far, far away!

member for 18.7 years, 1318 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 2.6 years ago


former qwest
Premium Member
join:2014-01-04
out there

former qwest

Premium Member

what?

$59 a month for 6Mb down, 21 days to install? you live in MO, so "Show Me".
swbtbellguy
join:2017-03-15
Saint Louis, MO

1 recommendation

swbtbellguy

Member

Centurylink

And btw, now they are selling Missouri and 19 other states to Apollo Group who has bought & sold companies who have ended up in Bankruptcy court.






Review by firedrakes See Profile

  • Location: Arcadia, De Soto, FL, USA
  • Cost: $55 per month (12 month contract)
nothing good to say
bad billing issues,way over price,so so tech support,and more
if you have any other choice. go for them unless it a real fiber.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

current only internet . but charging $60 for 44mb. very un stable atm. i fought tooth and nail with service issues,billing issue and wrong modem they keep sending me. up to i think 5 or 6 incorrect device.
if their was comcast internet in town. i would switch in a heart beat. that's how bad this company is. valid review still of 5/31/19
6/5/19
update. i had the run around on this company when trying to get a simple correct modem sent to me. they keep sending me the wrong one. and claim its the system.
2020 update
they tried to make a fake account and charge over 1,000 dollars to my mother account. i caught them red handed on this. in 2020. second time i seen them make a fake account for a family member.
they out right refuse to upgrade lines/box that they let rot in my county.
they have tried and failed to black mail my county to!

member for 15.1 years, 4105 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 3.1 years ago

brad152
join:2006-07-27
Chicago, IL

brad152

Member

VDSL2

If they'd just upgrade your area to VDSL2, then you'd be able to get 80/40 through pair bonding (or 100/12 or 100/40 if that close) no problem.
firedrakes
join:2009-01-29
Arcadia, FL

firedrakes

Member

Re: VDSL2

mostly likely. but its like pulling teeth with them.

Wolfe
@embarqhsd.net

1 recommendation

Wolfe

Anon

Centurylink

I am on a main highway in the same town and only have the option of 4Mbps with horrible connectivity and a bigger bill than yours. They have us over a barrel and they know it. How long have you been able to get your speeds where ever you are in Desoto?
firedrakes
join:2009-01-29
Arcadia, FL

firedrakes

Member

Re: Centurylink

well i by the cevy dealer ship. i also should note that the lines in the house and lines running from the isp box to the house are new.

Wolfe
@att.net

Wolfe

Anon

Re: Centurylink

Thanks for the reply. That's even more aggravating because I'm only about a half a mile from where you're talking about, right on 17. They're so inconsistent.
firedrakes
join:2009-01-29
Arcadia, FL

firedrakes

Member

Re: Centurylink

yeah . the big issue is that they outright refuse to replace alot of the 25 plus year old phone and boxs in are town.

chd176
join:2003-01-10
Winfield, AL

chd176

Member

Spellcheck...

It's CHEVY dealership ffs please learn how to spell or don't post. Thank you.
firedrakes
join:2009-01-29
Arcadia, FL

firedrakes

Member

Re: Spellcheck...

i cant even edit a 2 year old post

chd176
join:2003-01-10
Winfield, AL

1 recommendation

chd176

Member

Re: Spellcheck...

That's fine, just make a reply to correct it. Have a great day.

Anonc6fb3
@174.18.85.x

Anonc6fb3

Anon

Speed

The Speed of Century Link Connection is unpredictable. I try certain websites and they won't connect. I do some on-line gaming and it kicks me out for what appears to be no reason. The reliability is horrible.
firedrakes
join:2009-01-29
Arcadia, FL

firedrakes

Member

Re: Speed

yeap. have had that issue now really bad.

Review by Buzzed See Profile

  • Location: Arvada, Jefferson, CO, USA
  • Cost: $96 per month
  • No Cap
Very Reliable
more than twice what neighbors are paying because I cannot get that service
No Competation so they screw us, Priced keep creeping up...
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I get both my Landline phone service and a DSL internet connection from Century Link, except for satellite TDS is the only competitor to Century Link and in my area TDS has a VERY bad reputation for reliability. I purchased a 19MBPS plan and can occasionally see 17MBPS but the average is 13MBPS. The service & speed is fine for our needs but when I complain about the price they advised me that because the "work at home" Covid movement any change to my plan including cost will automatically reduce my download speeds to 3MBPS (Three) in which they estimated a 15% cost reduction. I cant go anywhere else and if I make a change I loose most of my speed, Doesn't seem to fair, I am thinking we are getting taken advantage of.

member for 17.7 years, 44 visits, last login: 13 days ago
lodged 3.1 years ago


Review by crc1021 See Profile

  • Location: Circle Pines, Anoka, MN, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
unreliable
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

The connection is unreliable, it drops out several times a day. I get less than half of the advertised uplink speed.

member for 3.4 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 3.4 years ago

mdhtx
join:2003-05-14
Athens, TX

mdhtx

Member

centrylink sucks

They suck so bad and then want to jack up the price even more I dumped them and went back to my wireless service at least its better than 2 or 3 mb and reliable on top of that






Review by theFrederick See Profile

  • Location: Destin, Okaloosa, FL, USA
  • Cost: $70 per month
  • Install: about 14 days
  • No Cap
sometimes it works
Often it does not work
everything bad about rural DSL is true of centurylink in Destin Florida
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

At least once a month the DSL fails to authenticate. Every self-test shows the line is good, the DSL is good, but the internet does not load.
A call to the service center takes a minimum of five minutes waiting, often I hang up after 20 minutes.
Most outages are around 36 hours, regardless of what the technician does or does not do.
Every service call (more than ten in the last year) has actually been cancelled because the problem "self resolved" within the 3-day to ten-day window a tech can come.

member for 3.4 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 3.4 years ago


Anon5dba9
@71.55.94.x

Anon5dba9

Anon

Horrific Customer Service in NC

I work from home for long hours each day. I require internet access, can't get preferred fiber or broadband; only DSL and only from this company. Is that considered a monopoly ? I certainly thing they think that is the case as their service is horrific. I received an email from Stephaine Polk, their VP of Customer Advocacy, on Monday 9/21 after I spent 5 hours on calls with at least 4 different Customer Service Reps. she indicated they would contact within three days to help resolve the issue. I was contacted 4 days later by Mr Hayden with zero resolution nor plan. In tracking the connectivity, their service is OUT (can't connect) on average 10 times a day during prime hours; when it works , it is always a poor performer (best ever was 2.73/.34 which I would be happy with), on average it is less than 1/2 the Up to 3.0 advertised. I reported them to the NC DOJ office for fraud and poor service. I then received a notification from Ms Polk's Customer Advocacy office they were closing the case and I now must work with NC DOJ (which I will) .. it's is all a useless waste of time, money and energy. Why can't Century Link deliver a service that comes close to their contracts/advertising ? If anyone in the Pittsboro NC area can recommend a better internet connection option please let me know here.
firedrakes
join:2009-01-29
Arcadia, FL

firedrakes

Member

Re: Horrific Customer Service in NC

i feel you. i am 50 feet away from getting 120mb line... but they wont do it...

Review by mdhtx See Profile

  • Location: Athens, Henderson, TX, USA
  • Cost: $50 per month
  • Install: about 2 days
Centurylink Sucks
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Changed my last review for centurylink I was wrong save yourself the money and the headache. So I went back with wireless

member for 20.8 years, 1005 visits, last login: 307 days ago
updated 3.7 years ago

summerzz
join:2011-01-09
Commerce, TX

summerzz

Member

don't expect service to last

don't expect it to last. ours was good for awhile - now I get an average of 0.2 days and evenings. centurylink reps say network is oversold and can't expect relief for 4 months or more.
texasmmo
join:2010-12-20
Kaufman, TX

texasmmo

Member

pfft.

Its been broken since November 2010. Here we are in January and no fix in sight.
mdhtx
join:2003-05-14
Athens, TX

mdhtx

Member

Slowly there getting there!!!

Not the best but it's getting there
zevus
join:2010-11-29
Chandler, TX

zevus

Member

Re: Slowly there getting there!!!

i thought you had 3/512.

5mb/512? seems about right. esp for a test taken at 3:30AM
mdhtx
join:2003-05-14
Athens, TX

mdhtx

Member

No your right 3mb down, but since it has been put in it has always tests out alot slower






Review by AZWolf See Profile

  • Location: Flagstaff, Coconino, AZ, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Works most of the time
Terrible upload speeds and no option for faster service in my area
The only other ISP options in my area are worse
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

Centurylink does not honor their contracts. At one point I got one of their prices "good for life" and several months later when they jacked up the rate and when I called they said they had no record of my getting price locked for life. They made me call every 6 months to a year for the current "promotion" If I didn't pay attention my rates went up 30-50% minimum. Last summer I got another "for life" deal. We'll see if they continue to honor it. I've gotten several notices in the mail for class action suits against them for these very practices. Hopefully they'll get their act together. On the bright side, the vast majority of customer service people there are very nice and helpful. The technicians have no idea what buffer bloat is but since I got the router advertised on this site my service has been much more consistent. I can recommend the IQ router. In my case, it really helps. My streaming video doesn't pixelate any more, my VOIP is much more consistent (though still occassional issues- but can't say whether my DSL or the VOIP service), and my internet is more stable.

member for 7.7 years, 13 visits, last login: 2.7 years ago
lodged 3.8 years ago