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Review by brugar See Profile

  • Location: Las Vegas, Clark, NV, USA
  • Cost: $40 per month
  • Caps of 1000 gigabytes/month
Consistent, reliable service.
Good value
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

My Other Reviews

·CenturyLink
Update - August 2017

CenturyLink increased the monthly data allowance to 1,000 GB.

Update - July 2017

I am happy to be on CenturyLink's Las Vegas $40.00 "Price for Life" offer for my 20/2 Mbps Internet service. No more annual calls to renew an expiring promotional price contract.

The service has been reliable: estimated reliability 99.8% or better. My one reliability quibble continues: CenturyLink is pushing too hard for the 2 Mbps upload speed.

The FCC/SamKnows Internet monitoring service measurements for June:
Downstream throughput: 19.5 Mbps average, 19.1 Mbps min, 19.8 Mbps max

CenturyLink's Las Vegas competitor, Cox Cable, offers a 1,000 gigabyte data allowance. CenturyLink needs to raise its 250 gigabyte data allowance to be competitive.

Update - May 2016

CenturyLink increased its "Broadband Cost Recovery Fee". The bill for May just arrived: $41.38 ($73.95 Pure Broadband less $10.00 Autopay Promotion less $29.00 HSI Promotion plus $6.43 Taxes, Fees, and Surcharges) per month.

The 20M/2M service has been reliable: estimated reliability 99.8% or better. My one quibble: CenturyLink is pushing too hard for the 2 Mbps upload speed. For my service, a more reliable upload speed would be 1.536 Mbps. Before I upgraded to 20 Mbps bonded service, I had 10M/768K service (sync at 11.773 Mbps down and 896 Kbps up).

My DSL lines are over provisioned to allow each of the bonded lines to sync at 11.773 Mbps down and 1.103 Mbps up. The modem's estimates for maximum rates: 20.536 Mbps down and 1.125 Mbps up. I have lots of head room downstream and very little upstream. After a line disturbance my modem does a lot of upstream bin swapping.

Update - July 2015

In April CenturyLink's web site offered a 20M/2M Pure Broadband at a discounted price for a 24 month commitment. My first bill without prorated charges just arrived: $39.33 ($73.95 Pure Broadband less $10.00 Autopay Promotion less $29.00 HSI Promotion plus $4.38 Taxes, Fees, and Surcharges) per month. I doubled the speed of my Internet service for an additional $5.00 per month. I was paying $34.33 on a 12 month commitment for 10M/768K DSL service.

Nine years ago I paid $35.00 per month for 1.5 Mbps DSL service.

I placed the order for the upgraded Internet service using www.centurylink.com on Saturday, April 25. I received an email confirming my order on April 27 for installation on May 4. I received a second email on April 28 asking me to call CenturyLink regarding my order. The CenturyLink representative insisted that I needed to purchase or rent a new modem. Unable to convince her that the modem I purchased on eBay was sufficient, I agreed to rent a modem. Installation was rescheduled for May 5.

My CenturyLink billing cycle starts on the first day of each month. By placing my order late in April with installation in early May cost me an extra $40 in prorated charges: basic (not discounted) rates are used to calculate charges for a partial month.

Upgrading my service to bonded ADSL2+ took about an hour. CenturyLink's technician replaced one and added a second station protector module in the Network Interface Device on the side of my house. The new protector modules are specifically designed for high speed data applications. The technician tested the DSL signals at the wall jack where I connect my C2000T modem.

I returned the rented modem to a local CenturyLink store to get the modem rental fee removed from future bills.

20 Mbps service makes Internet bottlenecks more visible. For example, I get 20 Mbps updates from Microsoft but only 15 Mbps updates from Adobe

I still believe that 10 Mbps Internet service is adequate for my needs, but I could not resist the luxury of 20 Mbps Internet service for an additional $220 (including installation and prorated charges) over next two years.

Crosstalk between the two bonded circuits reduced the Signal to Noise ratio by about 3 db. Interleaved mode increased latency by about 10 msec.

-------------------------------------

Update - March 2015

I recently renewed a 12 month contract for CenturyLink's 10M/768K Pure Broadband High Speed Internet Service at $33.31 per month ($63.94 less $34.00 discount for 12 month contract plus $3.37 in taxes, fees, and surcharges). I estimate service reliability at 99.8% or better.

The FCC/SamKnows internet monitoring service measurements for my internet during February:

Downstream throughput: 9.87 Mbps average 4.77 Mbps min 10.19 Mbps max
Upstream throughput: 0.71 Mbps average 0.43 Mbps min 0.79 Mbps max
Latency: 30.08 msec average 28.08 msec min 50.22 msec max
Packet loss: 0.27% average 0.00% min 44.13% max

At my address CenturyLink recently started offering 20 Mbps (apparently using bonded ADSL2+ technology) internet service. Web site prices: $73.95 no contract month-to-month internet service or $66.90 for bundled internet and unlimited home telephone service with a five year price guarantee.

CenturyLink's competitor Cox Cable now offers 50 Mbps internet service at $49.99 per month for the first 12 months and $66.99 thereafter.

While faster Internet service would be desirable, CenturyLink's 10 Mbps Pure Broadband service offers, in my opinion, the best value: adequate performance at a reasonable cost.

---------------------

Update - January 2013

I am continuing to use CenturyLink Pure Broadband High Speed Internet service at 10 megabits per second (10M/768K). I renewed again on a 12 month contract at $59.95 less $20.00 promotional discount plus fees giving me total cost of $41.93 per month. Contract has a $200 early termination fee.

My modem syncs at 11772 kbps down and 887 kbps up on ADSL2+ mode with fast data path.

I participate with the FCC / SamKnows internet monitoring service. Measurements for my DSL service during December 2012 as reported by SamKnows:

Downstream throughput: 9.97 Mbps average 8.36 Mbps min 10.35 Mbps max
Upstream throughput: 0.74 Mbps average 0.49 Mbps min 0.77 Mbps max
Latency: 31.73 msec average 25.17 msec min 829.76 msec max
Packet loss: 0.23% average 0.00% min 19.49% max

Service has been better than 99.8% reliable. Reliability would have been even better if CenturyLink had not bungled a central office equipment upgrade. The work on my line should have been done overnight instead of during the day. Once I reported the outage CenturyLink technicians promptly restored service. The equipment upgrade was completed the next day without disrupting my service.

-----------------------------------

CenturyLink upgraded my Pure Broadband DSL service from 10M/768K to 10M/896K last week. They also changed my data path from fast to interleaved. I sent an email to TalkToUS@centurylink.com asking to be switched back to a fast data path. They responded within a day to report that my fast data path had been restored.

After trying Clearwire for several months, CenturyLink's introductory offer of 10 Mbps Pure Broadband offer at $29.99 per month on a 12 month contract was too much to resist back in January 2011. I renewed on a 12 month contract at $40 plus fees/taxes with a $200 early termination fee.

I am in an area where Prism TV is offered. I signed up last year for the Federal Communications Commission broadband monitoring program run by SamKnows.com. Data collected by SamKnows confirms my experience: consistent, reliable broadband service at or near advertised speeds. From Sprint to Embarq to CenturyLink, my DSL service has been always been reliable.

Looking back six years to my previous review, I find that I have DSL service that is more than six times as fast for only 20% more money.

My review from 2006 -- 1.5 Mbps DSL service - $35.00 per month - 12 month contract

Helpful and well informed customer representative. Placed order on Monday for 1.5 Mbps DSL. Received self install kit on Tuesday (Sprint SP-660ME-61 modem/router). DSL service scheduled for Thursday. Live at 2:00 am on Thursday, as promised. Smooth as glass. No problems.

member for 21.5 years, 4896 visits, last login: a few minutes ago
updated 6.6 years ago


Anonfcc9e
@cox.net

Anonfcc9e

Anon

centurylink 80 mbps 55$

I just ordered Centurylink 80mbps down and 10 up for $55. I'll update this as I test in out. Also, just so people know centurylink no longer has a data cap. That's why I'm changing from cox who is starting a 1tb data cap for all no matter what speed you have. 300mbps and 1tb is all I get. I play a bunch of video games and the size of games are getting bigger and bigger. I eat the up in about 3 weeks

Review by mswdsl See Profile

  • Location: Port Charlotte, Charlotte, FL, USA
  • Cost: $70 per month
  • Install: about 1 days
Download speed
Nothing
Excellent Service
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

$20.00 month - 1.5 mb download speed plus Unlimited Long Distance. Great Deal.

member for 20.8 years, 260 visits, last login: 14 days ago
lodged 7.2 years ago







Review by mshultz See Profile

  • Location: Wooster, Wayne, OH, USA
  • Cost: $83 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 3 days
Much faster than dialup, cheap, phone is no longer tied up when online
none
Best value for the money
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

When it became obvious that my dial up ISP was not going to offer wireless broadband in my area, I started to look for alternatives. I do not have a television, so cable was not cost effective just for the internet. My local phone service is Embarq, but I was wary of signing up for DSL because there is no speed guarantee. Also, Embarq's aggressive sales calls from Out of Area numbers turned me off (I put a stop to that some time ago with an Email to them requesting my rights under their privacy policy to not be bothered). It was the reviews and forum comments on this site that convinced me to try it.

I received the DSL package, and installed it after the designated time. I had to enable the Gigabit LAN port (RJ-45) in my bios. Carefully following the installation directions, I booted up the Windows XP x64 drive and uninstalled my dial up connection. Windows XP x64 found the LAN port and installed the driver without problems. The browser went to the proper web page, ran some checks, and failed with a message that the Embarq DSL was not compatible with Windows XP x64.

I then booted up the Windows XP x32 drive. It could not locate the driver for the LAN. Since I was having trouble finding my installation CD, I hooked the dial up connection back up. Windows XP x32 then downloaded the proper driver from the web. However, I could not get to the installation page on the web. The web address was not readable on the instruction sheet, but I was able to do a Google search from dial up and locate it.

Once I had Windows XP x32 successfully set up, I booted into Windows XP x64 and used the installation web page address I had found with Google to set up x64. So Embarq DSL is compatible with x64, if you have the necessary computer skills.

I got the 785 Kb speed I signed up for, but would lose my connection occasionally. After the first couple of times, I figured out that turning the 660 box off and on would restore it after a few minutes. With the computer on, there was line noise, and the caller ID no longer worked (I had installed the filter as directed).

I ordered 7 foot and 14 foot RJ11 twisted-pair cables to go from the wall box to the 660 from »www.excelsus-tech.com. The 7 foot cable was just long enough. Installing it did not make any difference. I also ordered a ADSL2 / VDSL2 Splitter with surge protection, including the outdoor box, and CAT5E weather resistant cable from »www.homephonewiring.com. As it turned out, my current box and surge protector were identical to those supplied. However, the splitter is the most expensive component, and life is easier if you just order everything at once.

I installed the splitter and removed the filter. The loss of connection problem went away, along with the line noise. My caller ID now worked with the computer on. However, I had a funny sounding dial tone. It occurred to me that the dial tone sounded like a phone at work which is set up to automatically forward calls. After doing some Wikipedia research, I figured out that I had messages (voice mail is part of the package). I went to the Embarq site and figured out how to listen to my voice mail, and then delete the messages (political spam). I replaced the line cord from the outside box to the computer wall jack with the CAT5E cable. There was no further improvement.

Recently, my connection speed was not quite fast enough to keep up with standard YouTube videos. However, I am probably getting close to 785 Kb 99% of the time. This is adequate for YouTube videos with HQ sound, but not with HQ video, unless you pause it to let the buffer fill up. I am quite satisfied with the speed and reliability of Embarq DSL.

I have not set up a web page yet. I was disappointed to see that you have to use the Embarq format, instead of raw html code, which I prefer. Perhaps if I paid an additional $5 a month for a fixed IP Address, I could get around this problem.

The Embarq package included free long distance access and voice mail, along with caller ID with name. I already had the caller ID with name. There are apparently some other provided services, such as enhanced call waiting, call forward, and 3-way calling. I doubt that I will ever use these features. My total cost is $67 a month, or $18 a month more than I was paying before. My dial up internet had cost $100 for 6 months, so I am getting DSL for a little more than $2 extra a month. Had wireless broadband been available, it would have cost another $20 a month.

Suggestions: Embarq needs to print the DSL setup page web address on the installation sheet. Buy yourself a good splitter like I bought, and use it instead of the filter.

Although I have not used technical support, I rated them as a 5 based upon the responses in the Embarq forum.

01/25/2009 Update:

I bought another hard drive, and installed Windows XP (32-bit) SP3 Professional on it. Unlike my previous XP 32-bit and XP 64-bit drives, I did not remove Internet Gateway Device Discovery and Control Client (through Windows Component Wizard). This client is not needed for dialup, which I had in the past, but helps when installing DSL. The new drive connected to the Internet by itself as soon as I had installed the Ethernet driver and turned on the 660 box.

05/28/2016 Update:

Over the years, I upgraded my service to 1.5 Mbps, 3 Mbps, and finally 6 Mbps when it became available. I now use the C1000A CenturyLink DSL modem, because it is IPv6 compatible. Windows XP x32 supports IPv6, but you have to add the network protocol.

As a result of a service call for landline buzz, the CenturyLink technician found a Bridge Tap. The landline buzz is gone, and I just got 6.13 Mbps download, 0.55 Mbps upload, and 12 ms latency. Previously, I was always under 4 Mbps download speed.

member for 15.2 years, 589 visits, last login: 60 days ago
updated 7.8 years ago


Review by GCoop See Profile

  • Location: Gordonsville, Orange, VA, USA
  • Cost: $29 per month (12 month contract)
  • No Cap
  • Telco party CenturyTel
Stability
Customer Service
Its my only shot at Highspeed. But I have been pleased for the most part.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Had the service since Dec 2004. No major Problems. In 2009 there were a few latency issues here and there during the typical holiday high usage times. From my experience I would give them an "A" rating. They are closing in on the ever so coveted five nines (99.999 %) uptime for me. 2010 has been uneventful which is good. 2011--I cant remember the last time there was any trouble with the service!! 2012--Upgraded me to 10Mb at at no extra charge per month. I continue to be very happy!! As with any service dependant upon location and load YMMV. 2014--Still going strong...No Complaints. 2015--More of the same. No issues to speak of. 2016--Had a few issues this year with Ports in the DSLAM took them 3-4 weeks to resolve while I had intermittent outages. Recently upgraded to 20/2 pair bonded service for $10 a month less than what I was paying before. Still my only option at high-speed so I consider myself fortunate that the service has been so reliable for the most part.

member for 19.2 years, 3475 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 7.9 years ago

tyrant_
Wannabe Billionaire
join:2013-07-07

tyrant_

Member

Eh, their speeds are wayy too slow.

Living in a prime subarb, where my neighbors can pull 100mbps off of comcast and fiber is connected to my house, I think I deserve to pull more than a measly 40mbps. And with the broadband definition set by Wheeler being 25/4, you think they'd try to improve the rest of their customers too. I guess with having techs come on time, this is what we have to pay for it. Crappy Speeds.

Review by mjn See Profile

  • Location: Cape Coral, Lee, FL, USA
  • Cost: $45 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 5 days
  • Telco party Sprint
Quick install, solid connection
Upload could be faster
Cheaper than Comcast (without bundling)
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Services:
Value for money:

Ordered 10Mb "Pure Broadband" (no home phone required) online on Friday, August 2nd 2013, the site said it would be ready by August 12th. On Saturday, they called and advised me that I needed to pay a $25 deposit but to do so on the phone I would incur a fee. I opted to go to the local Centurylink store. While there I asked if there was any way to push the install date up any since I was getting rid of Comcast that week, and he said that it should be ready by the 9th, which was great because Comcast was set to disconnect on the 10th. I opted to provide my own modem (Embarq 660) since I had DSL previously so my total out of pocket for the installation was a $15 activation fee and the $25 deposit.

The service went live on Wednesday August 7th and was just a matter of unplugging my cable modem from my router, plugging the DSL modem in and power cycling the router. Download speed is lower than Comcast (25Mb/s on Comcast, 10Mb/s on Centurylink), but for what I use it for (streaming Netflix, Hulu, etc) it works fine. Upload is just under 1Mb/s (896Kb/s I believe), it would be nice to have something a little faster but not a deal breaker for me. Aside from a couple outages in September that occurred during the day while at work, it's been rock solid, and my bill has been a consistent $45.35 every month ($39.95 + taxes/fees).

Overall I'm very satisfied with my Centurylink service.

UPDATE: 10/24/2014

i

I disconnected service after the one year promo (8/6/2014), the speed went down to about 7Mb/s the last few months I had it. When I called to inquire about getting a new promo for the service the best they could do was $70 for DSL + home phone which is exactly what I didn't want, The service was solid, but trying to save money, I wasn't going to pay $30 more a month for the same service. I switched to Comcast and got their Economy Plus promotion (3Mb/s) for $19.99/mo for 12 months.

member for 23.6 years, 4554 visits, last login: 1.8 years ago
updated 9.4 years ago


Review by DustySilicon See Profile

  • Location: Oak Grove, Jackson, MO, USA
  • Cost: $40 per month
  • Install: about 7 days
Rock solid & fast connection.
It was not available sooner.
Great service for a great price!
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Good things come to those that have to wait. . .

After 10+ years of some of the worst ISP's and connections to the internet (from dial-up, ISDN, satellite, WISP), DSL has finally arrived at our rural suburban home. TG.

After a few months of waiting for CenturyLink to finalize the installation of our new DSLAM, it was officially activated on 12/15/09 and I ordered service that same day. Activation was scheduled for 12/21/09 (Merry Christmas!)

On the Friday before activation the new 660R modem arrived via UPS in pristine condition -- my 17 year old is now about to bounce off the ceiling and can't wait for me to install it on the evening of the 21st

Setup was simple (especially since I completely rewired my LAN and phone connections in preparation for the activation with CAT5e cables.) After plugging in the modem and connecting it to my laptop, a few web pages later, our connection was live and speeds were excellent, compared to our 1MB connection with our flaky WISP, yet not quite as fast as I expected. . .

I next connected the router to the modem (Netgear) and asked my wife to test out her work connection (she does medical transcription remotely). It worked fine, however, she said she was getting a buzz/hum in the background of her phone connection -- hmmm... let me think, I connected 4 DSL filters to all of the phones in the residence, but now I'm thinking did I miss one? Sure enough, there was a phone on her desk that was plugged in as an after thought and it had no filter! I unplugged the phone and had her test dial her transcriber again: buzz/hum GONE! I tested the internet connection again and a documented 30% faster connection was now possible from the first speed tests. (NOTE: DSL filters are VERY IMPORTANT on all phones & satellite boxes!)

It is now day four and our 10MB connection is ROCK SOLID FAST; not one hiccup, burp, fart, etc. The wife is extremely happy, the teenager is thrilled, and I am finally at peace, just in time for Christmas.

By having to wait so long for Embarq/CenturyLink to install the DSLAM that services our residence, we got the latest and greatest equipment, so there was a bright side to having waited so long. The entire installation of the DSLAM could have been much faster if it were not for our local power COOP's ridicules demand of $10,000 to run power from a pole approximately 50 feet across a tar & gravel road to the DSLAM! Shameful that West Central Electric would stymie an upgrade that would benefit their customers access to the internet -- I guess they would rather peddle their Wildblue crap to more people. Anyway, CenturyLink simply "end arounded" them and contracted a local company to run the power cable under the road for a fraction of what WCE wanted -- way to go CL project manager.

We love our new connection -- thank you CenturyLink and Embarq_Joey for putting up with all of my IM queries on the status of the DSLAM installation, it was well worth the wait.

»www.speedtest.net/result ··· 3282.png

»www.pingtest.net/result/ ··· 7197.png

5/26/2010: Still a rockin solid connection. Only a couple hiccups (middle of the night) brief resets. The only bad thing I can say, is that now with a solid connection to the internet, a lot of those sites I used to think were slow because of our crappy WISP service are just SLOW sites i.e. Rotten Tomatoes is one that comes to mind.

10/21/2012 Update on service:

What can I say, but "FANTASTIC SERVICE" from CenturyLink and our local service techs.

In May of 2012 we experienced a lightning strike on our home. It fried just about every piece of electronics equipment in our home and blew the cover off our phone box about 30' into our front yard. After calling the power company (fixed power that evening) and then CenturyLink, CL showed up the next business day and the tech fixed the customer box on the outside, rewired our connection so that I no longer needed the DSL filters, and installed a new Westell modem/wireless/router. I asked the tech what the charges were and he said "anything on my truck" is free for a lightning strike. Wow! I did not expect that. The new router works very well and I no longer needed to purchase another wireless router. Phone and internet was restored and working better than before the lightning strike. SUPER SERVICE AWARD.

Fast forward to September... my wife, who works from home, started to notice a lot of static and hum on the phone line, especially in the mornings. I called in a ticket and the next afternoon the tech arrived. Of course, by then, the hum was gone and my poor wife had to drive 40 miles one way to work in the main office (the hum was that bad.)

The tech said, tell her not to drive into work the next day and he would be here at 7:30am to personally checkout the line noise. The next morning, he called and said he was on his way (I think this may have been on his own time, but I'm not positive.) He arrived and tracked the trouble to our buried cable to the house. He switched pairs (bad pair) and the noise was gone.

Not content to leave it at that, he submitted an order to bury a new cable to replace the bad one. Within three weeks, a company arrived, buried the new cable and connected it to the house. It was a good thing the tech ordered the new cable, because the switched pair started to exhibit the same hum within a couple weeks after the change... Once again SUPER SERVICE AWARD!

Fast forward again to last week. Our internet stopped working on Thursday for about 30 minutes... odd. It came back up and everything was working as normal. Later that evening I noticed that we had no dial tone. I called CL and opened a ticket to fix it. At 7:30am the next morning, I got a call from the same (GREAT) tech that fixed the original line noise and he said, Tell Sharyl not to drive downtown, that he would be right out to fix it! What! Not only did he remember my wifes name, but he also remembered that she worked from home and would have to make the 80 mile round trip drive if the phone line was dead -- SUPER, SUPER, SERVICE AWARD! The line was fixed before 8am.

I'm hoping that we will be getting PrismTV in our area soon, because they have been laying new fiber in our area for the last month. I had some reservations about PrismTV because of potential internet problems, verses our current DirecTV (which we lose everytime it rains or snows heavily.) Now, I'm looking forward to the day when I can dump the dish off the side of the house and go with a company that obviously cares about it's customers.

I know others have had different experiences with CL, but for my area, it has been nothing but GRAND -- Thank you CL techs for the best service I've received from a company in a long time.

member for 21.4 years, 2047 visits, last login: 6.2 years ago
updated 11.4 years ago


Review by WEEDmon See Profile

  • Location: Greenville, Pitt, NC, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified. (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 4 days
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

None

member for 16.9 years, 402 visits, last login: 4.5 years ago
updated 12.2 years ago







Review by KA0OUV See Profile

  • Location: Jefferson City, Cole, MO, USA
  • Cost: $95 per month
  • Install: about 5 days
Works great. Never down. Consistent Bandwidth. Low Latency.
(Minor) It's 3Mb/640Kb DSL.
It Just works. 5 1/2 years in, it still just works.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I purchased 29.95/month (Forever) 3Mb/640kb DSL from Sprit/Embarq/CenturyLink when it was offered in a big push in 2006. I have two phone lines with them already, and the DSL was purchased to go along with Mediacom Cable and possibly supplant it. I ended up keeping them both.

The DSL just works. Speed tests are always on the rails, and it is always available, even when the power is out. If I can get electrons to my computer and DSL modem, I have high speed internet access.

Latency is very good and consistent, and local peering has made accessing stuff close to work easier. Higher speed is available, but I am keeping the "locked in" cost for now. No muss, no fuss.

Equipment is Zyxel Prestige 645 modem. It also just works. It has had one firmware update to it since it has been in service. I ran it for a long time as router before moving to bridge mode.

I have had just a couple of interactions with tech support, and the PA call center I worked with had excellent staff. I have also worked with the local store after it was open one time, and also had excellent results from store staff. They were knowledgeable and had their stuff together.

As I said in the bottom line, it just works.

member for 14 years, 4787 visits, last login: a few hours ago
lodged 12.3 years ago

CenturyLink
join:2009-03-09
Boise, ID

CenturyLink

Member

Great to hear

KA0OUV, glad you're enjoying your DSL connection. Just let us know if we can ever help out. Thanks!

Joey H
Manager, @CenturyLinkHelp Team
TalkToUs@CenturyLink.com

Lukebob
@embarqhsd.net

Lukebob

Anon

CENTURYLINK

I would like to complain about our internet! its terrible. i have to call every other day to keep it working. it never works like it should. the speed is fast maybe for 1 hr a day at most then it drops down to not working. The people that i call never explain the problem they only say it is the router. ITS NOT OUR ROUTER. The problem is the PROVIDER. Centurylink is the ONLY provider in our area and they cant even give us reliable internet. i am outraged and hope that i can get a response.
CenturyLink
join:2009-03-09
Boise, ID

CenturyLink

Member

Re: CENTURYLINK

Hi Lukebob. We're happy to assist you with any trouble you're having. Just email us with your account information to the address above. Thanks!

Joey H

Review by comitatus1 See Profile

  • Location: Oxford, Granville, NC, USA
  • Cost: $29 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 77 days
Great service. I am seeing very close to advertised speeds both up and down.
Install coordination not good the first time around. Much better the second.
It works and tech support has been very good. I am very pleased!
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Update 7/13/11

Service has remained solid. I have now had Extended Reach Service for about 31 months and the internet has not been down, ever, for more than 30 minutes at a time and I can count that number of times on one hand.

We did have some spotty service, dropped connections, high latency, no dsl signal about a week ago. It was more annoying than anything else and I was about to call customer service but it cleared up. It appears that Centurylink must have been upgrading their equipment because I checked the website today and I found I can get some 4 meg service!

It's supposed to be installed tomorrow so I'm sure I will have another update soon.

Update 1/01/2010

Same as last time except Embarq is now CenturyLink.

A rose is still a rose...

Update 7/25/09

I have nothing but good things to say about my Embarq Extended Reach service.

I can count on 1 hand the number of times it has been down since installation, and those times were all regional issues and nothing specific to my line.

Way to go Embarq!

Update 1/2909

Well, I've had the service for almost a month and using it still makes me smile.

My wife, son and myself share the connection, and it is fast enough for my son to play WOW while my wife and I surf and download. I can even get on the Call of Duty servers any time I want and have my butt handed to me!

I consistently get 90-95 kBps download speeds. Not fast enough to wait around for a big file, but plenty fast enough to get even moderately large [2+gig] files overnight.

One thing is for sure, our usage has jumped quite a bit! We are up around 60 gigs a month, well above Wildblue's 17 gig limit. It's nice to actually use the Internet without the FAP bogeyman peeking at me over my router!

Further, the service has not been down once!

Great service. I recommend it.

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I had Wildblue so this is a big step up, even though the download speed is 768k compared to 1.5m. Latency is MUCH improved. Web pages "snap" like they are supposed to, even with everyone [3 users at my house!] is on the connection.

768k down is all that is offered right now. Hopefully that will improve over time.

The install process was a drawn out affair, and the original install date was missed by them. They got there act together, though, and got me hooked up the day after New Years Day. I appreciated the fact that they were working that day and that I didn't have to take another day off to meet them, since I was already off.

I got a Zyxel 660R modem, no router included. I could have gotten a combo unit, but I already had my Linksys with DD-WRT installed all setup the way I wanted it, so I stuck with the modem only unit. It works great. I have had it on for 64 hours and it worked flawlessly the whole time. I did reset it, at the direction of Embarq tech support, once because I wasn't seeing the right download speed, and it came right back up and now I am getting the advertised rates.

Embarq is a good company, but it is a huge bureaucracy. I have learned the value of patience in dealling with them. The online tech support is great, I would recommend that route for help with any issues.

Chris

member for 15.3 years, 83 visits, last login: 6.9 years ago
updated 12.6 years ago


Review by khelek6 See Profile

  • Location: Rougemont, Durham, NC, USA
  • Cost: $82 per month
  • Install: about 5 days
  • Telco party CenturyTel
Consistently get speeds I'm paying for, installation was quick and easy, tech support very helpful
Been *incredibly* happy with their service. No complaints at all
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

For the past 10 years we've been promised broadband in my area. In the last several years, cities surrounding us continued to get it, but we were left out. Two years ago, when I could not afford the ISDN line I had, I moved to the only other option that was available to us - Verizon's cellular "broadband". It was slow, unreliable, expensive and capped at 5G/month.

Last November, while still under contract with VZW, I discovered that CenturyLink claimed to have broadband service at my address. I waited patiently for the months to go by until March when I decided to take the $60 ETF penalty and sign up with CL. I did the initial ordering online, which was very easy to do. Completed that in the afternoon. Later in the evening I received an email stating they were sorry but CL was not my phone provider, and therefore would not be able provide me with broadband. My heart sank!

The next morning I called up customer service and spoke to a very nice young man. I was not mean or hateful, but was honest in telling him that I was very upset to get my hopes up only to find out they couldn't deliver. He was very understanding and offered to walk through the initial order with me to see where the problem was. Long story short, I'd provided my work address for delivery, which was different from the installation address and out of CL's service area. The system had processed the wrong address for installation. The support gentlemen helped me place the order over the phone and this time there wasn't an issue. This was on a Thursday, and he told me someone would be out on Monday.

Waited for tech to install it on Monday, he was out early that morning (around 9) and discovered that the only circuit left was bad and they'd have to either fix it or make a new one. I expected it to be another week, but he told me it would be ready by the next day. Went ahead and gave me the modem so I could have it plugged in and I wouldn't need to be at home the following day. Sure enough, Tuesday when I got home from work, I plugged in the modem and everything was working!

I've been very pleased with CenturyLink. I'm grateful they finally filled a void here in rural NC. Since I've gotten it intstalled, I've had 0 problems with the service. There's not been any outages, and I religiously check speedtest.net and consistently get the 3Mbps/.6Mbps I pay for. The few time I see slower speeds I do a reboot of the modem and that clears up the slowness. I've recommended it to all my friends in the area!

member for 14.9 years, 10 visits, last login: 10.9 years ago
lodged 12.8 years ago


kg4muc
Gettin It Done A Little At A Time
join:2003-02-17
Whitetop, VA

kg4muc

Member

You are fortunate

You are a very fortunate subscriber! Glad you are getting advertised speeds. Many of us are not. Myself.. download is fair but upload is pitiful. My web page updates can't get ftp(d) in the 60 seconds allotted.

Just for the record download here is advertised as 4 meg normally runs 2.1- 3.3 once in a blue moon we'll hit the 4.0 mark but the upload is the big culprit

Congrats on your working service!