netlive
join:2008-05-14 | reply to chelpt
Re: Update?
I have updated my original review. |
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chelpt
join:2008-05-24
 ·CenturyTel Inc.
| Ok, I'm sorry to hear that it was so bad in Plattsburg. I'm not sure if Centurytel just act differently in La Crosse (maybe it is because they have the Midwest headquarters over here) or what. But I do have one thing to ask of you...
Your Static IP. Were you paying the extra $20 to get this? I do, and I get the static IP just fine. Sure the modem needs to log in and such... but getting that static status makes certain that it is that ip address all the time. Did some one in their customer service tell you that it came with static ip? That would have been wrong. Also, did your system just not understand how to use the 255.255.255.255 on a single static ip? |
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netlive
join:2008-05-14
·CenturyTel Inc.
| Yes it's bad in Plattsburg, and it's not just me. As I mentioned our city government has been receiving fierce complaints and they have also been unable to get any kind of response out of CenturyTel.
Yes I was paying the extra $20 for an 8 block (5 usable) static IPs. However, static IPs must be served over a fully bridged connection as described in RFC 1483. CenturyTel uses a DHCP server to re-issue the same IPs over PPP, which means to the outside world your IP address is still a dynamically assigned IP. If you only need a static IP for game playing or other casual use then that's fine, but when you're trying to run a business this just doesn't cut it. The static IP *must* be visible to the outside world as an actual static IP, not a dynamically assigned IP controlled by the upstream provider. The generally accepted term for this arrangement is "sticky IP", and it is fundamentally different than a static IP.
Furthermore, by issuing these sticky IPs with a DHCP server, it makes the other 4 usable IPs worthless. How am I supposed to set up 5 routers - one on each IP - when the IPs are assigned in the order of request? Every time my power goes out or I lose DSL synchronization it becomes a race condition for each router to log in and obtain an IP, which means there is no guarantee that the same router will end up with the same IP from the sticky set. As I said before, this just doesn't work for actual business use.
The amazing thing to me is that CenturyTel doesn't even realize this. It's not that CenturyTel understands and just accepts it as a shortcoming of their service - they actually believe they offer static IPs. Their website even states that they offer static IPs. I'm still considering whether or not I should report them for false advertising. If there were an agency for reporting technical incompetence I would have reported them for that long ago. |
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fuffer
RF is Good For You
Premium
join:2001-06-21
Mukwonago, WI
clubs:
·CenturyTel Inc.
 ·RoadRunner Cable
| First, if you're running a business, then you should pay for a biz-class service, or be prepared to deal with the issues.
You are paying residential prices for a residential service, with no speed or uptime guarantees. It seems that the T1 offer is entirely appropriate for someone who needs biz-class service, or at least calls an complains about issues when you haphazardly decide to run your business on a residential connection.
It's unfortunate that you're having those sorts of issues. It seems to be the exception, rather than the rule.
I'm not sure what you'll achieve with your "reporting" about their advertising. A static IP is a static IP - and I use CTL as a backup connection at my office (a backup to a T1, since I wouldn't trust my business to a DSL connection) and I can access my stuff through a static IP. It may not fit YOUR definition, but it fits THE definition.
Anyway, it sounds like you found a provider that better suits your needs. I think you're probably better off looking at them in the rearview mirror. As for me, I have 10000/768 through them and have had nearly zero problems in two years.
--
The goal of the broadcast engineer is to get all the meters on the transmitter to go as far to the right as possible!! |
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netlive
join:2008-05-14
·CenturyTel Inc.
| I was paying for biz-class service. I've been doing this long enough to know exactly what service levels I need in order to run my business. I never expected SLA guarantees or dedicated circuits like you would get with a T-1, and that's not at all what I'm complaining about anyway.
There is a certain level of expectation for a business class DSL connection, and getting just over 20% of the bandwidth, being sold one product and receiving something entirely different, and being treated with such contempt and eventually being ignored is absolutely unacceptable.
As I said before, the entire city is ready to lynch CenturyTel and not even our city government has been able to get them to respond. Does this sound like an exception to the rule? Does this sound like someone who is just ignorant of what they really need? Does this sound like just one unhappy customer with an axe to grind?
And CenturyTel's rate of $450/month for a T-1 circuit was with a 3 year contract. So you're basically saying I should fork over a no-bid contract worth $16,200 to a company that can't even get the simple details right? A company that is so rude and technically incompetent that they have an entire city upset with them? A company that won't even respond when the problems are so bad the city government has to get involved? And I'm supposed to put trust in any SLA they provide for the more complex services?
And I have to fervently disagree - a static IP is a very specific technical setup that is very important to the business class users who really need them. A sticky IP is technologically very different from a static IP, and if you really needed a true static IP you would understand that the two are simply not interchangeable at all. |
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netlive
join:2008-05-14
·CenturyTel Inc.
| reply to fuffer
I just have to follow up again on the static IP issue because it's really becoming a pet peeve of mine.
A static IP is *not* defined as an IP that doesn't change. It's defined by the way the IP is assigned - ie, statically. If a DHCP server is assigning the IP then by definition the IP is *not* static. It makes no difference at all if you receive the same IP from the DHCP server or not, it's still being dynamically assigned.
Static IPs can be delegated to independent name servers for reverse DNS resolution, which is critically important for real business class use. Sticky IPs cannot be delegated which makes them no better than using third party dynamic DNS resolvers with a non-sticky IP.
Static IPs are also assigned - statically - at the node consuming the IP. That guarantees that the node will maintain that same IP if the connection is ever lost or reset. Nodes that request their IPs from a DHCP server are *not* guaranteed of receiving the same IP address if there is more than one IP in the sticky set.
This isn't directed at anyone in particular, but anyone that thinks that "static IP" simply means an IP that doesn't change then please stop talking about it. That's *not* what static means, and by propagating this misinformation it only serves to make it harder for the people who need real static IPs to get what they really need. |
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myriad
join:2008-07-27
West Monroe, LA
| I just found this entry and wanted to clarify some things. Using your description, CenturyTel is using static IP addresses. When a static user connects, their IP address information is associated with their account; it only tries to perform allocation from a dynamic pool if the account is set up as a 'dynamic' account. Because the connection is a Point-to-Point connection, the first IP address in the range is given to the router and the other IP addresses are then routed to the first ip address since this is the gateway. By statically assigning IP information on the servers a user sets up, something which is good practice in server administration, you never have the issue of servers 'battling' for the ip resources.
Also, you should be able to contact the support team for your ISP if the reverse DNS records are incorrect and ask them to fix them for you. |
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