said by dsldude08 :

First off to get this out of the way, I am a CenturyTel employee, and have been for about 3 1/2 years.

But, aside from that, I've had CenturyTel my whole life, even before dial-up. I had their dial-up, no issues, great support. Then they came up with DSL in the rinky dink town I lived in, POP about 500, with 512k DSL for $50/mo. From there it was all uphill, increased speeds, decreased pricing, better bundles, etc.

Right now I have their IPTV Premium Package (Everything), Unlimited Phone, and 10MB DSL on 26 gauge copper at about 2,000ft in an apartment building ($117.89/mo w/ contract and promo price before taxes/fees - yes I still pay). This system is obviously using multiple pairs, but I have yet to have any service issues whatsoever, and I've lived in multiple towns within the area (and different parts of the city of La Crosse, the Midwest Region HQ), same type of great service that exceeds my expectations.

Before I worked for CenturyTel I enjoyed their service enough to the point that I wanted to work for them (oddly enough), and eventually I did and am. So, hopefully the employee thing doesn't cause any issues with my short "review" here, because I use the service as a customer, and I've had the service long before I even thought about working for them, and I contest that it is high-quality, great customer service, and a great overall company.

Look at it this way, during the NebuAd fiasco, hopefully completely GONE, I was a huge advocate against it, and I believe there are better ways to obtain revenue without doing such a thing as NebuAd. As for network management like Comcast and the capping/traffic shaping, I am also a huge advocate against that, whether I use 2GB or 200GB per month, I pay for unlimited usage and that's what I'm going to get, period. That is my opinion as a customer and I as an employee have the obligation to voice the opinions/suggestions of our customers and I have used that ability (NebuAd) and it seems, at least to me, it had some effect on the disruption of that service being offered, aside from Congress and their intervention.

Anyway, look forward to having your voices heard loudly and clearly. Rely on this site and the Embarq/CenturyTel forums if need be, we are all here to help and assist in every matter. The world of business is changing, and it is in the direction of pro-consumer, because the consumer (you and I) are changing it; it is what we demand.

I look forward to having you from Embarq join our team as customers and employees.

Good day.

said by Icon :

kg4muc,

I'm a CT employee as well, and there is a 3 meg package. Don't worry

said by dsldude08 :

You are correct in your statements.

1.5 dry line is 29.95/mo promo, otherwise 49.95/mo after the 12mo promo.

3-15 dry line is 39.95/mo promo, otherwise 59.95/mo after the 12mo promo.

said by Fox McCloud :

Ouch....that really sucks--Embarq's DRY 1.5 is $34.95 a month no matter how long you're a customer, and their dry 3 meg is $39.95 (and in following, 5 meg is $49.95 and 10 meg $64.95).

So the only time it'd be, at all beneficial is if you could get 10 meg (guaranteed) for $59.95....other than that, you pay very heavily for dry DSL.

said by Icon :

kg4muc,

I'm a CT employee as well, and there is a 3 meg package. Don't worry