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wcweaver
Premium Member
join:2002-02-22
Fort Myers, FL

wcweaver

Premium Member

Best DSL Modem for CenturyLink?

I am looking at switching my internet service from Comcast to CenturyLink (no telephone service). Upgrades in my area now make 10MB (is it really10MB) service available. I am able to get the CL DSL for about half the price of Comcast. I am planning on renting a CL modem for a month to see how well it works before cancelling my Comcast service. If all goes well I ill then buy my own modem.

My question is what modem to buy as none seem to get great reviews. The Actionec C1000A seems to be the main CL modem. I need wireless and my current router gives me great signal strength, but reviews I have read say the C1000a wireless is poor.

Looking for any help or suggestions as to modems. I am using Callcentric VOIP with Gigaset 610A IP phone.

Thanks in advance

Wc

toby
Troy Mcclure
join:2001-11-13
Seattle, WA

toby

Member

C2000T
brad152
join:2006-07-27
Chicago, IL

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The C2000T is going to be very hard to comeby, and will honestly not do you much good to spend the extra right now for a pair-bonding modem.

If you're on a 10Mbps circuit, then any ADSL2+ modem will work just fine. I'd recommend just grabbing a cheap ADSL2 bridge and using your current wireless setup, as it's unlikely on a 10Mbps circuit that CenturyLink will be transitioning you to VDSL2 soon anyway (and considering how cheap ADSL2 routers are, if they do in a year, so what just buy a vdsl2 then)

I just put this TP-Link in at my parents house in Ohio since their Sprint branded DSL modem finally died a few weeks ago, and it's been working great on their CenturyLink 5Mbps line, and for $30 after shipping it cannot be beat

»www.newegg.com/Product/P ··· 25165003

toby
Troy Mcclure
join:2001-11-13
Seattle, WA

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CL seems to charge $100 + shipping on all their modems, but its just about impossible to order a particular model from them, you get what you get, which is sometimes wrong and sometime charge you full price for a well used modem.

That TP-Link is cheap and you can get lots of used ADSL2 modems on Ebay no problem.

wcweaver
Premium Member
join:2002-02-22
Fort Myers, FL

wcweaver

Premium Member

Thanks for the modem info, that is a great deal. Just curious, what speed should I realistically expect from th Cl 10MB DSL. I currently get 25MB down and 3 MB Up with Comcast. But I have yet to find an internet site that actually uses that kind of speed.

Thank for the help!

WC
gapmn
join:2013-11-10
Saint Paul, MN

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After your connection is verified stable (CL software) you should get over-provisioned to something slightly higher that 10M. CL 40/5 gets boosted to 50/5 and the 20/896 gets boosted to 26/896. So I would imagine the 10/896 connection will get over-provisioned to around 12/896 (if the line is stable at 10/896).
drslash (banned)
Goya Asma
join:2002-02-18
Marion, IA

drslash (banned)

Member

My line is very stable on the 40/5 tier. It has been about 50 days since my VDSL2+ has been activated. My modem still shows 40/5. Do I need to power cycle the modem to see the provision change?
TheMayor
join:2002-05-09

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Based on what I've seen on here, it seemed like the over provisioning was happening in the former Qwest areas
drslash (banned)
Goya Asma
join:2002-02-18
Marion, IA

drslash (banned)

Member

I am in a former Qwest area.
TheMayor
join:2002-05-09

TheMayor

Member

You can try power cycling the modem to see what happens. To my understanding, it's an automatic process.
brad152
join:2006-07-27
Chicago, IL

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ex-embarq areas have always over-provisioned to make up for the overhead, i'm assuming it's something CenturyLink is trying out in Qwest areas as well to get around the "i'm not getting what i paid for" from customers argument.

I just wish they'd do it on bonded lines, but if they did that mine could easily jump from 40Mbps to 90Mbps per my line stats, and i'm sure they would not want that.
brad152

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»www.ebay.com/itm/Century ··· 8319654b

$44.95... someone grab it while it's still up!

As a side note, it's not my listing but i still may grab it as a backup
gapmn
join:2013-11-10
Saint Paul, MN

gapmn to TheMayor

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Yes, my understanding is that it's a software function. Are you taking on many CRC and or FEC Errors?
gapmn

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Thanks Brad152...I have been waiting for one of these to popup. I should have it next week.
TheMayor
join:2002-05-09

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I have my modem in transparent bridge mode.
gapmn
join:2013-11-10
Saint Paul, MN

gapmn

Member

You can still log into the modem with a PC wired into one of the LAN ports of the bridged modem. You will have to set a static ip of 192.168.0.2 on the PC and then you should be able to login to the modem and read your stats and error counts
TheMayor
join:2002-05-09

TheMayor

Member

I know I still can log in, but why do you want to my know my modem stats
gapmn
join:2013-11-10
Saint Paul, MN

gapmn

Member

Because if your taking lots of errors that might be the reason you have not been over-provisioned yet.
TheMayor
join:2002-05-09

TheMayor

Member

My connection is already overprovisioned to 26/5. I think your question was for drslash.

But to answer your question anyways..

Near End - Far End:

CRC Err 736 - 0
30 Min CRC 8013 - 0
RS FEC 0 -0
30 min FEC 3308114 - 7806

Yes it's a lot of errors, & I did have a tech come out a while back & they mentioned that they could drop down the upload to 1 or deal with having to reboot the modem every few weeks. I chose the modem reboot
gapmn
join:2013-11-10
Saint Paul, MN

gapmn

Member

Your right, it was for "drslash."
gapmn

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Are you on a VDSL or ADSL circuit?
TheMayor
join:2002-05-09

TheMayor

Member

I'm on a VDSL circuit. You can't get 5M up with ADSL

walker2012
@71.55.195.x

walker2012

Anon

I have a problem with the c2000t I keep getting switched to dsl2. CL offers 40mbps down and 5mbps
But when i Switch to dsl2 it goes to 30mbps down and 5 up. I had ordered the 40 I was wondering why since centurylink cannot tell me why if anyone can tell me what is up with this
brad152
join:2006-07-27
Chicago, IL

brad152

Member

dsl2? you mean vdsl2?

it's most likely a signal issue if you're only syncing at 30Mbps, what are your signal levels when you go to the modem GUI?
ArizonaSteve
join:2004-01-31
Apache Junction, AZ

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The Zyxel Q1000Z is the best model I've used so far. It's been running for 72 days now without any problems.

walker2012
@71.55.195.x

walker2012 to brad152

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Honestly I do not know much about the internet part or anything I do know that the dsl2 light does stay solid green when it was first set up the dsl1 light was on. And I do not know how to find the signal levels I just know from when I set up the security in the gui and what i ordered
Kinetica
join:2014-05-31

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wcweaver I was just in the exact same boat as you. I was using Comcast and switched to CL for higher speeds and a better deal, internet only no phone or other packages. Even though the CL chatter told me they were sending me the Zyxel q1000z per my request they ended up sending me the Actiontec c1000a. Wired speed on the Actiontec was to spec, however wifi speeds completely blew and were inconsistent (internal antennas maybe to blame or was straight up defective even with many wifi setting adjustments). I talked to them again and they sent me a refurb'd zyxel q1000z and it works great, wired/wifi speeds are solid and wifi coverage is better than my Linksys wrt54g wifi router I was using with Comcast. My first month is about up so I'll probably be trying to find the q1000z soon online so I can ditch the modem lease.

I purchased the 40/5 plan for $29.99 for a year, the modem currently shows the connection at 50111\5120, I just did a speed test with 45/4.72 so I'm happy.
gapmn
join:2013-11-10
Saint Paul, MN

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Walker,

The C2000t is a "bonded" capable modem. Thus, you have signal LED's that show connection status for DSL1 and DSL2. You don't have prism correct? When you first boot up modem, your modem has the DSL1 LED (green) showing connection (after the boot process)? If you log into the modems GUI and select modem status, what is the connection speed listed (bottom left hand corner).

Walker2012
@71.55.195.x

1 edit

Walker2012

Anon

I do not have prism as of right now supposed to be getting it installed tomorrow... it is after the boot process it seems to switch to the dsl2 led light 2
Connection Status
CenturyLink® DSL2

30097/3379 Kbps

Internet Status

Connection Status

Connection Status

Connection Status
CenturyLink DSL: CONNECTED
Internet: CONNECTED
Modem Status

Router Parameter Status
Firmware Version: CTH003-4.12.0.100
Model Number: C2000T
Hardware Revision: PEM3.0
Serial Number:
WAN MAC Address:
Downstream Rate: 30.997 Mbps
Upstream Rate: 3.009 Mbps
ISP Protocol IPoE
PPP User Name: N/A
Modem IPv4 IP Address: 71.55.195.xxx
DNS Address #1: 205.171.203.226
DNS Address #2: 205.171.2.226
Modem IPv6 IP Address: N/A
DNSv6 Address #1: 2001:428::1
DNSv6 Address #2: 2001:428::2
gapmn
join:2013-11-10
Saint Paul, MN

gapmn

Member

If you log into the modems GUI and select "DSL2 Status" (if that is the LED that is green), what are the "values" listed in the "DSL Power" and "DSL Channel" boxes?