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CenturyLink Brings Its Prism TV Service to Portland

Last year CenturyLink started offering 1 Gbps to a smattering of high-end development communities in places like Omaha and Las Vegas, but has been pretty ambiguous about just how many users can get the service. Last August they stated they'd be offering 1 Gbps speeds in parts of sixteen cities (including Seattle, Phoenix, Portland, Salt Lake City), but again, specific build locations and total potential subscriber numbers have been nowhere to be seen.


This week, CenturyLink announced that Portland users able to get gigabit broadband can now order the company's Prism IPTV service.

According to the telco, Prism TV is currently available to Portland residents and businesses with fiber service in the Sunnyside, Hawthorne, Belmont, Richmond, Mt. Tabor, Kerns, Hosford-Abernethy, Creston-Kenilworth, Sellwood-Moreland, Buckman, Brooklyn and Laurelhurst neighborhoods.

The company's website lets users sign up to be notified of expansion. Again, how many customers specifically can sign up for service isn't clear; the company has been taking heat in the Pacific Northwest for over-stating the actual availability of gigabit services. The vast, vast majority of CenturyLink customers remain on sub 6 Mbps DSL with usage caps.

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DaveDude
No Fear
join:1999-09-01
New Jersey

DaveDude

Member

Only one Prism

This is the prism i remember
ham3843
join:2015-01-15
USA

ham3843

Member

Re: Only one Prism

Way back machine! I remember this too it was the regional Philly premium pay channel
I think they had movies and Flyers hockey as well.
Suburban Cable TV days.

Apophis
Jaffa Kree
Premium Member
join:2001-12-27
Holmen, WI

Apophis

Premium Member

Example

Putting a prism device on a CenturyLink dsl connection is about as stupid as attaching a rail car to a horse.

tubbynet
reminds me of the danse russe
MVM
join:2008-01-16
Gilbert, AZ

tubbynet

MVM

Re: Example

said by Apophis:

Putting a prism device on a CenturyLink dsl connection is about as stupid as attaching a rail car to a horse.

i believe that a requirement for prism tv deployment in any location is the presence of vdsl2 enabled dslams. it can't be run over the adsl lines that are in most of c-links rural locations served.

q.

wizkid6
join:2002-03-31
Opelika, AL

wizkid6

Member

Re: Example

said by tubbynet:

it can't be run over the adsl lines that are in most of c-links rural locations served.

Wrong. It can, via the pair-bonded ADSL2+ using the Cisco DDR2200 unit like CenturyLink uses in the Fort Myers/Cape Coral Florida market.

bockbock
@hcs.net

bockbock

Anon

Re: Example

Yup. I believe CL still uses ADSL2+ herein Tallahassee, FL for their Prism TV service. AT&T does this as well with their U-Verse customers if they are too far away from the cabinet to get VDSL2.

wizkid6
join:2002-03-31
Opelika, AL

wizkid6 to Apophis

Member

to Apophis
said by Apophis:

Putting a prism device on a CenturyLink dsl connection is about as stupid as attaching a rail car to a horse.

LOL. I think it's called "Prism" TV because in FTTP installations they use passive optical splitters to split one beam into mean over single-mode fiber for GPON/BPON setups.

linicx
Caveat Emptor
Premium Member
join:2002-12-03
United State

linicx

Premium Member

They it goes

CL is bragging again "This week, CenturyLink announced that Portland users able to get gigabit broadband can now order the company's Prism IPTV service."

Century Link can offer gigabyte broadband to LV, Omaha, Portland, Phoenix, etc.. But it cannot provide a working telephone to a rural home in America.
brad152
join:2006-07-27
Chicago, IL

brad152

Member

Can we get other markets fully deployed first?

My house in Phoenix has a perfectly good 40/5 line coming in, but i still cannot order Prism TV here for some reason.

Considering i can max out the 40Mbps line 24/7 without any loss in speed tells me my DSLAM is most likely fine bandwidth wise to handle my 8Mbps HD stream a few times a week, but CL states "it just wont work"

bockbock
@hcs.net

bockbock

Anon

Re: Can we get other markets fully deployed first?

With that much bandwidth, you could just cord cut. And you are one of the lucky few who can get a full 40/5 out of CenturyLink. Most of CenturyLink's customers would be glad to get even half that.
coryw
join:2013-12-22
Flagstaff, AZ

coryw to brad152

Member

to brad152
It'll probably work from a technical perspective, and all of the bonded modems they're handing out these days will do Prism, but if I remember correctly, there's some licensing and TV franchising issues and they must get explicit permission in each municipality. So like, Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale, Peoria, and Mesa might all have it, but Gilbbert, Chandler, and Glendale might not.

There's probably something else going on causing them not to do it.

clones
join:2005-04-18
Ankeny, IA

clones

Member

FTTH

Would be nice if they offered 1 GBPS in Ankeny. They spent the money to deploy fiber to the home to a new subdivision and treat it like DSL. Will never understand why they don't try to leverage technology. Instead they hold back as much as they can.
coryw
join:2013-12-22
Flagstaff, AZ

coryw

Member

Re: FTTH

When you say "treat it like DSL" do you mean that they're only offering like 7 megs on it, or is CL's 100/50 tier available on it?

Fiber doesn't necessarily mean fast, but the fact that it's there is very good for future hopes of speed upgrades. (compared to DSL where the vast majority of the footprint isn't going to see much in the way of speed upgrades any time soon.)

clones
join:2005-04-18
Ankeny, IA

clones

Member

Re: FTTH

We can now finally get 100\50, but it has 250 GB cap just like the other "faster" speeds. Why not allow users to use it and offer great things with it. Instead I can get a faster connection through my cable provider with a much higher cap (2 TB).

holocron
Premium Member
join:2004-06-28
Mount Vernon, NY

holocron

Premium Member

Cost?

Show me the money?

They're supposedly bringing this crap to Minneapolis....