Bottomline I hate TWC...what is the consensus on Centurylink's 10 mbps DSL compared to roadrunner?

2/18/2011 3:11:20 PM

you'll most likely get the 10mbps if that's what you're asking. It's like 60 bucks for their dry loop dsl, but you may get hit with CenturyTel's equipment leasing policy they brought over after the merger. I only needed to use it for about 3 months, but I can try to dig up an old bill to see what the additional fees were.

They have a nifty social media outreach program and plenty of times I've had issues solved just by tweeting and never had to deal with T1 phone support.

[Edited on February 18, 2011 at 3:51 PM. Reason : .]

2/18/2011 3:48:40 PM

What did you think of the speed? Plenty fast for daily usage?

2/18/2011 4:35:08 PM

Of course.

10/768 has fastpath enabled by default with like 18ms latency. So if VoIP and headshots are your thing then you should fair well.

[Edited on February 18, 2011 at 5:04 PM. Reason : Ping]

2/18/2011 4:57:37 PM

I think they want like $3/mo for the DSL Modem. Go buy your own. With what you send to them each month, you would pay for the modem in under a year.

2/18/2011 7:35:55 PM

You may be able to wiggle out of it with residential, but they were cocks on removing it from a business account. I have about 5 660s and 10 645s on hand lol.

2/18/2011 9:01:52 PM

We have unreliable, spotty service from there here in Fayetteville. During the day today I could barely muster 1Mbit on speed tests (paying for 5Mbit.) But we're paying like $29/month, and that's near impossible to beat. For facebook and browsing it's fine; netflix is what gets it mad.

2/18/2011 9:11:09 PM

I wouldn't put it past them to have oversold the area. Have you done any kind of back and forth with their tech support?

2/18/2011 9:15:35 PM

^oh yea, we even paid like $129 for a new modem (we don't rent from them - we just buy outright.) Didn't help, might have made it slower...

[Edited on February 18, 2011 at 9:37 PM. Reason : TWC rolling out DOCSIS3.0... Centurylink is officially on notice.]

2/18/2011 9:37:16 PM

Heh, CL can't compete. All they have is their bonded ADSL2 which is like nowhere in NC yet. I think it's still being tested in Vegas.

I do have to hand it to Suddenlink though, dropping all the money to roll out D3 in areas where their only competition is 10/768.

2/18/2011 9:55:12 PM

wwwebsurfer i'm in fayetteville and have twc road runner and phone. i just went to direct tv b'c i have twc. unfortunately because the way my house is wired i can't get the on demand to my direct tv without putting a whole in the wall upstairs. i either need to do that....figure out a way to go in the crawl space and move my internet from upstairs, or move to dsl.

2/19/2011 3:20:42 PM

you just need internet connection? Use one of the through-the-wall deals or a wifi client (sometimes called a wireless/wired bridge - they make a buttload of them for xbox and other game clients.) I wouldn't switch providers just because of this simple to fix problem, particularly since TWC is rolling out docsis 3.0

Also, every other friday @ Sandhills Music (bordeaux, across from the hospital) has awesome live music. You should come Or come to Crossroads Church - Hope Mills beside the YMCA, 9/10.30. I'll probably be at both.

2/19/2011 8:38:18 PM

i have centurylink in rocky mount. i pay $75 for 10mbps & home phone. they offer up to 15mbps out here. i've been with them for 5 years now & they've never charged me for a modem. i thought only the cable companies do that. typical down speeds range from just under 9 to just over 10. up speeds are around 0.8-1.0. the cable internet out here is really unreliable, cuts in & out, slows down periodically, but i've never had that problem w/ dsl (when i opened the acct it was sprint, then embarq, now centurylink).

i use a belkin wireless gaming adapter to connect my dish network receiver to the internet. i got it for $30 on ebay. looks like this

Part # F5D7330
it is plugnplay, but can be configured on a secure wifi network w/ a pc & some software (you can't do it w/ a mac, found out the hard way).

[Edited on February 19, 2011 at 10:11 PM. Reason : ]

2/19/2011 10:02:12 PM

Quote :

"i thought only the cable companies do that."

When I signed up for my DSL 3 years ago I was given a free modem with my service. When my sister signed up for hers with the same company a couple of months ago they charged her $99 for the modem. I guess all the companies are starting to figure out where they can nickel and dime customers.

2/19/2011 10:18:58 PM

that's really sucky

2/19/2011 10:30:31 PM

^^ might have to do with a credit check? maybe you qualified for free equipment and she didn't.

2/22/2011 2:13:29 PM

There was a 50 or 100 dollar charge when I signed my grandparents up (pre merger) but that was only because I didn't want to have two devices to fail on them and I just added the wireless model they had.

Sprint/Embarq always gave you the basic modem for free. CenturyTel's policy included leased equipment, much like some of the other companies did. The Zyxel 660 can be had on eBay for 20 dollars. When I had to sign up for residential it was right when they were changing billing systems, re-routing calls to different centers and overall it was a giant clusterfuck. I told the sales rep that I basically did this for a living and had my own modem and troubleshoot anything past my NID. I requested that DSL just be turned up at my address. I never had the equipment fee on my bill. A month later I tried the same thing with a new store we were opening and all I could do was get it reduced to the minimum (modem shipped, customer installed). It's a tiered fee based on the level of installation you require. To say there's a silver lining would be gross exaggeration, but when you lease it they're obviously responsible for anything that ever happens to it...

Social engineering may simply get you a reduced rate to compensate or a credit applied every month, you never know. I haven't had to deal with residential sales in a while.

---I realize this thread is about outside CenturyLink sales which I am not....

2/22/2011 7:02:16 PM