CenturyLink Internet Speed Stinks (Phoenix, Scottsdale: home, promotional, price)

[Bluff_Dweller]

OP.. I think I would get onto Centurylink also. I have had CL for several years and only had router problems a couple of times. They sent me a new one and that was about 5 years ago. No cable available here in the boonies.

Wish you good luck.

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by LBTRS

Lol, ok post your DSL speeds and lets see if mine makes yours look "vastly inferior".

This is in prime time and in 2015...



Look at the reviews on DSL reports and you'll see that cable gets an overall better rating than DSL. Cox gets better than CenturyLink but overall cable has better reviews than DSL.

Now let's compare bills. $31.94 including tax.

[LBTRS]

Originally Posted by Zippyman

Now let's compare bills. $31.94 including tax.

Mine is 4.2 times faster than yours but only 3.3 times more expensive than yours. You pay $.76/Mbs and I pay $.60/Mbs, which is a better deal? It is also impossible for you to get anything faster with CL even if you wanted it.

Notice, Cox has three stars from customer ratings and CenturyLink has two? It is obvious that more people prefer Cox then they do CL.

Glad CL is working out for you though.

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by LBTRS

Mine is 4.2 times faster than yours but only 3.3 times more expensive than yours. It is also impossible for you to get anything faster with CL even if you wanted it.

Notice, Cox has three stars from customer ratings and CenturyLink has two? It is obvious that more people prefer Cox then they do CL.

Glad CL is working out for you though.

I wouldn't get any benefit from "faster" internet, since I'm not waiting for anything. It's kinda like driving a Ferrari to the corner store, fun to brag about, but pointless.. And Cox was charging me $70-something for service that was rated "faster", but couldn't even support a low-def Netflix stream (that's 0.3GB per hour, or about 1/10th the speed I was paying for!).

[LBTRS]

Originally Posted by Zippyman

I wouldn't get any benefit from "faster" internet, since I'm not waiting for anything. It's kinda like driving a Ferrari to the corner store, fun to brag about, but pointless.. And Cox was charging me $70-something for service that was rated "faster", but couldn't even support a low-def Netflix stream (that's 0.3GB per hour, or about 1/10th the speed I was paying for!).

The Netflix issue was surely an issue that wasn't caused by Cox. I have devices in my house that won't stream Netflix without buffering but other devices that work perfectly with Netflix.

Upon troubleshooting the issue I discovered it is a device issue that is known about and everyone has the same issue with these two particular devices and netflix. I have a Sony Bravia TV and a Samsung BlueRay Player that won't stream netflix without buffering. My other eight devices in the house all stream netflix perfectly. It surely isn't a Cox issue or a lack of bandwidth causing the problem but I could easily blame it on them.

I'd bet you anything it was your cable modem, router or streaming device causing the problem or you were trying to watch HD Netflix over wifi which is always iffy depending on the stregth of your wifi signal in the part of the house you are in.

My father-in-law was cursing his cable internet provider (CableOne) because his netflix was always buffering. He actually tried to cancel his service for CL but I told him to wait until I traveled up to Idaho to visit and look at it. The problem was that his Vizio TV in the basement didn't have a strong enough wifi signal to stream netflix. Moved the TV upstairs to the living room with a better wifi signal it it worked like a champ. Nothing to do with his cable internet.

[KaaBoom]

Originally Posted by WriterDude

First off, their wireless device is flaky. It had a long weird password, so it took hours to set up all of our devices on their wireless. However, then the phones started dropping off of their wireless at unexpected times. I didn't realize it until we got a notice from Verizon that we'd used up 75% of our data plan. Basically, when they dropped off the Wi-Fi, they'd just continue on the cellular data. Great. I ran a hard cable from their modem to our old Apple AirPort base station, and connected everything to that for Wi-Fi. Boom, problem solved.

Secondly, 20MBit is apparently only possible if you sacrifice leprechauns and sprinkle unicorn dust on your modem. Speedtest says we're getting under 13MBit downstream and less than 1 MBit upstream. That makes it extremely challenging to work from home, and ping times and performance in routine things like online games are terrible.

OK, so problem #1: Wi-Fi is resolved. Great

Now for problem #2: Internet speed. So if your internet speed was 20 mbps instead of 13 mbps, you would be a total happy camper? It's hard to imagine that an extra 7 mbps, would solve all your problems, but if that will make you happy, so be it.

Most likely it is your wiring (inside and outside) that is keeping you from getting over 13 mbps. First run a CAT5 Data Line from the telephone junction box directly to your modem, bypassing all the old telephone wiring inside your apartment. Next test your speed. If your speed is satisfactory, then you have solved the problem. If your speed is still subpar, you know the problem is with CenturyLink's lines, outside your apartment. Call them and have them work on that problem.

Hope this helps you.

[Jukesgrrl]

I'm in Tucson and I've had CenturyLink for nine years ... long before they were even CL (Qwest before). I'm not entirely thrilled with my speeds either, but I have found CL to be willing to do trouble shooting and to address customer service issues professionally. And given some of the other bargains I'm getting in bundling with them (which I would lose if I changed my package), things would have to get a lot slower before I'd move.

Also, do you know you can get a free subscription to Norton Anti-virus from them? They'll even load it for you. It needs to be changed out to a new version every two years but all you have to do is call them and they'll take care of it. You can then set the updates to be done when and how often you want your system to be scanned. I was using Avast before and another thing I paid $50/yr for before that and I'm liking the Norton better than either of those.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by Jukesgrrl

I'm in Tucson and I've had CenturyLink for nine years ... long before they were even CL (Qwest before). I'm not entirely thrilled with my speeds either, but I have found CL to be willing to do trouble shooting and to address customer service issues professionally. And given some of the other bargains I'm getting in bundling with them (which I would lose if I changed my package), things would have to get a lot slower before I'd move.

Also, do you know you can get a free subscription to Norton Anti-virus from them? They'll even load it for you. It needs to be changed out to a new version every two years but all you have to do is call them and they'll take care of it. You can then set the updates to be done when and how often you want your system to be scanned. I was using Avast before and another thing I paid $50/yr for before that and I'm liking the Norton better than either of those.

I had CenturyLink/Qwest for years and years. They were my phone provider from the first day I had a landline, and my internet provider for well over a decade. Never had any complaints. If there was an issue, they dealt with it swiftly and were very easy to deal with. I never dreaded having to make a call to them, as I knew it would be taken care of painlessly. They also only have a 1 year contract instead of 2, and I know from experience that all you have to do is call at the end of your one year and ask for a new deal and they will give you the "new customer" bargain price.

Moved to AZ and decided to give Cox a try (TV and internet). It was a struggle from day one. I had to call them several times a month, every month, for service issues, signal problems, bill issues. You name it, and every phone call ended with me being frustrated that I was paying $150 a month for my bundle, and I had to constantly babysit it. I had 3 different settop boxes in 18 months, the equipment kept failing. Finally, when I was still having issues with my TV picture freezing up, on the third box, I threw in the towel. I fired Cox and paid the cancellation fee. I took it as my punishment for not sticking with CL, which had worked for me for years and years.

Sure, my speeds on CL may not be as high as Cox, but I don't need it. (I like the other poster's Ferrari analogy) I can stream, download, web browse, etc all just fine. Oh, and at less than HALF what I was paying COX for with more TV channels! YMMV

[ajonesaz]

OP sounds like your problems are all generating from your modem, not necessarily service. If you got the modem from them ask for a new one.

Secondly, you do not have to use the default wifi setup, you can change the password.

I switched to century link last November and had similar issues, the tech came out and handed me a new modem. I asked him how much it would cost for the modem, he said "what modem? I didn't give you a modem"

I didn't even get the first modem from them! Since then smooth sailing. Very happy with the service and I always get Netflix in HD with no buffering.

[sargeant79]

Cox's customer service is awful, but their product is far superior. Just my $.02.