Qwest internet?

[Sean]

I read a bunch of the older threads on the "great internet debate" and wanted to get the most up to date info. We have Comcast, it's fine, just way to expensive. We have the Internet/cable bundle and don't use the TV aspect. But Comcast says it's only a few bucks a month cheaper if we drop the TV/Cable. Qwest looks appealing with their lower rates, but we need solid and fast internet service. Are people still having issues with the consistency of Qwest/Century Link? Thoughts?

Thanks!

[Wrider]

Yup, I still have issues with it being reliable. It was dropping and needing to reset the router every 20 minutes (quite literally). Now it doesn't need to be reset, but it still has connection errors every 20 minutes or so.

[Zach929rr]

Protip: if you want to lower your comcast bill, walk in to a location and ask. I do this every 6 months and they drop $40 off my monthly.

[The GECCO]

I had qwest DSL for a while and wasn't impressed. Reliability was ok to good, but the speeds were rather slow and inconsistent.

FWIW

[rforsythe]

See I have the opposite experience; my Qwest DSL is fast and consistently so, whereas the Comcast we had was awful at best. With DSL though it's pretty dependent on your distance to the central office, and what level of equipment they have there.

[AOK303]

i have qwest/centry link and its fast enough to game but once a day it does need to be reset and they only get up to 18 on the speed.

Comcast in my area people lag more then i do though

[TinkerinWstuff]

See I have the opposite experience; my Qwest DSL is fast and consistently so, whereas the Comcast we had was awful at best. With DSL though it's pretty dependent on your distance to the central office, and what level of equipment they have there.

Agreed. I also believe that location is everything. I have qwest/centurylink and have had very few problems.

I lose my power from xcel energy far more than I have any trouble with qwest

[DeeStylez]

Comcast been with them nearly 6 yrs now. Just recently my 1 yr contract ended and now they're offering me a really sweet deal but requiring a 2 yr contract. Early termination $75, $39.99 cable tv and 20mbs internet. The cable isn't the best package but I rarely watch tv and I removed comcast phone service since I now run the magic jack lol. What I suggest as Zach mentioned make like your returning your equipment they will make a you deal you can't pass up. My aunt has Qwest and to me their internet speeds suck.

[~Barn~]

My (now) Century Link internet is reliable and reasonably fast. They have higher speeds available, but the 7Mbps suits me fine. As with everything though, I should probably be paying less for it.

[The Black Knight]

Another + 1 for Comcast and their speed. I've seen as high as 30mbps and normally float between 23 and 25. Uploads around the 4-5 area.

[BlueRanger]

+1 Century Link consistency fail

[cbrjohnny]

the mascot is a fucking slinky...

[Sarge]

I was recently forced to switch to Qwest/Centurylink and so far the experience has been less than desireable. The only speed the offer is 1.5 Mbps, which is rediculous, and from the setup I've had nothing but issues.

First things first, when I order I asked for no modem, I had my own. They sent one anyway. I call to send it back, first thing they do is send me another.

They tell me during sign-up that service will be turned on the 3rd, paperwork I get in the mail says the 4th. I have all hardware set up, modem is synched, telling me my rated speed, everything is good, Customer Service won't talk to me until the 4th, because of what it says on my paperwork.

4th rolls around, guy comes out, tells me everything is good. (Its Thursday now) I get home from work, nothing works. I reset my hardware (modem, router, etc) comes back up. Rinse and repeat every 12 hours or so.

Multiple calls to customer service get me nowhere. Call center located in the Phillipines has Dell-style customer service, read from a script. Asking for supervisors, higher level techs, etc gets me nowhere.

Finally, the following Friday, everything is working "OK", its about 6 PM or so, I'm playing Call of Duty on the 360 for the first time, about an hour into it, and it all goes out. I do my typical reset thing, nothing. Check the modem, same thing as on the 3rd, DSL light is synched, speed is posted, etc, but won't connect. 4-5 customer service calls later, I finally convince them the issue is on THEIR end, not mine. They schedule a tech for the following Monday. Meanwhile, I file a BBB complaint, stating the level of customer service is rediculous, the constant outages are annoying, etc.

At this point I run to Best-Buy and buy another modem/router combo, just in case it really is my fault, as the Phillipino customer support was quick to point out that if it is indeed my hardware (my modem is "NOT SUPPORTED") then I will have to pay $100+ for the service call.

Monday rolls around, the same tech shows up. He troubleshoots, can't find anything wrong, then goes to the terminal down the street. Oops, our "jack was mislabled" and we were disconnected from the DSLAM. Typical. Even in my BBB complaint, which I filed Friday or Saturday, I mentioned that I was likely disconnected because the prior occupants of the house scheduled their service for disconnection later. (They didn't bother shutting things down until a week or so after I moved in, most of the utilities I had to shut down for them to put into my name, phone service works a bit differently).

Finally, tech reconnects me at the panel, instantly everything turns back on, he says "it was our issue so I won't be charging you for the service call" and rolls out.

Two days later I get a response from an English speaking American located at Headquarters. He tells me "I was on a crowded DSLAM with known issues and have been moved over." I tell him since they reconnected me after Monday I haven't had any issues. He basically tells me "I'm sorry you had issues communicating with our counterparts in the Phillipines" and gives me his direct line for future service calls.

Ever since then, haven't had a single service issue, and other than the fact that it's shitty DSL service and I'm literally on the last leg of it, it's working fine. I would switch back to Comcast or anyone else in a heartbeat if they serviced my area though.

[Jim_Vess]

I've been on Qwest/CenturyLink for 6 years now. Only 1.5Mb was available in Lafayette when I first signed up and the reliability was less than desirable. The system in my area has since been upgraded, I'm running at 20Mb and the reliability issues are no longer there.

[Sean]

Thanks for the feedback, everybody.

Sarge- Wow, sounds like a headache! Glad it worked out okay in the end.


Protip: if you want to lower your comcast bill, walk in to a location and ask. I do this every 6 months and they drop $40 off my monthly. :up: Thank you, sir. Do they make you sign any contract, or just give you the deal?

[Zach929rr]

:up: Thank you, sir. Do they make you sign any contract, or just give you the deal?

Negative. Last time I was in there, I was in to replace my broken remote (thanks to my 2 year-old tornado). The wait was shit because it was like 4:30pm on a Friday, but when I got to the desk, he handed me a new remote in about 2 seconds, and I asked, "Is there anything you guys can do to lower my monthly?". He took a look, then let me know that he had lowered it by $40/mo for the next 6 months and we were on our way. Our bill was already kind of high (top tier residential internet, mid-tier TV), so I guess don't expect $40 off if you are already paying less than $100.