Switching Comcast to Century Link?

[electronman1729]

Thinking of switching to Century Link. I have had it with Comcast.

Thoughts? Is this on a RJ-45 connection?

How is the speed for gaming?

[esizer]

I’ve had CenturyLink for years and they are absolutely terrible. The only reason I haven’t ever switched is that I can’t get anything else for internet only at around $30 a month. The highest speed they offer in my area is 40mb/s, IIRC. I’ve heard Comcast is just as bad but they offer higher speeds.

[opie011]

I would love to get away from Comcast but their internet speed can't be beat. Not sure where you're at in Arvada but, I'm over by the Apex and Century said the max speed I can get is 25Mbps while I'm getting over 200Mbps from Comcast.

[OtterbatHellcat]

Yeah, Comcast sucks for the price, but the service is there....for the most part. And internet speed is high.

[electronman1729]

I would love to get away from Comcast but their internet speed can't be beat. Not sure where you're at in Arvada but, I'm over by the Apex and Century said the max speed I can get is 25Mbps while I'm getting over 200Mbps from Comcast.

Yeah I cancelled my TV Saturday and now my account is jacked up. Im on the phone with my blood boiling right now.

I live near 80th and Kipling

[OtterbatHellcat]

Going through the Comcast "system" over the phone with a problem DOES make one consider sucking the musket.

Been there before.

[opie011]

Yeah I cancelled my TV Saturday and now my account is jacked up. Im on the phone with my blood boiling right now.

I live near 80th and Kipling

Goto the payment center off 52nd and Wads. Ask for a manager and be pissed off. It took over a month to correct my account after changing my service plan. Had a guy at the payment center straight lie to my face about what I was getting/paying for and trying to get that corrected to an act of congress.....hence the reason to talk only to management there.

[trlcavscout]

My 12 meg c link works fine for gaming and streaming, no issues. After working at comcast i wouldnt give them a dime, some shady mofo’s!

[OtterbatHellcat]

When I moved to my current house, the Comcast installers apparently kept my old router and didn't turn it in. I went rounds and rounds with them that I turned in every piece of equipment. Never really got settled, and my bill went up.

I will never trust turning equipment in again without a blood signature at a local Comcast store that everything IS THERE AND ACCOUNTED FOR. That will not happen to me again.

[Ridge]

Jesus don't do it! They're fucking awful.

My company has them, and we've been waiting 8 months for them to switch us over from 50meg to 100. It was supposed to happen at the end of last week, and they said it did. But our speeds are worse this week than they were on Friday.

[gnihcraes]

Quality of service is usually different by neighborhood. (old/new wires/fiber etc) (not customer service though - comcast probably wins the shitty customer service award)

Never had much of a problem with centurylink in 20 years here. I'm not blazing fast, but meh. I'm 50 down 5 up, DSL. Usually watching mutliple tv's and kids gaming at the same time.

Cable is faster.

[ray1970]

I have Century Link. Can’t say I’d really recommend it. Weird random service drops seem frequent in my area. Usually don’t last more than a couple of minutes but still annoying. Also, their hardware is pretty crappy. I’ve always had to cycle the power on their modems because they freeze up randomly. Sometimes they’ll work for a few days before needing to be reset, sometimes not. I usually ditch their modem and buy something better.

[TheGrey]

We've got Centurylink, but we don't game and we're fine with the slow speeds. Comcast sucked donkey wang and they kept jacking up the price and then jacking us around. They lied, lied, lied.

[brutal]

When I moved to my current house, the Comcast installers apparently kept my old router and didn't turn it in. I went rounds and rounds with them that I turned in every piece of equipment. Never really got settled, and my bill went up.

I will never trust turning equipment in again without a blood signature at a local Comcast store that everything IS THERE AND ACCOUNTED FOR. That will not happen to me again.

When I upgraded and bought my own modem, I delivered it to the local service center personally. Gal says, I can log it in, but if you want a receipt, you'll have to wait until someone at the service counter is available.

LOLZ. I waited, five minutes.

Sir, do you want a receipt?

I just gave him a thousand yard stare and a smile. Verified serial number of device and receipt matched and had my receipt in hand when I walked out the door.

Other than that, I've had no beef with Comcast Xfinity or whatever they want to call themselves. But I've also never had anything but their Internet service.

I had CenturySlink for 18 months and it was pure hell until I switched back to Comcast. Never again, CL can suck a muzzleloader.

[TheGrey]

I turned our equipment in, and askd the kid behind the counter to sign MY receipt, that I had printed out. He about crapped his pants and stuttered that he could not do that, but that he'd print out a receipt. So I took video instead.

[Grant H.]

I wouldn't suggest that change, if you like highspeed internet.

Century Link can't compete on speeds, and even if they promise you fast/reliable, it probably won't be. Ever.

I had to deal with Century Link for the internet at my church, and they are unbelievable. We were paying for 25Mbps service, and I can say with certainty that we never got more than 1.2Mbps down in the time we had them.

Comcast has their issues, but at least they deliver the speeds they promise.

[USMC88-93]

Comcast is in the midst of an upgrade of all the feeder lines in Arvada to push Fiber deeper into the subdivisions both for reliability and additional advanced services. All other problems aside (and I do not know what your specific problems are be they service, reliability or price), Comcast internet can not be beat. It would be a significant downgrade to move to Century Link. The grass is not always greener as the saying goes but you never know if it will suit your purposes until you jump ship. I would only say try to stay out of any service agreement that requires a contract so that you can jump back over the fence if you find the new service lacking.

[colorider]

A few years ago I went to the comcast center to return 3 cable boxes, modems, and some other stuff. It was my mother in laws and she passed away. First trip to Comcast the line was out the door. No way I was waiting. Second trip the line was not as long, but after waiting 15min and observing 10 people in front of me getting severely frustrated, I left. Had a lawn bag full of their equipment that quickly made its way into their dumpster.

[CS1983]

Going from Comcast to Century Link is like going from Navy to Coast Guard. When we were in Littleton, we were ~3 miles from the main facility and service BLEW.

When I was at a company in Littleton, they shifted from CL to another provider and throughput went through the roof. CL sucks. Their data center had a nice cabling job, though.

[CS1983]

Have you checked out Ubiquiti? The speeds can be blazing fast, depending on what is available across town. [Evil]

In all reality, if it wasn't for long range bridges, I'd probably be on dialup right now. I'm in city limits, cable cross a corner of my property, yet DSL is unavailable (wtf?) and I can't actually get Charter unless I trenched a quarter mile up a hill to bring the cable to the residence.

I have a buddy who was the IT guru of a ski area in Leadville. Fiber right outside his office. Company wanted like 40K to terminate into his network. Because #reasons.

[electronman1729]

Comcast is in the midst of an upgrade of all the feeder lines in Arvada to push Fiber deeper into the subdivisions both for reliability and additional advanced services. All other problems aside (and I do not know what your specific problems are be they service, reliability or price), Comcast internet can not be beat. It would be a significant downgrade to move to Century Link. The grass is not always greener as the saying goes but you never know if it will suit your purposes until you jump ship. I would only say try to stay out of any service agreement that requires a contract so that you can jump back over the fence if you find the new service lacking.


Comcast did the same in my area as well and the speeds are slower.

[Bailey Guns]

When I lived in Bailey we suffered thru crappy internet for years. Started with dialup. Then upgraded to satellite. Sucked. Finally got a hi-freq radio hookup. That was better service but the company was terrible. For the last 10 years or so we had CL DSL. Started at 1.5 mbps. Gradually upgraded to 7, then finally to 12 for the last 4 or 5 years we lived there.

Personally, I thought CL was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Mostly because all the other options sucked so bad.

Only problem we had was loss of signal when it rained. Talked to a local guy who was one of their service techs in the area. He tested the line and said there was a break somewhere between our house and the road. 2 days later some dude was there with a trencher and opened a 950' trench from our house to the highway. CL then laid a brand new line to the house...no charge for anything. Phone service and DSL improved significantly and the problem was solved.

My only complaint was the price. $70 month bundled with phone service I didn't need.

Me: "What if we drop the phone line because we don't really need it? We have good cell service here."
CL: "Then the price for DSL goes up to $75 month."
Me: "Why is it more?"
CL: "Because it is."
Me: "OK. I'll keep the landline."

[roberth]

In Denver Comcast is the best internet service. CenturyLink is just awful and their customer service is worse, as if you could get worse than Comcast' customer service.

[Jer]

I don't have much time to go into detail but I was in sales for an IT company that worked only with dental practices. We covered the entire US with hundreds of accounts here in the front range. Having been through all the options & dealing with all the vendors from every standpoint (construction, installation, service & performance) I can tell you, without a doubt, do NOT switch to Century Link from Comcast. That's not to say Comcast is a pillar of performance & service. Whatever problems you currently have with Comcast WILL be magnified with Century Link. Until we get fiber options from other companies just have as little interaction with them as possible & try not to think about it. Best advice I can give.

[Zundfolge]

In Denver Comcast is the best internet service. CenturyLink is just awful and their customer service is worse, as if you could get worse than Comcast' customer service.
I've had the opposite experience, but the truth is both suck ... ALL ISPs suck ... this is just how it is.

That said, I think Comcast sucks more because they'll police your data and sanction you if they catch you torrenting (whats the point of having all that speed if you can't use it?)... Century Link doesn't (or at least hasn't to me). Also Comcast owns NBC, funds the DNC and is part of the MSM trying to censor and control us.

I think ultimately it comes down to the infrastructure in your area. If its good you'll have a good experience no matter who the provider, if its not it'll be hell (in part because nobody does good customer service anymore and all of them will nickle and dime you if they can).

In Pleasant Valley on the west side of The Springs, we have had good experience with CL (and they just upgraded our neighborhood to fiber which I haven't switched to). However we couldn't even get Century Link DSL at our office on Garden of the Gods Road so we went with Comcast Business (to be fair, the customer service on Comcast Business is significantly better than Comcast Residential) I hate the router they gave us because it has almost zero features that are user accessible (opening ports on it is a bitch and usually requires me contacting them to do it remotely).

In the past 5 years I can count the number of down days on both ISPs on one hand.

[Madeinhb]

They both suck. I forced to switch from Centurylink to Comcast because I work at home. Centurylink was throttling my VPN access and I couldn't work. They tried telling me it was my VPN. So I went right after that call to Comcast - signed up for 30 days. No issues with VPN through them. Also Centurylink had way my outages than I've had with Comcast.

[SamuraiCO]

I still can't believe that in 2017 we are still having these kinds of problems with internet providers. Not sure if they are reluctant in doing infrastructure upgrades if cellular technology is getting better and faster or local and state regs are not friendly for laying new fiber optics.

I will not support Comcast for above reason of their outward politics and support against what most of us here support. But I understand where some have to because of job needs or want because of gaming. I bundled CL through DISH to have one price for TV, internet and phone. Works for me.

[kwando]

Never had any problems with comcast, was getting a great deal prob because i know someone that gave me a good package. No downtime, no need to reset modem, fast speeds, reliable, etc. After i moved, I signed up for Century link. Using their modem it sucked! Had to reset on a regular basis. I bought my own modem, and its been fine. But i only get 12mb/sec, up is not even 1mb/sec. Been down a few times, but it was up within 15-30 minutes. My only gripe about CL is the speeds!! My phone gets better up/down speeds than your "high speed" internet.

I would gladly pay $100+ a month to get comcast at my place.

[Scanker19]

I've had comcast for about well, most of my adult life. I love them. Fast speeds, reliable. But like any where you can get some shit CSRs. Just depends on who you talk to.

In fact I just got off the phone with them. Managed to get my cost down to ~$65 a month with the modem for 100 Me download speed. Good for what I need.

I had century link twice. The first time I decided to give the a chance. I was told I'd get one month free and some gift card. Well I was surprised when I got my first bill... the first month. I called and asked, "wasn't the first month free?" To which they replied, The first free month was your 30 day money back trial. This of course being on day 29 of that. I told them I'd like to use that then and cancel me. Cool done and canceled.
Next month I get a double bill. Hey goobers I cancelled. bill was wiped.
next month I get a $300 bill for the modem I "didn't Return" So I call them, I sent that back I said. No you didn't they said. Weird well let's track the box I have the number right here. "Oh yes we did receive that."
Assholes

Second time was not by choice but we couldn't get Comcast there. It was basically round two of the above.

In closing I don't recommend you use century link. Customer service sucks, service sucks, equipment sucks. Comcast isn't the best, but they're, in my opinion better than CL.
But If you do, get everything in writing, and save every piece of paper that relates to them.

[Ramsker]

I have Comcast and pretty much have to stay with it for work. I do a ton of video conferencing and my system needs strong upstream to work well. CL just can't support it up to this point. They would reach out to me periodically about switching and I always explained they weren't robust enough for what I needed. At one point, a rep contacted me and told me they had a faster speed availble in my nighborhood and promised it met the minimum upstream speed I had to have. So I agreed to bundle our phone, TV & Internet with them.

Performance and speed ended up being well short of what they promised and I cancelled. I had kept the Comcast and Direct TV as-is while I tested it out--good thing I did.

[.455_Hunter]

In our area, Century Link is the only game in town, providing max 1.5M over old crappy DSL phone lines. Looking at going to Verizion 4G hotspot with unlimited data for all internet uses.

[Ronin13]

Maybe a little late to the party, but we had Comcast at our condo in Denver for internet, and it was okay... when we moved to NW Arvada into a new development, Comcast wasn't installed up there yet, so CL was our only choice. For the same price we were paying Comcast, we got faster internet with Century Link. I love it! We don't go down, it's quick, and great for gaming. I use hardline instead of WiFi for gaming so I get the fastest speed possible, and playing COD:WWII, Player Unknown's Battlegrounds, and other online shooters I have zero issues. It also streams Netflix and Amazon very well.

[USMC88-93]

Maybe a little late to the party, but we had Comcast at our condo in Denver for internet, and it was okay... when we moved to NW Arvada into a new development, Comcast wasn't installed up there yet, so CL was our only choice. For the same price we were paying Comcast, we got faster internet with Century Link. I love it! We don't go down, it's quick, and great for gaming. I use hardline instead of WiFi for gaming so I get the fastest speed possible, and playing COD:WWII, Player Unknown's Battlegrounds, and other online shooters I have zero issues. It also streams Netflix and Amazon very well.

Are you in the Candelas or similar new subdivision out there? it certainly helps bring both services closer competitively when you are in brand new build and both providers have the ability to design their feeder network from scratch.

[Delfuego]

It's a choice between syphilis and gonorrhea. I choose comcast ever since qwest sold to centurylink.

[TFOGGER]

*NSFW language*



http://youtu.be/0ilMx7k7mso

[clodhopper]

Had century link for years, from before it was CL. They had no long term client loyalty, speeds kept slowing, prices kept rising, service only got worse. It got to the point that the services was unusable Friday evening to sunday night, too slow. Wife ended up in a screaming match with the rep on the phone and told them to shut it all off. Went to Comcast and had a very good install experience and good service. Much better average speed (stall outs were very rare and much shorter than CL). We only had that about a year or so, little issues here and there, overall much better than CL). Have since moved to Weld County and now on the fiber system with is soooo much better.

[Ronin13]

Are you in the Candelas or similar new subdivision out there? it certainly helps bring both services closer competitively when you are in brand new build and both providers have the ability to design their feeder network from scratch.

Yep, we live in Candelas. It was a nightmare the weeks before we moved because Comcast wouldn't give us any idea of when services would be up there. Then a month after we move in the trucks started showing up... we were already in a contract with CL and I'm actually quite happy with them. YMMV.

[hurley842002]

Didn't see a reason to start a new thread, so I figured I would ask here. We are in the process of dumping Comcast/Xfinity, and switching to Century Link, in order to avoid the $60 install fee, and not rent a modem from CL, what modem can you all recommend, preferably a budget conscious option, we'll be doing the 60MBPS plan. I suppose this could double as a wanted post, if anyone had a modem they aren't using.

[XXFattyHunterXX]

Didn't see a reason to start a new thread, so I figured I would ask here. We are in the process of dumping Comcast/Xfinity, and switching to Century Link, in order to avoid the $60 install fee, and not rent a modem from CL, what modem can you all recommend, preferably a budget conscious option, we'll be doing the 60MBPS plan. I suppose this could double as a wanted post, if anyone had a modem they aren't using.

I think you can search "CenturyLink modem" on eBay and buy one, then call CenturyLink to get the PPPoe username and password to setup. Not sure if the $60 installation applies only when you get a modem from them or it's $60 for them to come out and provision it. Been with them since 2003 and never had an issue, I'm paying for 120 Mb at $65 a month including modem. If you want to do the refer a friend thing. Hit me up before you call, and I can send you the money after, I think we each get $50 in a Visa card.

[ChadAmberg]

Are you doing this to get fiber?

I just did this. The gig up/gig down fiber just can't be beat. Signed up online, paid for the modem no lease, no problem. Day before install the lineman came out, asked where I'd like the drop to the house which was awesome since I wanted it moved to the back side. No problem. Install day, the guy came out, did a great job getting everything set up. The fiber to ethernet converter he put down in the crawlspace in a great spot. Hooked up the modem and was online perfectly in minutes.

Once the guy left, I removed the centurylink modem and hooked my personal one up, all it needs is set to VLAN 201 and your PPoE username and password. Easy peasy. I personally use an Amplifi mesh system which works great. The modem they sent is actually pretty nice, I was going to keep it probably as a backup but probably should just sell it.

[Duman]

I dumped comcast for fiber. Should have done it long ago.

[Circuits]

Are you doing this to get fiber?

I just did this. The gig up/gig down fiber just can't be beat. Signed up online, paid for the modem no lease, no problem. Day before install the lineman came out, asked where I'd like the drop to the house which was awesome since I wanted it moved to the back side. No problem. Install day, the guy came out, did a great job getting everything set up. The fiber to ethernet converter he put down in the crawlspace in a great spot. Hooked up the modem and was online perfectly in minutes.

Once the guy left, I removed the centurylink modem and hooked my personal one up, all it needs is set to VLAN 201 and your PPoE username and password. Easy peasy. I personally use an Amplifi mesh system which works great. The modem they sent is actually pretty nice, I was going to keep it probably as a backup but probably should just sell it.

Where in the springs are you, that you can get CL fiber? Apparently still not available at my address near UCCS.

[Zundfolge]

Where in the springs are you, that you can get CL fiber?
We have it available in Pleasant Valley (west side, just south of the east entrance to Garden of the Gods)

[ChadAmberg]

Where in the springs are you, that you can get CL fiber? Apparently still not available at my address near UCCS.

I'm right in the middle of Old Colorado City. I was honestly surprised that they had it here already but they did, and it was a painless order process.

The only thing I've noticed so far is I get a new external IP address a lot. Once a month or so is pretty normal, I've had like 4-5 new IPs in a single week.

[brutal]

I'm right in the middle of Old Colorado City. I was honestly surprised that they had it here already but they did, and it was a painless order process.

The only thing I've noticed so far is I get a new external IP address a lot. Once a month or so is pretty normal, I've had like 4-5 new IPs in a single week.

Wow, but I'm sure you're using a DDNS service?

[ChadAmberg]

Wow, but I'm sure you're using a DDNS service?

Oh yeah, but was just wondering if others see the same bouncing around as I have.

[Fentonite]

thread resurrection. Century Link has been blocking up the alleys in Edgewater, hanging fiber. Apparently offering a viable option to Comcast soon. I just signed a new contract with Comcast to reduce my rate, but will happily pay their penalty fee to cut their cord if CL offers a reasonable alternative. Might need to learn more about Hulu, Roku, etc., soon.

[hurley842002]

thread resurrection. Century Link has been blocking up the alleys in Edgewater, hanging fiber. Apparently offering a viable option to Comcast soon. I just signed a new contract with Comcast to reduce my rate, but will happily pay their penalty fee to cut their cord if CL offers a reasonable alternative. Might need to learn more about Hulu, Roku, etc., soon.

We?ve been on CL for about a year now, and have no complaints, we stream Netflix, Prime, Hulu, and Sling without issue. Every once in awhile during peak usage, it may take a bit longer to load a movie or something, but nothing we can?t deal with for the cost savings.

My next venture is looking into a Verizon hotspot as a viable home internet option, as I?ve already got an extra line with unlimited data. I?d welcome opinions on that idea.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cmailliard]

If Century Link had Prism on the north side of the metro I would switch immediately. Using Over The Air, Sling, and Netflix I would be more than happy.

[Aloha_Shooter]

Wow, tough choices. I'm not happy with Comcast prices or the way they bundle TV in with internet service even if you don't want their TV service. OTOH, I've had issues with Qworst (now Century Link) since day 1 when I couldn't get their DSL modem to pass a single byte and didn't have the time for a technician to visit. I wanted to cancel the install and just eat the $10 modem, their CS rep suggested the account be put on "holiday suspension" instead so I agreed. Next thing I knew, they wanted beaucoup bucks for unpaid service and when I asked what service they thought they provided given not a single byte had gone through their modem, their response was "well, we opened an account for you."

They followed that idiotic definition of service by lodging a mark against my credit rating and making me dispute it with all three credit agencies. I won't say I will never ever do business with Qworst / Century Link again but I can't imagine what it would take to get me to do so.

[brutal]

Wow, tough choices. I'm not happy with Comcast prices or the way they bundle TV in with internet service even if you don't want their TV service. OTOH, I've had issues with Qworst (now Century Link) since day 1 when I couldn't get their DSL modem to pass a single byte and didn't have the time for a technician to visit. I wanted to cancel the install and just eat the $10 modem, their CS rep suggested the account be put on "holiday suspension" instead so I agreed. Next thing I knew, they wanted beaucoup bucks for unpaid service and when I asked what service they thought they provided given not a single byte had gone through their modem, their response was "well, we opened an account for you."

They followed that idiotic definition of service by lodging a mark against my credit rating and making me dispute it with all three credit agencies. I won't say I will never ever do business with Qworst / Century Link again but I can't imagine what it would take to get me to do so.

I have internet only Xfinity though I doubt I'm getting a real price break. Then again, I have a higher tier service mostly due to my work from home needs. Hell, I may end up going to the very highest plan to avoid the data cap I've already hit once this year.

I will never do business with CenturyLink again. Worst 18 months of internet service I ever had. Cost me lots of money just to deal with the outages. It was so bad I got out of my contract early and even got a few months refunded.

[whitewalrus]

Wow, tough choices. I'm not happy with Comcast prices or the way they bundle TV in with internet service even if you don't want their TV service. OTOH, I've had issues with Qworst (now Century Link) since day 1 when I couldn't get their DSL modem to pass a single byte and didn't have the time for a technician to visit. I wanted to cancel the install and just eat the $10 modem, their CS rep suggested the account be put on "holiday suspension" instead so I agreed. Next thing I knew, they wanted beaucoup bucks for unpaid service and when I asked what service they thought they provided given not a single byte had gone through their modem, their response was "well, we opened an account for you."

They followed that idiotic definition of service by lodging a mark against my credit rating and making me dispute it with all three credit agencies. I won't say I will never ever do business with Qworst / Century Link again but I can't imagine what it would take to get me to do so.

The sad part is most all telecom companies are like this. There is a reason they all have bad ratings. Doesn't help when the people on the phone are paid very little to play the games they do with you.

[beast556]

The internet service here in Wellington is pathetic at best. 2 years back we cancled it and TV and have been doing the hot spot thing without issue.