Is Centurylink Good?
CenturyLink is a top telecommunication firm in America that offers internet, television, and home telephone services to many customers in the United States of America. However, is CenturyLink a good choice when it comes to selecting an Internet service provider ISP? When it comes to the assessment of CenturyLink’s services, several parameters should be taken into consideration.
Velocity and Dependability Based on your region and the selected package, CenturyLink offers internet speeds ranging from 1 Mbps up to 1000 Mbps. Although the firm provides its clients with a gigabit fiber optic service—which is fast—many of them report poorer connection speeds during peak hours leading to buffering and lagging. Another issue noted is dependability; some consumers have disconnected sessions and outage issues. CenturyLink advertises fast internet speeds, while many find sluggish speeds and inadequate connection.
Availability and Coverage One of the main disadvantages of using CenturyLink is that this company is not available in some regions of the United States. Despite their efforts in building out fiber networks, it remains significantly less accessible than cable internet service. This means that your options are limited if CenturyLink’s DSL internet service is the only available service in your area. The closer you are to their central servers the faster your speeds are likely to be if not the faster. Therefore, even if CenturyLink services your neighborhood, the speeds may let you down depending on your location.
Customer Service For a long time, CenturyLink Inc. has been noted to perform dismally when it comes to customer satisfaction and support. This is especially because they are likely to experience long durations before they get through to the representatives, technicians not honoring their appointment, obscured bills and charges, and unhelpful solutions offered in case of connectivity problems. Their highest-tier gigabit customers claim to have very poor experiences whenever they attempt to get installation and technical support issues addressed. This might show some deeper problems in their infrastructures because most of it is based on old copper phone lines.
Cost and Value All in all, it has to be said that CenturyLink’s prices are quite moderate compared to other cable internet providers. However, many customers remain dissatisfied with the Internet speed, stability, and performance, which are not worth even the advertised rates. And, the initial promotional prices skyrocket soon after the first year and can be at least $20 more per month. Even with the assumption of using the equipment, there are additional charges like rental fees, taxes, and other related charges that show the overall cost per month to be different from the advertised price. Customers also confirm having to keep an eye on charges in an effort not to find the prices creeping up as time goes by.
Bundling Options However, it is worth knowing that CenturyLink does provide bundling discounts if you sign up for more than one service such as TV, internet, and home phone. This can make the pricing more competitive, often less than the price offered by the cable providers for a triple-play offer. The only thing that you need to remember is that although purchasing the internet, TV, and phone as a package will be cheaper than having to purchase every service individually, it will cost you more than just buying the internet alone.
Conclusion Overall, CenturyLink has a moderate impression from the customers. Even though the DSL and fiber optic internet prices appear to be rather low, as well as the different offers including bundles, many customers complain about low speeds, connectivity problems, and poor customer service. If fiber optic internet is not available in your area, CenturyLink’s slower DSL internet is unlikely to impress. However, the company remains busy trying to bolster the networks and enhance the infrastructure in various locations across the country, possibly making room for improvement when it comes to offering customers stable high-speed internet connections. If you don’t have many options when it comes to ISPs in a rural area, you might want to look for other providers that offer more value. However, the experiences may differ depending on the area and therefore, it is recommended to read the reviews about the service providers in the neighborhood to establish whether the CenturyLink option can work.