Thinking about cutting the cable cord: Opinions on Century Link?

chromdom

My cable contract is coming to an end, and I thinking about getting rid of Xfinity.
Century Link has that one price that never goes up for life, $45/month, plan. They're telling me that for my area the speed is 7mb/s.

Anybody have any glowing praise or horror stories for Century Link?

My main data usage will be to stream tv/movies, and to download -- I don't game much online.

Shadowfire

7Mbps is fuckawful. You'll hate it. And that's their theoretical maximum for your address because of the distance to the closest node.

Stick with cable, maybe look into buying your own equipment so you drop that $13/month fee.

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Cauld

How much is only internet from your cable company? For me it's pretty cheap. The lowest tier is something like 150mbps and is much cheaper than anything with TV.

chromdom

I ran the number for my friend who I got the idea from, and she's got 10mbps, which serves her decently well, but not great.
Just internet is not available.

Ran a few speed tests, and I am getting about 6mbps upload speeds. If Century Link upload is up to 7mbps, it seems like it would be close. And boy, would I like to tell Comcast to go fuck themselves. But I can't find any info about the download speeds!

NFyt

That 7mbps may well BE the download speed, where centurylink isn't cable, they don't offer you the big fat Up To* 9001 mbps speeds.
As for their quality, it seems to vary by area, I've been doing solid for 10+ years with them in central iowa, but there's certainly horror stories regarding their service to be found.
:edit: IIRC when we first got the service we were at 20 up/5 down, and have since upgraded to 50 up/5 down. I don't handle the bill, so I'm not sure what we're paying for it.

Shadowfire

chromdom wrote: »

I ran the number for my friend who I got the idea from, and she's got 10mbps, which serves her decently well, but not great.
Just internet is not available.

Ran a few speed tests, and I am getting about 6mbps upload speeds. If Century Link upload is up to 7mbps, it seems like it would be close. And boy, would I like to tell Comcast to go fuck themselves. But I can't find any info about the download speeds!

CenturyLink is not offering 7Mbps uploads. Those are the download speeds. Your upload is usually around 10% of your download speed, or less if you're on the really high end since they usually top off at around 10-15Mbit. With CenturyLink you'll probably be looking at 7Mbit down and .7-1 up which is atrocious.

For the record, I pay $60 for Comcast internet only at 200Mbit down but getting much more. My experience is very much not other folks' experiences I know because Comcast generally blows, but you're much better off.

chromdom

Well shit.

Thanks everyone, appreciate your input.

Edit: Huh. There is no internet only option through Comcast for me. But, if I add a landline and leave everything else the same, I will save almost $60/month.

Edit edit: I take it back. After adding a phone I would not actually have, and adding up all the fees, I would save $8.00/month and be locked in for another year.

I guess I am just going to leave things be. Very disheartening.

Quid

There is absolutely an internet only option with Comcast. Their site heavily promotes bundles but it’s in there.

Burtletoy

Call Comcast and either ask what deals they have, or tell them you are canceling and they will try to offer you a new deal to stay, unless things have changed significantly since I last had Comcast about 5 years ago

MechMantis

I work for a national telecom.

If you are being offered a 7Mb by 768Kb connection, run.

Just run. That shit was "fast" over fifteen years ago. We routinely post accounts with them in our floor chats when we end up supporting them because "ahahaha look at this fossil".

DevoutlyApathetic

Yea, the only thing I know about CenturyLink is that the author John Scalzi routinely mocks and belittles their service on twitter. He typically has better internet connections over free hotel wifi and on airplanes.

zepherin

Cauld wrote: »

How much is only internet from your cable company? For me it's pretty cheap. The lowest tier is something like 150mbps and is much cheaper than anything with TV.

You know what's Odd, Internet only for Comcast where I'm at is 80 bucks a month for the faster package, if we had the basic internet plus cable it would be 90 bucks a month (well 80 bucks a month for 12 months and 100 bucks a month for the second 12 months).

It might just be because the apartment complex has a prenegotiated deal.

Cauld

zepherin wrote: »

Cauld wrote: »

How much is only internet from your cable company? For me it's pretty cheap. The lowest tier is something like 150mbps and is much cheaper than anything with TV.

You know what's Odd, Internet only for Comcast where I'm at is 80 bucks a month for the faster package, if we had the basic internet plus cable it would be 90 bucks a month (well 80 bucks a month for 12 months and 100 bucks a month for the second 12 months).

It might just be because the apartment complex has a prenegotiated deal.

That could be. At one time I was offered TV+Internet+Phone for the same price as just TV+Internet, but I turned it down. The agent couldn't understand, but I literally never used my home phone and there's a lot of phone specific taxes/fees.

chromdom

Quid wrote: »

There is absolutely an internet only option with Comcast. Their site heavily promotes bundles but it’s in there.

kaliyama

chromdom wrote: »

Quid wrote: »

There is absolutely an internet only option with Comcast. Their site heavily promotes bundles but it’s in there.

Yes, the “offers” you’re filtering are all of the bundles like people have been trying to tell you. If you call and are firm with them about wanting internet only they can quote you prices.

Or, the first hit i get if i google “Comcast internet only” is this thread which gives you more of a step by step: https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeNetworking/comments/a3ha00/xfinity_comcast_internet_only_user_frustrated/

Feral

I do IT work and I've lived in a few different places and worked with many different ISPs.

All ISPs suck. CenturyLink, however, takes suckitude to new depths. I've ranted about them at length before.

I would rather bite the bullet with whatever I can get with Comcast than deal with CenturyLink.

That said, I'm confident that with either a phone call or an in-person visit to a Comcast store, you can get either Internet-only service, or you can get a 'bundle' with the barest minimum cable package (local/basic cable only) and simply put the TV set-top box in your closet and never think about it again.

Shadowfire

Feral wrote: »

I do IT work and I've lived in a few different places and worked with many different ISPs.

All ISPs suck. CenturyLink, however, takes suckitude to new depths. I've ranted about them at length before.

I would rather bite the bullet with whatever I can get with Comcast than deal with CenturyLink.

That said, I'm confident that with either a phone call or an in-person visit to a Comcast store, you can get either Internet-only service, or you can get a 'bundle' with the barest minimum cable package (local/basic cable only) and simply put the TV set-top box in your closet and never think about it again.

This one. The local store I found doesn't give a shit about what packages are going on and will bend over backwards for me when I go in and be nice. They're not recorded so they don't have management breathing down their necks.

Maijinamuro

I have centurylink fiber, if that is available it is a good option. 1gbps down and up.

Dunder

One thing to keep in mind with Comcast is that their "winback" team is extremely important to them. A winback teammember can approve and hook you up with pretty much any setup you want. Their website is absolute crap when it comes to real offer.

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Pailryder

i re-up my comcast every january. I do the one year lock in deal for tv/internet with just basic tv so i get local channels because i live in a black zone where antennas barely work and my wife like to watch local news. Anyway, my last call was odd. Everyone at comcast was pleasant and the first person i spoke with immediately told me i needed to talk to the specials team because i told them i had X dollars to spend and wanted to know what the best internet i could get. The cost varies by area and competition but i ended up paying the same i had the last year for the same service which was well under 100. Definitely call and speak and let them know that you might have to switch if they can't find a good deal for you.

Reverend_Chaos

I currently have CenturyLink, where I am supposed to have 10MBS download speed, and on a GREAT day I get 8MBS, but 90% of the time I am running somewhere between 2-4 MBS, sometimes less. I hate it, but they don't offer better speeds in my area, and I can't get Xfinity at my current location, even though I "fall within their service area"

If you call your current provider and the automated system wants to know why you are calling, say it's to cancel. You should go to a department where their sole job is to save you as a customer. They have access to rates and incentives that normal reps do not have, and they are incentivized. If you just call and talk to someone in service, they do not care, their job is to get you off the phone as soon as possible without hanging up on you, so if you tell them to cancel, they will cancel cuz it's super quick. (Used to work for 2 Major Telcom co's)

Just tell the agent that you are on a fixed income and must find some savings somewhere. See if they can offer you a good deal on the package, or just the internet. Be nice, and most of these people will bend over backwards to help you. Most people that call in are super cranky and no one wants to deal with that caller.