I have been having intermittent speed issues on CenturyLink DSL for several months. They usually resolve themselves, so I have not taken the time to call before this week, due to the time involved in talking with them. Monday night, I could not stream videos for the online class I am taking (I have 6 Mbps download speed), so I called. The first rep reset my modem remotely and I lost all internet connection. He then proceeded to tell me that he thought the issue with no connectivity was the network card in my computer. (Full speed at times, slow speed at times, but always a connection until HE reset the modem; then no connection. Yeah, its obviously my computer!) So, after being extremely rude, he transferred me. Next guy was very helpful, ran some diagnostics and told me that there was an ATM issue in their network and their engineers would look into it. It took just shy of 2 hours to get there. So, Friday my wife informs me that there was no connection most of the day. I ran their speedtest and got numbers in the 1 Mbps down and 0.1 Mbps up range. I called again. After about 10 minutes with a lady, she said she had to transfer me. Some guy mumbled a greeting of some sort and was so muffled that I couldn't get his name. He asked for account info and all. I told him what was going on and he said, "no, this wasn't sent the engineers and there is nothing on your account indicating a network error." I was flabbergasted because the guy Monday was really helpful and sincere. So Friday night rep #2 says, do another speed test. I did and got around 4 Mbps down and about .1 up. He said, that's within the range, so we don't need to do anything. I asked him about the test I did 30 min earlier. He replied, "If you can ever get the speed you are paying for we don't have to do anything, " and hung up. So about 5 hours passed and we were having speed issues. My wife was streaming a conference (wirelessly) and I couldn't upload photos (wired), so I asked her to pause it for a minute until I put the photos up. When she did, neither of us could connect at all. So, I called again. Very friendly rep named Brian answered. He asked what was going on and I told him. He said that he could see the info from Monday, but not the earlier call. It turns out that NEITHER of the two reps (nice lady and mumbly rude man) had even opened my account. He explained that there is a digital signature added to the account every time a rep pulls it. So they guy I talked to earlier in the evening had just been making stuff up. Brian told me that he works from home, so I can envision rude guy sitting on his couch watching TV when he got the call. Rather than do the job he was paid for, I imagine him BSing his way through our conversation and then just hanging up on me. Great to get paid for just sitting at home watching TV while ticking off your company's customers. Back to Brian--very helpful--ran many diagnostics and told me that one of the elements of my modem was not reconnecting to their network after resets. Again told me that engineers would be working on it. So, now I have internet right after I do a hard reset of my modem. After being idle, though, there is nothing and I have to reset. Currently pulling speeds of about 1 Mbps down and 0.1 up from http://spdtst-dlls.tx.centurylink.net/: [Download Speed: 1154 kbps (144.3 KB/sec transfer rate) Upload Speed: 60 kbps (7.5 KB/sec transfer rate)] So, I pay for way more than I get. No one offered any refunds. Even more frustrating is that I use this connection for work and my rate goes way down when the network is slow.

I have had DSL at my address for the past 3 years. I started out with CenturyTel. CenturTel was bought out by CenturyLink (CL). Since the acquisition, I have had nothing but problems. We have had somewhere in the neighborhood of a dozen calls in to tech support over the past two years. It's getting completely and totally out of hand and ridiculous. The speeds with CenturyTel were consistently 1.5 Mb. The one instance when I did have an issue, CenturyTel sent someone out right away to examine things and work their magic. Service was great afterward.

Enter CL. Service started out ok at best. There seemed to be a lot of fluctuation in DL speeds. The situation worsened to the point where a simple web page like Gmail was taking 5-10 minutes to open. I checked everything over on my end, ran a couple of speed tests, and reluctantly called tech support. My fear was that since I own my modem, I was going to be fed the line "It's not our equipment, so you're on your own." I was not given that line. I was directed to complete a couple of speedtests and modem checks, then put on hold. The result was that a tech would be out to check things out.

Now, we're getting to the part that I absolutely love. I am given a window of time when the tech will arrive. I take off of work to be there. I am told that the tech will call prior to showing up. Three full hours after the eight hour window had come and gone, and as we leaving the house to go have dinner, guess who pulls into the driveway? Mr. CL tech, sans courtesy phone call. We reservedly cancel our dinner plans.

The tech replicates the issues that I was experiencing earlier. He says he needs to call in to the corporate office for further corrective actions. Then, he leaves. I assume that things are being handled. For the next week, the service is ok. Not quite what I was sold (1.5 Mb), but ok (1.2 Mb). Everything is downhill from here...

I assume that CL sold a couple of my neighbors on the service as the quality and consistency has been steadily declining for two years. My most recent call into tech support resulted in CL sending out a tech. The tech stood in my house, and showed me that he was getting the same results. He traveled to the end of the road where the "device", as he referred to it, was located and performed further testing. The tech returned and, again standing in my house, told me that the results he got at the end of the road were the same as at the house and unacceptable. He then proceeded to tell me that he would have to put in a call to have the "device" at the end of the road repaired. After all this, he left.

A week goes by and nothing seems to have changed with the slow speeds (200-400 kb). So, I called CL to check on the status of the ticket. The person on the other end of the phone says, and I'm quoting him directly here, "Everything looks good on our end, so we went ahead and closed the ticket." He said this as though eh was doing me some sort of personal favor.

What?!? Do you think that I called because I enjoy donating my time to your teleprompt system? I ask about the ticket. He says that the tech who was at my house had in his notes that everything looked fine. After two years of being jerked around over this, being upsold to service that apparently is unavailable here, and now being flat out lied to in my own house, I went nuclear on this poor kid. "Are you kidding me? You or your technician are lying to me. Perhaps both. Completely and totally unacceptable."

I was told that CL would send someone out right away to take care of the issue. It's been two months. I think that at this point, simply as a matter of personal satisfaction, litigation will ensue. Someone there needs to be held responsible, as I get the impression that corporate protocol is to pass the responsibility like some sort of hot potato.

If someone from CL is reading this, please do feel free to explain yourself. I simply do not understand how a company gets to be that large and still operate in an envelope of complete and utter incompetence in one of their areas of core competence. It simply makes no sense.

Oh, and if you're so inclined, could you please tell me when lying to a customer is the best policy? I must have glazed over that subject in college.