CenturyLink Internet Review

Affordable plans and no contract make CenturyLink an attractive choice, but speeds vary heavily depending on location and tend to be lower than advertised.
Affordable plans and no contract make CenturyLink an attractive choice, but speeds vary heavily depending on location and tend to be lower than advertised.
Overall Rating 3.5 out of 5
Price:
$45-$85
Download Speed:
20 Mbps - 1G
Contract:
None
View PlansCheck Availability
Written by:
Published 03/29/2017

OVERVIEW

CenturyLink offers speeds ranging from decent to blazing fast, but its available speeds vary widely from location to location. And as with most internet providers, there have been some customer service concerns, but things seem to be looking up. In fact, when you combine CenturyLink’s speeds with low prices and the company’s new Price for Life plans, it’s easy to see why we chose CenturyLink as both best DSL provider and best budget Internet Service Provider (ISP).

Is CenturyLink available near you?

CenturyLink prices and plans

Low prices and Price for Life plans make CenturyLink great for folks on a budget.

CenturyLink recently updated its pricing and package list, and we’ve got all the details.

CenturyLink internet plans

PlanAdvertised price*Download speedLearn More
Price for Life 20$45/mo.Up to 20 MbpsView Plan
Price for Life 80$55/moUp to 80 MbpsView Plan
Price for Life 100$65/mo.Up to 100 MbpsView Plan
Price for Life 1 Gig Internet$85/moUp to 1 GigView Plan

*Prices vary by location

CenturyLink pricing and contract options

CenturyLink’s internet prices have always been great, and its new Price for Life standard just solidifies that reputation. Basically, whatever price you sign up at, that’s the price you pay for the entire life of your service. Not the life of the contract—because there no longer is a contract—and not for a one- or two-year promo period, like some other no-contract providers. When CenturyLink says “price for life,” it means it.

The thing to know about CenturyLink is that package availability varies widely from one location to the next. Its fiber service, for example, is available in only a few select markets (CenturyLink doesn’t specify where, either). Even the DSL availability varies from place to place. Often, the only way to know what’s available to you is to enter your address and check.

Is CenturyLink available near you?

Recommendations

We think the Price for Life High Speed Internet 80 plan provides the best balance of price and speed for most people. It’s only ten bucks more than the cheapest plans, but it offers up to four times the speed. 80 Mbps should be plenty for most people—unless you’ve got six kids all streaming Netflix at once.

The “I’m average and I want an average internet plan” plan

PlanAdvertised priceDownload speedDetails
Price for Life High Speed Internet 80$55/mo. Up to 80 MbpsView Plan

If you need the fastest speed available and live in a CenturyLink fiber area, go for the 1 Gig plan. To give you an idea of how fast this puppy is, a 1 Gbps connection can download an HD movie in under 30 seconds.1 Gigabit internet basically means you’ll never wait to do anything online ever again, and that’s awesome.

The “my parents never taught me the value of patience” plan

PlanAdvertised priceDownload speedDetails
Price for Life 1 Gig$85/mo. Up to 1 GbpsView Plan

CenturyLink service fees

CenturyLink is actually light on the fees, which is a nice change of pace in this industry. Other than equipment fees, you’ll just have to worry about covering installation.

  • Installation: CenturyLink does charge an installation fee (the company calls it an “activation fee” in billing), but you can sometimes find promotions waiving this fee. You can also just ask—quite often, the provider will waive the fee to make a potential new customer happy. It’s worked for us.

CenturyLink equipment fees

Like basically every other ISP, CenturyLink charges you for its proprietary modem. The modem rental fee is $9.99 per month, which is pretty much par for the course. You can also buy the modem outright for $99.99. We suggest the latter if you plan on keeping the service for at least ten months, since it ends up being less expensive in the long run.

CenturyLink internet speed and data

Download speeds are all over the board, depending on where you live.

CenturyLink’s internet speed ranges from 20 Mbps all the way up to 1 Gig. However, the advertised speeds tell only part of the story. Typically, the speeds customers will experience in day-to-day use are different from those advertised (that’s why commercials all say, “up to X Mbps”).

Some providers deliver more speed than promised, and some deliver less. Unfortunately, CenturyLink definitely delivers less.

Actual speed vs. advertised speed

FCC data shows CenturyLink delivers between 80% and 95% of its advertised speed, on average.2 That means if you pay for the 20 Mbps plan, you’ll get only 16 Mbps on an average day. To be fair, though, that’s not the worst performance we’ve seen.

To compare, ViaSat/Exede tends to provide only 70% of its advertised speed. But that doesn’t let CenturyLink off the hook. Cox, for example, averages between 91% and 106% of its advertised speeds, while Comcast Xfinity almost always exceeds its advertised speed.

What’s CenturyLink’s data limit?

CenturyLink plans have a 1 TB data cap. That’s fairly common. Many providers give customers 1 TB of data, and some are moving away from data caps altogether (we’re a fan of the latter).

So what happens if you exceed the 1 TB limit? Well—nothing. According to CenturyLink’s Excessive Use Policy, you’ll receive a notice that you exceeded the limit.3 So scary. True, the notice will try and convince you to upgrade to a bigger plan, but the company won’t make you switch.

We’re not sure why CenturyLink bothers including a data cap if it isn’t going to throttle your speed once you cross it, but at least it doesn’t punish you for making use of your internet. Too many providers out there serve you fees for exceeding your data cap. We’re glad to see CenturyLink isn’t one of them.

CenturyLink customer service and support

CenturyLink’s customer support is average for ISPs—which is to say, it isn’t great.

ASCI Rating
63/100

CenturyLink’s service seems to be about average for the industry. The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) rates the company at a 63, which puts it dead center among internet providers.4

That’s been our experience with CenturyLink, too. The service wasn’t especially awful, but we haven’t been blown away either.

How to handle CenturyLink’s customer service

Generally speaking, dealing with CenturyLink is like dealing with any other ISP—just avoid talking to agents on the phone, and you’ll probably be fine. The support site is a little dated, but the search function works surprisingly well, surfacing answers to most of our questions on the first try.

If you do have to call, be aware that CenturyLink’s business hours are pretty inconvenient for folks who need help. Support lines are available only Monday–Friday, 8am–6pm. In other words, the time most people are at work. If you want to order new services, that line is open Saturday (of course), but otherwise, you’re going to be calling on your lunch break and probably finishing your work day irritated.

The installation process—or lack thereof

CenturyLink has had some issues over the past year with installation techs showing up late for appointments—or just not showing up at all.

This issue seems to have been related to a dispute with a union representing the company’s installation techs, and it appears an agreement was reached.5 We’re hoping that means this issue gets ironed out soon. And don’t worry—we’ll let you know if it doesn’t.

The bottom line

CenturyLink offers fast, affordable internet, but you’ll have to see what’s available in your area first.
Check Availability

In the end, CenturyLink makes for a solid internet provider. If budget is your major concern, we think the service has a lot to offer you—the company’s new pricing structure yields some nice internet speeds at affordable prices, all contract-free.

Just make sure you look at what packages are available in your area before getting your hopes up.

Find the best internet providers in your area.

Have a question? Ask us.

Did we miss anything? Does your experience with CenturyLink differ from ours? Let us know in the comments below.

Have a complaint? Make it count and tell the FCC.

If you’re frustrated with your ISP, the best place to lodge a complaint is with the FCC. This is the best way to be heard and actually impact the industry.

Sources

1.     HighSpeedInternet.com, “Complete Guide to Gigabit Internet”

2.    FCC, “Measuring Broadband America”

3.    CenturyLink, “Internet Service Disclosure”

4.    American Customer Satisfaction Index, “Internet Service Providers”

5.    Channel Partners, “CenturyLink, CWA Come to Terms on Contract”

  • stephanie

    Horrible. I contacted Centurylink to switch from Time Warner because they had to new prism coming out. I emailed with a lady back and forth. Multiple times I was told I would not receive an activation fee and/ or transfer fee. On my first bill I was charged a $300 activation fee. I contacted the management and they apologized for the confusion, I also showed them emails where the lady told me I would not be charged an activation fee. They said there was nothing they could do however they will make sure that the lady gets in trouble. So I set up a payment plan with someone, however they continued to charge me late fees since my bill wasn’t paid in full. Lastly upon moving I disconnected my services and they told me I would receive a bill for my remaining balance. Well guess what I didn’t instead they back dated my last bill to 11/30 and put it as past due, even though I already paid my 12/1 because thats when my last bill was due, so now I owe a late fee. This is a horrible company and the services are not even that great. They took an unnecessary amount of money from us and didn’t care one bit.

  • tws

    We have had Centurylink for over a year now. The old aol dialup was as fast or even faster than Centurylink. We have had 5 or 6 internet providers in past 15 years including aol and Centurylink is by far the worst we have had. What else can I say, It’s just junk at Any price.

  • Joseph Jarvis

    One of the worse Companies and customer service department i have ever delt… 2 separate days over 4 hrs on the phone. Over 20 different individual’s I spoke too and each time a had to explain my story, and I was a new customer. Technician never showed up first off to install service, so they decided to send the modem via usps. Still no service hooked up… never came out. I have more than 2 hrs recorded on my phone and my goal is to make a YouTube video to show the ignorance and plan lack of professionalism especially to a new customer

  • Amy

    Customer service don’t know what they doing. All they can do is keep you on hold find you another customer service and ask you account information again and keep you hold again ask account information again and again. When the finally figure the DSL is down. They said will sent tech out he next day. So I guess we can’t run our business for people with credit card.

  • Amy

    Customer service don’t know what they doing. All they can do is keep you on hold find you another customer service and ask you account information again and keep you hold again ask account information again and again. When the finally figure the DSL is down. They said will sent tech out he next day. So I guess we can’t run our business for people with credit card.

  • Amy

    Customer service don’t know what they doing. All they can do is keep you on hold find you another customer service and ask you account information again and keep you hold again ask account information again and again. When the finally figure the DSL is down. They said will sent tech out he next day. So I guess we can’t run our business for people with credit card. We been a customer with century link for over 10 years. The company don’t care about their customer. They just need to receive the payment.

  • Sharon Balthazrr

    Was just told Technician/Repairman was in my area on his way. Was scheduled for Monday… didn’t show. Then they said Wednesday. Stayed on phone with a rep for over 25 mins. saying he was on his way. Nope! How can they get away with expecting you to pay your bill when you go DAYS without service?!?!?

  • Amy

    I have never experienced such poor customer service as this place. I was part of a focus group with them to provide them with feedback about their new stream service. They then charged me for an extra month of service because they supposedly told me to cancel even though i have no record of this claim. I asked them for a refund and they refused. I would not recommend this service to anyone. If you do, be sure to do monthly billing and don’t let them autobill or you will be stuck with extra charges and no one to take care of them. Avoid at all costs. There are tons of other services out there like Netflix and Hulu that are a million times better than this service could ever be.

  • BcFlx

    The only good thing about our 3 years experience with CenturyLink is their staff at the Henderson, NV store. His name is Zeti. Zeti has a great customer relationship. He patiently answers your questions and provides the best recommendation for your internet needs.
    The rest of it sucks, customer supports are inexperienced, don’t know how to solve issues. Our internet is down most of the time and yet they don’t give you any credit for lost time.
    They keep changing the fees without giving you any notice. Unfortunately, CenturyUNLInk is the only option we have in our area.

  • John Berdahl

    Literally the worst company I’ve every dealt with in my life! That’s saying quite a lot with today’s low standard bar for customer support. We thought we hated Cox and decided to try switching to CenturyLink. Scheduled 4 setup appointments that ALL got rescheduled until they finally showed up on the 5th appointment just to tell us they couldn’t hook us up because of something to do with the outside lines. So supposedly some guys came and worked on the outside lines several days later, then after 2 more scheduled appointments that they were a NO SHOW for, (no call, no apologies) and after us having to call them we finally just thew in the towel and said we don’t want your service. Cox started looking a whole lot better after dealing with CenturyLink for 6 weeks of hell. After all was said and done.. they never even hooked up one wire in our house then had the nerve to send us a bill for our first month of service (which I was told would be free BTW) and this was for a service that NEVER GOT CONNECTED. Stay away from these fools… they are a horrible company.

  • Jane

    Don’t do it! Don’t sell your soul over a piece of s*** service. Nothing but problems. First our modem was to be shipped to our house. One month later… they keep saying it’s coming… well guess what after waiting to speak to manager for 45mins we find out they had us set up for pick up at one of their stores. My husband goes to pick it up… guess what they are out of stock… He has to drive 30mins to their other store to get one. Then surprise when the bill comes in it’s $39.99 what happened to the $29.99 that was promised? Then when we need a tech guy to come out they setup a date. Note I took the day off to wait around for this idiot that never showed. My husband again calls and they reschedule. I again took the day off and again no idiot showed. Finally for the last time my husband called and spoke to a manager and for the final time the idiot finally showed. After our contract was finally up I called and cancelled. Lord behold I am still getting billed. Don’t sign up for auto pay unless you want them continuously billing you. Not only is their service s***** but note the internet is slow and lags and cuts in and out. Not worth it. Go with Comcast better price better internet service.

  • Komal

    I feel your pain. Exact thing happened to me. So sad that this company is able to do business.

  • Sherry Smith

    PRISM & CENTURY LINK SUCKS!!!!!!!

    The service is horrible. It was a 3-day process to get an actual technician to our house.

    On Friday, they claimed they couldn’t get in. (Our community is not gated.) The following Monday, they claimed to have shown up. (There was no vehicle on any of the surveillance cameras.) I hate a liar. I hate even more a company that lies and takes one’s money for services not rendered.

    To go through a complaint process or to speak with a supervisor does nothing more than waste one’s time. There was no resolution other than, “Do you want to be scheduled for another appointment, or not?” What professionals.

    Being part of my company’s relocation team, I WILL ALWAYS provide a heads up to people new to the area. STAY AWAY FROM CENTURY LINK & PRISM!!!

    • John Slusser

      I have had to wait 2 weeks for someone before.

    • Theresa A Nilles

      Yes. this all true. you can’t cancel either. I suppose to get internet for 45 a month. 2 month and they say iiwe almost 500. Scam . stay away

  • Mel

    Worst company to exist in the U.S. Total liars. They scam you. Never choose this company!!

  • Madison

    Why do you need a computer to hook up your modem I only needed the internet to get Hulu Netflix etc on my roku I don’t have a computer so I can’t even hook it up

  • Julie

    Century link should be put out of business. Rude employees, liers, and extortionists, they do not tell you about hidden fees refuse to do their jobs and when asked to be transferred to a supervisor they refuse as well. Non no how to do their jobs. The internet sucks always going out. You pay for crap. I should say overcharged for crap. I would have better use of smoke signals or flag waiving.

  • Mona Lisa

    Ok, here we go. I don’t think I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with a company that has NO regard for another person. I find the customer service agents very rude and un-personable each and every time I call. You can never speak to a supervisor only “escalation”…
    If you have the opportunity to choose another internet provider, I strenuously encourage you to do so!
    My service was interrupted for nonpayment. I made a payment on the automated system after hours but realized I put in a wrong account number as they had it under a very old phone number and I could not remember that number. I called the 800 number the following day to inform them I had accidentally entered my acct # incorrectly and paid money on another account. I was told that they could not find that account but if I see it come out of my bank I should call them back. I then preceded to pay my past due amount with the agent on the phone to get my service reinstated. After giving her my card number I asked her what amount would be charged. She told me she processed it for the full amount. I said “no, I only wanted to pay the past due amount”. She then stated she would PUT in to cancel it and we proceeded to have the payment put in for the correct amount…(never once did she say this amount has already been taken from your bank account and there would need to be a credit done) I checked my bank account the following day and to my surprise 3 transactions for over $400.00 was deducted from my bank account paid to “Century Link” leaving me in a financial bind! I immediately called Century Link back, was transferred without notifying me I would be transferred, was hung up on… before being told I would receive a “CREDIT” to my Century Link account. I did not want a credit as I had no funds to live off of for the next 2 weeks. They informed me the “credit” would take 5 days. So, since I was not receiving the immediate satisfaction I was needing at the time I contacted my bank to dispute the “extra” 2 charges paid in error. I was given my money back within 2 business days by my bank. About 7 days later I went home to no internet/cable service as I made the mistake of bundling…I again contacted Century Link to be told it was interrupted because of a returned check?! Really! Are you kidding me??!! When I asked how much it would be to get out of my contract early for the internet portion I was told it could be up to an 80.00 charge to break my contract (2 months left by the way. Please make a note I was told later they have a 200.00 max that they can charge for early termination whether you have 6 months left or 11…take into consideration, this information did come from someone at Century link so it may or may not be the truth!) This company put me in a bind and their customer service agents acted as if I did something personal to them… The only possible way they could have 3 ½ stars is if they are getting on posting their own reviews because this is a horrible company since they have not put anything in place to prohibit their agents type of attitude/behavior. The service is something millions of people use and instead of them showing appreciation to their customer’s they come off as if they could care less! Please proceed with this company using extreme caution!

  • Mona Lisa

    Ok, here we go. I don’t think I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with a company that has NO regard for another person. I find the customer service agents very rude and un-personable each and every time I call. You can never speak to a supervisor only “escalation”…
    If you have the opportunity to choose another internet provider, I strenuously encourage you to do so!
    My service was interrupted, I made a payment on the automated system after hours, I realized I put in a wrong account number. I called the 800 number the following day to inform them. I was told that they could not find that account but I should call them back if withdrawn. I preceded to pay my past due amount with the agent on the phone to get my service reinstated. After giving her my card # I asked her what amount would be charged. She said she processed it for the full amount. I said “no, I only wanted to pay the past due amount”. She then stated she would PUT in to cancel the amount and proceeded to have the payment put in for the correct amount…(never once did she say this amount has already been taken from your bank account and there would need to be a credit done) I checked my bank account the next day and to my surprise 3 transactions for over $400.00 was deducted from my bank account paid to “Century Link” leaving me in a financial bind! I immediately called CentLink , was transferred without notifying me I would be, was hung up on… b4 being told I would recv a “credit” to my C L account. I did not want a credit as I had no $ for the next 2 weeks. They informed me the “credit” would take 5 days. So, since I was not receiving the immediate satisfaction I was needing at the time I contacted my bank to dispute the “extra” 2 charges paid in error. About 7 days later I went home to no internet/cable service as I made the mistake of bundling…I again contacted C-L to be told it was interrupted because of a returned check?! Really! Are you kidding me??!! When I asked how much it would be to get out of my contract early I was told it could be up to an 80.00 charge to break my contract (2 months left btw. Please note I was told later they have a 200.00 max that they can charge for early termination whether you have 6 months left or 11… this info did come from someone at C L so it may or may not be true!) This company put me in a bind and their csr agents acted as if I did something personal to them… The only possible way they could have 3 ½ stars is if they are posting their own reviews because this is a horrible company since they have not put anything in place to prohibit their type of attitude/behavior. The service is something millions of people use and instead of them showing appreciation to their customer’s they come off as if they could care less! Please proceed with this company using extreme caution!

  • Mike

    Terrible customer service. I believe that they discretely lack in communication when it comes to being in a contract. I was never told when I signed up for the service that I would be in a contract so when I called to cancel was told there would be a $200 cancellation fee. I was told that I agreed to the contract because they have sent on every bill that I was in month what ever in a paragraph at the bottom of the bill. Needless to say I now have internet service with two different companies. Centurylink is terrible been a customer since before 2004, after 6 more months never again. I would
    not sign up for Centurylink internet.

  • Greg Nester

    Well at least I don’t feel alone reading the comments.. Bottom line charged $175 for one month of internet services & was only adjusted down to 159.98 after 15 total calls. Scary deception – never allow direct billing through bank – a better paper trail may have helped but seems I’ve been screwed. Charged for late fees that shouldn’t have existed, when the class action suit starts count me in. Their thieves, but the only other option in my area is Comcast and their just as bad – had business with them before. Terrible customer service (asking the same information – over & over) connected to #’s with no answers – bad to the point of criminality – uggg – 2 options in C. Springs & both terrible!

  • Greg Nester

    Wish I had been getting a paper bill. Long story short at the end of my contract they about x3 my internet rate and no recourse. Billed me for late fee’s I shouldn’t owe.. If class action suit comes up I’m in.. Best wishes..!

  • Lucas

    CenturyLink WiFi is not good at all. It will stop working for hours during the day and won’t cone back on if you try to restart the router. This is very frustrating when you are trying to do some work and can’t even go on the internet. We upgraded our WiFi a couple months back and it seems the same as it was before, except the price got higher. If you are looking for a cheaper WiFi then I would go for this one, but I recommend just paying for a more expensive WiFi and not having to worry about the WiFi going down. Overall I do not recommend this to anyone because the service is terrible and the WiFi is bad.

  • Renee

    Worst customer service ever! They lie, make false promises and don’t care about retaining their customers! I will never get any product they offer ever again

  • sallydong

    This is a horrible company

  • Riley Cornell

    Do not do business with centurylink! Had no idea how bad I was being ripped off until I started shopping around, i called centurylink to find out how fast my so called “high speed internet” was and they told me 20mbps. And they are charging me 80.00/month for, nothing else just internet… Okay? Not very tech savvy which they take full advantage of! Call Vivint wireless they explain everything to me, they charge 50.00/month and give me 50 mbps. So I call centurylink and tell them I want to cancel, now after paying them 80.00 a month for internet they start giving me deals! WTF?!!! SURE! After ripping me off for years we will give you a deal on our what they call “high speed internet” that p issed me off!!! I finally got them to cancel and wanted my services terminated on Saturdays 3 days later, the day vivint wireless came to install centurystink said they would and terminated services that day! Not 3 days later on Saturday like they said they would Do! So I’m out 3 days without internet! Running up my data plan on my phone! Then the crooked sons of bitches sends me a bill for the full month!!! I will not do business for a company who takes advantage of people like that and i will talk EVERY PERSON I see that has it or mentions it the name out of any business centurystink has to offer! DO NOT DO BUISNESS WITH THEM NO MATTER HOW GOOD THEY MAKE IT SOUND!

  • Sondra Lea Stacey

    Century Link is the WORST!! No respect for their customers! Repairs take forever and even the tecs say they are over worked and under paid! No one wants to work for them….I guess that is why they hang up on you multiple times when you need a repair, they know it will be a week or more until someone is
    available to help you. Rude and inconsiderate are the two best words to dedcribe this company.

  • Ellyn Camp

    FRAUDULENT.

    THERE IS NO HIGH SPEED INTERNET SERVICE ANYWHERE IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA BECAUSE CENTURYLINK DOES NOT HAVE THE MONEY TO UPGRADE TO DIGITAL LINES. UNLESS YOU ARE RICH AND CAN PAY TO HAVE THE LINES INSTALLED FORGET IT.

  • Drew Pittman

    Century Link is the WORST! I had my business lines with them. I am a one man shop but my business line didn’t work for 3 months. I kept calling, they’d schedule someone to come out but I had to be there all day. They would come out and diagnose the problem that of course someone else would have to come fix and it’d be another couple of weeks before that person came out and the cycle repeated itself. I finally just cancelled the phone and am using my cell phone. They have hidden charges everywhere. I would use pony express before I’d ever use them again.

  • Miss B

    I haven’t even been able to sign up with CenturyLink yet, as I rented an apartment in a very new complex in Highlands Ranch. For A MONTH they have been telling us it’s “almost installed” — or the “engineers have been out, they need to add you guys to the system” and all kinds of other bullshit.

    Now it’s been over a month of no internet because I hate Comcast and they’re my only other choice. I never thought I’d find an even shittier company with worse customer service. At least Comcast sends people out to pretend to fix things. CenturyLink simply lies and at EVERY chance (every time I talked to someone they just BS you):

    1. A month ago, an agent told me I had to give THEM all of my county/town/area information (certain phrases they used were ridiculous — I’m certain they’re stupid AF and were reading me nonsense, flipping through the BS excuse manual they probably don’t even understand).

    2. Two days later, I talk to the “account representative” for our complex, who promises service will begin in a week, even though all the hardware had been pre-installed.

    3. Three days later, I am told by the same woman that engineers are “due to come out to your complex and install the hardware needed — then it’s up to you to go to centurylink.com/ON, and everything will work.”

    4. A week later, I call again because my apartment complex is STILL not registered (repeat this step 50295874 times).

    5. Last week, the representative now blames it on the holiday (yep, since we’ve been having Thanksgiving CONTINUOUSLY since the end of October) and tells me that DEFINITELY BY MONDAY “the permits will be ‘trickling in’ and you’ll be able to use centurylink.com/ON — keep checking through the day!”

    6. Today, I attempted contact TWICE — once in the morning and once just a few minutes ago (via chat). Both representatives were unhelpful. The one promised to call back with an answer for me and never returned my call as she promised. Absolutely disgusted with this company. How hard do I have to try to have you take my money for internet services?

    I CANNOT believe I’m saying this, but Century Link makes Comcast look like all-stars, and I generally HATE Comcast from years of service in NJ with them. Looks like I have to stick with them. I never thought another company could be so many leagues WORSE than Comcast.

    SUCH a bullshit company. SUCH terrible customer service. Hey CL, get your HEADS OUT OF YOUR ASSHOLES AND LEARN YOUR JOBS!

  • Buba Roth

    When CenturyLink called to request to pay some fees I do not own, I seriously thought that I am talking with some scammers or drug dealers. The fellow yelled and then started to blackmail me, although I was their costumers for 30 years!!! They do not have an office where one can go to talk to someone in person and they do not have a decent costumer service over the phone. CenturyLink is a terrible company. So glad I do not need to deal with them ever again.

  • John Slusser

    I’m totally disgusted. I have had centurylink since they first started in my rural area. We have a plan that is supposed to be 3.0. I am lucky to receive half of that. The internet is so slow, my desktop will not work longer than about 20 minutes (if I’m lucky). I have contacted them. But all they tell me is, i am in an exhaust area. I’m at the end of their line. So when more people are on it (the service line that i am attached to) the slower it goes. They have given me some good credits. But, if it won’t run my desktop, what good is it? The only reason i still have them, is because, there is no one else that i can get. I am about ready to call them and ask if they want to buy my desktop. Don’t waste your money. Especially if you live in a rural area.

  • John Slusser

    Be happy you can get another ISP. I can’t. There is no other ISP in my area. Not even hughesnet. Talk about frustrating.

  • Mia

    Century Link is terrible both in service 1.5 mbs if you are lucky & reps lie about cost all the time. Worst company to deal with!

  • Mia

    Century Link doesn’t even qualify for 1 star. They are horrible, net speed is 1.5 MB’s if you are lucky & land line goes out every time it rains. Customer service reps lie about rates all the time. When you get a bill it is never what they say it will be after talking to multiple people & supervisors next month same thing after many years I have decided to ditch this company. Liars & expensive!

  • Ill MD

    Absolutely the worst company in the world, everyone start your own business! Because all you have to do is be 25% good and you will blow century link out of the water. Four hours on the phone, do you have to wait two weeks, because they screwed up. Cannot say enough bad about Centry link. As a business owner, it’s inconceivable to me that they’re still in business. Absolutely no one cares in customer service or technical support. As a phone company you would think the connection would always be clear, people hanging up on you because you cannot understand a word they are saying. Cannot say enough bad about this terrible terrible company.

  • Monica

    I was a 20 year centrylink customer with residential service then later I added Internet service, when it came available in my area. This year they are stopping all there promotional discounts and my phone bill increased as well as the Internet. They wanted me to pay $45 dollars for 4 mbps and one gig a month. Due to this I cancelled my services and the fact that it buffered everyday and mostly all day and I was already on the highest speed 4 mbps. The prices listed is not true you cannot get what they have promised in the above plans. Blatantly it’s a lie. When I tried to call back and get the 5 megabytes per second along with the booster they said I could get to come back they had no memory of that. Their customer service is horrible and if you haven’t recorded your conversation it didn’t happen. I would give them a zero if I could. Your better off if you get Hughes net, Fios or Xfinity and don’t believe the promises. Worst company I ever dealt with in almost fifty years. Please do your research and avoid the stress.

  • Emily Parker

    They lied to me!!! We’ve been with Centurylink for 7 years. No problems ever until we moved. I was excited because Centurylink had services in the area we were moving to. I set up to move our accounts with a customer service rep. Come to find out that he “canceled” our account and I incurred at $200 cancellation fee. I thought I “moved” our services to another state not canceled it!!! Well they reimbursed us that after I called and complained. Then a month later, I found I have another charge for $107!! Come to find out that I have to return the router. The customer service rep would not waive that “fee”. Even though I’ve been a loyal customer for 7 years. DON’T USE Centurylink. Now I’m stuck in a contract for 2 years. Cox is the way to go.

  • Danny

    While I am happy with my actual internet service, I have been waiting since February for them to bury the cable that comes from the box in my neighbor’s back yard and connects my house to their internet service. I have called a half dozen times, talked to multiple supervisors, and still cannot get any feedback on when the line is going to be buried and why it has taken this long for it to be done. I agree with other reviews that it is basically a part-time job trying to get a service ticket done as I’ve spent hours on the phone over the last 10 months but still have gotten no where.

  • Angelle Snyder

    I have not had any problems with my bill just that they dont communicate. They claim i had 4 chargebacks so they blocked me from paying by check. I am NOT paying the 4.00 fee for cc usage. So I called and finally complained spoke to a supervisor and she acted like she could have cared less. They have alwasy been good to me but they cant figure anything out. Was told I have the check block on my account for chargebacks back from June July August and September. But I was never charged a fee from my bank. Nor did I receive any letters, emails or even a phone call. So I sent in a check in November and they accepted that but January payment is being sent back? Really??????? I have called in an complained about why my payment after 4 yrs was not accepted online and no one knows. And all of a sudden they block me? How stupid unfortunately there is no other internet provider in my area. Sucks!!! Communication there isnt..

  • Emmerson Bigguns

    It blows my mind that an internet service company needs 5+ days to figure out what is wrong with their INTERNET SERVICE! It’s ridiculous! Most companies have their 3rd-party software & services fixed within 24-48 hours!

  • Shawna Lopez

    DON NOT GET THIS SERVICE

    I ordered internet more than a week ago. They said they would be here on 1/8 No show no call no email. So I called and then they said they would be here on the 11th. Nothing AGAIN. I called multiple times and was told they would be here on the 12th. No show again no call. I checked today and now they won’t be here until the 26th. Needless to say I canceled and Cable America sucks. It’s better to pay the extra for unlimited date on my phone than deal with this. I know things happen but call, email, text something to keep me updated. I turned my other internet off the day they said they would be here. This company is horrible and when you call corporate they laugh about you when they THINK you are on hold. Very bad business. Today I called and told them to not bother coming out. I am done they can treat us bad because they are the only provider around. Well screw that.

  • Sir Potato

    20 mbps? I have 756 kbps and pay $60+, for my connection and i dont live far from a city.

  • Jeff R.

    “CenturyLink’s internet speed ranges from 20 Mbps all the way up to 1 Gig” BULLCRAP! At the most, I get 1.45mbs-and I’m paying $45 a month for this

  • Joyce

    Mike was extremely rude and actually hung up on me as I tried to help my dad navigate the system. He told me I had no right to help him with his account. Please know that we will get rid of century link as soon as possible. The rates are toooooo high and the customer service is quite rude.

  • jr023

    adds claim 40 meg, trucks now carry 1gig signs but i can only get 6 megs yet they charge 45 anyway
    and during my earlier promotion they charged extra over rate for upgrading system well what century is the upgrade going to be done

  • Jeff Hampton

    The fact that the rating at the top of this web form shows 3.5 out of 5 stars for CenturyLink is a joke. I can guarantee you that CenturyLink overall has a rating of no more than maybe 2 out of 5 stars with customers. Probably less and it isn’t getting any better.

    I am now reporting them to the regulatory commission in my state and the FCC for fraud and generally poor business practices. The rep I purchased my service from told me my area could receive a maximum of 20/5 meaning 20MB down and 5MB up. I needed at least 3MB up for a service I was using. Previously I had a 50MB service from Comcast which was great but their service that started at $89 a month kept creeping up to over $200 a month. If CenturyLink is the slumdogs of the industry, Comcast is the mafia.

    A few days after the CenturyLink installation I tested the speed and it was about 20MB down but only 1.8MB up. After hours of calls I finally reached a tech in Salt Lake City, UT who told me my area doesn’t have 5MB upload capability. Only 2MB. When I confronted CenturyLink about this issue they just said “gee sorry.”

    Recently they raised my bill because they have “no record” of me signing up for paperless billing which I have done twice now after another rep told me they didn’t have it on record. Every rep I’ve talked to subsequently about these issues does nothing more than state what currently shows on their computer screen. Another rep told me my bill went up because a “loyalty promotion” had expired. So apparently you’re a “loyal” customer when you first sign up but not after you’ve been paying them for over a year. Brilliant.

    I’m a communications systems engineer and tech entrepreneur having organized and run several companies so this kind of misrepresentation and poor business standards is unacceptable for paying customers.A company that isn’t honest with it’s customers and doesn’t even try to treat them fairly doesn’t deserve to stay in business.

  • AngryPanda

    I have been with Century Link for over 3 years and other than the speeds not always being what you really thought you were paying for, I didnt have many issues with them, until I moved. The tech who came out to install the new line was rude and short with me. What’s worse is he broke my hutch that has been in my family for 4 generations! He was leaning behind it to staple the wire to the ceiling (unfinished basement) and he pushed the top half straight onto the floor breaking two panes of glass and one of the doors. When I came into the room after hearing the crash, he just said, “I didn’t know it wasn’t attached.” Not even an apology was offered for what he did until I called him out and he replied with, “I can leave because it doesn’t seem like you want me here.” I responded with, “No, I want you to finish the job and I want the number to your immediate supervisor.” Before he left for good, he gave me a copy of the service order with my account number on it, which was wrong btw because I have my account number memorized, and the case number
    I would have to give the insurance company. Dealing with them was a whole other nightmare that took 3 weeks of phone tag and an eventual threat of closing the claim if I didn’t call them back that day 3/9/18. I called back several times that day and left several messages but to no avail. I had to resort to email and that is slowly getting it done. They are the worst and I will be cancelling my account at the end of this month when I will be moving and not bringing them with me!

  • Sung Tae Kim

    worst company ever, their employees don’t have experience . this internet service is so bad

  • O hunt

    Nonexistent -poor customer service- misrepresentation-if you have a problem they’ll not do anything about it. The service is horrible. It was a 3-day process to get an actual technician to our house.Get your act together and take care of the customers. No matter what the price is its not worth the money. In the Cottonwood AZ area you are down more than up. Plus overseas support is a problem.

  • Stephanie Denise Champion

    i wish i could have given this company zero stars but it wasnt possible. i dont have the service i just called to have one of their wires removed because i just moved into a house and there is a wire hanging right in the middle of my back yard which i was told was a century link wire. i called expecting a short and simple solution/ answer…… not at all what happened. i was transfered around 6 or seven times and every person i talked to was rude and completely unhelpful. one technician that i talked to said i would have to pay to have it removed even though i never put it there or asked for their service. i didnt understand and the guy was really short with me and told me he would transfer me because he didnt know how much they would charge me to remove it. and before doing so he had an attitude and said you have a better day okkkaayy like me being irritated at his rudeness was somehow my fault. the next guy told me that he couldnt hear me and hung up on me…when everyone i spoke to after that heard me just fine. the next guy told me that it couldnt possibly be their wire because their wires were only underground. which i told him didnt make any sense seeing as how the tech told me they could tighten the hanging wire. and he said im sorry and stayed quiet for almost a minute while i waited for some kind of direction..explanation…solution…anything. nope just silence. i called back asking for a supervisor and finally got an explanation. it is their cable…they could hear me fine and they can send someone out at least to tighten and lift it for free. i spent an hour on the phone to finally get an explanation and solution that took five minutes. this was my very first and last experience with century link.

  • Emma

    Terrible product, terrible service, terrible customer service. After big promises Our internet service was terrible, super slow and choppy. If we got a call on our land line the internet would reboot and if my kids were playing on line would had to start all over again( needles to say the constant frustration)We called several times and all they would try to do was to sell me a higher speed even when i told them that the readings were that I wasn’t getting even a fifth of what I was already paying. Needless to say, as soon as our contract was up we switched… and that brings to our second part of the problem… we called to close and pay our balance which we did. The next month we got another bill which surprised us but we payed anyway thinking we were being overcharged but not wanting to call and be on hold forever. The next month they sent us a check for a refund because, their words, we were overcharged (nice surprise!) Cashed it. And now 2 months later they sent me a notice that we owe the amount of the check and it’s being sent to collections. WHAT THE $&@&!
    Called twice, got “disconnected “, called again after explaining again the whole deal, tells me she can’t help but can transfer me to a supervisor, another 30 minutes of being put on hold and back and forth for her to tell me that they had a computer problem back when that generated credits to several accounts hence they send me the check by mistake and now I have to pay them back. ARE YOU SERIOUS!! you are threatening to send me to collections bcs I cashed a $150 check that you sent me bcs you said you overcharged me and now 4 and 1/2 months after closing my account with you I have to come up with that money to pay you back. She couldn’t help me anymore but I could talk with her supervisor ( how many levels of supervisors do they have??) who was busy and would call me back. Needless to say never did. Today when I called back AGAIN was to no avail, now it’s in the financial departments hands and I could get transfer but probably won’t help me.
    I AM DONE WITH THIS COMPANY!!!! But beware!!! Don’t use their services. They suck to say the least and they won’t help you!!! All they do is pass your call around until they wear you down. I hope this helps you stir clear away from century link.

  • Jason Bertolacci

    Another deeply customer dissatisfied ex-customer. My bill tripled in 60 days. They entice you with promotional pricing and then gouge you with auto-paid predatory pricing rates afterwards. Avoid them.

  • jr023

    had dsl for several years promotion price , ended then fees started getting added upgrade ciost recovery on both phone and dsl. then adds ran 40 meg service . lie then the ad wet to 45 dollars for 25 megs. and recently trucks have 1 gig on signs found out that is business only . when my 6 meg sevice went to 85 i hut the roof complained. guy in store as well as a tech were string fibre so i got sold the 45 for 25 m .. almost 1 yr lsater fiber on main road and side road but not down to the houses so 6 meg for 45 and centrylink makes mor money

  • jr023

    if the phone lins are getting weather in them so is the internet and most of there internet comes through the same lines only the heads may have fiber. the copper lines are old as is the street abd service boxes out in weather some lines along highways are bad that gas has to be constantly fed to keep water out the pots lines eventually will be fiber if the land line co get rid of home phones the co no longer want dial service which has too many fees and taxes
    i went through the runaround but fortunately met a club member who is good and knows who to call
    to get orders done the customer service operators have little or no tech and only say the script
    the only local contact is sales local c.s is gone sometimes overseas
    comcasts not any better but fiber and cable works better than twisted pair

  • Joshua Liberles

    How much was reviews.org paid for this way too positive review? Are you on commission? I have endured the most inept customer service in my life, thanks to CenturyLink. Three no-shows for installation so far. Didn’t think anyone could be worse than Comcast. I mean, their system dropped my call back to the in-line pool three times when customer service reps placed me on hold. And keep in mind, this is a communications company! This is their customer service just for getting you setup and online. How do they stay in business, other than enjoying a near-monopoly with similarly inept Comcast.

  • Sunderraju Ramachandran

    I live in this third world place in North America called Minnesota, in the twin cities area.
    Having been a Century Link customer since 2005, I look back to my days in Hong Kong and Mainland China with nostalgia – there the minimum speed in interior rural China is now 100Mbps.
    Century Link bills me for the BLAZING fast speed of 12 Mbps in New Brighton, and at the moment of writing this review, I have 1.6 (ONE POINT SIX) Mbps!!
    When I call customer service from my home phone (also Century Link) the connection is unbelievably poor! After a long and involved conversation, my internet speed goes up to almost 9 Mbps for a few weeks, and then its back to a crawl. Is this one of the companies that will take us into the future? Looks pretty bleak!

  • Jenny Lowe

    I recently canceled my Century Link service. I had been a customer for about 6-7 years. Last July I moved and when I called CenturyLink to move my service, for some reason the agent said she had to close my old account and open a new one. I didn’t understand why, but she said that was my only option. After we had moved in, I was still being billed on my old account as well as my new one, among other fees I incurred for having both accounts. I called and spoke to a Supervisor of some sort. She was really confused as well as to why the agent had set me up with a new account. She took care of my billing issues and sent me a Visa gift card for all the inconvenience.
    We recently decided to switch internet providers and close our CenturyLink account. When I called and talked to someone, he told me there would be a $200 cancellation fee because we were still in our two year contract (showing me as a new customer in July 2017, rather than showing that I had been a customer for over 6-7 years). When I explained the situation he said there was nothing he could do to waive the fee. I asked to speak to a Supervisor and was placed on hold for 25 minutes to then be disconnected.
    I called back and talked to four different people before being transferred to the finance department.
    The man on the phone said that the most I would be charged for “early termination” would be $125 (so, clearly I can see that CenturyLink doesn’t have their story straight) but upon further review, he said I would only be charged $40. At this point I was so annoyed and frustrated that I agreed to pay an early termination fee of $40 even when all of this was an error on CenturyLink’s part anyways. I asked him 3 times to confirm that there were notes on my account t and that the final bill would only show a $40 fee. He confirmed.
    Today, I received my final bill. $200 termination fee. I can’t call anyone because it is Saturday and a holiday weekend. The folks on chat told me to contact the finance department (again) next week.
    CenturyLink, this is precisely why I have chosen to leave. One agent says one thing and another says something different.
    I am upset that I now have to waste more of my time fixing a mistake that even your own employees have admitted was a mistake and have compensated me for as an apology for the inconvenience! Such poor service.

  • Ion Ungur

    Switched recently from Comcast to CenturyLink fiber optic. So far the service looks great: 40Mbps (download) 20Mbps (Upload) with a steady ping reply of 3ms to my workplace. The installation tech was professional and very helpful to accommodate my requests

  • http://mauicomputerservices.com Scott Lasater

    The WORST ISP I have ever dealt with and I have been in IT For 30 years.

  • Siberian BigCat

    I had a nightmare when trying to connect CenturyLink. After 10+ calls over 3 weeks and each transferred me for average 4 times, I figured out their fiber was still not running completely to my home. No one gave me explanation or even a notice. Their system just kept cancelling my order silently. And their sales are 3rd party, and customer service has no brain, they simply always say the service should be available for my address since their “system” shows it. So was in a loop of creating new account, schedule installation, no one showed up, customer service confirming order was missing, saying sorry and creating another new account. FOR OVER A MONTH!

  • James Frodo Robertson

    I Have spent the last couple hours back and forth with the agents here at century link, i had an appoint scheduled for 5/30/2018 as well as 5/31/2018, both appointments the company NO CALLED NO SHOWED, after contacting the too see why they missed the SECOND appointment they told me they could not get me an available appointment for another week! after missing two appointments the supervisor had no skill to even want me to keep their company, they still wanted to charge the full amount the the move as well. all i was doing was trying to move my internet service to a new home, and they lost me as a loyal customer for years. that is UNBELIEVABLE that a company can put you on the back burner and MISS TWO appointments, and still show no remorse for the next appointment date. DO NOT BUY CENTURY LINK

  • Pepa

    I have to admit all the neg reveiws are 100% accurate. NEVER seen a service so bad. First off literally took 3 and a half weeks to get my service on after payment. Was told that a modem was sent to my house n delivered but wasnt…it was replaced 3 wks later but i literally had to pay extra for a tech to come out n install it so i cld be sure it was actually delivered this time waz charged a double installment fee after paying first $110 plus a new bill for services i had not even recieved yet and charged for 2 modems only had 1 tho the other was charged to me due to the one they claimed UPS lost in the mail lol wow then i was told later when i called to question about all this i was told i owed another %110 bc of my credit {this is on a non contract service}…so through the hours of talking to a middle man between me and a manager i keep askin… this is no contract i was told when i paid this was the full balance why are u guys running any credit chks on me anyway…i was continuously talk down to as if i was lying about their poor services n how i had paid a month b4 n still had no modeem or service n i was continuously told that it was not their fault and that i must have installed my box incorrectly bc i had service for a month…there was never any service used or on bc i had never even recieved my box…long story short by the end of the convo i was informed if i did not like it i cld cancle but cld get no refund bc my service had bn on a month already…was never allowed to speak with a manager, had to wait 2 days for the care center to open and then they fixed it but the trouble of getting it on getting my box and all the horible service i recieved from the techs treated like a i was wrong for askin about my lack of services…i wld not recomend this service to anyone. Unlucky me my area has no other service options and internet is a must for online schooling so i am litterally paying $70 a month on unlimited service not to even be able to stream netflix daily. If u have a diff option i recomend to go with it.

  • John Schaeffer

    Yeah they are terrible. Horrible service and DONT SIGN UP FOR AUTO ACCOUNT WITHDRAWL. THEY DO NOT BILL ACCURATELY AND IF A PAYMENT IS NOT PROCESSED THEY CANCEL ALL SERVICES AND YOU NEED TO SET THEM UP FROM SCRATCH. HORRIBLE, -10, >:-0

  • Little Mook

    Wow century link is such crap. Not only do they not have any customer service whatsoever, but they really don’t care at all. To think that someone would have to try several times and still get nowhere at all is beyond me. If you’re thinking about going to century link just save your time and effort with another company. They won’t fix a damn thing.

  • Aitana

    This is the worst internet service I have ever had! My friend had recommended them to me because it was cheaper than other companies. Now I see why. They got me into a year contract which was just the beginning of all of the problems. When I was trying to set everything up, I called into Century Link to ask for help and I was hung up on THREE TIMES! They were annoyed of me when I talked to them.

    I walked in there myself demanding help and they spoke to me like I was a baby to “calm me down.” They were no help, I called them again and they told me to call customer support. I was on the phone with customer support for two and a half hours!! After that, I figured out the problem which wasn’t too hard at all. For the whole year, it has been soo slow. Awful. It can’t even handle two phones on the internet. I wanted to cancel and I had to buyout so I didn’t cancel. But they told them they would give me a thirty dollar visa gift card which I never got. After a whole year of shit I finally am able to cancel. I have talked to three people to cancel, and the last one I asked her to cancel the account on the 27. She confirmed with me that she did it on the 26. She sound so rude, annoyed and sighed alot! I am so sick of this company already! So I asked her “So you cancel it for Friday 27 right?” She was annoyed but said yes. She lied to me just to get me off of the phone.

    I am NEVER going back to this stupid, unprofessional company. It is the worst. I have never been treated this way, and am going with Xfinity.

  • Aitana

    I dealt with her too!! She is the worst! She lied to me and was just disrespectful!

  • Samantha Winchester

    Centurylink customer service is the worst I’ve ever dealt with! I mean straight up horrible! They couldn’t find my order then after a while they found it, ran my credit and said there would be no deposit needed and after setting everything up over the phone (approximately 30 minutes) he transferred me to the department where I would set up an installation time. After the transfer..they couldn’t find my order. Again! Then the guy who was very rude and unprofessional said I would have to place my order all over again and he dinged my credit yet again and this time said I had to pay a deposit. This was after another 20 minutes of going through the order process all over again mind you. Then when I asked to speak to a supervisor about why I was being charged a deposit when the first representative said I didn’t need one after running my credit, the “supervisor “ gets on the phone and says the first rep I spoke with was working for a 3rd party vendor and I would have to pay the deposit. It didn’t matter to this guy that my credit was already approved. Then he became arrogant and rude. They clearly didn’t care that I was told one thing and they were doing another. Very rude, unprepared and incredibly unprofessional. I would be shocked if I actually do receive the “Supposed” $200 visa gift card like they promise. This was by far the worst customer service experience I have ever had in my life. I work in a call Center and I know what is good customer service and what is not.

  • Kyle Rose

    What a joke. Install was 2weeks out. They no call no show me. Had to sit on customer service call for 2hrs to learn nothing but the need to reschedule and it will be another 2weeks before install… If they don’t no call no show again

  • Waffle fire Ice

    the worst thing ever trash I got 1000 so trash dont get it cant go on youtube or talk to friends my kids cant do anything trash dont buy

  • Natalee

    This company is the total worst!! They are complete liars and do not give a shit about you. I had originally bought my modem and when I moved they said my modem was no longer compatible. When the tech came out he said that my modem was just fine and was compatable. The then still proceeded to charge me a modem fee and the tech was only able to run a temporary line. When I called them to get the modem fee taken off it took me 20 minutes to get them to believe me that it was my original modem and not a new one and then they said they would schedule an appointment to get my perminant line. No one ever showed on the day that we had scheduled for the line to go in. The techs then called me and harrased me saying my gate was locked. If they had showen on day they were supposed to my gate was not locked. This went on for months. They continued to over charge me. When I was finally fed up I called them to cancel they said they would prorate me for the month and get the extra charges taken off and send me a new bill. I nver recieved this bill. They then sent me to collections for more than what I owed. I have never been so disappointed in a company. I will never use CenturyLink again and I will tell everyone that I know not to use their shitty service.