CenturyLink Interactions

On 2013-10-09 I sent this e-m​ail:

Hi CenturyLink,

I recently moved from one part of Flagstaff, Arizona to another, and chose to have my CenturyLink network service moved from one address to the other. During this process, several representatives were very helpful and I am very pleased with how the move of my Internet service as well as my static IP was handled. In addition, I am pleased that my reverse DNS preferences and particular static IP moved with the service.

Since moving, I have had several issus with the stability of the service when using a CenturyLink/Qwest branded Actiontec Q1000 gateway. The new location is at 1655 E Appalachian Dr, Flagstaff AZ 86004. The phone number is (928) 556-9860.

I scheduled to have a CenturyLink technician look at the issue on September 19th and the technician did several things to clean up the pedestal by the street as well as the demarc on the side of the house. The issue looked better, but quickly resumed, and once I started documenting the disconnects, I found that they were happening very often. As often as once per hour. The technician said that the lines inside the house appeared to be good.

On the advice of a friend, I swapped out the modem with a modem she used previously, a Qwest-branded ActionTec M1000. This device has had far fewer retrains, but my service now only syncs at 640 kilobytes in and 480 kilobytes out, less than half of the 1536/896 that the Q1000 synced at.

Is it possible to have the lines from the CO to the demarc examined again in more detail, or is there any more information on when my particular area may be upgraded to support faster service on VDSL2.

Thank you in advance!

Best,

Cory W.​

Hi Cory.  I have been asked to look at the speeds on your line.  I can tell there’s something wrong there, and I have made an adjustment to fix that.  Let me know how the service runs over the weekend, then we can take further steps if needed.

 

I work Mon-Fri 7.30a-4p MST.  If you would like a callback outside of those hours, just let me know and I can set up a call to you.  Or you can call our 24 hr tech support group at 800.247.7285, but I will suggest you request an ONSHORE agent. All onshore agents have at least 10 years of experience, so they are good 'seasoned vets' that can help with any issue.

Also, you were right to change modems.  The Q1000 will not work with the ATM based DSL.  At least, it’s not supposed to.  The M1000 will work, but it normally does not have wireless.  If you need a different modem, let me know and I will get one to you.

 

As far as VDSL, I’ll look into that, but it’s going to take me a bit.

I looked into our planning database and see that your area has been evaluated for upgrade, but is not going to happen due to the high cost.  It doesn’t look like it’s going to happen any time soon, I’m sorry.

My apologies for the delay. It has been a busy weekend, but I have been monitoring the connection.

I noticed immediately on Saturday morning that the connection had sped up, and I am now syncing at 1536 kilobits down and 640 kilobits up, an improvement on both sides.

The modem does not provide very good information on exactly when it is happening, or how frequently on average, but I am still seeing that the connection is retraining on a regular basis. I'm guessing it's approximately every four to six hours. Before the configuration change, it had been retraining about every second or third day.

This is certainly better than when I was using the Q1000, which retrained as often as twice per hour, which proved to be a rather big distraction while trying to use the connection.

Are there any particular numbers or screenshots I can grab from the modem in order to assist in determining if there is still a problem, or is retraining this often within tolerances?​

I do see some errors on the line still.  Normally this means there is some physical problem that is causing them.  They can cause re-trains, so that’s likely where I’d start:  move to another jack in the house, make sure if there are other devices using other jacks – that they have filters on them… Things like that.

 

And if we do this normal troubleshooting to still see errors, we would have a tech sent out to find the source of the errors.  Let me know if and when I can give you  a call to take a look at these things.

The modem was moved to a different line in the house on September 19th when the site tech was present, but it behaves the same on both lines in the house.

There is otherwise nothing connected to any of the lines or jacks in the house, as this line only has DSL service.

I can install the modem out at the demarcation point, but because my M1000 doesn't have the wireless module, I would need to use the Q1000 (which I do still have on hand) or if another device such as the ActionTec PK5000 or C1000 will work better, I can go get one of those from a local store.

I typically see retrains every several hours, my guess is that because the Q1000 tries to sync at the full service speed, it will show any issues with the lines faster than the M1000 does.

Are there any tests or programs I can run on one of my computers, or is there anything I can do in the telnet or graphical interface to the modem to log when the retrains happen and (I don't know if the modem can show this) what may be causing them?

Hi,

The 1.5m/896k service at my house has been working great and in the process of researching options for a bit more performance, I found out that one option may be to have pair bonded DSL service installed. It looks like this should be possible on residential accounts, and should be possible on traditional DSL.

I was wondering what the installation cost might look like and what it might look like on my bill. I understand that I'd need to purchase a new modem, and I also know that I would need a second line run in from the demarc box to my preferred spot for the modem. (Because this has been a question before, it may be a good idea to have two new wires run, and use those for the service.)

In addition, I have a question about bonded service: If the DSLAM my service is on supports it and there are two available ports on one card, would the speed be 3072/1792 or 3072/896? I synchronize a folder on my home computer with a folder on my work computer, and having that additional upload speed would be very helpful.

I don't plan on having it installed immediately, but it would be nice to know what options are available.

Also, if this is a service that can not be done on a residential service, but can be done on a business-class connection, what is the cost of moving my phone number and static IP to a business-class connection, and then adding a pair bonded line?

Thank you in advance!

Best,
Cory W.