Rich emails:
I live on Northeast 100th Street @ 15th Avenue Northeast, where as you know they have been installing fiber on the poles for the CenturyLink Gigabit Internet service.
Being the geek that I am I have been chatting the technicians up trying to get an idea of how soon the service would become available.
Up to now the answer has been “soon, real soon . . ” but yesterday the technician splicing some of the last bits of fiber told me they were in testing mode now and things should be ready within 30 days.
Also, they had a sandwich board out advertising the service with a LOCAL number to call. (see attached picture.)
I phoned the number and it’s a local person who forwarded my information to the install technicians.
He said I should be expecting a call soon and could have service in as little as three weeks!
We, too, called the number and got CenturyLink’s Dewayne Reichert, who confirmed that around 250 Maple Leaf neighborhood houses are about to become eligible for really, really fast fiber-optic Internet connections – within weeks.
We’ve asked for further details.
I wrote to Todd @ Gigabit.Seattle.Sales@centurylink.com who said there was not yet service along 8th near 100th, but to keep checking back. Then last Saturday I talked to a few guys clearly string new cables north on 8th, and asked if it was fiber for century link. They said yes, and then we high-fived. 🙂
Or call the number in the picture 🙂
This is the place to check if you qualify: gig.seattle@centurylink.com It’s checked by a local Field supervisor.
It turns out Centurylink has an “excessive use policy” with a 250 GB monthly cap for fiber plans with speeds under 1 Gbps:
http://www.centurylink.com/Pages/AboutUs/Legal/InternetServiceManagement/
Gigabit customers have unlimited use.
This won’t be a problem for me, but it may be for other people.
For this to work for our household:
1) It’s fiber optic, so we must get more broadband than we’re getting now from comcast. 100 down/20 up will work for us.
2) To keep the bill down we’ll accept CL’s phone service to replace services we’ve been using like Callcentric and VOIP.MS.. CL must support SIP. If CL supports IAX2 that’d truly be amazing.
3) we must have TV. No, I don’t believe a dish is an option. It’s gotta be IPTV prism service and we have to get all the local channels and be able to watch the Mariners and Sounders on Root Sports.
The bundle has to come in at $115/mo or less which is what we’re paying Comcast now not including phone but at 1 cent a minute for ip phone, it’s hardly costing us anything.
Tall order CL? That’s what we need from you.
My sister lives in Wedgewood and got a fantastic offer for the one gig service. I think it was like 3 free months and close to the same price as she was paying for her bundle.
And some other stuff that I can’t remember.
The CenturyLink web site isn’t necessarily accurate. I was able to get 1 gig fiber installed by emailing gig.seattle@centurylink.com even though the web site only showed DSL speeds.
If it’s only showing DSL speeds then your address is not yet eligible for gigabit.
How does a Gig package with phone and DirectTV compare to a Comcast triple play? I can’t get the Centurylink website to show me anything more than DSL speeds even though I’m clearly in an area eligible for Gig
Thanks for the feedback Drew. Glad to hear I don’t have to commit to gigabit, and an upload greater than 5 would be fantastic.
Hi Tim,
Yes, gigabit was available, and several speed levels below. My neighbor got 100 Mbps. Since I moved up from 3 Mbps DSL, I figured 40 Mbps would meet my needs, and so far I have not been able to saturate the connection. Amazon Prime streams at 32 Mbps and now gives very HD-like picture, and there’s still enough capacity for other tasks.
Upload rate is just over 5 Mbps.
By the way, when they install fiber internet, they also move the land line over to fiber. Smart move, they now have a way to eventually exit copper wire service.
Wish they would stop coming to my door at the most inopportune times! Read my “no solicitor” sign and stop bugging me already.
I didn’t think 40 Mbps was part of fiber but rather their VDSL2 package. Drew, was gigabit part of the offering when you signed up?
I’m adjacent to the park and had 40 Mbps fiber installed 2 days ago. Works fantastic!