CenturyLink Internet Definitive Buyers Guide

CenturyLink’s DSL internet has the limitations of an older technology

CenturyLink is a DSL internet provider owned by a parent company known as Lumen Technologies. Lumen is the seventh-largest ISP in the U.S., based on its combined internet service in both DSL and fiber. Lumen serves a total of about 3 million customers [1]. CenturyLink is the DSL brand owned by Lumen. The fiber brand of Lumen is now known as Quantum Fiber. This review will focus on the CenturyLink DSL half of the Lumen brand. We will cover Quantum Fiber in a separate review, because the two brands provide very different technologies. If your only available internet is CenturyLink, your DSL connection is likely to be slower than if you have cable or fiber. Customer satisfaction for CenturyLink is below average in many places. DSL speed can vary widely depending on your neighborhood and even on the wiring in your home. But CenturyLink, like most DSL companies, will charge you the same $50/month for a slow 10 Mbps download speed as for 100 Mbps download speed. It’s luck of the draw, with no price break for slower service. DSL customers just aren’t getting the same kind of value that fiber customers are getting. And that’s one probable reason that Lumen separated its two brands. Now, it should be easy to tell what you’re getting – mostly.  CenturyLink is DSL, and Quantum Fiber is all-fiber. On websites that still mix the two names, though, the speeds of each plan will often be a giveaway. CenturyLink is available in 16 states since it sold half of its DSL network to Brightspeed in 2022. It has a very unusual coverage footprint: think of it as the Western half of the United States, minus California and plus Florida.