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 Review by mdaddyrabbit 
UPDATED: 4 days ago
member for 5.7 years, 517 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Clinton,Sampson,NC
 $44 per month
 about 1 days
 "Customer Service is good in my area"
 "Need more upload Speed"
 "when compared to cable and one other DSL company Embarq is tops"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
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(ratings match consensus)
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I have been with Embarq for quite a while now and have enjoyed the steady on service with limited interuptions. The customer service has been outstanding for me. I have been pleased with the service, the expectations of problems brought on by my old ISP had me believing good service could not be obtained. Embarq has been very dependable and consistant. I am still receiving 10/896K which comes out to be 9900/825K.
Followup comments:  
shellmadde
@embarqhsd.net
| Embark DSL Decatur TX is horrible :I have had embarq over 4 years now, as I work from home and it is the only ISP available in my area. For this long I have had constant issues. It will drop me while I am working and I am down up to THREE hours a day. A tech came out blamed the modem. Switched it out just a few hours after he left DSL crashed again. I cant even work 8 hours a day and am facing commuting back to the office.
I had techs blame my routers, I have purchased two now, another tech told me I needed a new computer (BULL), yet another tech told me I had a virus (WRONG). Tech had me delete my temporary internet files while the DSL was down. Like what??? Finally got issue escalated to manager it took MONTHS. Ryan did some line tests told me my modem was too far from my phone jack. Paid them $75 to install a new jack closer and guess what? ITS WORSE. I have no speed at all now, repeated drops and after re-booting modem it takes up to 15 min to get back online, if i can at all.
I am out ALOT of money trying to get a good reliable connection during the working day. I have called Embarq daily or weekly so many times now they are on speed dial. No one can help they say I show you have connection but i cant get ONLINE. The replaced DSLAM twice, supposedly replaced equipment at thier office all for nothing. I could care less if its down all night and all weekend...but I can not even work from 8 to 5 anymore and this is seriously screwing with my career. I can never get the same person to help with my chronice 4 year issue when I do get a supervisor the next rep I call will say she's out of the office every time. So i cant even get a key contact person to follow up with. The must be loosing business over this
I dont see how they can sell DSL and not keep thier end of the contract. Too bad they are not regualted by the FCC. Maybe someday.
I am very disappointed and would have changed ISP's months ago if there were any here other than satellite. shellmadde( | |
| | 
Hazy Arc
join:2006-04-10
Greenwood, SC | Re: Embark DSL Decatur TX is horrible Register for this site and post this in the Embarq forum. Attaching this to an Embarq review will get you no where. | |
| oscarwilde1
join:2008-10-08 | What Hazyarc said The embarq techs here can really help. They certainly helped me a great deal. If you join the form and send them your phone number (via PM) then they will get right on it! | |
| | | |
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Review by LitomoSilver
UPDATED: 8 days ago
member for 4 years, 49 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Bremen,Marshall,IN
$85 per month
about 2 days
 CenturyTel
"Quick, easy installation."
"Slow internet speeds for the first few days of service."
"Excellent, unusually excellent for me."
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I ordered internet service in Bremen, Indiana.
It came online on the 7th of November. At the time, service was just below 1mbit down and just below .40mbit up. I wondered if it was a ramp-up speed, much like AT&T did. I called Tech support and spoke with them, discovering that no, the ramp-up speed common with AT&T and some other ISPs weren't the case here.
Though, I wish I had known that their modems would include a damned firewall anyways, despite me explicitly asking for a modem WITHOUT a firewall. That was an unpleasant surprise, when I discovered it, as I'd had my domain pointed at my IP and didn't realize that the web-page I was seeing was my modem's log-in page. Quite a security shock, there. I didn't want any firewalls or routing capabilities like that of a router. I wanted a simple, dumb modem. I'll have to see if it's possible. Ah well, it's just as well, as it's now operating in bridge mode.
So I informed them of my issue, and it took a few minutes to get the tech on the phone to realize that I knew what I was talking about, because I explicitly stated that it was somewhere between the phone line and their network.
The next day after that, the DSL technician showed up, an hour and 30 minutes EARLIER for the appointment scheduled. He and I quickly tracked it down to the line that came out of the building to the phone interface before going to the pole.
It was the work of a few minutes before it was done, and I immediately saw improvements the moment I reconnected. I instantly shot back up to the Enhanced speed plan. (5mbit down, 768lkb up)
So... I was correct, it was the line. I must say, I was rather pleased with the DSL technician explaining to me, without being snappy or condescending. I have to say, it's a rather nice change, and would love to work with the DSL technician again, if I ever saw him again.
All in all, it's been rock solid thus far.
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 Review by Tarheels Fan
UPDATED: 14 days ago
member for 3.8 years, 1288 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Nashville,Nash,NC
$29 per month (12 month contract)
about 3 days
"99% Uptime - Low Latency - Quick Install"
"None"
"Very reliable and a lot of speed choices"
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I have had Embarq DSL for 5 years now. I have had maybe 3 -4 outages in those 5 years. The latency is around 8ms to the first hop with fastpath. I have the 3M/640k and consistently get 99%+ of the rated speed. The forum is great with helping with problems. I highly recommend Embarq DSL.
- Update 11/06/2009 - All is still going well. Download speeds are at 90+%
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Review by Hazy Arc
UPDATED: 18 days ago
member for 3.6 years, 1027 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Greenwood,Greenwood,SC
$39 per month
about 4 days
"Fast installation, fast speeds most of the time, outstanding customer support"
"Primary complaint is the fact that latency times are a tad high without FastPath"
"Great choice for DSL, plain and simple"
| Pre Sales information:
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Broadband was not offered at my home within which I recently moved from a bigger city, so I was forced to use Verizon's EVDO card for my laptop. Needless to say, I was stoked when I received a letter in the mail stating that DSL service was now available in my area. I called that same day, and was enjoying broadband once again within 4 days! Installation was pain free, simply plug and play with my existing router.
I purchased the premier data plan for $54 a month which includes 5Mbps download/768kbps upload. Surprisingly enough, I actually receive those speeds at all times of the day. Downloads range from 4500-5000 kbps, while uploads range from 450-650 kbps. Not bad! Probably due to this area just coming online and I have most of the bandwidth to myself. Latency is a little rough...anywhere along the order of 85-115 ms.
Price is a bit stiff, and since I am forced to pay for a land line that I will never use (all of my transactions occur through my cell phone), the price jumps to $74 a month. However, this is a small price to pay for the luxury of broadband...and in SC, it is truly a luxury!!!
*UPDATE 1-11-2008*
Just wanted to follow up on my review. Still, so far so good. Still attaining 5Mbps download speeds with no downtime. Another plus is the fact that I've been able to have my line switched to FastPath which has decreased my latency to 50ms or less. If you are a gamer or user of VOIP, I highly recommend contacting Embarq and asking to be changed to FastPath.
*UPDATE 1-29-2008*
After learning of the ability to have "naked" DSL from fellow Embarq forum members, I called and tried it out. Turns out naked DSL is not available in the SC area (at least according to the CSR). I find out later that this was a blatant lie...as dry loop DSL is available everywhere. However, I was able to get my phone bill reduced from $29 a month to $19 a month while still retaining most features like Caller ID (I don't use the phone anyway so it doesn't really matter). More importantly, she was also able to reduce my DSL portion of the bill from $49 a month to $35 a month for the 5/768 service. In addition to the bill reductions, she gave me a $25 credit applied to my next bill.
*UPDATE 5-5-2008*
Had a strange problem a few days ago. I totally lost dial tone (couldn't make or receive calls), but my DSL would function. Well, I say function, it would limp along and lose sync every 10 minutes or so. I call Embarq around 6:30 PM. On the phone with a tech for about 5 minutes. He states that they will send a technician tomorrow.
The tech came the following day around lunchtime and fixed whatever was ailing my line (I was at work).
*UPDATE 6-20-2008*
I recently moved back to an area that was serviced by cable as well as DSL. I mentioned this in a thread here on BBR and stated that I would leave Embarq for the Cable provider because I was forced to purchase a phone line with DSL, which escalated the price of DSL higher than Cable. Within a few days, I was contacted by an employee from Embarq who was quite courteous and helpful and offered to move my service to my new location AND remove my phone service and provide me with naked DSL (thanks to embarq_cesar!). The transition went smoothly and I was up and running within a few days.
*UPDATE 7-1-08*
I have lowered the connection reliability score because of increases in latency...especially during peak times (early afternoon/evening). See this thread for more details: »Random Spikes of Latency
*UPDATE 7-17-08*
Well, two and a half weeks later and the horrendous latency problem has no hints of going away. All was well a few months ago when I first jumped aboard with Embarq, but the connection is now totally unacceptable. I am starting to reach the end of the line with Embarq. I will not continue to put my money into a service if the service itself is as shoddy as this. Will be dropping the service in exchange for the cable incumbent in the next few weeks if there isn't a marked improvement.
*UPDATE 8-14-08*
After no improvement to the latency situation, I have decided to drop Embarq and go with Northland Cable. »So Long Embarq...
*UPDATE 9-19-08*
I may regret doing this, but I am modifying my review. An Embarq employee e-mailed me 2 days before my cable install was to go through and asked that I give them a bit more time to fix the problem. After 2 weeks, it appears the evening latency problem has gone away *knocks on wood*. As I mentioned in my thread, I'd much rather stick with Embarq than go with the cable incumbent, as I've had nothing but good experiences with Embarq up to this point. Here's to hoping my connection stays stable.
*UPDATE 11-18-08*
After putting up with sporadic high evening latency since July, it appears Embarq may finally be doing something about it. According to the same Embarq employee I mentioned in the previous update, all of South Carolina's backhaul to Fayetteville, NC is maxed at 100% during the evening. They are currently upgrading the infrastructure and expect a resolution soon. I will update this review as soon as anything happens.
*UPDATE 11-24-08*
So far, no change: »/r3/smokeping.···b9c97.NY
Hopefully this week will be the week.
*UPDATE 12-14-08*
I have had it with Embarq. After months of waiting for my latency issues to be fixed, there has been NO improvement whatsoever...even after they have acknowledged the problem and say a fix is coming. Strangely, there is no ETA for when this fix will occur. If anything, my latency issues have only gotten worse. I would have dropped Embarq months ago, but I was given 2 months' credit because of the problems. My credit expires at the end of December, so if there is no change by the end of this month, I'm gone for good.
*UPDATE 12-18-08*
Great news! Embarq engineers finally resolved the latency issues by installing a new OC-12 for Greenwood's use. The evening congestion/latency has disappeared. I was in touch with numerous Embarq employees throughout this entire ordeal, and all of them were extremely helpful. Kudos to Embarq for knowing how to treat a customer. While the fix did take a lot longer than I would have liked, I'm happy I made the decision to stay.
*UPDATE 4-9-09*
My connection is still going strong. Ever since the upgrade back in December, the evening latency issues have been a thing of the past. Keep up the great work Embarq!
*UPDATE 4-20-09*
We had several severe thunderstorms (with reported tornadoes) in my county on 4/10, with massive damage throughout. Luckily, my yard only had a few downed limbs (albeit large ones). A house a half mile down from me had portions of their roof destroyed. I mention this to say one thing...throughout the entire ordeal, my DSL connection was going strong. The only hiccups were when the power was out...which isn't the fault of Embarq. The same can't be said about the incumbent cable company...their service was restored to my neighborhood a few days ago. Great job Embarq.
*UPDATE 6-24-09*
Service and speed is still outstanding. What more can I say?
*UPDATE 8-24-09*
Still going strong. Here's to hoping the upcoming merger with CenturyTel will not affect service in any noticeable way!
*UPDATE 11-2-09*
The changeover to CenturyLink has occurred, but thankfully nothing has changed with my connection reliability. Still top notch with no downtime for as long as I can remember.
Followup comments: Soldae
Premium
join:2008-06-26
Carlisle, PA
| Have you... Have you tried contacting an Embarq rep or supervisor to let them know what's going on? I don't see anything in your review that says you have. If you're having problems and don't let them know, there's no way for them to tell you it's not their problem :-P hehe, well there's no way for them to attempt to fix it either. | |
| |
Hazy Arc
join:2006-04-10
Greenwood, SC | Re: Have you... I've contacted the Embarq reps that post on this forum. They stated that "since the latency appears on a peer network, it may take longer to resolve."
Not exactly sure what that means, but they've had several weeks now. | |
| | | Soldae
Premium
join:2008-06-26
Carlisle, PA
| Re: Have you... You may want to call, as there is only one rep left that does anything on the boards and I'm sure he's swamped. I wouldn't talk to just any tech though, I'd chit-chat a little, find out where they're located (PA or Florida would be best), and find out how long they've worked for Embarq. If the answers satisfy you, tell them your issue. If not, ask for a supervisor. They're very very geared toward customer service right now and will actually have one of their managers contact you if you request it. By all means, this doesn't mean anything will be fixed, but they may be able to let you know what's happening or what they're doing. | |
| fredpb
join:2002-11-01
Greenwood, SC
| This tracert says it all about embarq Tracing route to embarq.com [168.251.192.15]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 2 ms 2 ms 2 ms 192.168.2.1
3 921 ms 849 ms 676 ms nc-71-52-144-1.dhcp.embarqhsd.net [71.52.144.1]
4 599 ms 705 ms 646 ms crncrcmt03 [65.41.232.213]
5 621 ms 611 ms 580 ms sl-gw23-rly-2-2.sprintlink.net [160.81.255.125]
6 525 ms 601 ms 577 ms sl-crs2-rly-0-5-3-1.sprintlink.net [144.232.3.88
]
7 589 ms 660 ms 660 ms sl-crs2-akr-0-4-5-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.8.14
5]
8 579 ms 486 ms 549 ms 144.232.3.232
9 536 ms 540 ms 495 ms sl-bb22-roa-9-0-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.18.111
]
10 531 ms 586 ms 585 ms sl-gw20-roa-9-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.17.186]
11 508 ms 569 ms 553 ms sl-sprintut-6-0.sprintlink.net [160.81.187.66]
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * ^C | |
| fredpb
join:2002-11-01
Greenwood, SC | fixed! Yep...looks like the problem is resolved...I am also staying with Embarq. | |
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 Review by Gary A
UPDATED: 27 days ago
member for 1.7 years, 578 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Bonita Springs,Lee,FL
$19 per month (12 month contract)
about 1 days
CenturyTel
"Easy self-install, affordable price, reasonable speeds"
"None so far"
"A great, reasonably priced, step-up solution from dial-up"
| Pre Sales information:
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For many years, my elderly in-laws have been spending the winter in Bonita Springs, FL. When they first got a PC, they used dial-up internet access. This year, I finally convinced them to spend the few bucks more and get high speed internet access. Living in a retirement community with a "private" cable TV service provided by the park owners, meant that Embarq (now, CenturyLink) was the only real option open to them.
In early October, before my in-laws even headed south for the winter, I started IM'ing Embarq_Joey here at DSLR with questions about ordering the service. He gave me just the information I needed to start the process. Next, I contacted John at the local Embarq store in Estero, FL, and found out that I could pick up the DSL modem from his store when we arrived. This worked out better for me and also saved the shipping cost.
John processed the order and I picked up the ZyXEL EQ-660R ADSL modem on Oct. 20, as I drove into town. Later that day, after cabling up their PC tower which came south with us, I started the DSL installation. The modem came with both a 4-wire phone cable and an ethernet cable. It also included 3 DSL line filters for telephone handsets - 2-single line filters and 1-DSL/phone dual filter. This was just enough to cover the 3-corded phones that were in the house.
In less than an hour, I was cabled up, going through the one-time online registration process. The steps included installing some "Help" software on the PC which could not be avoided. Later, I uninstalled this software using Add/Remove programs in WinXP Home.
A couple quick speed tests showed I was getting pretty close to the advertised speeds of the DSL package ordered - 1.5M/512k.
I then connected a Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 wireless router that I had purchased from Newegg.com. The network connection came right up and ran fine, both on their wired desktop and my wireless laptop.
All in all, a very easy self-install of Embarq (CenturyLink) DSL. Both I and my in-laws were pleased with the result.
The next couple days were spent getting pcAnywhere working. While not any fault of Embarq DSL, setup changes to the 660 modem and wireless router were needed. With the help again of Embarq_Joey and several other DSLR members, I was able to get the modem & router configured properly and pcAnywhere running.
See this topic for more details: »pcAnywhere Ebarq DSL W/ Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 Port Forwarding
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 Review by gatorkram
Posted: 30 days ago
member for 7.3 years, 2886 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Winterville,Pitt,NC
$65 per month
about 3 days
"stable connection good ping times get the speed you pay for"
"they don't offer higher speeds in my area"
"I had both dsl and cable and kept the dsl"
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First I had cable, then I got dsl too. I had both services for about a year together.
Over that time period, I did lots and lots of testing, to see which connection I would
end up keeping. The only thing cable had over dsl was speed.
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Review by dhthwy
UPDATED: 35 days ago
member for 1.8 years, 44 visits, last login: 28 days ago
Spring Lake,Cumberland,NC
$50 per month (12 month contract)
about 4 days
"Fast, Low Latency"
"Excellent service for the price, couldn't be happier"
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Got hooked up with 10meg ADSL2+ service a few days after ordering. Received my self-install kit the very next day I ordered ( If I recall correctly ). The day it was turned on a tech knocked on my door to make sure our DSL/phone service was working.
So far the connection has been rock solid. Perfect for gaming, interactive internet applications, and downloading/uploading large files.
I used to have RoadRunner at my old place (10meg). I was a bit skeptical at first if Embarq's service was going to perform as well as our RR cable. And now I'm happy I made the switch. With Embarq I get faster upload speeds ( I could never get more than 25kBps upload with RR ) , a more stable inet connection, and lower latency.
»www.speedtest.net/result/593496742.png
»www.pingtest.net/result/1063659.png
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Review by Someguy
UPDATED: 35 days ago
member for 2.9 years, 1359 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Charlottesville,Charlottesville City,VA
$24 per month (12 month contract)
about 3 days
Sprint
"Rock Solid in every aspect"
"none"
"This service rocks and you should get it"
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 Review by kg4muc
UPDATED: 47 days ago
member for 6.7 years, 496 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Marion,Smyth,VA
$70 per month (month by month)
about 3 days
"Easy setup and install"
"Poor Line Quality Fixed ! Speeds are now in line with the norm for our loop distance"
"So Far Very reliable! And Much More Pleasing Cost Wise Compared To Cable!"
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Switching from a cable ISP to a Telco ISP raised some questions from some but I had my reasons...
Currently I am at the lowest speed tier they offer but my line problems have been corrected enough to go to the 3 meg tier soon.
We received the Zyxel 660 Modem/router which has worked out good so far.. It does have a great config page! It's not nearly as fast as what we originally had with cable but for the price difference it works fine. We do not do any gaming so even a little latency is not a big problem. The local support folks were great and finally fixed a line problem we have been dealing with for over 8 yrs!
Bottom line...so far we have been delivered a quality service for the price!
Update as of October
After Having the service for a few months and going through some pretty bumpy
times getting everything up to max I think we have reached that goal!
After numerous service calls things were corrected a little at a time which is making real progress since these problems have been here for many years!
Our local techs here are great and we have one very hard working tech who has went way above and beyond his call of duty to make sure everything is working right!
We are satisfied totally with the price and service now as things have really begun to work as they should!
The one thing I am worried about is the Century Tel Merger ! I am so afraid this will mess up what we have worked hard to get..quality service and a fair pricing schedule!
One thing I can give high ranking to is that when we call for tech support we DO get someone that speaks english and we can understand what they are saying!
At this point I can say we are happy and would really hate to have to switch to some other alternative for our broadband needs! I just hope it stays the same as it is right now or gets a bit better...not worse as a merger could do!
Update February 2009
We have been plagued with lots of down time the last several weeks. Seems as if we are online but we are unable to pull and IP , receive or transmit data. We have called tech support so much that if they used caller ID they would probably would have not answered LOL! Being that we send data packets throughout the day and night ( PWS)
we catch an outage before most of our locals here do so that is why the numerous calls!
We do not send tons of data a day just many small packets.. way less than that of gaming or running of torrents
I have to give a big dose of Kudos to Embarq Joey he stepped up to the plate and got our problem escalated to the chronic problem team and that was when things began to look up! We did experience a drop today which was very much a reminder of what we just endured for weeks but a reboot has cured that so far!
Basically once you get the right people on the job things get done! And many thanks to Joey for getting the right people on our problem! With people like him and a couple of our local techs Embarq should have a much better rating that what you hear!
Hopefully some day we will be able to get a faster speed but that's going to require a remote more close to us or fiber implementation either of which is likely to be a long spell away! If we can maintain what we are getting right now we'll be very happy 
We are getting back into our summer mode of operation with the much appreciated warmer temperatures. Only down fall to that is I have to reset the modem any where from 2-5 times daily to stay connected! As long as the temperatures are below the 50's I don't have that problem and since we have had this since the get go I don't look for them to ever repair it so the reliability rating takes a beating with this as far as I am concerned! I don't really believe 5 resets of the modem a day is acceptable..especially since there is a definite temperature related fault!! Never happens in cold weather!
After a couple of days work by two determined techs the problem of dropped connections when warm may be repaired! So that leaves me to adjust the reliability and value for the money ratings back up a notch!! Thanks to Joey and everyone who helped get this done!
10/04/09 Don;t have a lot to add except that we have had extremely reliable service for the last few months( I hate to say that and jinx myself) All the people involved in finding the problem and a solution were successful in doing so and our much improved service proves that hard work and determination can pay off ! Joey was instrumental in getting things rolling when it appeared they were bottle necking. I can only hope things will be as good or better with Century Link in the future!
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 Review by MrMoody
UPDATED: 51 days ago
member for 7.2 years, 1421 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Clayton,Johnston,NC
$55 per month (12 month contract)
about 3 days
"Faster, more reliable than Time Warner cable, works great"
"no dialup service"
"Just works"
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When I first got Time Warner cable 7 years ago, it was 3000/384.Over the years this gradually increased to a maximum of 5000/512 about two years ago with little price increase; in fact this was during the time I had a promo package price due to adding digital TV service I hadn't used previously. Then within the last year or two it dropped back to 3000/320, corresponding to their starting a "Turbo Charge" offer. I upload large databases on a regular basis so uplink speed is very important to me, and 320k just wasn't cutting it, so a couple months ago I bought into their Turbo deal which promised "up to" 8000/512 for $10 more. When they activated it, I had a pitiful 4000/384 at $55/month, so I went shopping. I was surprised to find that Embarq (the telco previously known as Sprint) was now offering DSL in my somewhat rural location, a good 7 miles from town.
I promptly ordered a self-install online, received the Zyxel 660 modem with filters and CD a couple days later, and it was basically plug and play. It's DHCP dynamic IP but changes rarely (maybe once a month). Speeds test at around 4800/650 and ping times are low here unlike some others' experience. No need to use the CD or install the Earthlink spyware, I mean software. I've never had an outage that I noticed. I'm a happy camper except for the time I just had to spend away from home and found out I couldn't use my Embarq account through Earthlink dialup (a minor quibble). RoadRunner threw that in but I'll take the speed and price of Embarq gladly. Tech support is good but only seems available during extended business hours.
The only other thing I could wish for is even more uplink speed, 768, 1M ... I'd pay more for that.
6 month Update: Embarq rolled out the higher uplink speeds I wished for, but it doesn't work here.  Other than that everything's been great. No bottlenecks/slowdowns that I've noticed, the connection is super reliable, only one outage due to a car accident. This is much better than Time Warner who would have outages of two hours or more once a month. But speed is king; I'd whore myself back to them for a usable 1mb+ upload. But might as well wish for the moon as RoadRunner is heavily saturated here and no chance of fiber competition any time soon.
2 years in: 10mbit became available here last year and I ordered right away. They conditioned my line down to 4000 ft, and I have had zero problems. I can't even remember the last outage. It's so trouble free, I don't even think about it any more. I just wish it was a little cheaper and better upload speed ...
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Embarq
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Unfortunately it won't sync up any faster than 655k (net); apparently I need to clean up some noisy wiring or move closer to the CO ...
