Price: $50.00/mo.–$65.00/mo.
Download speeds: Up to 15–940 Mbps
Upload speeds: Up to 30–940 Mbps
Data cap: Unlimited
Contract: N/A
Is CenturyLink a good internet provider? Well, in our 2021 internet customer satisfaction survey, CenturyLink consistently landed in the bottom-third of our rankings for subjects like service reliability and installation.
That said, we still think CenturyLink fiber internet (if you can get it) is a really good deal. At $65 per month, CenturyLink Fiber Internet is among the cheaper fiber options on the market. But if you’re stuck with CenturyLink DSL, you’ll have to deal with inconsistent internet options.
Data effective as of publish date. Pricing and speeds are subject to change. Not all offers available in all areas.
*Paperless billing or prepaid required. Additional taxes, fees, and surcharges apply. Get the fastest Internet speed available at your location (max speed is up to 100 Mbps.)
If it’s available in your area, we recommend CenturyLink’s fiber internet plan. With download and upload speeds up to 940 Mbps, this plan will let you gobble (or reverse-gobble) a gigabyte of content in eight seconds. Also, there are no contracts for as long as you’re with CenturyLink.
We always recommend getting fiber internet if you can (your doctor recommends fiber and so do we), because you’ll get best-in-class upload and download speeds compared to cable or DSL internet. At $65 per month, CenturyLink Fiber Internet is also cheaper than most fiber internet plans that cost around $80 per month.
CenturyLink also offers a cheaper 100 Mbps fiber internet plan for $50 per month, but there’s little reason to downgrade. Once you add the 100 Mbps plan’s $15 monthly modem fee (which is waived on the 940 Mbps plan), you won’t be saving any money and you’ll also get slower internet performance. In certain markets, CenturyLink has upped this starting package to a 200 Mbps plan and lowered its price to $30 for the first year. The savings make it a slightly better deal, but we’d still consider CenturyLink’s 940 Mbps fiber plan to be a better overall value.
Although CenturyLink’s fiber internet plans are affordably priced, CenturyLink still has the same problem as a lot of fiber internet providers—the internet service provider’s (ISP) fiber network is still being rolled out.
If you’re in or near a major city with CenturyLink coverage, there’s a decent chance you can get fiber internet. But if you’re not? Then your only CenturyLink option will be the ISP’s Simply Unlimited Internet DSL plan.
To the fiber internet-deprived: DSL can still be workable. With maximum download speeds of 100 Mbps, Simply Unlimited Internet is 10x slower than fiber and its download/upload speeds aren’t equal.
But at $50 per month, the DSL plan still offers value if your house just needs the internet for occasional Netflix sessions, and you’re not doing things like daily video calls. We’re also fans of Simply Unlimited Internet’s unlimited data and no-contract pricing. You won’t have to worry about expensive data overage fees or a surprise price hike after your promotional rate ends.
Like with most DSL plans, your CenturyLink DSL options are going to depend on the area-availability goblin. For example, with Simply Unlimited Internet, you’ll get only one internet option that has the fastest speed available at your address. That means you might get a 100 Mbps plan, but you also might live in an area where CenturyLink can guarantee only “up to 1.5 Mbps.” (I do.) And that’s unfortunate.
We’d recommend Simply Unlimited Internet only if your address gets a download speed of at least 40 Mbps. At between 40 Mbps to 80 Mbps, your internet won’t be blazing fast, but you’ll be able to check your email or watch videos.
Simply Unlimited Internet can even be a deal if you’re lucky enough to have 100 Mbps download speeds at your address. At $50 per month for 100 Mbps, the DSL plan beats comparable flat-rate internet plans from Xfinity ($45/mo. for 50 Mbps) and Cox ($50/mo. for 25 Mbps). But if your address gets less than 40 Mbps from CenturyLink, you’ll be better off with a competing cable ISP.
| Package | Price | Download/upload speeds | Phone plan features | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simply Unlimited Internet + Basic Home Phone | $90.00/mo.* |
Download: up to 100 Mbps Upload: up to 30 Mbps |
Local phone service | View Plan |
| CenturyLink Fiber Internet + Unlimited Home Phone | $105.00/mo. |
Download: up to 940 Mbps Upload: up to 30 Mbps |
Unlimited nationwide calling, incl. Canada and U.S. territories, features like Caller ID, Call Waiting, and 3-Way Calling | View Plan |
Data effective as of publish date. Pricing and speeds are subject to change. Not all offers available in all areas.
*Paperless billing or prepaid required. Additional taxes, fees, and surcharges apply. Get the fastest Internet speed available at your location (max speed is up to 100 Mbps.)
Everybody loves a bundle, especially when it means a discount. CenturyLink doesn’t offer TV service, so your only bundle option will be CenturyLink phone service.
CenturyLink offers two home phone plans: Basic Home Phone ($34.50/mo.) includes only local calling, while Simply Unlimited Home Phone ($50.00/mo.) includes features like call waiting and caller ID. You’ll also pay a one-time $35.00 activation fee to turn on your home phone service with CenturyLink. Check out our CenturyLink bundle and CenturyLink phone guides to learn more about the ISP’s offerings.
If you’re looking for low-income internet service, check out the Lifeline program. This government-sponsored program is for people who participate in federal assistance programs, and it can get you $9.25 a month off CenturyLink internet or phone service.
Check out our free and low-income internet guide to learn more about Lifeline.
We love CenturyLink’s shockingly straightforward pricing on its fiber internet and Simply Unlimited Internet plans.
But your CenturyLink experience will heavily depend on where you live. CenturyLink Fiber Internet is a great fiber internet option, but if your neighborhood only gets Simply Unlimited Internet, it’ll be a coin toss whether you’ll get 1 Mbps or 100 Mbps internet speeds.
Fortunately, no contracts means you can give CenturyLink a shot without getting trapped by a lengthy contract and early termination fees.
Here’s how to change your Wi-Fi password if you have a newer CenturyLink modem and it’s already connected to a device:
To cancel your CenturyLink internet or home phone service, call 1-800-244-1111 between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., Monday–Friday.
Expect a CenturyLink representative to try to keep your business by offering alternatives to cancellation. Sometimes those customer-retention deals are pretty decent, so there’s no harm in listening. But if you’re sure you want to cancel, stay strong. No means no.
At the moment, CenturyLink supports 31 different modems from manufacturers like Actiontec, Adtran, Calix, Cisco, D-Link, Technicolor, Westrell, and ZyXEL. We’ve narrowed down the list with our guide to the best CenturyLink-compatible modems.
If you’d like modem help from a real human, call CenturyLink at 1-877-837-5738 or chat with tech support.
Yes, you may use your own router with CenturyLink service. If you don’t already have one, and you also need a DSL modem, we recommend some great modem-router combos in our guide to the best CenturyLink-compatible modems.
CenturyLink fiber and DSL internet plans have no data cap.
To set up your CenturyLink voicemail, use the following steps:
CenturyLink offers standard installation for $15 and professional installation for $99. The standard installation includes a welcome kit with DIY instructions, cords, and equipment.
CenturyLink costs $50 per month for unlimited DSL internet and $65 per month for unlimited fiber internet. CenturyLink doesn’t have data caps, so every plan has unlimited data.
We broke down the fine print for every CenturyLink DSL and fiber internet plan, rating each in areas including value, internet performance, and cost. We also used our annual internet customer satisfaction survey to see how real CenturyLink customers felt about the ISP. For more information on our methodology, check out our How We Rank page.
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