UPDATE: All-weekend CenturyLink outage for some in West Seattle

FRIDAY NIGHT, 11:34 PM: No way to know how many are or have been affected, but we’ve been hearing from some West Seattle CenturyLink users who say their fiber Internet has been out since Friday morning. One is Scott in the 2700 block of 46th SW, who says he first reported the outage around 10 am, was told it should be fixed by 7 pm, then called again two hours later and got a recording with a projected repair time around 11 am Saturday.
Phillip told us via Twitter that his service has been out about that long, and via e-mail earlier in the evening, Nick said CL told him he was one of a triple-digit customer count with an all-day-into-the-night outage. Anyone else?

SATURDAY MORNING, 11:24 AM: Thanks for the comments. Via Twitter, @CenturyLinkHelp, rep Aaron just replied, “There are still a few customers down, but for the most part they should be back up from what I am seeing.”

SATURDAY AFTERNOON, 2:05 PM: … but people in comments and via Twitter are saying they’re still down.

SUNDAY NIGHT, 6:46 PM: See comments for updates from CenturyLink customers who say they’re STILL out. We will be checking with their media/public-affairs department first thing in the morning to try to find out what’s been going on.

74 Replies to "UPDATE: All-weekend CenturyLink outage for some in West Seattle"

  • Becky Peil August 6, 2016 (6:50 am)

    Yes… My internet has been off and on since early Friday morning. It really makes it hard to work from home, My daughter lost money because of it.

  • dale August 6, 2016 (7:47 am)

    8/6 sat. morning.

    our centurylink prism tv at Fauntleroy and sw holly has been out since at least 5 pm 8/4 thurs. I called and got an automated answering that they were working on it. 8/5 fri 5 pm I called and a live person finally said about 1,200 people were affected. they expected to have it repaired by 8/6 sat at 11 am. they did not know what caused the outage. our centurylink internet was not affected.

  • Andros August 6, 2016 (8:10 am)

    Same. I reported the outage to CenturyLink Friday morning and they kept saying it would be until 7:00pm. Then suddenly at around 12:00 or 1:00pm, it changed to Saturday at 11:00am. Both my wife and myself work from home, so this has seriously impacted our business.

    In between all of this, I also discovered that they have been overcharging me by about 30$ a month since I signed up.  That took me over an hour on the phone with the billing department to get resolved.  

    So I had cable service (first it was @home, then att, then Comcast) in this house for 17 years. I just made the switch 3 months ago thinking it can’t get any worse than Comcast.  Let me tell you, it can.  This is the longest and stupidest outage I’ve ever experinced here. 

    Just some guidance to think twice about switching.  The grass might not actually be greener on the other side. Centurylink is the same as the rest of them. 

    • Chris August 7, 2016 (10:37 am)

      I had a similar experience. After signing up my second month’s bill was $20 more than the agreed upon price. I called and it was reduced to what it should have been, but now I am skeptical about their business practices. This is a public utility as I understand it. Is there no way to hold them accountable?

  • clinker August 6, 2016 (9:09 am)

    The last time the fiber service failed for me was for a few minutes at 1:30 on July 7th near Meeples. 

  • Chris August 6, 2016 (9:17 am)

    Same here in the 4300 block of SW Cambridge. Service dropped at 6:57am Friday. 26 hours and counting. I am not a fan of Comcast either, but outages were rare over the eight years or so I had their service and were always fixed within an hour or two. 

    • Chris August 7, 2016 (10:40 am)

      52 hours and counting.

  • justducky August 6, 2016 (9:50 am)

    Yes, lost internet service Friday morning. Tried everything on my end, resetting modem, unplugging, etc before starting a chat with them online (using phone as WiFi hotspot, I have always gotten excellent customer service through the chat feature). After several transfers, I have to call. I asked for a credit for the outage (since Comcast is very responsive to those types of requests). Clink rep refused since he claimed the outage was less than 24 hours. I pointed out I work from home and if they can’t get my internet repaired until Saturday, it will be 24 hours (he also told me they would fix it by 7pm, and I had to remind him the clink website and automated message said 11am Saturday). He finally ‘looked into my account’ and said “oh, I see you have been without service for 9 hours now…I will give you a credit”. 

  • bolo August 6, 2016 (9:53 am)

    Very poor CL tech support. Fiber internet service just now restored after approx. 24 hrs. Tech Friday AM told me I was one of many impacted, could not give estimate for fix, tech Saturday AM told me I was the only one affected, wanted to send repair out to replace the optical modem screwed into my bedroom wall. This after a one-hour wait on hold.

    We need more competition but seems very unlikely.

  • J August 6, 2016 (10:59 am)

    Still out in Genesee Hill. Been out since 7:30 am yesterday.

  • Paul August 6, 2016 (11:51 am)

    When dealing with CenturyLink the key is to make sure that you are talking to a report that is in the old US WEST footprint.  If you get a rep that is in another area such as the south you will not get anywhere.  They never did a good job integrating the 2 companies.  I learned this from an insider.  

  • Don August 6, 2016 (12:35 pm)

    I must be on the same party line. Fiber optic only for me no Prism. Same outage and the automated reply now said I should expect service to be back up working this Saturday evening. Some of you remember when we had to have a separate phone line and number to run our computers to use “Chat Chat Chat” it’s was BBS.?

    • Chemist August 6, 2016 (1:09 pm)

      CenturyLink fiber (GPON) uses passive optics (prisms) to split the optical signal, so it’s pretty much a party line running out to the neighborhood, with the ONT being the box that converts from light to individual customer copper/metal wire signals.

  • East coast cynic August 6, 2016 (12:55 pm)

    Still out. Upper Morgan 

  • bolo August 6, 2016 (1:24 pm)

    Out again, projected time for service restore 9: -something tonight. Evidently they are suffering a second outage, possibly unrelated to the first?

    @paul, how do you control who you get on the line?

  • East coast cynic August 6, 2016 (1:42 pm)

    I’m fiber optic too. Got same message. Will be back Sat evening:(

  • Kathleen August 6, 2016 (1:52 pm)

    We’re still out up in Fairmount Springs neighborhood (between Fairmount Park and 35th Ave SW).

  • J August 6, 2016 (2:15 pm)

    Still out Genesee Hill

  • TR August 6, 2016 (5:10 pm)

    I called in and they said a technician needs to come out.   First appt available  is Wednesday

  • Julia wester August 6, 2016 (5:10 pm)

    They are saying their system show no more outages, that we should call and schedule a technician

    Speaking to our Tech Support team, I would have to recommend contacting them at 1 800 247 7285 to see if they need to send out a tech to investigate your services. They aren’t showing any more outages affecting the terminal so they’ve been sending out techs to look into it further on individual lines. Our Tech Support team is available to you 24/7.
    -Timo

    • Nord Bjornson August 6, 2016 (6:16 pm)

      My internet has been out since Friday morning, still out.  Tried to reach CL on line,  left message as directed, no one replied to my inquiry.

      i didn’t have any luck contacting them by phone, my call was misdirected twice, while I was on hold for over 20 minutes.   Terrible tech support.

      can’t wait for my 12 months to be up.

  • Julia wester August 6, 2016 (5:10 pm)

    A tech can’t come until Wed. Unacceptable!

    • Andros August 7, 2016 (12:23 am)

      They told me Tuesday.  Bad words came out of my mouth.  I might have used the F-word on the tech.  That’s how I feel about it.

  • justducky August 6, 2016 (7:50 pm)

    Got an appt for Wednesday. Rep I spoke to was very nice and said once her manager sees there is a major issue (250+ tickets on this specific problem), hopefully they will bring in more techs to come out to look at the issue so someone *might* come out before Wednesday- fingers crossed! She thinks it’s an issue with the fiber box. Maybe it’s that squirrel that keeps eating everything out of my garden… >:( 

  • Chris August 6, 2016 (9:10 pm)

    Has anyone had service restored?

    • J August 6, 2016 (9:58 pm)

      Not yet on Genesee Hill. Been out since Fri 7:30am. Make sure to call and ask for a credit on your bill.

  • North Delridge August 6, 2016 (11:33 pm)

    We are finally back up on Pigeon Point. We have an appointment on Wednesday as well, but had spontaneous internet come back around 10pm. Hope everyone is up soon!

  • Andros August 7, 2016 (12:33 am)

    I’m seriously looking at going back to Comcast after this situation.  Centurylink had a power outage that caused this issue and they had no backup power supply or backup whatsoever within 2000 miles of here,  Unacceptable.  

  • Paul August 7, 2016 (8:24 am)

    Our internet is still out — 48+ hours now.

    The guy I talked to at CLink last night scheduled our appointment with a repair tech for Wednesday and said that, given the number of people having the same problem, they will probably have people out fixing the larger problem before then.

  • Brizone August 7, 2016 (8:28 am)

    Still down at High Point near 35th & Morgan.

  • Chris August 7, 2016 (8:49 am)

    Just spoke to c-link support again. They are acknowledging the outage. I was told service would be restored Monday evening. My livelihood depends on reasonably reliable internet service because I work from home. I like the faster out-bound speed of our fiber service, but I have no choice but to demand they release me from my contract. 3-4 days without service is unacceptable. 

  • Don August 7, 2016 (9:45 am)

    Party line guy back. Made the call, unplugged twice once for 2 min again for 5. Got wed appointment and unplugged it “overnight” working today. One repair person suggested a longer time unplugged. Makes sense with all that handshaking going on the lines I’ll cancel my service call Monday

    • theresa luhman August 7, 2016 (7:19 pm)

      Thank you for the suggestion. It worked for us, too. Nice job!

  • pagefive August 7, 2016 (10:09 am)

    Still down in Fairmount Springs. Called CL this morning and the tech didn’t acknowledge the widespread outage so I think it depends on who you talk to. Have to wait until Wed for a technician to come out.

  • F. Nightingale August 7, 2016 (10:14 am)

    Still down near California & Andover Street in the Admiral/Alaska Junction area. Down since 7am Friday so we’re at 48+ hrs now. Can’t seem to get through to C Link anymore. Unplugging overnight and then plugging in this morning didn’t work. We appreciate all the posts on here, updating us with people’s attempts at getting tech support. Wondering if this outage extends beyond West Seattle…..

  • Andros August 7, 2016 (10:35 am)

    Yep. Still down here too at Morgan and 35th. I’ve rebooted everything several times and we are still down. 

  • Don August 7, 2016 (11:10 am)

    Forgot to mention it was the ONT that I pulled the power on not the modem. You may have to do this mqore than once because each tome I was seeing more red and green flashes on the modem than the time before it would just settle Down  flashing  Internet . And wan/lan at a fast blink.

  • Alan August 7, 2016 (3:09 pm)

    We have had very brief outages of about 30 seconds each since Thursday in Riverview. I have been watching this story with interest since I have CenturyLink DSL. I’ve noticed it happening a few times a day, though I am not ALWAYS by my modem. Just now it happened several times in a row. Hopefully, it is just because they are fixing the issue at hand and not because there is some other issue.

  • josh August 7, 2016 (3:50 pm)

    Still out in north Delridge! Anyone know what the cause is?

  • bolo August 7, 2016 (3:57 pm)

    Hmmm, does anybody else smell  a conspiracy theory here? CLink states the problem is solved, nothing more for them to do on their end, yet hundreds of customers still cannot connect so they are sending techs to each of their homes? Three days from now? And they can only narrow down their appt. time to a 4-hour window where you have to be there? And they will not phone; they want to update you via email? How to check email w/out internet? (I’m at the library now, where thankfully I can log in, but really not convenient.)

    Maybe they have not invested sufficiently in equipment or engineers. Going to try check what bonuses their corporate officers have recently been awarded.

  • Will August 7, 2016 (6:32 pm)

    6:30 pm: still out at 46th and Andover. Earlier tofay they told me they were aware of the project and working on it, but no estimate at this point. 

  • Andros August 7, 2016 (7:14 pm)

    Unplugging the ONT for about an hour did finally work for me. At least, it’s been up

    For at least 3 hours now  :)

  • Mo August 7, 2016 (7:15 pm)

    Strange outage area. It looks like this outage is all over WS. I am 1 block from Genessee Hill school (which seems to be right in the middle of the outage area) but my internet and Prism TV have been working fine all weekend. Just installed a month ago, I hope this isn’t a regular occurrence. :(

  • Olli August 7, 2016 (7:31 pm)

    I think it might be fiber related? Fiber in pigeon point and still down. 

  • Sivie August 7, 2016 (7:52 pm)

    I’m still out on the 5000 block of 26th SW. 

  • J August 7, 2016 (9:41 pm)

    Out on Genesee Hill since Friday morning. Been calling all weekend and they’ve told us there’s an outage, then other times they say no outage and that it’s our modem. One person said there is an outage but it’s affecting zero people (huh?). Talked to repair department this afternoon and they ran us through diagnostics and said the outage zapped our modem and a tech will need to replace it on Wednesday. I asked if there will be a charge and they said no charge because we lease our modem. I said “no, we bought our modem.” She said the computer said it is leased. I said we bought it and I have the bill where we were charged for it, so she looked at her computer more and said, “it says you purchased it in October 2015, so it’s under warranty until October 2016, and under your lease agreement, there’s no charge to replace it. I said “what? So we purchased it but we have a lease agreement?” She said “I don’t know, that’s what the system says, you’ll have to work it out with them when the tech comes.” She was actually very nice and I think she was just limited by a crappy computer system. Anyway, bottom line is they say there was an outage, but that the outage in my area is fixed, but internet to our house is still out because the outage damaged our modem. Don’t know what to believe.

    • J August 8, 2016 (6:07 pm)

      Internet magically works again as of this morning. So I guess my modem was fine after all, LOL. Will call off the tech appointment if the Internet sticks through the night.

  • Alan August 7, 2016 (9:51 pm)

    I have a CLink DSL line, rather than fiber. I mostly have service, but the service has been dropping on and off since Thursday.  Today seemed to be the worst, so I went through the online troubleshooting which indicated no outages in my area and offered a “chat” option. After 20 minutes of chat, verifying my information, getting my last four digits of my social to confirm they were talking to the account owner, they informed me that technical chat was unavailable and that I would have to call instead.

    The customer survey at the end did not go well for them.

    • Don August 8, 2016 (6:55 pm)

      Party Line Guy back.  Wow they called me last night. Said My internet should be working and were suggesting I cancel my Wed time slot. I told them I was waiting till Monday to call since they were the ones shoving too large a update to the ont and or my  modem. Good luck every one , I’ve been checking back. My $35 each month fast 40Mbs way faster than the old dsl line they don’t want to maintain  or service any more in your alley.  Still think the longer you leave the ont without power the longer time all the handshaking , green and red lights flashing goes on and all can settle down resulting in your internet working again. Fiber Optic Forever FOF.

  • anonyme August 8, 2016 (6:46 am)

    CL sucks.  See Forums discussions.  I’ve never seen a company so dedicated to LYING.

  • F. Nightingale August 8, 2016 (9:13 am)

     Still out on California and Andover. Tech on chat says pretty much the same thing everyone else has reported: nothing. We do not have an ONT  option on the back of the modem, so I’m not sure what that’s all about. It’s fiber optic – maybe that’s why.  If anyone has a tech coming to this area, could  we arrange to have them visit our house after? 

  • Chris August 8, 2016 (9:28 am)

    Still out on 4300 block of SW Cambridge. Now into day four.

  • Sean August 8, 2016 (9:57 am)

    Day 4 on 5300 block of Admiral.

  • F. Nightingale August 8, 2016 (9:57 am)

    Internet just suddenly came back on at California & Andover. First time since 7am Friday. We’ll see if it lasts. Will try to be optimistic….

  • josh August 8, 2016 (10:28 am)

    Looks like mine is finally back up on the 4700 block of 23rd ave sw in North Delridge 10:30am

  • Chris August 8, 2016 (10:30 am)

    Service is back on here in the 4300 block of SW Cambridge. 

  • Chris August 8, 2016 (10:44 am)

    As it’s all said and done, I signed up for the lowest tier Comcast service as a backup. I can’t afford to lose service for three+ days again.

    I work in IT. I understand outages happen, but following best practices will minimize down time. CenturyLink is clearly NOT following best practices. My guess is a critical piece of equipment had to be shipped in. That is unacceptable. There should be redundancy all the way through the system. If someone dug through a fiber line then I understand that will cause an outage, but it should be repaired within a few hours. 

    I also don’t like the lack of transparency. We all got varying stories and no explanation of what went wrong. Comcast always explained what happened when I experienced outages with them. It’s hard to give up the service level CL delivers when it works, but this is absolutely unacceptable. 

    We should be able to complain to the city and to the FCC when an unacceptably long outage like this occurs.

  • Paul August 8, 2016 (11:02 am)

    F. Nightingale — I think the ONT is the device that the fiber line connects to where it enters your house, not something on your modem.

  • Sivie August 8, 2016 (11:12 am)

    Just got home from the gym and the internet is now working! I’m at Hudson and 26th SW. 

  • justducky August 8, 2016 (11:21 am)

    I called to see if I could get an earlier appointment, tech sent a reset on his side and I magically have service. YAY! He was very nice and sounded much more competent than the last 2 techs I spoke with.  

    If the internet light on your modem is amber/orange the tech can typically fix it on their end. 

  • Nick August 8, 2016 (4:20 pm)

    Still out on 5400 block off delridge

  • Alan August 8, 2016 (4:32 pm)

    My service has not bounced today. *Knocks on head*

    • Alan August 10, 2016 (3:59 pm)

      Well, I spoke too soon. Minutes after I posted that message my service started bouncing again. I made two chat attempts, with both being disconnected when the line dropped, so I called. That call was the best part of my experience. The person was pleasant, concerned and took her time. The end result was that she told me I needed to replace my modem/router.

      I had just replaced my modem in December and had been told by CLink to go buy it at Best Buy. I did so and it was branded as a CenturyLink product. I found my December receipt and called back to see if it was still under warranty. I was told that I didn’t buy it from them so it wasn’t their problem and that I should see if Best Buy could do anything for me. As I pointed out that it was labelled as a CenturyLink product, he got nastier and nastier, stating “we don’t manufacture them”. I pointed out that lots of companies don’t manufacture their goods but he interrupted me to again let me know it wasn’t their problem. I usually don’t curse or hang up on people but I did both at that point. I’m not proud of that.

      Next, I took my modem down to Best Buy Customer Service. I was told that they couldn’t help me because I had not purchased the extended warranty. She suggested I try contacting ActionTec, pointing out the name in small print on the back of the modem. I figure that is unlikely and walk over to the modem isle. After an offer of help and “let me check on that” I am forgotten for 10 minutes. It turns out that I was handed off to someone who didn’t get around to helping me. That person then informs me that Best Buy NEVER sold those modems, so I show him my receipt. “Oh, I have only been working here four months.” He then tells me that the $70 modem stating that it works with ALL DSL providers will not work for me and that I would have to buy the $250 one.

      At this point I don’t trust him, so call CenturyLink. They tell me the requirements and I repeat them back, but don’t get it quite right. He loudly sighs in exasperation and then repeats the requirements in a tone that let me know I am a complete idiot. I comment on how rude he is and hung up. No swearing this time.

      I can’t find the requirements on the $70 modem, but it has a customer service number. It also happens to be the same company (ActionTec) that manufactured the modem I am trying to replace. I tell him what I am doing and he offers to send me a new modem. I already have the tracking number. As long as I return the faulty modem, there is no charge.

      I tried emailing CenturyLink Customer Relations but could not get their link to work. So I called and asked for Customer Relations and was told I had to be transferred because I belonged to a different division. I waited on hold until I got tired of the advertisements and messages telling me how important my call was. I didn’t time it, but it was five to ten minutes. I didn’t feel they would care anyway.

      What CenturyLink should have done about the modem was,

      1. Apologize that it had gone out so quickly, especially horrifying because their brand is on it.

      2. Explained that warranty coverage was provided by ActionTec and provided me with the contact info for them.

      If CenturyLink had done that, I would have saved an hour and 40 miles of driving. It would also have saved me the less than perfect Best Buy experience. At least Best Buy didn’t get any of my money.

  • East Coast Cynic August 10, 2016 (3:34 pm)

    For anybody still following this thread and has had a CenturyLink internet outage and has had a tech come over and “fix” the problem, did your internet go out again or has it remained fixed???

     Apparently, we had a tech come over and get us back up again at mid day, but around 3pm, I got a message from my friend telling me that it went down again!!!!! 

  • justducky August 10, 2016 (3:55 pm)

    Another outage…I’m in north Morgan Junction. 

    Clink says they are aware of the issue, ‘will be fixed by Thursday 2:58pm’ 

    *sigh* 

  • East Coast Cynic August 10, 2016 (4:29 pm)

    Update–I’ve been told that it will be fixed remotely by Thursday afternoon:/.  I’m in Upper Morgan.

  • F. Nightingale August 10, 2016 (4:29 pm)

     Down again near California and Andover. *sigh*

  • njw August 10, 2016 (4:41 pm)

    yep, ours is down again too

  • pagefive August 10, 2016 (5:05 pm)

    Down in Fairmount Springs, too.

    • WSB August 10, 2016 (5:51 pm)

      Thanks for the reports. We’ve had a few by e-mail. Writing a new item to reflect this. We have CenturyLink as well as Comcast (redundancy required for this line of business!) here on the Gatewood/Fauntleroy line and don’t seem to have been affected either time, FWIW. – TR

  • Andrea Williams August 10, 2016 (6:23 pm)

    Down from Morning Friday 7/5,  told it would be back on Saturday morning  7/6, it wasn’t until late morning 7/8.  Now it’s been down again for the last couple hours 7/10. Got a recording about the outage.

  • Vancouver wa August 10, 2016 (6:31 pm)

    Down in Vancouver, Wa.

  • bolo August 10, 2016 (10:22 pm)

    CL tech came out this afternoon and got my fiberoptic internet working again. Had to do a reset to defaults of the modem/router, not the ONT. They didn’t give him much of an explanation of what the real problem is, just a procedure to try at each customer’s location.

    Afterward I called CL billing to get a week’s prorated reimbursement, and they told me they heard it was a power outage.

    Either they don’t know what happened, or they are witholding (embarrasing?) information. Not impressed. First we heard it was like 1600 customers down, then they claimed they fixed that problem and closed the ticket, yet there were 100’s still without service but there was no active ticket? Now evidently there are yet more?

Sorry, comment time is over.