UPDATE: Another CenturyLink outage reported in West Seattle

| Utilities | West Seattle news | West Seattle online

6:18 PM WEDNESDAY: Just days after the CenturyLink fiber Internet outage that lasted all weekend for some West Seattle customers, we’re getting word of another one. The company doesn’t make official outage announcements, but starting around 4 pm – via comments on our previous item, and via e-mail – we started hearing about this. If it’s affecting you too, let us know, and please include your neighborhood.

10:01 AM THURSDAY: We sent an inquiry last night to local CenturyLink media liaisons. Here’s the reply just in from Caitlin Birkenbuel: “On August 10, CenturyLink experienced an outage in a West Seattle neighborhood, which impacted high-speed internet and Prism TV customers. The outage lasted 2.5 hours and was resolved at 7:05pm yesterday evening. We apologize for the inconvenience and would like to thank our customers for their patience during the service delay.”

Lily August 10, 2016 (6:30 pm)

Cable and Internet out since 2:30 today in Fairmont Park.

Andy August 11, 2016 (3:51 am)

As bad as Comcast is, I much prefer them to Century Link.
- Polly August 11, 2016 (8:20 am)
  
  I was going to switch just to get my bill down from 196.00 a month, but their cost were not much better at 184.00 a month for the triple bundle, and with centry link you have to go with direct TV, so NO THANKYOU, think I will battle with comcast to get my bill down a bit Usually works for a while

Molly Zeldner August 10, 2016 (6:45 pm)

I’m also in Fairmount Park and my internet is spotty tonight, it’s coming in and out.

rpo August 10, 2016 (6:55 pm)

Out intermittently in North Admiral since at least noon today.

John August 10, 2016 (7:35 pm)

I can’t believe I’m getting it installed on Friday. Two reported outages since I ordered it. How has it been for people up until these latest issues?

Jade August 10, 2016 (9:19 pm)

I was installed last week, just for streaming Olympics. Two outages in one week is ridiculous. Thank goodness I didn’t sign a contract. I will say that my installer was AMAZINGGGGGG! Service itself however? The few times that it has worked since activation, has been disgustingly slow. North Delridge area
- Lala2mom August 10, 2016 (10:07 pm)
  
  I’d love to know if you were offered special pricing when you switched to Century Link, and if they stand by that after the first month. I agreed to a particular rate, but then my rates went up on each subsequent month’s bill. When I spoke to the company, the representative said that my “one year” deal was only for “one month.” When I demanded to get a transcript of the phone call in which I agreed to a certain rate, they said they deleted it after 3 months.
  
  Such a racket, and I’d like to know if you are treated better!
  - bolo August 10, 2016 (10:34 pm)
    
    If you call CL and press the button for billing, one of their choices is like, “has your special pricing run out?” Guessing that may be their retention specialist.
    
    I do remember when doing my due diligence prior to signing up, asked what happens after the year’s special introductory offer expires. They told me to call at that time and request another. We will see.
    
    BTW, mine was down for almost a week; working now after the tech made a visit to reset the modem/router. Otherwise this fiberoptic broadband has been fine. I really like that it is a high tech method. Too bad that Clink is not investing enough in engineering redundancy into their system. And of course their only “competition” is Comcast with their sub-sub-subpar customer service so why does Clink need to offer better customer service?
    
    (I say “competition” because no others are offering fiber in this area.)
Lala2mom August 10, 2016 (10:27 pm)

Be sure that you have documents that tell you the rate for your first year. My rates went up each month after the installation–the supposed “year long” deals were only for a month. If this happens to you, be sure to let BBB and the Attorney General; perhaps we can put pressure on them to be semi-honest.
Andros August 12, 2016 (7:58 am)

I’m getting them to release me from my contract and I am going back to Comcast. Never thought I’d say that, but Clink sucks.

It’s down again this morning…7:58am on August 12th

Naomi Hyland August 10, 2016 (8:03 pm)

Intermittent outages on 45th behind Lafayette. The technician told me tonight or tomorrow morning is the repair estimate… but he said there were no guarantees.

miketown August 10, 2016 (8:15 pm)

Fairmount Park and no issues at all today.

East Coast Cynic August 10, 2016 (8:31 pm)

I just tried my internet on the off chance that it would be up at about 8:15pm and it is up. Internet light blinking green, but working at this time. Upper Morgan

Steve H August 10, 2016 (8:39 pm)

We have been out since two thirty pm. We were affected all last weekend. I’m very dissatisfied with out service. Their customer service is approaching Comcast levels. 35th and Manning.

Chris August 10, 2016 (9:46 pm)

4300 block of SW Cambridge and service is currently out. Had an outage about 2:30pm Wednesday, lasting about 20 minutes.

Norm August 10, 2016 (10:08 pm)

9200 block of SW 47th – lost sound on main floor tv (Prism) around 6 p.m., but basement tv is working ok as is internet and telephone. Still no sound on main floor tv at 10 p.m.

Lisa August 10, 2016 (10:20 pm)

We’re at 35th and Hudson and lost cable and internet service twice this afternoon, but both times it came back on within a few minutes.

JC August 10, 2016 (10:34 pm)

I live in North Delridge and have had some issues this past week with service going down but it’s only for a couple of minutes.

Andy August 11, 2016 (3:49 am)

Century Link is my telephone provider and, in my opinion, they suck big time! I’m in the process of switching to Comcast. I use Comcast for my internet and, believe it or not, their service is better, by far, than Century Link.

Chris August 11, 2016 (3:28 pm)

Because they are your VOIP telephone provider you can register a complaint with the FCC. Multiple day outages might, with a lot of luck, get the attention of someone who can apply pressure. As it is I get no sense CL cares even one tiny bit.

mark47n August 11, 2016 (7:05 am)

These issues can affect all utilites that have wires/cable/fibre in the ground or in the air and the lack of understanding of equipment failues is peculiar. That said, I make my living dealing with equipment failure that is often due to 3rd parties. As to complaints about slow internet speeds; are you a DSL subscriber? The speed can be greatly affected by the amount of bandwidth available on your DSL backbone which can be greatly affected by the number of people that share that connection and are using it concurrently with you and b how far away you are from the central office that serves your area which is near California and Dakota, I believe.

I don’t say this to defend CL (I am a customer and certainly have my issues with their customer service, that said, I’ve had little to no issues with the actual service in the AK Jct area) but I’ve also had Comcast and they certainly had issues as well. Often. I’m simply pointing out that outages, especially unintended ones, are usually caused by equipment failures or 3rd parites, such as someone parting a cable bundles when digging.

Paul August 11, 2016 (7:20 am)

We lost our internet for a couple hours yesterday in Arbor Heights.

It was out Fri-Mon morning too.

anonyme August 11, 2016 (7:34 am)

Please check the forums for posts on Century Link. They will not provide you with transcripts of discussions, even by chat, nor will they provide anything resembling a written contract. The order confirmation that they send seldom if ever contains pertinent details, and rarely, if ever, matches what you were told on the phone. In other words, CL sales reps openly and blatantly lie, and getting evidence of such is near impossible.

s August 11, 2016 (8:38 am)

When you are on chat, there is a box where you enter your email address to have the chat emailed to you. I just did this a few months ago with Centurylink. Comcast won’t email it but there is a button to print the chat.

Alan August 11, 2016 (12:45 pm)

I just had my DSL/Internet drop at 12:38 – 12:40 in Riverview. That is the first time it has dropped since I reinstalled my modem while waiting for a replacement. I’m still not sure I believe the modem is the problem.

I also just received a Customer Satisfaction survey from CenturyLink, specific only to the one good call that I had yesterday. I still gave her high ratings, but shared my rant about my other interactions in the comments section. They make the mistake of allowing about 4k worth of comments.

Chris August 11, 2016 (12:54 pm)

CenturyLink’s response quoted in the 10:01am update is not accurate, at least for me. I was away yesterday after 5pm, so I didn’t notice service was out until 9:45pm. It was still out Thursday morning at 8am.

We were without service from Friday morning 7am until about 10:30am Monday. I can’t take chances while CL figures out how to deliver the service they promise, so I signed up for low-tier Comcast service. I have that working now.

I am hoping CL solves this and the service returns to being reliable. Things like online backups are a problem with Comcast because of their data caps which they seem eager to turn into a revenue source.

anon August 11, 2016 (6:59 pm)

Between Arbor Heights and White Center. Been out since last night (Wed, 8/10) around 5 or 6. Tried all the tricks and their online troubleshooters. Website is now saying they have techs on it and it will be up and running at 3:23am tomorrow, Friday 8/12. Huh? 3:23am? That’s awfully precise and an awfully odd hour for resolution… Which by the looks of it has been pending for most folks for almost a week now. The CEO of CL must have made them hire his unemployed brother in law living in his basement to “fix” this issue. For one to go on this long is unacceptable.

anonyme August 12, 2016 (6:39 am)

S- I’m aware of the email button on chat, but it has never worked. A few months ago, I used chat so that I would have a record of what was said. Three chats, none ever arrived. A few years ago, I did receive a CL chat transcript, but it showed only my comments – not theirs.

Alan August 12, 2016 (10:14 am)

That is my experience as well. I have been on multiple chats, several recently, and have never received a transcript.

Side rant – I don’t understand the chat. I should be able to log into my account, select chat and have them know who I am. Instead, I have to provide account info and various account challenge questions. God forbid I get transferred to someone else or my service drops and I have to go through it all again.

rpo August 12, 2016 (8:02 am)

And the internet is down again. This is getting ridiculous.

J August 12, 2016 (8:04 am)

Out again on Genesee Hill. Out around 7:30am, flickered on about ten min later, then out again after ten more minutes. This is the third outage in a week. We were out last Fri am to Monday mid-morning, then out Wed for a few hours, now this.

Sivie August 12, 2016 (9:00 am)

North Delridge 26th and Hudson. I’m out again as of this morning. Is this a planned outage? It sounds like they knew about it.

Paul August 12, 2016 (9:30 am)

We have been losing internet off and on all morning in Arbor Heights. Now no phone either!

Paul August 12, 2016 (9:32 am)

Anonyme, check your spam filter. I have found them there.

Paul August 12, 2016 (9:36 am)

Now the message at CLink says they are working on it and think it will be fixed by 9:13 am tomorrow. Promises, promises!

Clinker August 12, 2016 (9:40 am)

Went off

7:41

8:03

8:35

then stayed off after that. Automated system gave an estimated fixit time of 8/13

Lily August 12, 2016 (10:06 am)

Update on CenturyLink’s page says there is a known outage in this area and will be resolved in 24 hours. Yeah, right.

WSB August 12, 2016 (10:12 am)

Thanks – we’ve received several notes from people about this in the past hour or so and will be publishing a new report in about half an hour. Trying the CenturyLink spokesperson first, too. – TR

don August 12, 2016 (10:46 am)

Party line guy back, unplugging the ONT may not fix anything after all. That is what I thought worked last weekend and Wednesday. Today in and out service and I have not called or reset the modem or the ONT. Wednesday I drove around and found no less than 6 Comcast trucks before I saw 2 Century Link trucks following each other around looking for a address. Stopped the tech and he said something was scrambled and 2 people working on it back at the switchboard. Crossed fingers it has been working more than not working this morning.