If you’re having trouble with a CenturyLink (Lumen) phone line in West Seattle, you’re not alone. We’ve heard from multiple readers having trouble, and one told us the technician they saw this morning said they were the fourth customer they were seeing with the same problem. We don’t have any official info so far but when we hear from multiple readers experiencing a problem, it’s at least a “you’re not alone” occasion.
Our Century service stopped working May of last year. They made zero attempt to service the line. They cited overtime and tech shortages. We ended up switching to AT&T. We ended up filing a complaint with the AG’s office. If it were not for the formal complaint they would have never refunded us for lack of service.
We had the same issue with CenturyLink in 2022, after 25 years (since the US West days), our landline went out, was never fixed, and we were billed for months before finally switching.
Our landline in Arbor Heights went out on 3/17, I called to report it on 3/18. Still not fixed, so I called them again today and they could not give me no ecd, they said they don’t know if will take days, weeks, or who knows. Not impressed with Centurylinks customer service.
Try calling the Wa State Utilities and Tranportation Comission. They helped me.
I’m in Arbor Heights also & lost service on the 17th also. A service tech came yesterday & checked my line. He said it was fine & said I was the 2nd house he’d been to this week with the same problem. He called his office, had it on speaker & asked if this was a part of the problem area & they said yes and it’s an internal problem at CenturyLink.
Our CenturyLink copper landline died last year when they strung the new fiber optic lines. CenturyLink is done with copper and would very much like to move those landlines to fiber. I ended up porting the line to a mobile and then to Google Voice.
Our line went dead on 3/23. The soonest they could send a tech is … April fools day. Will probably just end up porting the number and saving $100 a month.
Our land line has been out for weeks now and they’re scheduled to send someone out on April first. When I was trying to schedule the appointment for someone to come out, the person on the line was trying to sell me some sort of wireless line with our same number. I am really about ready to get rid of the land line as we already have cell phones and most of the calls are about medicare plans or a scam from “the home improvement group” that call multiple times every day.
Our service was changed to fiber in 2022. Our two corded telephones went out several weeks ago. This may be related to CenturyLink being bought by AT&T, however we do not know that for fact. We are told by a CenturyLink rep it was to be a seamless integration. Our internet works, just not our two phones. Looking at CenturyLink site, it showed there is an outage in the area and they are working on it. We made an appointment on line for March 30th, however we received a call on March 26th that a tech would be here in 30 minutes. The tech was very apologetic as the “outage” was being worked on by CenturyLink. There was nothing he could do with our system. He said we’d see the red lights turn to green at some point, however did not know when. We do understand by looking at their site that we should be able to call and get credit for the time our system was out.
My mom’s Century Link landline went dead in late October. Had tech support come out twice (what a pain that was-I spend hours calling, texting and emailing kept getting looped back to their online self service) and it was fixed for a whole ten minutes. I bought an OOMA set up and she now pays $8 a month instead of $60. It was great until it wasn’t, I guess.
What I don’t understand is why the FCC, State Public Utility Commissions, FTC or Attorney General’s Office hasn’t done anything about CenturyLink refusing to fix landlines. It’s not a money maker for them anymore but a lot if people still rely on them during natural disasters, or for medical equipment, security equipment or just have poor cell reception where they live. We should still have the option of a landline if we want it.
Around 10-15-2021 we were forced change our Copper wire service to “Fiber Optic Phone” service. We had several issues that were eventually resolved.Flash forward to 03-18-2025 – our “Fiber Optic Phone” service went out: no dial tone, nothing. The phone light on the inside wall mounted NID (Network Interface Device) is Red instead of the usual green. Called on a Cell phone, spent ~45 min. on the phone, repair ticket issued for repair on 03-23-2025. On 03-23-2025 spent all day 8am-6pm waiting for the tech. No one showed up! Called, was transferred to “Special Team” aka “Voice Over Fiber” aka “Connected Voice” group @ 1-855-433-0836. Got hung-up on, called back – sorry they are closed for the day. Called main #, talked to David – we need to call the Special Team again tomorrow. Had all day Dr. appts. so called on 03-25-2025: they will contact “Dispatch”, who will text us. 03-27-2025 called again. There is NOTHING they can do, no time frame estimate, date, NOTHING! We just have to wait for “Dispatch” to contact us.Still waiting: still no phone service, phone light on NID on interior wall is still red.Still waiting…
Thanks everyone for sharing your Clink troubles. So far my land line is working – yah because it so much clearer than cell phone connections. I have a price for life rate with Clink for land line and internet service. Today Clink sent email warning that price for life rate may change but difficult to read between the lines of what they really mean.https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/porting-keeping-your-phone-number-when-you-change-providers
Thanks Pelicans. Just looking at the site regarding CenturyLink Lumens gave us some good information. re sale of Century Link Lumen to AT&T. We will call Washington States Utilities and Transportation Commission Monday if phones still down. Thank you!
In doing research on this phone problem, the question came up asking how many with problems had “autopay” with CenturyLink/Lumen. The thought was perhaps this is where the problem was in the integration of CenturyLink/Lumen with AT&T. One person apparently had this and why the question is being posed. We are meeting with another tech today & will also ask them, We asked what if we just took the autopay off right now would it fix the phone….answer was “no.” The mystery continues.
Any new reports?. Anyone get their phone back yet? Mine is still not working.
We live on Hanford and Belvidere. Ours went out about the same time as the other recent ones did, middle of March 2026.
This is me replying to myself. Our phone rang this morning! I was never so glad to hear from a telemarketer too early in the morning! Thank you, Centurylink!!!
We met with two CenturyLink/Lumen techs. They told us this outage is across Seattle, not just West Seattle. They say the problem is being worked on, however unknown how long the outage will be. Rep said to NOT try to reset your system, as could cause problems. The lights will eventually turn green when system is back up. However, if emergency to have phone, you can contact CenturyLink and tell them you have an outage and ask to have an emergency link put on between your cell phone and your landline. Per service techs, with this particular outage, even if you have them come out, there is nothing they can do. Several have tried replacing the black box, and still the problem exists. This is terribly disrupting. Thankfully, our internet is still working. This has something to do with the purchase of CenturyLink/Lumen by AT&T and the integration. We are hoping this is taken care of quickly. We did talk to the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission at 1-888-333-9882. There is also information about the sale on this site and an Information sheet prepared by the Attorney General’s Office re Lumen’s transfer of fiber assets to AT&T (UT-250544). Hope this is some help.
Our phone went out here in North Admiral sometime between the 17th and 20th and is still out. Very frustrating! We do appreciate the WSB coverage and the reader comments and suggestions. Thank you all!
It’s back! Our phone rang just after 5 o’clock this afternoon. O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
Thank you, landlinelubber, for reporting this. It gives us encouragement. We did notice our phone no longer shows “no line” and the phone now has a signal like when a wrong number is dialed. We will unplug black box for a few minutes like tech showed us and see if that helps. Many thanks. Hope you get your credit from phone company for time your phone was down,
Ours came back yesterday morning about 7am. Never so glad to hear a telemarketer that time of the morning.
I did write pretty much this same thing yesterday, but I don’t see it.
Our phones are still out in North Admiral this April 8, 2026. Thanks for hope on the horizon.
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