Centurylink gigabit service in Omaha

NovakOmaha · Post by **NovakOmaha** » Wed May 01, 2013 8:06 am

This is big news. Â Doesn't have the sex appeal of Google news-wise, but from the sounds of it there won't be the hoop-jumping that has taken place in KC. Â It may not have as long a timetable as KC either. Â Nor will your service rely on a percentage of your neighbors adopting.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20130501/M ... et-service

http://shop.centurylink.com/customerSer ... omahafiber

Mr.Nuke · Post by **Mr.Nuke** » Wed May 01, 2013 8:51 am

CenturyLink creates buzz by bringing Omaha 1 gigabit-per-second Internet service

By Barbara Soderlin
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Omaha will join a short list of cities with ultra-fast Internet service when CenturyLink launches a pilot project that will bring speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second to 48,000 homes and businesses.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20130501/M ... et-service

NovakOmaha · Post by **NovakOmaha** » Wed May 01, 2013 9:07 am

This is big news. Â Doesn't have the sex appeal of Google news-wise, but from the sounds of it there won't be the hoop-jumping that has taken place in KC. Â It may not have as long a timetable as KC either. Â Nor will your service rely on a percentage of your neighbors adopting.

http://shop.centurylink.com/customerSer ... omahafiber

Dundeemaha · Post by **Dundeemaha** » Wed May 01, 2013 9:56 am

Very interesting that it is also going in the Highline. I wonder if that will carry over into any other NuStyle developments. All of a sudden I'm getting the desire to move.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Wed May 01, 2013 1:37 pm

This is very cool. Â There are like 10 cities in the country with this right now. Â Also some really good timing with Big Omaha happening this weekend, I am sure the news will impress the out of towners.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Wed May 01, 2013 7:57 pm

Very good news to hear, hopefully they continue to expand the service throughout Omaha. According to story it will be $79.95 per month when bundled with other CenturyLink services or $149.95 by itself. Â The 1 gigabyte speed is more than 6 times faster than the fastest current speed for Cox. Â The Kansas City Star reporte one user with their Google 1 gigabyte internet uploaded 20-30,000 photos and some videos in an hour. Â Something that would have taken them around a week with their prior internet service.

Post by **Coyote** » Wed May 01, 2013 9:11 pm

This is getting national pub:

CenturyLink Rolling Out Gigabit Internet in Omaha

CenturyLink to make Omaha one of the fastest broadband cities in America

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Wed May 15, 2013 11:17 am

Right now they are only going to commit to West O, correct? Â Looks like nothing east of 680? Â I remember their predecessor, US West/Qwest doing that with cable. Â They cherry picked West O and never went East of 680.....

Greg

jessep28 · Post by **jessep28** » Wed May 15, 2013 11:53 am

Greg S wrote:Right now they are only going to commit to West O, correct? Looks like nothing east of 680? I remember their predecessor, US West/Qwest doing that with cable. They cherry picked West O and never went East of 680.....

Greg

Yeah, that's because there's fiber optic cable already there.

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Wed May 15, 2013 11:59 am

Hopefully they eventually go east. Â I just remember them starting in almost the exact location for their cable "test" and never expanding. Â They still offer it out there. Â

Greg

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Wed May 15, 2013 12:11 pm

Some people have commented that North Downtown is going to be a goal for expansion because of the tech presence already there.

HskrFanMike · Post by **HskrFanMike** » Wed May 15, 2013 12:41 pm

jessep28 wrote:
Greg S wrote:Right now they are only going to commit to West O, correct? Looks like nothing east of 680? I remember their predecessor, US West/Qwest doing that with cable. They cherry picked West O and never went East of 680.....

Greg
Yeah, that's because there's fiber optic cable already there.

CenturyLink is burying all new fiber in the West Omaha areas served by TeleChoice. Â Omaha was a test market for this product, and as things moved forward, they realized the platform they chose was wrong. Â (Think choosing Beta over VHS, or DVD-HD over Blu-Ray.) Â It was functional, but they couldn't get parts for it anymore.

So they are scrapping the old fiber optics (which were only run to the neighborhood boxes), and running all new fiber, including to the house. Â TeleChoice used coax cable from the neighborhood box to the house.

They are doing West Omaha because the TeleChoice infrastructure is decaying, with all parts failing at various times. Â They need to replace it, so they are starting there. Â It sounds like CenturyLink wants to go city-wide with this, but that's going to take time to rewire the whole city.

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Thu May 16, 2013 2:22 pm

Time will tell if they make the move East.

Greg

Bosco55David · Post by **Bosco55David** » Sat May 18, 2013 2:09 pm

That's actually pretty cool and substantial development. I wish I had that down here for my HTPC setup.

HskrFanMike · Post by **HskrFanMike** » Fri May 24, 2013 12:56 pm

These projects take years to implement city wide. Heck, Google Fiber has been around for nearly a year in Kansas City and there still are many areas without it.

https://fiber.google.com/cities/kck/#header=check

Part of the reason that US West/Qwest never expanded it beyond West Omaha is that they didn't consider the project a success. They tried different technology in Denver and Phoenix, and then capped those projects as well.

CenturyLink has proven this technology in several other markets, and they seem much more committed to it.

bigredmed · Post by **bigredmed** » Fri May 24, 2013 5:30 pm

HskrFanMike wrote:These projects take years to implement city wide. Heck, Google Fiber has been around for nearly a year in Kansas City and there still are many areas without it.

https://fiber.google.com/cities/kck/#header=check

Part of the reason that US West/Qwest never expanded it beyond West Omaha is that they didn't consider the project a success. They tried different technology in Denver and Phoenix, and then capped those projects as well.

CenturyLink has proven this technology in several other markets, and they seem much more committed to it.

Hope they do a better job of marketing it than TeleChoice did. Â Not much for services or channels. Â They could have crushed Cox by setting a fair price for Internet and then unbundling their channels on TV. Â I have Cox and recognize that more than half the channels I get, we never watch. Â Would have kept my TeleChoice, but they just didn't support it or market it at all.

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Fri Jul 26, 2013 2:20 pm

I'm not sure if my neighborhood is a part of this or not. Â We are definitely not a telechoice neighborhood, but Century Link has had a bunch of trucks in my neighborhood for at least a week. Â They put a bunch of the flags down in my yard so I imagine they will be digging soon. Â If we aren't a part of this they are doing something new.

Greg

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Fri Aug 02, 2013 9:03 am

Found out it is Cox doing the upgrade in my area. Â I continue to live in an area of Omaha that Century Link/Qwest has ignored/chosen not to serve for cable or upgraded internet.

Greg

BPHusker · Post by **BPHusker** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 8:45 am

Does anyone have the service? Â I was curious what modem they are giving you to use.

Ben · Post by **Ben** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 1:51 pm

Is there a map anywhere with areas that they're expanding service to, and estimated timelines?

I was a little surprised to see my in-laws down in Papillion were contacted about their Prism cable service (running over the gigabit network). Â I'm right here in Westside, just to the east of the initial roll out area, and would love to see both the gigabit internet and cable service here in my neck of the woods. Â

My understanding (secondhand) is that their contract states they have to cover x% of the households in the city, with x depending on uptake rates in currently served areas, so rollout plans will depend somewhat on how well received the service is elsewhere...

Post by **Brad** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 1:53 pm

Ben wrote:Is there a map anywhere with areas that they're expanding service to, and estimated timelines

Trenton and Jeff mentioned that there was a Centurylink store either opening soon just opened. They could probably fill you in more.

EDIT:

15825 W Maple Rd
Omaha, NE 68116
(402) 431-4000

.

jessep28 · Post by **jessep28** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 2:17 pm

BPHusker wrote:Does anyone have the service? I was curious what modem they are giving you to use.

guitarguy · Post by **guitarguy** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 2:29 pm

Haha I lol'd

lmdramos · Post by **lmdramos** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 2:39 pm

Centurylink said this was going to be provided for the crossroads redevelopment. And as previously announced the Nebraska Crossing Outlet Mall.

NovakOmaha · Post by **NovakOmaha** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 3:08 pm

HskrFanMike · Post by **HskrFanMike** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 12:35 pm

At 150th & Dodge, I'm scheduled to switch from TeleChoice to Prism on September 7th. Â It's supposed to take several hours to move everything: TV, phone, internet.

I'm not getting the gigabit service; I'll slum it with 40k.

lmdramos · Post by **lmdramos** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 1:42 pm

We just Â got cox 150mbps. Its pretty nice. Centurylink only has 80mbps in our neighborhood. Can wait to switch to prism once that comes to my neighborhood.

JayPak · Post by **JayPak** » Wed Aug 21, 2013 11:16 pm

Slightly off topic, but how reliable and fast does Century Link's existing (DSL?) service work in Omaha east of I-680? Â And what's the best deal out there for internet-only? Â Right now I'm paying $56/month to Cox for a download speed range of 5-15 Mbps. Â Service has been reliable.

guy4omaha · Post by **guy4omaha** » Fri Aug 30, 2013 6:27 pm

I was approached by a Rep from Prism tonight to switch to them from Cox. He's offering me some discounts for the first several months if I will make a decision by next week. Any of you make the switch already? What factors led you to switch? If you have had the install already, how do you like the service compared to what you had? If you decided to stay with Cox, what factors made you decide to stay?

Post by **Brad** » Sat Aug 31, 2013 9:51 am

is Prism another name for CenturyLink or is this something else?

If it is CenturyLink, one of my co-workers has it and he said its awesome! Â Internet is super fast and the cable is really clear. Â He also said no delay changing channels on the cable...

Post by **Coyote** » Sat Aug 31, 2013 9:55 am

I believe Prism is the next stage up for CenturyLink's options above their generic channel selections - which now has Fox Sports 1...

jessep28 · Post by **jessep28** » Sat Aug 31, 2013 10:03 am

My sister and brother in law live in a PRISM area and have been waiting for months for them to activate it.

Ben · Post by **Ben** » Tue Sep 03, 2013 8:08 am

Brad wrote:is Prism another name for CenturyLink or is this something else?

Prism is their Cable TV service run over the gigabit fiber network. Â So think VOIP, but for cable, not phone.

HskrFanMike · Post by **HskrFanMike** » Mon Sep 09, 2013 12:59 pm

Just had CenturyLink Prism installed on Saturday. Â So far so good.

It's all IP-based...so those old TV cables in the walls are no longer necessary. Â The main box is hooked up via an ethernet cable to the router, while the other boxes in the house get the signal via Wifi. Â Yep, that's right... Wifi. Â I had three football games on in HD on Saturday; didn't notice any hiccups. (Since they were in different rooms, I couldn't watch them all simultaneously...)

Since it doesn't use traditional TV cables, you need a box for every TV. Â If you have old TV's in the garage or bedroom that you watch analog programming on, you'll need a box unlike with Cox.

Prism's arrival in town forced Cox to drop their prices significantly, so everybody benefits even if you don't switch. Â (Unless you already committed to one of Cox's multi-year commitments and you are stuck at a higher rate.)

guitarguy · Post by **guitarguy** » Mon Sep 09, 2013 1:06 pm

Sounds pretty good.. I am gonna let them finish getting the whole operation running smooth before I commit to a cable service that might still have some kinks to worked out.. how are the prices compared to Cox? Seems like from the commercials they are really preaching the bundled packages..

cdub · Post by **cdub** » Tue Sep 10, 2013 8:22 am

I dont like having to pay for the two tvs I just have plugged into the wall. Â Looks like I need to be calling Cox though as I would save 20 or 30 bucks even after paying for those boxes.

guitarguy · Post by **guitarguy** » Tue Sep 10, 2013 12:31 pm

Wow its that much more?? Yikes they will have to figure something out if Cox drops their prices and squeezes ClinkPris

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Tue Sep 10, 2013 3:39 pm

Nice to have some real competition in the market.

HskrFanMike · Post by **HskrFanMike** » Thu Sep 12, 2013 12:20 pm

Officially, they charge $8 for each box...but I've heard they've been extremely flexible about waiving that charge. Â I got 3 TV's included at no extra charge.

So far so good with Prism. Â The worst part of the deal so far is trying to figure out the channel numbers.

Post by **Coyote** » Mon Sep 30, 2013 9:27 pm

CenturyLink Deploys Calix in Omaha Gigabit Network Pilot
Calix E7-2 and 700GE ONTs Bring Gigabit Services to Homes and Businesses in Nebraska's Largest City

Calix, Inc. today announced that CenturyLink is deploying the Calix E7-2 Ethernet Service Access Platform (ESAP) and 700GE family of optical network terminals (ONTs) for CenturyLink's new gigabit fiber network in Omaha. This pilot deployment will connect homes and businesses with CenturyLink's new fiber access network, offering high-bandwidth data speeds of up to one gigabit per second (Gbps).

"Providing our customers with gigabit services 100 times faster than the average American download speed gives them the freedom to leverage the power of the Internet without bandwidth constraints," said Danny Pate, vice president and general manager of CenturyLink - Nebraska. "We are excited about the opportunities this Calix-enabled network has introduced to Omaha."

Omaha Forums

Centurylink gigabit service in Omaha

Centurylink gigabit service in Omaha

Anyone switch from Cox to Prism? Or decide to stay with Cox?

Century Link's Bandwidth