I'm certain this has been covered before, but this is my story of having finally arrived in the promised land of DSL after many years in the wilderness.
I've been through a very long phase (14 years) in my relationship with Qwest/Centurylink DSL where I thought I had to use the equipment they provided and that buying equipment that is not approved means that the equipment doesn't work or is not as good as what Centurylink provides.
For some reason, that is very much not the truth...it is the opposite actually. I think it's because Centurylink doesn't get paid when you buy non-Centurylink approved equipment, and they figure they can only afford to carry modems which are absolutely dirt cheap (in terms of price but ESPECIALLY SO in terms of QUALITY and features), and which 90% of its customers can be duped into thinking they have to use and are as good as can be had to use.
ALL YOU NEED to make a non-supported VDSL2 modem work is the VPI/VCI (0/32) and the login information and you're golden and ready to enjoy some quality DSL hardware.
But the fear of straying (due to Centurylink's caveat that they don't support hardware they don't provide) keeps many people from exploring and finding out there are much greener pastures out there for DSL hardware. Much happiness can be had with a little quality and not having to pull your hair out every few months.
The last Actiontec DSL modem (that I will ever buy or have in my home) was a C1000A whose one-year warranty expired last month...slightly before which it was giving small hints that it was having issues (inability to hold a stable configuration for more than 5 or 6 months, and random lockups were both very common). This last time, it bricked so that I couldn't even reset to the default login so I could restore from a stable configuration file, so I crushed the blasted thing in frustration.
Anyway, I had been (in the past few weeks) researching non-Centurylink options for VDSL2 and happened upon this beauty, which has actually been around for a few years but nevertheless meets and even beats all the specs of the later and cheaper VDSL2 models ZyXEL carries:
http://www2.zyxel.com/us/en/products_services/vsg1432_b101.shtml?t=p
(if link is truncated, look for VSG1432 on ZyXEL's website)
This baby has a TWO-YEAR warranty...double the warranty on anything Centurylink provides, and every last spec meets or beats anything that Centurylink has, including the C1000Z which I looked at as well (and is technically a later, albeit very cut-down model). Matter of fact, all of Centurylink's ZyXEL models what make you wonder what the fuss is about ZyXEL, since they are all the cheapest representations of what ZyXEL offers...and the warranty I believe is only one year on those models.
(Price? Less than $170 from Nextwarehouse...I purchased from another vendor who matched that price. So I get double the warranty for less than double the price of CL's best stuff.)
One huge difference that you people may like: The VSG1432 comes with a WHOPPING 408-PAGE MANUAL that goes into deep detail in every part of the configuration...A TOTAL JOY to anyone who wants to have their home network setup as good as it can be, and wants to know the details of what each part of the configuration is for:
ftp://ftp2.zyxel.com/VSG1432-B101/user_guide/VSG1432-B101_1.1_ed1.pdf
(Known as a 'book' that you have to 'read'. Not for technophobes, that's for sure...)
Try finding any user manuals for any of the Centurylink-provided modems...at least with the Actiontecs and the ZyXELs that Centurylink carries, there are none to speak of...a quick setup guide is all you can find - plug it in and it works...duh!!! Help me, I can't read the quick setup guide! Hahahaha! That's because there's nothing to read in it.
So anyway, you have to go outside the 'walled garden' if you want quality DSL hardware.
Don't feel like you have to be trapped inside Centurylink's walled garden anymore.
Life will be very good this weekend when I get mine.
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