Actiontec C1900A Wireless VDSL2 Modem Router for CenturyLink

Best router I have used

Excellent product, works great!

I just went through a very painful attempt to install bonded service in Cottonwood, AZ and it was a definite learning experience. Sales promised 20Mbps down with 2Mbps up using two DSL lines. Once it was set up it did work very well (for a while) and this IS the right modem for “bonded” service. But this was all too good to be true as within a day reliability problems surfaced and ended up putting the kibosh on everything. After almost 2 weeks and speaking to 5(five) tech support “experts” and having 3(three) technicians visit the site, I completely abandonded “bonded” service and went to a 12Mbps single ADSL2+ DSL service instead. This is rock solid! Lessons learned were many. First lesson is not all staff know much about bonded service. Then, when installing a DUAL DSL bonded service in an older neighborhood, the copper lines in the ground, if noise prone, or not similar loop lengths, will cause unreliable service. Drop outs, retrains, endless trying to reconnect are all symptoms of poor DSL line wiring. And since two pairs of wires are needed to work, reliability is half as good as a single line. When one side fails you are down, period. Then, when a tech comes to visit listen for the phrase “hand it over to cable” – this is a very important comment. If your tech says this, it means a special cable division (NOT cablevision) must be called and they will fix the WIRE problem even if it means digging up the wires. The regular techs cannot do this. Symptoms of bad lines in the ground include unexpected random or frequent loss of internet before loss of either dsl link. If DSL2 is bad and DSL1 is OK, modem will not connect in auto mode even after 12 hours. Seems that DSL 2 “follows” DSL1 but DSL1 “expects” DSL2 to be there. Do not confuse this with “failover”. There is no failover provision from 2 to 1, or 1 to 2 in the modem in bonded mode. Both DSL lines must be OK or bonded service will be intermittent or just not work. Also, the copper lines in the ground need to be of similar loop length. If loop length (as displayed in modem parameters) is not about the same, this will cause mis-timing issues inside the modem in bonded service. Using manual mode instead of auto does not fix a bad wire issue although it might speed up a connect. Using manual mode set to non bonded service may result in either DSL1 or DSL2 connecting, but DSL1 only will allow internet to work, DSL2 will not. As if this is not confusing enough, doing this and rebooting may cause DSL2 to report as DSL1 in the modem, but there will be no internet because the DSL2 line does not have the necessary “authority” to connect to the internet that DSL1 has. In summary, all the people that showed up and customer support on the phone were great, but none had all the answers as I’ve reported above. I guess they are still learning also. The sales people act like it is a done deal if they sign up a customer for bonded service and it will all work as advertised. In my opinion a tech needs to go out to the location and scout out the wiring FIRST before any salesman can promise it will work. In newer areas with new wiring this may not be the case but in older neighborhoods or outlying areas far away from distribution points it’s hopeful thinking to make the claims the sales people make. Also, if one of those DSL lines has a land line home phone on it, and that line is noisy and not “crystal clear”, your bonded service won’t work reliably either. One last thing, the modem comes set to AUTO mode. In some cases the modem will not connect in Auto no matter how long you let it try. That is no fault of the modem. If you go to manual mode though, it might connect right away. Write down the parameters that a correct “auto” mode connection comes up with. You might need to go to manual some day. Hope this helps somebody!

Overpriced for what its capable of.

Had to trouble shoot connection with century link and they told me I needed a new modem. I told them I just got one. Problem solved myself.

Bridge mode is known to reset itself after a reboot. Meaning it removes bridge mode after some reboots. If used as a router and access point.(not recommended) The Wi fi quit working after a year. This thing IMO is junk. Spend your money and get a better one that is capable of better speeds.

It did not work with my Centurylink dsl.

The modem/router supplied by CenturyLink constantly needed to be rebooted, almost every week. This modem easily runs a month or more before needing to be rebooted. It also has two antennas so sends a stronger signal throughout the house. I was able to disconnect the signal booster that was in the other end of the house.