CenturyLink Prism TV Technicolor C2100T 802.11AC Modem Router Gigabit DSL Fiber 2.4/5GHz

For years now I have kept a brave face as I listened to friends and family - often with tears in their eyes, describe the joys of packing up their cable/satellite TV boxes and watching as they bounced away down the road on the back of the UPS truck - knowing they would never pay another ridiculous cable or satellite TV bill. I told each one of those obnoxiously happy souls that I was happy for them, but secretly my heart raged with jealousy, and my psyche stung with the indignation of my woefully inadequate, circa late-90's-era internet speeds. Then, one day, a flyer appeared in my rural mailbox. It was a miracle. Real internet had arrived. Now I sit with a smile on my face, watching Hulu and listening to the distant buzz of my Mom's TV downstairs as she does the same, all while I write reviews online and play games on my tablet. The DirecTV and Hughesnet equipment I suffered with are now in boxes, waiting to be sent bouncing down the drive on the back of the next delivery truck. I've promised myself I won't cry but who are we kidding? Oh! 21st century! What wonders you hold, indeed. I bought this modem as a warehouse deal. It came with the power supply and all cables needed. Because it was an open-box/warehouse deal there were no instructions with the modem; but that really did not present a problem. We were up and running in no time (with the exception of a CenturyLink customer service call but that's a whole other story) and we have been enjoying a trouble-free, lightning-fast, steady, reliable and smooth connection every since. The only downside - this modem is very tall, and large, but given the performance I am very happy with it.

I got this box so I wouldn't have to rent one through Windstream anymore. Plugged right up connected devices to the Wi-Fi and just use the passcode that's on the side of the router. It was fast and easy. I even think my Wi-Fi reaches farther out then the old one. Update. I just got spectrum and this box does not work for it.

Made the hard decision to upgrade to this approved model and so far am very pleased both by the effortless setup with CenturyLink and with the performance. Had been experiencing the need to reset my previous router and experiencing slow downloads on streaming. My speed test results have not changed but appears to have quicker web page accessing and so far no major issues with downloading streaming even with a 3 mhz speed test result. Plus plenty of 2.4 and 5 ghz wireless signal strength(s). Pleased, just hope it be reliable. Update: Nov. 2018, has been dropping DSL connections and has now been replaced. Expected much longer service...guess not.

The product worked great for 11 months 28 days. The 2.4 GHz would no longer accept a password. I worked with Centurylink for 2 hours and they could not get it working. Wired and the 5 GHz is still working, but some devices only work with 2.4 GHz. Trying to get a replacement, if I'm brave enough. CenturyLink will not replace my modem due to it being shipped to Northwest Electronics on 1/8/18 and it crapped out on 1/13/19. I requested help from Northwest Electronics, however, they are requesting I return the item without providing a replacement to keep my internet working for the weeks they will have the unit. Update 1/15/19 - the modem router is a 1 star due to it crapping out at warranty end. However, Northwest Electronics is great! They are sending me a new unit to replace the one I have at no extra charge since they shipped it to me on 1/16/18. I will then send my partially working unit back after the new one is set up.

Replaced my long struggling spare C1000A (was using a Netgear D7000, but that quit connecting to the Internet). The C1000A was a decent modem router, but it lacked wireless coverage. Plugged the C2100T in and it has been running for about 1 week. So far so good! It has the same basic web menu as the C1000A, so setting it up was a snap. My old C1000A did not have great wireless coverage so I bought a Netgear D7000 modem router. I used the Netgear for about the last 5 years and it was awesome, but now that device, while it still "sees" the DSL signal, won't obtain Internet. Maybe Centurylink got wise to me using a non approved modem/router, or the Netgear's modem portion went bad after 5 years of use. The C21000T has almost as good wireless coverage as the Netgear (wireless signal strength measured with Metageek), which is 10x better than the old C1000A. I elected to turn off wireless in the C2100T and run the Netgear as a wireless access point. The combo is sweet indeed, and the C2100T runs cooler with it's wireless off . I can pick up my wireless signal well out into my yard and down the street. The old Netgear, with it's 3 antennas, is a wireless beast :)

Had a very old Motorola 3347 DSL left over from Qwest before Century Link took over. It seemed to be showing its age. I looked at all of the CL's "compatible modems list" and checked a lot of reviews. I could have spent more money, but in general, this modem seems to be known for good reliability and performance. Over my old DSL modem, this one seems to offer a slight increase in speed (5%-10%?) and handles multiple LAN requests better - I will assume this is a result of newer/faster hardware. I have only been forced to reboot it once (a Wi-Fi bridge got "lost"). While the modem does a fair amount of "auto-setting" on reboot, it takes a lot longer to make the DSL/ISP connection than the older modem. Bottom Line: IF you get this modem at the "refurbished" price and in good working order, this is a bargain. Just beware of these shortcomings: 1. While the specs list a "USB Port" - you can plug in a USB 2.0 drive and the modem "USB" light will show up - CL has decided not to actually provide any way to access this drive (say, for a quick NAS or sharing files) from the modem's menus. 2. While listed on the current CL website as "supported and compatible", the modem is essentially at End-Of-Life: the last firmware update was in 2015. 3. Apparently, this modem does not support the Cloudflare "1.1.1.1" DNS server without a firmware update and while CL knows about this, there is no indication they will provide an update.

I was amazed at the difference this made. I was having problems with the Century Link signal being dropped and after changing out routers, I was leasing from Century Link, and having the line guys from Century Link tell me my signal was not the problem, it was the router, I tried to get a better router from Century link, the one they swapped out was better than the one they sent, it was labeled as "generic refurbished", after my own research into the DSL Gateways available I picked this one. Canceled my lease with Century Link and couldn't be happier. Now I don't get dropped signals, disconnect and reconnect is a thing of the past. I now have both 2.4G and 5G signals sent out by this unit. The 2.4G is required for the Alexa stuff and the 5G is a major improvement for my computer. Easy set up, almost plug and play. Even my remote old Kodak printer connected with ease. One of the best moves I have made in a long time, only wish I had done this earlier, it would have saved me from all the problems the old leased unit caused. The footprint of this unit is slim and I like the look of it standing tall on my side table.

We could not get this to respond to our internet company, so we had to go with a router/modem from the company themselves. It says Century link, but for some reason we could not get it to work with ours. The router/modem itself was fine, just would not work with our crazy internet (We were without internet for 2 months and went through trying 6 different router/modems. The supplier was very nice to refund our money for it.