Grand County Internet Services
High Speed DSL

Posted 11/17/11

To make the switch it is real easy but Centurylink apparently has made it complicated. Some people have spent hours on the phone with them.

Since the Modem pages change dependent upon which modem you have, go thru this with Centurylink on the line.

The number at CenturyLink to call to help setup your modem is: 877-557-0354 They will basically lead you thru this procedure. Do not reset the modem unless this procedure does not work.

Log into you router from a web browser.

enter 192.168.0.1 into the address and press return

it will ask for a modem user name and password:

the user name is always admin

I will send you your password via email or you can call and get it from me ahead of time

Once you have entered the ActionTec page go to advanced setup

choose WAN settings on the left

in the bullet points on the right is currently set for a Static IP, click on the PPOE bullet.

The will be a spot for a PPOE username and password which you need from CenturyLink

down below or on the next page you select to get ip address and DNS via DHCP. century link will help with this depending on type of modem.

Points to remember:

• You do not need to press the reset button on the modem if you login and make the changes manually.
• If you are told to reset the modem you will lose all settings including your wireless settings and any port forwarding.

I am sorry for the inconvenience of having to make changes but hopefully this will improve your experience.

If your outgoing mail has an error you will need to change the outgoing port from 25 to 587. I will post a link from the status page http://status.rkymtnhi.com

Feel free to call if you have problems.

Posted 11/9/11

Since I sent the letter below and updated this page, I have had feedback and questions. Here are some answers.

• DSL Customers can choose to go with the bundle Century link is advertising with Internet at $20. This is a bundle of Phone with 3 add-ons, long distance and internet. It costs about $60 before taxes and fees ($22 in Grand County). Or just change to CenturyLink for $10 per month more on your bill and do not get the bundle. Basic phone is about $18 plus taxes.
  
• If you currently have 256K speed, to upgrade to 1.5M is about $40 from the $15 you are paying now.
  
• You can keep your email with us for $36 per year. I would like to keep you as a customer for email and changing it is such a pain. I have not seen anything like Postini for spam and anti-virus. You can keep your email no matter who you have as your provider and even if you move somewhere else.
  
• You must call CenturyLink to switch over or your DSl will not connect to the internet on Dec 1st! Do not wait, do it now.
  
• I will refund any prepaid DSL over the next several months. Or it can be credited to email or eventually wireless.
  
• Some people thought they were already on CenturyLink and did not understand the relationship with GCIS. CenturyLink provides the connection in the house. The modem connects to GCIS to provide the connection out to the internet. That is the internet service we provide as well as email and . You will be switching to Century link to provide the connection to the internet. It is vey similar to the old dialup. Qwest provided telephone line, you bought a modem, and then dialed into your Internet provider. The only difference with DSL is that is is always up, no dialing needed, and the speed is hopefully faster.
  
• If you have Comcast Cable, you can contact Comcast for their best deals for internet, but watch out for their 6 month offers versus the real costs later. Comcast can provide great speeds, but at a higher cost. If you have children in school eligible for free lunch, Comcast has a $10 per month internet as long as they are in school and entitled to free lunch. Ask your school.
  
• I am not getting out of the internet business, just not partnering with CenturyLink on DSL. I always am available if you need help or have questions you cannot get answered. I hope in the next couple years to be able to provide a much faster and better Internet service using wireless. I also think I will be very competitive with CenturyLink, Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, etc. This industry is just too fun to retire from.
  
• Call me if you still have questions 970-627-0034

Eden

Posted 11/6/11

Grand County Internet is now focusing all new customer growth on our wireless high speed internet. We have not offered new DSL services to new customers for almost exactly one year. Qwest (now CenturyLink) has not been the best of partners in DSL over the last 2 years.

This Letter sent to all DSL customers Nov 7th 2001

Up until Nov 4th I thought I would be moving customers to another backbone as you can see in my previous post below. But, I came to the realization that my DSL customers were actually affecting my performance to my other customers and I had no control over the customer experience. Hence, the decision to stop trying to be all things to all cutomers and make a clean break.

Posted Oct 1, 2011:

We will be moving our current DSL customers off our current backbone to a new faster backbone at the end of October. Prior to that we will give all of our DSL customers a chance to switch directly to CenturyLink as their ISP to take advantage of new bundles they are offering. Many of our long time customers are concerned about losing the e-mail addresses, they have had with us. These customer may keep their e-mails at cost of $36 per year, no matter who they use as their ISP, be it Comcast, Centurylink or a Cell phone provider. This keeps the Postini Spam and Virus protection for their e-mails that they have come to rely on.

I checked to see what offerings are out there:

1. For non-business customers, if you want to keep your Centurylink telephone number and have DSL - They have a bundle of telephone, long distance and DSL (any speed) for $59.99. This price is good for 5 years guaranteed and requires no contract. This bundle will save you at least $20 per month! Just call Century Link (Sales 800-244-1111) and tell them you want to switch to them being your internet provider and want the bundle. Let me know when you do this, as they do not always send me a disconnect notice. On the day they make the switch, they will have you reset your modem and following that, it should hook up. If you have any problems with this call repair at 800-247-7285.

2. If the above applies and you need a static IP address for cameras or other home networking you need to access, ask for it when you call them. In this case, you may not want to reset your modem. Call me and I will give you the password so you can manually set the new settings for CenturyLink. CenturyLink usually charges $6.00/ month for a static IP address. They may not give you the bundle pricing, but you can then cancel your phone if your cell phone fills your telephone and long distance needs. By the way, with our new backbone, we will need to charge $6.00/ month for a static IP also.

3 Business customers, Century Link does have a telephone, DSL, web bundle if you have multiple phones. Ask them about it.

One of the problems I have in supporting DSL is I cannot carry an inventory of modems, if yours breaks. CenturyLink will furnish a new wireless modem for $100( same price I charged). They will probably try to switch you when they do anyway.

If you pay a statement for next years DSL. I cannot prorate it and refund the unused portion if you cancel later, except for services such as continued e-mail, or if you switch to our new High Speed Wireless network..

In the next year, we will be focusing on our wireless services. We are looking to make a major update in our backbone to be more competative to CenturyLink, Comcast and the rest of the players out there.

In these tough economic times, I would like to point out a new Comcast program.

The Comcast Broadband Opportunity Program is a new program that provides affordable access to Internet, computers and training to families with at least one child receiving free lunches under the National School Lunch Program. The program includes:

• Home Internet service for $9.95 per month
• The option to buy a computer for under $150
• Access to online, in print and in classroom training

Also for those of you who do not need a full computer but mainly use the internet for email and web browsing. Verizon offers a $20 a month plan with an Apple IPAD2. That is cheaper than any other internet service I know. If you are thinking of getting a new computer look at this option!

Below was posted Sept 24, 2010

High speed DSL is offered over Qwest telephone lines in parts of Grand County. Qwest has had one increase in consummer pricing since it started offering services in Grand County. It has increased pricing on Business DSL twice, the latest June 2010. They also had an increase in Business phone lines. After putting the new pricing in place, they came back in September offering direct pricing with Qwest bundles of telephone and Internet. This pricing has essentially made it impossible for ISP's to partner with Qwest as we have been doing since they started in 2006. We have also had Qwest constantly trying to switch our customers over to their network through special promotions with MSN. I have never understood this as Qwset actually made more money with us as the ISP than using MSN. Of course the promotions have time limits and often require long term contracts to take advantage of the special pricing. Cancelling early can have a very high cost.

Consequentlty, we will no longer offer new DSL services with Grand County Internet providing the Intenet connection and support. We will continue to support our current DSL customers.

Our wireless services are constantly being expanded and equipment updated and cover most of the same area where DSl is available. With our new radios, we can offer speeds up to 6Mbs, Our backbone is now 45Mbs across our wireless network. We offer static public IP addresses, spam and virus filtered POP email, monitoring of our network and all customer connections to troubleshoot any problems. Our pricing is competative with Qwest DSL pricing. We do not require phone services and in the case of businesses our costs are well below Qwest DSL pricing.