Lumen provides great services and features if you can survive the implementation process and cost
May 20, 2021

Lumen provides great services and features if you can survive the implementation process and cost

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with CenturyLink Enterprise Voice SIP Services

We use CenturyLink [Enterprise] Voice SIP services for our US-based HQ for inbound and outbound voice PSTN services. We needed a solution that would be reliable, cost-effective, low maintenance, have good support, support HA, and have the potential to be deployed in other branch locations if necessary one day.
  • Reliable
  • Low maintenance
  • Initially complicated
  • Took a long time to implement
  • Online portal for support/ticketing
  • Large feature-set
  • Neutral ROI, service is stable but cost is high
  • Neutral ROI also, given implementation was long, but maintenance is easy
CenturyLink [Enterprise Voice SIP] was the incumbent, so switching providers, particularly for our HQ was an overwhelming task for our small team. We did migrate from the legacy CenturyLink voice product EIPT to the new Voice Complete solution as well as upgrade our US and UK circuits along with a hardware upgrade of the managed PE routers in each location. We also decided to implement RingCentral in one of our very small international branches but the lack of features is problematic. We still have T1 service in our other international branches but are looking to go full cloud SaaS PBX there, likely through Microsoft Teams, which we already use for messaging. There are some complexities, as we can't port our numbers directly yet and need to set up an additional CUBE router for SIP. Eventually we hope to get to fully SaaS via Teams.

Do you think Lumen Next-Generation SIP Voice Services delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

Are you happy with Lumen Next-Generation SIP Voice Services's feature set?

Yes

Did Lumen Next-Generation SIP Voice Services live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Lumen Next-Generation SIP Voice Services go as expected?

No

Would you buy Lumen Next-Generation SIP Voice Services again?

Yes

Replicon Time & Attendance, BeyondTrust Remote Support (Legacy), Rapid7 InsightVM (Nexpose), SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM), SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM), OneNote
[CenturyLink Enterprise Voice SIP is] good for environments that require tried and true SIP services, where high-quality voice is a requirement, and backed by a large, global company, with global footprint. CenturyLink voice is also well-suited to environments that want to use MPLS to interconnect their offices, as the same voice circuits can be used for data as well; however, the circuits are relatively expensive, even as far as MPLS goes, and watch out for Lumen's "fees" that often aren't included when you see their quote. Also beware if you require a rapid turn-up or have a very small or inexperienced staff, as MPLS with BGP deployments are great once they're up and running, but can be complex to design and implement.