CenturyLink or Brightspeed DSL vs Starlink: who runs your line, and when to switch

If your DSL bill says Brightspeed, your line used to be CenturyLink’s: Brightspeed took over Lumen’s local phone companies in 20 states in a sale that closed in October 2022, while CenturyLink, still owned by Lumen, runs copper DSL in its remaining areas. Either way, check for a copper retirement notice or a fiber date at your address before you compare with Starlink, whose users measured a median download of 127 Mbps in Q1 2026 (Ookla).

Which company runs your line: CenturyLink (Lumen) or Brightspeed?

Three companies now share what used to be one CenturyLink footprint. The name on your bill tells you which rules apply.

When Lumen sold the fiber business to AT&T, it said it was “retaining and caring for its copper-based consumer services.” So in those 11 states, the fiber once sold under CenturyLink’s name now belongs to AT&T, and the copper DSL stays with CenturyLink. That copper base is shrinking: Lumen reported 1,159,000 lower-speed copper broadband customers at the end of 2025, down from 1,469,000 a year earlier.

CenturyLink copper retirement notices: how to find yours

CenturyLink posts its notices on its network disclosures page, roughly one a week: 110 dated 2026 through October 21, after 51 in all of 2025. Many titles say only “Various States,” so open the PDFs rather than skimming the list.

Each notice lists specific addresses, not whole towns. Recent ones, such as notice 1117, retire copper where “there are currently no working circuits” and say: “At this time, CenturyLink has not deployed facilities to replace the copper facilities being retired.” In practice, at a listed address CenturyLink DSL can’t be ordered again, and no new wire is promised.

Each PDF names the CenturyLink company filing it (often “Qwest Corporation dba CenturyLink QC”), the effective date and the address list. Notice 1117, for example, was posted on October 21, 2026 for addresses in Kent, Washington, effective November 5, 2026: barely two weeks later. Search the PDF for your street name rather than your town.

If you have a working line, the letter you receive is what counts. The list is still worth reading: notices clustering on your road tell you which way the copper is heading. Since a 2026 FCC order, phone companies post these notices on their own sites instead of filing them with the FCC, so the company page is the place to check.

If your address does show up, or a letter arrives:

1. Ask CenturyLink in writing what happens to your service and on what date.
2. Check whether AT&T now sells the former Quantum Fiber service at your address, or another wired provider does.
3. Line up the replacement and move the phone number before the copper goes, not after.

Brightspeed: DSL today, fiber plans, what to ask

Brightspeed is building fiber fast. In April 2026 it reported more than 3 million fiber-enabled locations across a network that can serve about 7.3 million homes and businesses, with a goal of 4 million by the end of 2026, according to a trade-press summary of its announcement. The rest, roughly 4 million locations by simple subtraction, still runs on copper, so a fiber date for your road is worth asking for before you decide anything.

Copper lines in poor shape show it. One Brightspeed DSL customer on r/Rural_Internet described an unstable connection with ping swinging between roughly 200 and 500 ms. That’s one household’s account, not a measurement, but it’s the kind of line where Starlink changes daily life most.

Ask Brightspeed these in writing, so the answers are on record:

1. Is fiber planned for my address, and when?
2. Do you still sell DSL to new customers, and is my copper line on any retirement or discontinuance notice or filing?
3. What download and upload speed does my plan promise, and what do your line tests show?
4. Is there a term or fee if I cancel?

How CenturyLink and Brightspeed DSL compare with Starlink

The DSL-against-Starlink numbers (speed, upload, lag, data and price) are the same for any copper line, and they’re laid out side by side in Frontier DSL vs Starlink. Three points are specific to these two companies:

• Contract. CenturyLink sells month-to-month service (“no term commitment”), so leaving it shouldn’t cost a termination fee; Brightspeed customers should check the bill or ask (question 4 above).
• Upload. Check whether your CenturyLink or Brightspeed plan states an upload speed, then run a speed test at 8 p.m., note the upload figure, and set it beside Starlink’s median of 21.46 Mbps (Ookla, Q1 2026). It decides how a video call looks from the other end.
• Lag. A healthy DSL line has genuinely low lag. The case for switching from CenturyLink or Brightspeed is speed, upload and a line that stays up, not lag, unless your line looks like the r/Rural_Internet example above.

Your phone line and your centurylink, embarq or centurytel email

Phone. On most CenturyLink and Brightspeed DSL lines the phone number rides on the same copper, so move it before you cancel. Per the FCC, once you’ve asked a new phone company for service, CenturyLink or Brightspeed can’t refuse to port your number, even if you owe a balance. The safe order, and what to check for alarms and medical alert devices, is in keeping your home phone number.

Email. Ask CenturyLink, or Brightspeed if your line moved there, whether a centurylink.net, embarqmail.com or centurytel.net address keeps working after you cancel, for how long and at what cost; after the 2022 sale it may not be obvious which company now runs the mailbox. Get the answer in writing, and move banks, doctors and other important accounts to a new address before the cancel date. Keep your email when you switch

The switch itself runs in the same order as on any DSL line, starting with a sky check and ending with the cancel call: see the switch, in order and the DSL-to-Starlink guide, which also covers port forwarding on Starlink.

Keep the copper a while longer if…

• Brightspeed gives you a fiber date for your address in writing, within about a year.
• AT&T now sells the former Quantum Fiber service at your address.
• Your CenturyLink or Brightspeed line holds up at 8 p.m., no copper notice covers your address, and the bill suits you.

See every DSL option

Checking method: each price, fee and rule here links to the provider’s or regulator’s own page, dated the day we read it. No internet provider pays for a place on this site; the only income is the Starlink referral explained on our money page. Our fact-checking · How we make money · Corrections