# Lumen SD-WAN Reviews **Vendor:** Lumen Technologies **Category:** [SD-WAN Solutions](https://www.g2.com/categories/sd-wan) **Average Rating:** 3.3/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 10 ## About Lumen SD-WAN CenturyLink® SD-WAN solutions integrate disparate connectivity types into a seamless hybrid software-defined WAN for complete visibility and enhanced performance of your entire network ecosystem through a centralized customer portal.​ CenturyLink was recently recognized with the Frost and Sullivan Innovation and Leadership Award for SD-WAN in North America to go along with our 2017 MEF Award as the Best SD-WAN Managed Service of the Year, Worldwide. CenturyLink® SD-WAN with hybrid connectivity is a complete WAN solution to support secure, scalable networks across a full range of connectivity types. Our SD-WAN solutions integrates disparate connectivity types into a seamless hybrid software-defined WAN. It utilizes aggregated and customer provided circuits including a mix of MPLS, Dedicated Internet, low cost Broadband Internet, LTE based on your site and application requirements.  SD-WAN gives you complete visibility of the entire WAN through a centralized customer portal.  Branches can get out to the internet/cloud directly without having to hairpin through a central HQ, for improved performance. CenturyLink SD-WAN can help improve application performance features like application-aware routing and QoS.​ CenturyLink was recently recognized with the Frost and Sullivan Innovation and Leadership Award for SD-WAN in North America to go along with the 2017 MEF Award as the Best SD-WAN Managed Service of the Year, Worldwide. We offer Complete Managed / Co- Managed Global Hybrid Network Solution​s including: • WAN design, deployment, initial configuration, site activation, 24/7 support​ • Multiple CPE options, including x86 with SD-WAN software provided ​ • Flexible transport options: MPLS, Broadband, LTE, Internet or BYON​ • Centralized administration control via CenturyLink portal​ Security​ • Authentication, key exchange and encryption​ • Advanced security options: Built-In next-generation firewall, Dashboards and analytics and Detailed event logs ​ Application Performance​ • Automatic, customer and pre-defined identification for 2,800+ applications for policy-based control​ • Application QOS: Prioritization, Policing and Shaping & Marking​ • Optimal Path Selection​ Analytics and Reporting Tools​ • Historical analytics and near real-time reporting​ • Appliance, circuit, policy, application and VRF utilization​ • SD-WAN availability, packet loss, jitter and latency performance​ • Near real-time visibility and troubleshooting tools ## Lumen SD-WAN Reviews ### 1. Lumen is great but pricey **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Construction | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 06, 2021 **What do you like best about Lumen SD-WAN?** The customer service. We meet ever week regardless if we have a new circuit or problems. They just want to make sure they are providing the best service possible. **What do you dislike about Lumen SD-WAN?** The price is a little high but you do get what you pay for. It hard to have jobs approve the cost as it is on the high side. With more competitors coming into this space. Maybe they can look to lower their price. **What problems is Lumen SD-WAN solving and how is that benefiting you?** Currently, our Lumen solution is our VPN tunnel back to our data center. We're using lumen as a fell over in our environment also. ### 2. Lumen has a solid network and a leader in ISP's **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Justin J. | Channel Sales Specialist, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 08, 2021 **What do you like best about Lumen SD-WAN?** They have one of the most diverse networks in the world with tons of redundancy. **What do you dislike about Lumen SD-WAN?** Sometimes working with Lumen can be difficult especially throughout the sales process and implementation. **Recommendations to others considering Lumen SD-WAN:** Nothing. **What problems is Lumen SD-WAN solving and how is that benefiting you?** They are providing customers with a technology to keep their business and applications online 100% of the time with no downtime. ### 3. Lumen SD-WAN **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Alternative Medicine | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 21, 2021 **What do you like best about Lumen SD-WAN?** The failover capability makes this a valuable service for the cost. **What do you dislike about Lumen SD-WAN?** The install process takes longer than I would like. **What problems is Lumen SD-WAN solving and how is that benefiting you?** I'm creating a high availability setup for our network with this solution. ### 4. Complete WAN solution **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Management Consulting | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 26, 2021 **What do you like best about Lumen SD-WAN?** CenturyLink SD-WAN helps me prevent network outages and challenges. I'm able to smoothly perform various cloud based applications such as SalesForce without any connectivity inturruptions. Support staff is helpful and reliable. **What do you dislike about Lumen SD-WAN?** It takes a while to set it up in a new office and to get it up and runni9ng. Also, sometimes there are lags and connectivity issues. **What problems is Lumen SD-WAN solving and how is that benefiting you?** It helps in seamlessly connecting with cloud applications and across various offices. ### 5. When it worked, it was good **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Marketing and Advertising | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 28, 2021 **What do you like best about Lumen SD-WAN?** Customer service and ease to use was solid **What do you dislike about Lumen SD-WAN?** The system kept crashing on me, and got to a point that I could no longer trust it. **What problems is Lumen SD-WAN solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have left this cloud-based system because of its reliability ### 6. SDWAN **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consumer Goods | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 15, 2021 **What do you like best about Lumen SD-WAN?** Software Configuration, Ease of USE and scale **What do you dislike about Lumen SD-WAN?** Timeline, Too long to implement due to current covid **What problems is Lumen SD-WAN solving and how is that benefiting you?** Moving from MPLS to SDWAN for Better Scale ### 7. SD-WAN Experience **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ben W. | Infrastructure Administrator, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 19, 2019 **What do you like best about Lumen SD-WAN?** It certainly is nice to have these SD-WAN appliances at each of our site to provide us a rather seamless failover in the event of losing our primary internet circuit. Our project manager, Koby Agyekum, is amazing, friendly, hard working, and is always willing to go the extra mile. He has also completely turned around every single negative situation into a positive one, as I've never been left with an unresolved issue when approaching him with issues. **What do you dislike about Lumen SD-WAN?** The SD-WAN activation process seems at times inconsistent, yet redundant. I seem to find myself having to confirm the same information repeatedly, such as network configurations, site addresses, etc. I would say more emails have to be exchanged from start to finish of the process than necessary, and there seems to be too much division within CenturyLink. An example of this was recently when I was told by an SD-WAN technician that he didn't see me in their contact system to use me as the primary contact for SD-WAN related tickets. He could not simply add me himself, but I then had to speak with our relationship manager, who then had to send a request to Control Center, just to resolve what seemed to be a simple issue. As a result, the issue felt inefficient and took days to be resolved. During processes such as this, as well as the activation process, it feels like there are "too many hands in the pot," so to speak. **What problems is Lumen SD-WAN solving and how is that benefiting you?** We have been able to implement a complete network/internet failover solution to provide redundant interconnectivity among all of our sites. ### 8. terrible experience **Rating:** 0.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Eric R. | CTO, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 13, 2019 **What do you like best about Lumen SD-WAN?** the idea was good but the promises of great service never happened **What do you dislike about Lumen SD-WAN?** the execution was poor at best. Took 5-6 months to get set up and once set up it never delivered on the promised speed and had poor reliability **Recommendations to others considering Lumen SD-WAN:** look elsewhere **What problems is Lumen SD-WAN solving and how is that benefiting you?** we have scrapped the project entirely ### 9. Great Services **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Machinery | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 19, 2019 **What do you like best about Lumen SD-WAN?** Very reliable services. Great customer support **What do you dislike about Lumen SD-WAN?** Not Applicable. There are no items that I dislike. **Recommendations to others considering Lumen SD-WAN:** No Recommendations **What problems is Lumen SD-WAN solving and how is that benefiting you?** Makes workflow much easier ### 10. Centurylink 5th attempt for review!!!! **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Biotechnology | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 26, 2019 **What do you like best about Lumen SD-WAN?** Centralized user portal. Ease of use and speed **What do you dislike about Lumen SD-WAN?** Centurylink’s escalation process can be time consuming **What problems is Lumen SD-WAN solving and how is that benefiting you?** Accelerated speed and cost efficiency ## Lumen SD-WAN Discussions - [What vEdge Routers do you support?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/cisco-viptela-vedge-routers-supported) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [Do you support Cisco Viptela SD-WAN?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/cpe-vendor-support-viptela) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [What deployment options do you offer for access and cpe?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/deployment-options-3476afbf-5b3e-4e71-ba84-8a013bdabe12) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [View Lumen SD-WAN pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/lumen-sd-wan/reviews?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-05-13+09%3A48%3A44+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=61fadd5c-d025-44bb-be32-1b5ffa6cde48&secure%5Btoken%5D=92f139acfac86503df4ab930f7a239eda191f5f28435e4df6de77edc22866120&format=llm_user) ## Lumen SD-WAN Features **Network** - Traffic Overview - Cost - ROI - Bandwidth **Management** - Network Automation - Network Traffic Analyzer - User Provisioning - Network Analytics - Resource Maintenance **Application Performance** - Response Times - Traffic Optimization - Application Issues - Increase Productivity - Improved Performance **Monitoring** - Network Monitoring - Network Discovery - Network Asset Mapping **Support** - Real-time alerting - Hybrid Infrastructure Support - API Integration **Agentic AI - Network Management Tools** - Autonomous Task Execution - Multi-step Planning - Cross-system Integration - Adaptive Learning - Natural Language Interaction - Proactive Assistance - Decision Making ## Top Lumen SD-WAN Alternatives - [Auvik](https://www.g2.com/products/auvik-networks/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (379 reviews) - [SolarWinds Observability](https://www.g2.com/products/solarwinds-worldwide-llc-solarwinds-observability/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (793 reviews) - [Check Point Next Generation Firewalls (NGFWs)](https://www.g2.com/products/check-point-next-generation-firewalls-ngfws/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (499 reviews)