??? about moving to DSM area--specifically Johnston, Waukee, Urbandale

[capitalcityguy]

Congrats and welcome!!

[mrs_moby73]

For those of you who live in the area--which phone/cable/internet companies would you recommend (or maybe NOT recommend)? I noticed lots of satellite dishes while I was there and the house we are buying actually has one already, but I would think severe weather could have a negative effect on services. We have never used satellite service before, so I am just not really sure. TIA!

[Northern Traveler]

Originally Posted by mrs_moby73

For those of you who live in the area--which phone/cable/internet companies would you recommend (or maybe NOT recommend)? I noticed lots of satellite dishes while I was there and the house we are buying actually has one already, but I would think severe weather could have a negative effect on services. We have never used satellite service before, so I am just not really sure. TIA!

I have a Mediacom package, digital cable and high speed internet .. the internet is really reliable and very fast, hasn't stopped working for at least 7 months. My package is only $60/mo. for the first year.

[mofford]

Yes, the cable modems are fast and reliable, but watch out for those promotional deals, they add taxes and fees onto the intro price. When the promotion ends your bill goes way up (I love some of those commercials about the downsides to your cable bill, lol). I prefer satellite service for several reasons. The bill is less for the channels you get, the picture is usually of the best of quality, it never goes off air for "line maintenance". It also helps balance out the market and create competition for pay TV services. Cable has always had an market advantage with appartment dwellers and still has at least 70% of the pay TV market.

I won't BS you and tell you that satellite service never goes down. When you get heavy rain, hail or thunderheads in your area or just to the south of your area, its going down. But the down time is usually no more than 5 to 20 minutes, thats for the worst part of the big storms, not the little stuff. It won't go out in the winter even with a little snow on the dish. You can also get knocked out if something solid hits you dish and knocks it out of alignment, or the mounting comes loose, or the roof/house it's mounted on saggs, shifts or settles a little. Or the LNB/switch in the dish can fail. Then they make you pay around $50 or so to have someone come out to fix it in many cases. I like Dish network, but Direct TV is fine too, and has a little better sports lineup to choose from.

[capitalcityguy]

We're fairly pleased with Mediacom. We have them for high speed internet, cable, and phone.

[RonnieJonez]

It seems to be better. I remember people always complaining about how it used to cut out for no reason.

[mofford]

Always nice to know how to mount and set up a dish, and peak it for max signal strength. Sometimes you get a lemon reciever, but it's usually a alignment problem that makes it cut in and out. The secret is to have the pole mount on a solid and straight up 90 degrees level plane, so the heigth and skew markings on the dish reflect their true value when your setting it up. When you learn how to set it up, you might want to get a tripod and second dish to take along camping with you. You can always get a Qwest DSL phone modem for high speed internet, or perhaps you might prefer the caveman days like me with 9.95 dialup. Some might tell me that I should upgrade from windows ME someday, but I just say there's people in hell that want ice water too. Old Dell's die hard.

[MastermindDSM]

FYI-Mediacom has the worst Customer Service I have ever experienced.

That being said, I am still with Mediacom, because I dont think i could handle the dish going out. And if there is severe weather, that is when you need your tv the most. Broadband after the 1 year special is about $50 and depending on your cable package, you are looking at $100 after the intro year assuming you get HDTV DVR reciever, expanded cable etc. I really dont have too many service interruptions ever, the only problem is usually when the digital box needs to be reset.

[mrs_moby73]

Well, we are in the throes of packing and will be headed to Iowa a week from today! Thanks for all the TV/internet advice. The satellite going out during bad weather is exactly what I was concerned about, so thanks for mentioning that MastermindDSM.

Since you all have been so helpful...anyone have any suggestions for pediatricians, dentists, general practicioners, pest control, any services in general???

[MastermindDSM]

I dont have any specifics, but there is a ton of medical offices in West Des Moines particularly around 60th and University.