Moving to Madison!! Have utility questions (Fitchburg, Middleton: apartment, condo, home)

[Harpoon]

Well, after much deliberation I have "pulled the trigger" and will be relocating to Madison from Omaha next month. I found a place and will be living in the Middleton area. I have some questions regarding preferred utility providers in the Madison area.

I am looking at a list of utilities and see that there are multiple providers for several of the utilities. From the following list is there a preferred company to deal with?

GAS & ELECTRIC
Madison Gas & Electric
Alliant
WE Energies

PHONE
AT&T
Charter
TDS
KMC
Choice One
Verizon

INTERNET
Charter
Mad City Broadband

CABLE
Charter

Trash collection and yard waste removal here in Omaha are both provided as a city service and paid for with property taxes, in Madison are there private companies that homeowners have to choose from or is there just one? Any help with these seemingly uninformed questions would be appreciated. Really I am coming into this with very little knowledge on how things are done up there so any help would be great. Thanks in advance.

[Megan1967]

I don't think you have a choice for gas and electric, who you have depends on where you live.

I have the "Charter Bundle" - TV, Internet & telephone for 154 per month. The only problem is that when your telephone service goes down (it has twice in the 4 years or so I've had this) so does Charter's phones!

I've never even heard of Mad City Broadband and I'm kind of geek. Not sure what that says, but they definitely aren't major players.
I'd avoid Dish service for tv as many people complain about service outages for a variety of reasons including the weather of all things.
Trash collection is also included in your taxes here. Only businesses and apartment buildings have to hire a waste collection company.

[MidwesternBookWorm]

We use TDS for phone and DSL service and have found them to be very reliable. I don't believe we've had any phone outages in the 7 or 8 years we've used them, and the internet service has been very reliable and consistent. If memory serves, the combination runs us about 70/month, but of course all those places have a variety of different packages and prices.

My spouse uses Dish for satellite tv and seems reasonably happy with it. I don't watch tv at all so can't comment knowledgably on it. DirecTV is also available in Madison. We had Charter at one point when we first moved here, and I will just say that given a choice between Charter and an antenna on the roof, I'd take the antenna. (No offense, Megan1967, we just had really bad experiences with them.)

Megan is correct, you have no choice in your electricity provider; it's based on which municipality you live in.

[why_so_much_racism]

Originally Posted by Harpoon

Well, after much deliberation I have "pulled the trigger" and will be relocating to Madison from Omaha next month. I found a place and will be living in the Middleton area. I have some questions regarding preferred utility providers in the Madison area.

I am looking at a list of utilities and see that there are multiple providers for several of the utilities. From the following list is there a preferred company to deal with?

GAS & ELECTRIC
Madison Gas & Electric
Alliant
WE Energies

PHONE
AT&T
Charter
TDS
KMC
Choice One
Verizon

INTERNET
Charter
Mad City Broadband

CABLE
Charter

Trash collection and yard waste removal here in Omaha are both provided as a city service and paid for with property taxes, in Madison are there private companies that homeowners have to choose from or is there just one? Any help with these seemingly uninformed questions would be appreciated. Really I am coming into this with very little knowledge on how things are done up there so any help would be great. Thanks in advance.

interesting question! Madison gas and electric I believe is hte preferred company. Alliant is newer.

now for internet you only list cable internet options. you have something against dsl? We have our phone and internet with AT&T and its the cheapest by far ( about $40 an average month ). it's by far the best deal for internet and phone together. and AT&T can service you almsot anywhere by wireless service. TDS, for example, denies you if you are not in a direct line of access.

cable tv... i have never paid for htat service, my family doesnt believe in it lol. but charter probably is hte best option i've heard

[SuperPi]

Hi all

I would like to thank all for their two cents on this topic, as any little helps. My problem is that I am moving with my wife to Madison in a few months. Based on our search so far, it looks like we'll be moving either in zip code 53719 (Madison area) and if not there then either in Fitchburg or Middleton.

From what I have seen, I am sure that TDS is available in both Fitchburg and Middleton. However, Zip code 53719 covers a number of areas which could be either "Near-Madison" or "Near-Middleton" etc, which according to TDS website, are still fine (they have broadband and phone services for these areas); but some would probably qualify simply as "Madison" for all I know. And as far as I can see, TDS does NOT offer broadband & phone services for Madison, only some TV bundle!

So I decided to choose some typical street names around where we might expect to move. I chose some random condo listings from the internet, but I'm mainly interested in the area around these listings; obviously if the service runs in the street further down or up it will most likely also run all along that road.

If anyone could shed some light as to whether TDS offers Broadband & Phone services there (we don't care for TV), we'd be truly indebted! (E.g. if someone lives near there or knows someone who lives near there).

Madison, 53719 areas:

7203 Midtown Road, 5913 Williamsburg Way, 3509 Maple Grove Dr, 806 S Gammon Rd, 1102 Gammon Ln, 7806 E Oakbridge Way.

Thanks to all in advance!

Pi

[mommyntheoc]

Likewise, we are moving into the 53719 area next month and are looking at who we need to call for each utility to arrange for service! We also do not watch TV, but will need high-speed internet, water/sewage, electric, and gas! I'd be interested to know who services that southwestern area.

[financewizard]

"We also do not watch TV"

you will start to very soon. what else are you going to do for 6 months of winter? lol

[annkathryn]

Utilities in Wisconsin are high. We have Charter, (the bundle)that's the only cable co. in our area and it's about $40.00 more than the cable co., Bright House, (bundle also)we have at our home in Florida! The utilities in fForida (Orlando) are one third of what we pay in Wi and that includes alot of air conditioning! We're talking the same size home here. Our water bill in Florida averages $20 to $30 a month!! In Wisconsin we pay $340 to $370 every three months!!!!!!!!!!! Of course property taxes in Florida are a heck of alot less too.BUT, Flroida is a Republican state versus Wis, run by a dem right now.

[annkathryn]

Originally Posted by financewizard

"We also do not watch TV"

you will start to very soon. what else are you going to do for 6 months of winter? lol

That's the problem here, that's why we have a home in Orlando. We get our Florida passes and go to Disneyworld. It's heaven on earth. We're never home. There's so much to do in Orlando, we don't even get to the beaches.

[mommyntheoc]

Have wonderful intimate time with my hubby :-D hehe

Originally Posted by financewizard

"We also do not watch TV"

you will start to very soon. what else are you going to do for 6 months of winter? lol