Mediacom - what is it like?

[brianjb]

Originally Posted by ToneyTiger

I've had Mediacom internet for over 5 years now.... The few times I've had the net drop it was back within an hour, usually about 30 minutes.... just my 2 cents worth....

Do you stream a lot of videos, or use it for basic web surfing.

I ask because I don't have cable TV, and use my internet connection to get a lot of stuff online to view. I view programs through my Apple TV and Blu Ray devices. I also stream with my laptop and phones too.

[padmaster]

fyi - I have the 12Mbps/1Mbps service which has a 250gb cap. I don't do any streaming or play online games so I have yet to come close to the limit.

[deesonic]

My story with Mediacom is pretty ugly and long. I can appreciate that someone else has had good experiences, but I have not. The bottom line is they tried to force me to pay early out fees for service that rarely worked. The cable was terrible, pixelated HD and all. We stopped watching HD channels. They sent techs to my house numerous times to no avail and keeping me home from work. I finally decided to drop cable service with them and search for new internet as well. But like I said before, I was forced to keep the internet or go without since they are our only option out here in this rural part of Toney where we are. After they billed me cancellation fees I called their support number and demanded to speak directly with the supervisor. He was indignant and insisted I was paying those fees. The next morning I went to the office off of Moores Mill in person to turn in my equipment and to complain about how I was treated. They apologized and said they COULD take the fees off if I would at least keep internet. I said ok, but it needs to be fixed. Another tech comes, claims to fix and service still sucked. AND the fees were on my bill a month later. Finally I googled and found the corporate office number and called. Got hold of someone who finally fixed the billing issues at least. How did I get my internet connection fixed finally? I called my stepbrother who is a cable tech for a competing provider and he came out and reran all my lines throughout the house and back to the pole. Since then my internet has been mostly reliable and fast. My house was built in 1962. If Mediacom wasn't my only option for internet I would've completely dropped them long ago. Had my stepbrother not been able to help, I was on the verge of trying to figure out how to use my Android phone (Verizon) as a satellite hotspot. At our previous home we had AT&T DSL and I never had a problem in 4 years with them. I wish they had service here, or Knology, Comcast, or Hiwaay. I'm sure somebody out there has had bad experiences with all those companies too. It seems to be the nature of the business.

[ChrisMartin42]

I don't think there's any good cable company now a days...I'm on Uverse and like it much better than cable.

[CowboysFan49]

My dad has Mediacom...he can't stand it. He had some success haggling with them over promos, but he said that it really wasn't even worth it because the service was poor.

[FtWorth2Huntsville]

Go with U-verse if you can. I was a DirecTV snob for years, but I really like U-verse (phone, cable, internet, tv).

[DaMadHatter]

It looks like Mediacom is available in my area of Madison City. I'm thinking about swapping from Knology(WOW) in order to take advantage of their 1 year new customer plan. It will end up saving me around $50/month. I looked at U-Verse but it seemed that if I wanted any news channels I had to opt in to a more expensive package. Do they carry the basic channels on the older analog channels or will I need a converter box on all of my TVs?

[DaMadHatter]

Originally Posted by DaMadHatter

It looks like Mediacom is available in my area of Madison City. I'm thinking about swapping from Knology(WOW) in order to take advantage of their 1 year new customer plan. It will end up saving me around $50/month. I looked at U-Verse but it seemed that if I wanted any news channels I had to opt in to a more expensive package. Do they carry the basic channels on the older analog channels or will I need a converter box on all of my TVs?

Nevermind... Their website lied. They don't service my part of Madison. Guess I will revisit U-Verse.

[padmaster]

I got an email from Mediacom a couple of weeks ago thanking me for being such a loyal customer and offering to reduce my monthly bill if I called them. I almost passed it off as SPAM and deleted it but my curiosity was peaked. Good thing I did call them, they reduced my bill by $50/month AND for $10/month more I upgraded from 12mbps to 30mbps internet. The catch? I had to agree to a 2 year contract. After one year, the price goes up $10/month and after 2 years normal pricing. There is an early termination fee of $240 but it reduces by $30 every quarter.

[CoreLysium]

I had Mediacom in the Hazel Green area from 2008 to 2011 and was not happy.

The entire system would go down for a few hours on a biweekly basis. Being down for half a day was common about every quarter. This meant no phone, tv, or internet. Once it was down for two days. My wife was a medical transcriptionist at the time and always needed internet access. Bad times.

I'm very pleased with AT&T U-verse. When their box fried they overnighted one to us. Just remember to mark your calendar yearly to call them and keep your introductory price. This was actual advice from an operator there. This year I had to bump up the speed of my internet to keep my previous rate. Meaning compared to last year, I'm paying the same but my internet is 2x faster. Ha.

So, I've had bad experiences with Mediacom, but this is in the HG area.