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Old 07-31-2014, 10:22 AM
 
614 posts, read 759,331 times
Reputation: 659

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Totally unrelated to anything, but the street in Harvest we lived on back then first got cable in the late 80"s. The provider was Essex. That has changed many times since. I think Mediacom is the 5th provider to come in at that same address.
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Old 07-31-2014, 05:18 PM
 
614 posts, read 759,331 times
Reputation: 659
Per my records, the order of cable providers in Harvest since the 80's is:
Essex
Multivision
Cablevision
Mediacom

This was always just a name change. One company goes out, and the bill comes in from the next company.
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Old 07-31-2014, 05:29 PM
 
2,438 posts, read 3,180,236 times
Reputation: 4273
Quote:
Originally Posted by catfishin2000 View Post
Per my records, the order of cable providers in Harvest since the 80's is:
Essex
Multivision
Cablevision
Mediacom

This was always just a name change. One company goes out, and the bill comes in from the next company.
Cable companies swap systems all the time. Along with mergers, too. I started working at TCI, which got turned into AT&T Broadband, it merged with MediaOne, and then was bought by Comcast...
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Old 08-04-2014, 12:43 PM
 
Location: Huntsville
6,013 posts, read 6,594,753 times
Reputation: 7036
So after much debate and going back and forth between DTV, Dish, and Mediacom we decided to give Mediacom a shot at installing cable tv at our house due to their prices being about $60 per month cheaper. Here's my story from this Saturday. Sorry, but it's kind of a long read.

We were offered Mediacom's PerformancePAK for $99.95 per month. Per the CSR, it included 50 meg internet service, all cable channels except movie channels (but Starz and Encore came with), one HD DVR box in the living room, one HD box in the bedroom, and home phone service. We asked to omit the phone, but were told it was required in the package.

We set up the appointment and let them know that I would not be home until after 1pm Saturday since I coach my son's baseball team. I get a call at 11am from the tech saying he is about to turn in and wants me to let him in. My wife had to run home to let him in.

He then proceeds to do the install. There is a line ran from the outside box to the tv in the living room. It was always used for satellite and was not tampered with when we disconnected DTV. He decides that instead of using the line already there he would go in the attic, where he proceeded to disconnect my OTA antenna, all 5 TVS in the house and use THAT line to bring cable into the living room. He then sits the box in the bedroom on top of the tv stand instead of the slot underneath and hooks it up. Cables laying everywhere, since he forgot to bring HDMI Cables. He used components instead.

He then proceeds to the living room, where he installs a phone modem on the mantle in front of the TV. Literally, right in the middle of the tv screen and leaves cables hanging off the mantle (our tv is in a pocket above the fireplace). He sits the DVR box on the mantle and tells my wife he can't make a connection to a tv this large and leaves.

So I come home, and realize I have to re-run the cables for both boxes to get the boxes in their respective media centers. I then had to provide longer coax cables to move the phone modem behind the tv. Then I find out the internet is no longer working and neither cable box works. Call in to Mediacom and find out the tech never registered either box to us, so they weren't on the account. 40 minutes later, the lady has it all set up. Then she tells me there are two internet modems now on the account, so she removed one and our internet went back to working.

We start watching tv, and find out that we only get about half of the channels promised, and only 1/2 of those are HD. The rest are poor quality and have black bars all the way around the picture. Essentially turning our 51" tv into a 35" tv. So I call back and find out that the plan he sold us on only included the basic cable channels (and Starz/Encore) and all the others we specifically asked for are an additional charge. At the end of the day to get what we asked for is going to cost us more than DirecTV. Not to mention the last CSR said a phone wasn't even required for that package.

I've got a call in to Mediacom to come have the tech fix the wiring he unhooked in the attic as well as to work out the issues with the programming we didn't get that we were told was included. As of right now they said a tech cannot come out until August 16th to fix the screw up.

Shame on us for even considering them, knowing the issues we have with their internet service, but man what a Saturday...... If they don't fix all of this I will be promptly removing all the boxes and returning them to Mediacom.
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Old 08-04-2014, 12:50 PM
 
776 posts, read 740,282 times
Reputation: 349
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nlambert View Post
So after much debate and going back and forth between DTV, Dish, and Mediacom we decided to give Mediacom a shot at installing cable tv at our house due to their prices being about $60 per month cheaper. Here's my story from this Saturday. Sorry, but it's kind of a long read.

We were offered Mediacom's PerformancePAK for $99.95 per month. Per the CSR, it included 50 meg internet service, all cable channels except movie channels (but Starz and Encore came with), one HD DVR box in the living room, one HD box in the bedroom, and home phone service. We asked to omit the phone, but were told it was required in the package.

We set up the appointment and let them know that I would not be home until after 1pm Saturday since I coach my son's baseball team. I get a call at 11am from the tech saying he is about to turn in and wants me to let him in. My wife had to run home to let him in.

He then proceeds to do the install. There is a line ran from the outside box to the tv in the living room. It was always used for satellite and was not tampered with when we disconnected DTV. He decides that instead of using the line already there he would go in the attic, where he proceeded to disconnect my OTA antenna, all 5 TVS in the house and use THAT line to bring cable into the living room. He then sits the box in the bedroom on top of the tv stand instead of the slot underneath and hooks it up. Cables laying everywhere, since he forgot to bring HDMI Cables. He used components instead.

He then proceeds to the living room, where he installs a phone modem on the mantle in front of the TV. Literally, right in the middle of the tv screen and leaves cables hanging off the mantle (our tv is in a pocket above the fireplace). He sits the DVR box on the mantle and tells my wife he can't make a connection to a tv this large and leaves.

So I come home, and realize I have to re-run the cables for both boxes to get the boxes in their respective media centers. I then had to provide longer coax cables to move the phone modem behind the tv. Then I find out the internet is no longer working and neither cable box works. Call in to Mediacom and find out the tech never registered either box to us, so they weren't on the account. 40 minutes later, the lady has it all set up. Then she tells me there are two internet modems now on the account, so she removed one and our internet went back to working.

We start watching tv, and find out that we only get about half of the channels promised, and only 1/2 of those are HD. The rest are poor quality and have black bars all the way around the picture. Essentially turning our 51" tv into a 35" tv. So I call back and find out that the plan he sold us on only included the basic cable channels (and Starz/Encore) and all the others we specifically asked for are an additional charge. At the end of the day to get what we asked for is going to cost us more than DirecTV. Not to mention the last CSR said a phone wasn't even required for that package.

I've got a call in to Mediacom to come have the tech fix the wiring he unhooked in the attic as well as to work out the issues with the programming we didn't get that we were told was included. As of right now they said a tech cannot come out until August 16th to fix the screw up.

Shame on us for even considering them, knowing the issues we have with their internet service, but man what a Saturday...... If they don't fix all of this I will be promptly removing all the boxes and returning them to Mediacom.
Did you sign a 2 year contract?
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Old 08-04-2014, 01:11 PM
 
Location: Huntsville
6,013 posts, read 6,594,753 times
Reputation: 7036
Nope. No contract with this plan. That was part of what made us want to try it out.
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Old 08-05-2014, 01:57 PM
 
Location: Meridianville, AL
523 posts, read 997,256 times
Reputation: 330
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nlambert View Post
So after much debate and going back and forth between DTV, Dish, and Mediacom we decided to give Mediacom a shot at installing cable tv at our house due to their prices being about $60 per month cheaper. Here's my story from this Saturday. Sorry, but it's kind of a long read.

We were offered Mediacom's PerformancePAK for $99.95 per month. Per the CSR, it included 50 meg internet service, all cable channels except movie channels (but Starz and Encore came with), one HD DVR box in the living room, one HD box in the bedroom, and home phone service. We asked to omit the phone, but were told it was required in the package.

We set up the appointment and let them know that I would not be home until after 1pm Saturday since I coach my son's baseball team. I get a call at 11am from the tech saying he is about to turn in and wants me to let him in. My wife had to run home to let him in.

He then proceeds to do the install. There is a line ran from the outside box to the tv in the living room. It was always used for satellite and was not tampered with when we disconnected DTV. He decides that instead of using the line already there he would go in the attic, where he proceeded to disconnect my OTA antenna, all 5 TVS in the house and use THAT line to bring cable into the living room. He then sits the box in the bedroom on top of the tv stand instead of the slot underneath and hooks it up. Cables laying everywhere, since he forgot to bring HDMI Cables. He used components instead.

He then proceeds to the living room, where he installs a phone modem on the mantle in front of the TV. Literally, right in the middle of the tv screen and leaves cables hanging off the mantle (our tv is in a pocket above the fireplace). He sits the DVR box on the mantle and tells my wife he can't make a connection to a tv this large and leaves.

So I come home, and realize I have to re-run the cables for both boxes to get the boxes in their respective media centers. I then had to provide longer coax cables to move the phone modem behind the tv. Then I find out the internet is no longer working and neither cable box works. Call in to Mediacom and find out the tech never registered either box to us, so they weren't on the account. 40 minutes later, the lady has it all set up. Then she tells me there are two internet modems now on the account, so she removed one and our internet went back to working.

We start watching tv, and find out that we only get about half of the channels promised, and only 1/2 of those are HD. The rest are poor quality and have black bars all the way around the picture. Essentially turning our 51" tv into a 35" tv. So I call back and find out that the plan he sold us on only included the basic cable channels (and Starz/Encore) and all the others we specifically asked for are an additional charge. At the end of the day to get what we asked for is going to cost us more than DirecTV. Not to mention the last CSR said a phone wasn't even required for that package.

I've got a call in to Mediacom to come have the tech fix the wiring he unhooked in the attic as well as to work out the issues with the programming we didn't get that we were told was included. As of right now they said a tech cannot come out until August 16th to fix the screw up.

Shame on us for even considering them, knowing the issues we have with their internet service, but man what a Saturday...... If they don't fix all of this I will be promptly removing all the boxes and returning them to Mediacom.
What channels were you expecting to get that you didn't?
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Old 08-05-2014, 03:45 PM
 
Location: Huntsville
6,013 posts, read 6,594,753 times
Reputation: 7036
He originally asked if we had any specific channels that we wanted. I told him we wanted as close to DirecTV's offering of the Ultimate package as we could get. I went on to specify the following must haves:

ALL of the Espns except classic (Espn, Espn2, EspnU), CMT, Fox Sports, HGTV, NBC Sports Network, FX, Discovery, BBC America, Nick Jr., Lifetime movies, AMC, Spike, MTV, Disney.

Out of all of the ones we specifically said we wanted, the package they offered us is missing BBC, EspnU, NBC Sports, BBC America, Nick Jr and Lifetime.

Since he specifically asked what we had to have and we specifically told him, neither of us expected to not have the channels when it got activated. It's been frustrating so far. I got an email today that they moved our next appointment up to Aug 11 from 1-5pm, even though we have repeatedly told them we cannot be home until after 4:30 pm on weekdays due to work schedules. I warned them today if they came before 4:30, we wouldn't be home.
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Old 08-05-2014, 03:51 PM
 
Location: Huntsville
6,013 posts, read 6,594,753 times
Reputation: 7036
What we found out, is in order to get these channels, we have to subscribe to different packages.

For ESPNU and NBC Sports, we have to subscribe to a Sports and Info Digital Pak -$7.99/mo
For BBC America & Nick Jr, we have to subscribe to a Kids & Variety Digital Pak - $7.99/mo
For Lifetime we have to subscribe to Movies & Music Digital Pak - $7.99/mo (consequently, this package does not include movie channels.....)

So on top of the $99.95, we have to pay an additional $24 per month to get those channels.

Or, we can upgrade to the ElitePAK and pay $160 per month to get all these channels, but it forces you to pay for all the movie channels as well.
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Old 08-05-2014, 05:24 PM
 
Location: Meridianville, AL
523 posts, read 997,256 times
Reputation: 330
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nlambert View Post
What we found out, is in order to get these channels, we have to subscribe to different packages.

For ESPNU and NBC Sports, we have to subscribe to a Sports and Info Digital Pak -$7.99/mo
For BBC America & Nick Jr, we have to subscribe to a Kids & Variety Digital Pak - $7.99/mo
For Lifetime we have to subscribe to Movies & Music Digital Pak - $7.99/mo (consequently, this package does not include movie channels.....)

So on top of the $99.95, we have to pay an additional $24 per month to get those channels.

Or, we can upgrade to the ElitePAK and pay $160 per month to get all these channels, but it forces you to pay for all the movie channels as well.
Yes those channels are split up into additional packages. We get the Sports and Info and the Movies & Music package for $14 only because we had them prior to the rate increase.

As far as the technician using the additional wiring, you might want to read the fine print....

FEATUREpak Disclaimer*Package price does not include monthly data modem charge (currently $5), and an additional EMTA phone modem charge (currently $5), $10 Activation Fee, Local Broadcast Station Surcharge (which varies by area between $2.02 and $4.00), taxes, franchise fees, governmental charges or other charges. Download and upload speeds are not guaranteed and may vary. Optional services or features, including international calling, voicemail, are not included.
Professional installation is up to $99.99. Standard Installations utilize existing wiring and do not include special wiring work, installation or repair of outlets or any other special installation procedures for which additional charges apply.
All Offers: Offer may be terminated at any time without notice, may not be available in all areas, cannot be combined with any other offer, is not transferable and is void where prohibited. Available only to residential customers who have not subscribed to Mediacom services within the preceding 90 days and meet Mediacom’s applicable credit and other requirements. Services require customer agreement to all applicable terms and policies. Offers, prices, programming availability, channel lineups and service features, specifications and terms may vary among areas and customers and may change from time to time. Other charges, conditions, requirements and restrictions may apply. Call your local Mediacom office for complete details. Logos, brand names and other branding are the property of their respective owners. This offer requires subscription to Mediacom’s FEATUREpak, containing Family video service, PRIME Internet access service and/or phone service. Discounted package price is for 12 months beginning at installation. After 12 months, Mediacom may elect at any time to charge you its standard rates, then in effect, that may change from time to time. If you cancel any service in the package during the first 12 months, standard rates will be charged for any continuing services. You must obtain at your expense any equipment or items not supplied by Mediacom needed to use offered services.
†† Includes Mediacom Online® PRIME residential service plan with a usage allowance of up to 250 Gigabytes per monthly billing period. Excess usage will result in additional charges of $10 for every increment of up to 50 additional Gigabytes used. For example, if usage exceeded the allowance by 51 Gigabytes, the additional charge would be $20. Usage allowances are subject to change at any time.
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