Back in 2011 the FCC began collecting real-world user broadband data from customized routers, then issuing reports on which ISPs were failing to deliver advertised speeds. It's one of the few FCC policies in recent years that has truly paid dividends for consumers. The first report "named and shamed" several larger ISPs like Cablevision for offering horrible peak performance, offering less than 50% of advertised sustained speeds at peak hours. The tactic did wonders -- by the second report Cablevision had boosted that performance to 128%.

Today the FCC released their third annual report naming and shaming ISPs whose peak bandwidth performance isn't up to snuff. According to the latest FCC data, just four ISPs tracked by the agency managed to deliver faster than advertised speeds during peak hours: ViaSat (137%) Verizon FiOS (118%), Cablevision (115%), and Comcast (103%).

As three of these companies attest, the FCC's practice of naming and shaming works -- if there's regional competition. Verizon FiOS and Cablevision in particular have spent the last few years trying to one up one another in terms of offering speeds faster than what is advertised on promotional materials.

ISPs which in the past had historically improved in Netflix performance because of faster speeds, are now finding themselves falling in Netflix's new monthly streaming ISP rankings because they're not signing up for Netflix's CDN network. As noted recently, Netflix stated they'd start offering users "Super HD" and 3D streams -- if their ISP signed up for Netflix's new Open Connect Content Delivery Network.

Mediacom has been ranked as the worst cable operator in the country by Consumer Reports, and recently built on that not-so-fine pedigree by announcing new usage limits and surcharges for their subscribers. In addition, Business Week is running a piece this week exploring how the cable company continues to make life difficult for towns and cities in Minnesota that are tired of being under-served by the cable operator, and have looked to federal funding to build better networks themselves.

Yesterday we noted that our forums were filled with rumors that Mediacom would be the latest ISP to start charging users usage overages, despite the ever-dropping cost of delivering fixed line bandwidth to consumers. Mediacom has since confirmed the plans, a tech in our forums noting that the changes will begin August 1, after which point new users -- or users who move to one of Mediacom's new usage plans, will pay $10 for 50 GB of data if they cross their caps.

Several users in our forums are claiming technicians working for Mediacom say the company will soon be the latest U.S. ISP to begin charging users overage fees.

Cable broadband ISP Mediacom has long had a 250 GB cap in place, their acceptable use policy informing users that should you exceed that total, Mediacom may "charge you for the excess usage, reduce transmission speed or other Service parameters, limit, suspend or terminate the Service or take other actions." Users in our Mediacom forum note that while the company has been quiet about enforcing the cap, they're starting to make a little more noise about it, calling users who are starting to go over the cap on a consistent basis. Mediacom is telling users they're not charging them -- yet:

A Mediacom representative has stopped by our forums to inform customers of the cable operator that they're making a number of service changes, including over-provisioning tiers so that they deliver bandwidth beyond the advertised speed. The FCC last year began naming and shaming ISPs who failed to deliver advertised speeds at peak hours.

The start of September seems to have brought with it another round of carriage pricing disputes, with consumers -- already paying sky-high prices for cable TV -- again stuck in the middle. Just as the U.S.

Over the last year cable operator Mediacom has aggressively been deploying new advertising systems. Unfortunately for users, they're not doing a very good job of it.

Over the last couple of months Mediacom has aggressively been deploying new advertising systems. Unfortunately for users, they're not doing a very good job of it.

Last week we were the first to report that cable operator Mediacom was using deep packet inspection technology and Javascript injection solutions from Perftech to insert advertisements into websites -- including traditionally ad-free sites like Apple.com and Google.com. Despite the fact the story made the rounds to a number of additional websites including the Associated Press, Mediacom has refused to comment publicly on the matter -- to us or anybody else.

Earlier this week we reported that Mediacom was trying something most ISPs knew better than to tinker with: they were injecting their own ads into other companies websites using what appears to be deep packet inspection and Javascript injection. According to Javascript files, the technology was provided by a company named Perftech, whose deep packet inspection appliance first sniffs, then potentially modifies, consumer traffic.

Earlier this month we noted how cable operator Mediacom has joined the growing number of ISPs that have begun using DNS redirection to deliver ads instead of the traditional page not found warning. Mediacom took things a step further and has apparently implemented deep packet inspection and DNS redirection advertising technology our users say is difficult to opt out of -- and persists even if you're using third party DNS services.

Like many ISPs, cable operator Mediacom is now using DNS redirection to direct people who mistype URLs to a an ad-laden search portal instead of a 404 error -- as a way to generate additional revenue. Also like many ISPs, our users are noting that Mediacom's opt-out for this service doesn't really work, with users still getting the Mediacom ads even after clearly saying they'd like not to. Interestingly, this has been happening for Google search bar results whether or not users use a third party DNS service like OpenDNS -- suggesting the company is tinkering with additional layers of deep packet inspection technology (recall Windstream struggled with bugs with this technology and hijacked Firefox search bar results). Mediacom says the company has fixed the problem, and that users need to opt in to DNS redirection ads -- then opt back out again -- in order to actually opt out. If you're a Mediacom customer, can you drop us a line and let us know if that's working for you?

Mediacom is the nation's seventh-largest cable operator, and is considering going private, according to a company press releases. CEO and founder Rocco B. Commisso is offering investors roughly six dollars a share to take the company private. Going private means the company will have less investor face-fanning as the company invests in DOCSIS 3.0 network upgrades. The company has roughly 1.3 million subscribers across mostly rural markets.

A week ago we noted that a Mediacom e-mail upgrade promising to deliver "next generation" e-mail service wound up leaving some customers without e-mail for a week. We're now two weeks since the upgrade, and both residential and business users are still writing in to complain that they're either without e-mail service, or they're suffering through oddities like lost e-mail.

Fresh off of their attempt to capture the residential broadband speed crown by offering 105 Mbps service, cable operator Mediacom last week officially announced they'd be migrating to a new e-mail system. Judging from posts to our Mediacom forum the launch didn't go particularly smoothly.

A few weeks ago cable provider Mediacom was the latest to try and claim the broadband speed crown by announcing plans to offer 105/10 Mbps DOCSIS 3.0 service in Waterloo, Iowa, topping a 101 Mbps service by Optimum Online unveiled last April. As with Optimum's service (which is $99, but comes with a $300 "activation fee") the pricing isn't for the faint of heart. According to comments by MediaCom to industry trade mag Multichannel News, the 105 Mbps tier will cost $150 per month for 12 months and about $200 per month after. Mediacom, which says they'll be deploying DOCSIS 3.0 to eight other unnamed markets shortly, also says they'll offer a 50/5 Mbps tier. That tier will run you $99 for twelve months, then somewhere around $130 (apparently Mediacom's still thinking about it) after that.

Mediacom just got done bumping their standard speeds for most users pushing their 8 Mbps tier to 12 Mbps, and their 10 Mbps tier to 15 Mbps. Things should get faster shortly: the company told those who tuned in to their third quarter earnings conference call that they'd be launching DOCSIS 3.0 service in eleven new markets starting in December. Mediacom isn't saying which markets those will be, but they did say that nine of the markets would see 50 Mbps speeds, while two of them would be seeing 100 Mbps speeds (no word on prices or upstream speeds). Mediacom hopes to have about 25% of their network upgraded to the faster speeds by the end of the year, and has an additional 25% of their network "DOCSIS 3.0 headend-capable" for expanded launches in 2010.

Cable operator Mediacom dropped the news earlier this month during their second quarter conference call that they'd be raising customer speeds in September. True to their word, the operator tells the Des Moines Register that as of tomorrow, they're on schedule to bump the company's 8Mbps tier to 12Mbps downstream with 1Mbps upstream. The company's 10Mbps tier will be boosted to 15Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream. According to Mediacom, this is the fourth time they've bumped speeds since 2005, though the 15-20 Mbps maximum speeds fall short of the top speeds being provided by cable operators who've been upgrading their infrastructure to DOCSIS 3.0 technology. The 1Mbps upstream for a higher end product offering is also starting to show its age.