dslreports logo

Review by lotusracer See Profile

  • Location: Moline, Rock Island, IL, USA
  • Cost: $100 per month (12 month contract)
good speed, very fast
poor planning by mangement brings bad results to end users
use as a last result, and DON
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Have been on the cable for quite some time..... cable tv since moving into this house in April 1994. In December 1998, @home became available to my area as the first high speed provider. At that time, it was through TCI. Speeds were excellent and issues were few. Since I had previously carried a second phone line for dial up internet, my end cost was actually lower when I switched to this broadband service.

Since my install was soooo long ago, I won't go too deeply into it. 2 techs came in, installed a NIC and set up all the static IP stuff (yes, static, no DHCP stuff then).

At one point, TCI traded us off to ATT, and as more local users started using the service, speeds and reliability dropped. There were times when it got so bad, I actually had dial up speeds.

@home went away and shortly after that, ATT traded us off to Mediacom. Speeds were much more stable, I had nothing really to complain about. Other than maybe being a bit too expensive that is.

In around September 2009, I decided to make the switch to Mediacom Phone. That put me on the VIP program for around $100 a month for a year. A contract employee came and did the install.. the modem wouldn't sync up right, he left me with no internet and a phone that worked, but with a completely wrong phone number from an exchange in a different city even.... this was the phone number that had previously been associated with the modem!

I ended up calling tech support to get my internet working again.... about a day and a half after the install, I was still operating under the modem's old phone number... all of a sudden, the phone quit working. Drove the mile to the local Medicom office and used their phone to call in, and was told they couldn't do anything about my phone not working! The tech claimed it was because they were waiting for ATT to port my old number. The next day when it still wasn't working, I went back to the Mediacom office and called in, reached a different tech who was GREAT and had my phone working in about 45 minutes! The phone has worked pretty good, with few problems. If your power goes out much, you should probably stay with a POTS line though.

Up until recently, other than the cost, I've been fairly satisfied with Mediacom... however, things and my attitudes have changed recently to the point of finally getting me to write this review.

Guess what you have read up until now was basically the good.... now here comes the bad....

The beginning of December had Mediacom announcing that they were improving the e-mail system. It turned out to be a disaster, lasting a good 2 - 3 weeks + and creating problems that spawned a huge thread here on dslr: »Official Mediacom Email Discussion Thread

Before the e-mail problem was solved, another announcement was made... they were going to improve their webspace experience (with every account, we get something like 10 e-mail addresses and each e-mail address gets a 10mb webspace account). After the e-mail mess, I shuddered at the thought of their webspace "improvements", but hoped for the best.

Actually and honestly, the webspace stuff was the one thing that had me hanging on to Mediacom as my provider.... but from the looks of how the improvements there went, when my contract ends, I'll likely be dropping all of my cable services and going elsewhere. Several of my sites completely went "poof"... why only some of them went away and others did not is a mystery.... the rest will no longer update via Front Page, and while their new "website OS Site Builders" claims it is supposed to be Front Page friendly, I haven't found it to be... the alternative "EasySiteWizardPro V7.13" is a complete piece of cr*p, impossible and very frustrating to work with. Supposedly featured parts are not there, phone calls get you the reply "we don't support personal webpages".... comments left via the software with response requested get ignored.

Moment ago, I received a phone call from Mediacom over the complaint I lodged on-line with them over the Front Page webspace issues on January 25 (it took 1 week for the call). Turns out they do admit to knowing that there is no Front Page support turned on and that they do not know when or if it ever will be.

It's all right here:

»[Cable HSI] answer on webspace issues with Front Page

So, the bottom line? Be forewarned...

Figured that after a year, it was time to update this.... other than the first week or so, the Mediacom phone thing worked pretty good, fairly flawlessly actually. However, for the past 3 months or so, it's been plain awful.... modem continually looses sync, or goes for a long time without finding a signal, even though my signal levels are always pretty excellent.

It's darn frustrating to try and talk on the phone, you pretty much have to announce at the start that if you get disconnected, the person should be patient and wait for you to call them back. That's actually what several friends also do.

Mediacom will tell you that you need to have a cell phone for a back up, but how is their phone then saving you any money? I have found that their VOIP is unreliable and frustrating. Sure, if you call and complain, you can usually get some credit, but it's not worth the frustration. Guess the experience was good for getting my cable bill lowered for a year at the least. I'll be calling them and removing this service, and can''t recommend it.

update:

Just called in earlier today (10/27/2010) and canceled my VOIP. Got passed on to the retention department, but when I told them that even though my signal levels were always good, that the service was just plain unreliable and too frustrating to remain using, they didn't offer me anything (not that I would have taken them up on it actually). As far as I am concerned, even if the VOIP is free, it's not worth it.

Update May 27, 2011:

An example of the incompetence you can expect from Mediacom..... when I got last month's bill, I was not only charged for 2 weeks of modem rental in April when the modem fees shouldn't have even begun, they charged me for May, even though I had returned my modem in mid-April.

I called in, but bailed after waiting on hold for longer than I wanted to, figuring that I would give them the benefit of the doubt, that they would correct the erroneous modem billing.

WRONG... just checked my June statement on-line.... and not only did they NOT refund the April and May wrongful charges, they also billed me modem rental for June.

In case you can't figure it out, I will say in full sarcastic mode: Thanks for your wonderful and competent service! Beware!!!!

and now for one final update... as of July 11th, 2013 I have decided to leave Mediacom... just yesterday, they sent out an e-mail announcing that as of August 1, yes... a 3 week notice, they were going to discontinue the webspace feature, which if you noticed earlier was really one of the few things keeping me with them...

so as soon as I set something up elsewhere, it is goodbye to Mediocrecom as most of the people I know refer to them....

member for 24.3 years, 6929 visits, last login: 140 days ago
updated 10.6 years ago


MediacomChad
Mediacom Social Media Relations Team
Premium Member
join:2010-01-20
Gulf Breeze, FL

MediacomChad

Premium Member

Mediacom Review

I apologize for the issues with service. If there is anything I can do to help feel free to message me on here or email me at socialmediateam@mediacomcc.com

Thanks!

lotusracer
Premium Member
join:1999-11-26
Moline, IL

1 edit

lotusracer

Premium Member

Re: Mediacom Review

Thanks Chad... I've seen you being helpful on the Mediacom forum.... but it's too late for me. Although my signals are always good, the phone service is just not reliable enough to continue using. I have several friends who use it.... we all start our phone conversations by saying what phone service we use, and that if/when the call drops, we'll call back when it comes back up.

Some friends have already dropped it, others who have threatened to drop it were offered a retention deal, where they get free phone for a year. I don't think I'd keep it even if it was free... not worth the frustration. In 1 week and 2 days, I'll be calling in to drop it myself.

editing the post to add something pertinent:

This morning, I had a dental appointment... I told them I needed to change my home phone number, because I was going to dump my Mediacom phone, and also told my reason for dumping it. 2 out of the 4 women in the office knew exactly what I meant about it not being worth the headaches because it didn't work consistently. Says a lot to me.
BobLindemann
join:2010-10-29

BobLindemann

Member

Re: Mediacom Review

Thanks for your thorough review. I am getting ready to setup voice and Internet service for our company for a warehouse we are setting up in E Moline. Being in San Diego myself, I am not aware of all the players in the area. I did look into Frontier, but they only offer DSL and I'm not really sold on DSL, I would rather have broadband. Who did you (or are you) replacing your service with. Who are the major voice and Internet players in the area? Taking the phone out of the equation, how was just the Internet portion of MediaCom? Who do you recomend in the area for the most reliable service?
Thanks!

lotusracer
Premium Member
join:1999-11-26
Moline, IL

lotusracer

Premium Member

Re: Mediacom Review

Since Mediacom recommends having a cell for back up when you use their VOIP "entertainment service", I dropped the unnecessary and unreliable VOIP and stayed with cell service only (through i Wireless). Why pay $30 plus tax for something like Mediacom phone that is so troublesome?

The internet portion seems to be pretty reliable, except when they made the "improvements". I can't really recommend an alternative, as I have been using the cable internet since December 1998.

However, the only alternatives in this area are DSL, like with ATT, or some of the other phone services like Sprint, i Wireless, Frontier, etc. At this time, there doesn't seem to be any fiber stuff going on around here. Not sure there ever will be.