Review: Mediacom Digital Cable

Mediacom has been a leading provider in cable, internet and phone service for many years now, and I myself am also a mediacom customer and have been for a few months. You'd assume that I am happy with my cable/internet service to have stayed with them for this long, right? Absolutely wrong!

I have had multiple problems with my provider, I've placed many phone calls to the 1-800 number to fix these problems, and many times I have had to call repeatedly before I could have my issues brought to attention and fixed, only to have another problem the following week.

So why do I continue to stay with this company? Simple. They provide broadband internet service, whereas with sattelite, in most cases if you're going to have internet, you need to have a home phone line, because they don't provide broadband access.

I have no doubt that over the years, Mediacom has begun to take advantage of the fact that they can provide this service where others cannot, and their customer service and satisfaction has severely decreased. I've yet to have any problems with my internet connection, but I'm making phone calls at least, if not more than, once a week to have my cable service repaired. I am subscribed to every channel that Mediacom provides, with the exception of CineMax, and a good part of the time, I'm flipping through the guide to find a program to watch, only to find that when I select that channel, I'm left staring at a screen instructing me to please wait a moment, my channel should be available shortly. So I proceed to make the dreaded 800 number phone call to have signals sent to my cable box, only to find that my cable service then goes out for about 30 minutes, and when it finally comes back on, some of my channels are still not available.

Now, I would like to make another point here, that I believe is very critical. I've come to notice that when signing up for service through Mediacom, they ask for a name, address, phone number, and then they proceed to make appointment for setup. However, they do no checks whatsoever to check that the information you have given them is even valid. Let me give you an example of this. 3 years ago, cable service was setup through Mediacom in my name, and at the time I was but 17 years old. What business did Mediacom have to setup service in a minor's name? I still have no idea, but when I moved out of my parent's house in March, I called and made an appointment for Mediacom to setup service in my home. They offered what sounded like a great idea, digital cable and broadband internet service for a mere $69 per month. After getting my service setup and going, it was literally just hours before I was already having problems with my channels not coming in. Then about a month later, I get my service bill in the mail, and it's over $300. $208 of which was "transfer fees." So at this point, I'm asking myself, "What in the world is a transfer fee?" I make the once again dreaded phone call only to find out that I'm being held responsible for the account which had been put in my name before I was legally of age to have an account with them. So there I was, stuck with charges that were not mine, and channels that did not work.

As for my channels that I so often have problems with, I have still yet to see any kind of credit on my account for this. I'm paying for channels I'm not receiving, and for someone who never orders pay-per-view movies, I am still trying to figure out how it is that my supposed "$69 per month" deal is always turning out to be a $140 bill every month. I would not for even a minute recommend this company to anyone, but so many of us have no choice, because we rely on our internet service for work/business, or Mediacom just happens to be the only service provider in the area. I absolutely do not think this is fair, and I for one am tired of seeing so many customers throwing their money away for poor quality cable/internet/phone.