[DM-MUG] Reevaluating Qwest DSL vs. Mediacom cable after 2 yrs.

[Geoffrey Stevens]

Chris,

I have had MSN dial-up in my home in Waterbury for years for $12.95. It was on a one-line older home. One might call me cheep, but my wife and I seemed to work around the inconvenience and it worked well and maybe it was OK ... I would update software online at night and over the weekends - some times the software update would take days. Like 38 hours for the down loads to complete! I figured out with the mac how to make it pick up the download where I left off if someone needed to use the phone. 

I took the bite of Qwest promotions and I am now with lowest rung of DSL. Qwest lies ofcourse, they try to talk you in to locking in your price for life but I don't think prices will go up - so I am going to gamble and take my chances. I can always fire them for a month. Ha

Mediacom is a joke, but they can be manulipuadeted and they will deal with you on cable services. They will let you go on vacation service for six months for something like $5 a month. With digatal over-the-air TV I just watch PBS any ways. The 300 cable channels drive me crazy and the ads are for the birds.

peace all,

Geoff





Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:37:36 -0500
From: tyrrell69 at gmail.com
To: dmmug at dmmug.org
Subject: [DM-MUG] Reevaluating Qwest DSL vs. Mediacom cable after 2 yrs.

Hi all.

My sincere apologies to those inconvenienced by off-topic posts.

I'm approaching the two year anniversary of my switch from Mediacom to Qwest DSL/DirecTV, so my bundle contract is nearing expiration. I was never displeased with Mediacom, but thought I'd be saving money, but I don't think I probably am.


I'm going to call Mediacom to explore my options, but I'm sure I'll get better information here (I could write a dissertation about how Mac users are Mac users because they are better informed). I'd be grateful to hear your experiences in comparing the two, assuming others have been where I am now.


So, I'm paying for Qwest 8Mb DSL service, though <3 Mb is the best they can deliver in my 'hood (SE Waukee). It's reliable and generally fast enough. My DSL feeds my flying saucer Airport, which is used by one G4 desktop, two G4 iBooks, an iPod Touch, and the ThinkPad I carry home from work.


Cable was faster of course, but not as fast as it could have been, again a limitation of my location. One Mediacom tech explained how overcrowed their infrastructure is for serving my area. It was as if all of the western 'burbs went through a single bottleneck in a little building over in the vicinity of Jordan Creek & Ashworth. Cable was slightly less reliable in my experience, but hardly problematic.


I also have DirecTV HD DVR service, which allows me to record two shows while watching a third. No premium channels. There are only a few shows worthy of recording, and they are generally on at about the same time, and always before the kids are in bed which means I won't be seeing them as they're broadcast. Two other TVs in the house  (one is HD, other is SD) each have a plain DirecTV SD box, no DVR.


Cable TV was OK. I understand they have added HD channels in the last two years. DirecTV boasts about their number of HD channels, but aside from the few that I actually watch, the number doesn't matter to me. Both offer music channels (yawn).


DirecTV now offers VOD, but it requires an ethernet feed so I haven't tried it - I'd need a router between my modem and my Airport and really long RJ-45. Mediacom on demand was cool, but often timed out.


I never did have Mediacom phone service and won't consider it, so I'll be sticking with my Qwest land line. Neighbors had horrible trouble and eventually abandoned Mediacom phone service.

I can't tell you what I'm paying, but my wife/budget keeper tells me it's about the same.


What say you? Is there a reason to return to cable? Is there a market for used DirecTV equipment?


Cheers,
Chris
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