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

Thu Aug 13 15:34:44 CDT 2009

2 years ago I had the exact same problems with mediacom. Unexplained  
loss of service blamed on faulty nodes and pirated cable.  
Inconsistant dl and ul speeds. Some days I would get 15mbs some days  
1.5, really. It went from faster than T1 speeds to slower than dial  
up for no apperant reason. Customer service is very poor. I've used  
quest dsl for a couple of years and only had problems when I tried to  
go to the 12 mb speed. Good luck. Also why does the qwest Des Moines  
call center suck. I've had to deal with them on some billing of my  
qwest bundle and they dont listen, fix problems that werent problems  
and have a very bad attitude. I had much better luck dealing with the  
salt lake city office. Chris

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On Aug 13, 2009, at 3:05 PM, Ray Bowler wrote:

> Since you asked Mediacom I'll express my anger.  I live in Carlisle  
> so my experience may differ from others. We just had an outage of  
> the internet server for two days and when I dialed service I heard  
> a recording that people in Iowa were experiencing intermittent down  
> time.  The television was fine and the phone only had a couple of  
> outages for a short period of time. Several weeks ago both the  
> internet and the phone were down for a several days. Plus we have  
> over the last month had intermittent outages of both phone and  
> internet which only last a few minutes. I have hesitated to call  
> because if has cleared up they will have little to work on. I am  
> really about to switch the phone to Qwest and consider DSL
>
> Has anyone else had this kind of problem?
>
> On Aug 13, 2009, at Aug 13, 20091:37 PM, Chris Tyrrell wrote:
>
>> 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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>
> Ray Bowler
>
> rbowler.home.mchsi.com
>
>
>
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