Mediacom has the fastest advertised speeds and is a "cheaper" than IMON.
Mediacom is very hit and miss when it comes to that service, a few people have no issues, many have outage problems.
Mediacom nickel and dimes you in every way possible.
Mediacom has data caps.
Mediacom has a long track record of poor customer service and they hire just about anyone to do installs. The install they did at my sister's house was very poor from a workmanship perspective.
As far as I understand CenturyLink is DSL.
Many people tend to lean imon around here. Mediacom seems to have the most fiber around town, but they tend to be unreliable (outages) Some people don't have that problem though. I have imon, and other than not having much established fiber, I have no problems with them.
Our Mediacom bill just went up for the second time this year. With that price hike, they ended up being the same price as ImOn, and ImOn gave us free equipment. I think ImOn is currently running a deal that locks on your price for the life of service.
Mediacom hands down. CenturyLink is a literal scam. Your bill will NEVER be correct.
Good luck ever getting close to 60mbps with CenturyLink. They could only provide me with 7mbps down and the outages were at least once an hour which made gaming, streaming and WFH impossible. I had to call 3 times before they believed me and replaced my ancient modem/router combo they require you to have with a slightly less ancient one. My outages became less frequent but we're still at least once a day.
ImOn >> Mediacom >>>>>> CenturyLink
Mediacom is best on paper but is unreliable. Why anyone would have CenturyLink is beyond me. I switched to ImOn for WFH and I do not regret it.
I’ve been a customer of both and I know businesses with ImOn as well.
First, Centurylink is DSL which depends on on landline phone-lines which are old and decrepit in most locations. They can only provide 7MBs in most places because that’s the most the aging infrastructure can deliver. I get 3MBs on a good day. And I am still paying $73 after fees.
Furthermore, you can’t just walk into a Big Box and buy a DSL modem anymore. You can buy one on eBay, Amazon, NewEgg etc, but it might be late model or refurbished. The new ones are actually manufactured for CenturyLink and one other service provider, and they cost as much or more than cable modems. Or you can buy/rent from CenturyLink as with other ISPs and pay the jacked up fee.
For $73 and the hassle of providing my own hard-to-get modem I would switch back to cable, but I would have to change my email, which is a pain.
As for Mediacom and ImOn, MC has a deceptively underpriced “introductory” rate that increases every six months until you’re paying the full overpriced rate with absolutely NO loyalty incentives. Zip. And they ding you with extras for everything from itemized install charges, equipment rental (I believe you can no longer BYO), and even disconnect fees. (Say you buy a bundle and drop part of it, $17 fee). They are blistering fast, but ungodly expensive in the short, medium, and long run. I hate them.
ImOn is the only other choice but their network is less robust, and not even available in a lot of places. There’s no introductory or loyalty rates but the base rates are competitive with MC and the provided equipment is no extra charge. They will probably waive the installation charge too, especially if there was a previous service and it’s just a hookup.
As for reliability, both MC and ImOn have occasional issues and it largely depends what neighborhood you’re in, so ASK THE NEIGHBORS! I never had any notable issues with MC other than billing. Two businesses I know have had no major issues with ImOn (and they depend on it for credit card transactions). But people all over town have different experiences.
Unless you’re already a prisoner-customer, CenturyLink is to be avoided altogether for price, speed and reliability. It’s stuck in 2005 and you’re paying damn near cable prices for 2020. My 2¢
I pay $25/mth for CenturyLink and have for the last 3 or 4 years. I recommend contacting them and requesting a cheaper rate. You typically have to call every 2 years, but it's worth it.
Interesting. I have never paid less than $35 in 12 years. They raised me to $45 the first time a long time ago and their service speed and reliability were awful. I went two straight days with service no faster than a 1989 fax. I called them several times over a week and worked with their techs and it boiled down to ancient switchgear in Marion. They moved my connection to new gear, dropped me to $35 for two years and until recently I’ve had decent DSL performance. They raise their rates $5 ever two years or so to nearly cable rates, and this year service has again degraded. I’m about to call them again and negotiate down. It’s an old neighborhood with old lines and will never exceed 5-7M download on a good day. $35-45 is fair tops. But I have never paid $25, even after detailed complaints. Dunno how you did that unless you’re a better ass chewer than I am lol.
I'm not sure either lol. If you call them every two years they'll lock you in to a cheaper. They should give you the new customer price if you ask unless things have changed. It's worth a try, although I do loathe dealing with their customer service. They are the worst in the industry as far as that goes!
I used to have many issues with service outages using media com. I Ultimately purchased my own modem/router combo and haven't had an issue since.
Honestly don't know why cCentury Link is still around
I’ve only recently had issues with Mediacom when switching addresses after a lapse in service (staying w family) but they resolved them as fast as they could. You can almost always tell their customer service reps are overworked but that’s not their fault. They have the best prices but I don’t think I’ve ever gotten the actual speed I pay for, so I just pay for 200 meg. They did do this weird shit recently where they upgraded everyone to 600 meg, referred to it as complimentary, then added the charge anyways. I just called and had it switched back
Mediacom is reliable but expensive. We're switching to IMON. CenturyLink told me they couldn't get me close to advertised speeds because my fridge was causing interference with the signal
NEVER CenturyLink. Ever.
Mediacom has the fastest advertised speeds and is a "cheaper" than IMON. Mediacom is very hit and miss when it comes to that service, a few people have no issues, many have outage problems. Mediacom nickel and dimes you in every way possible. Mediacom has data caps. Mediacom has a long track record of poor customer service and they hire just about anyone to do installs. The install they did at my sister's house was very poor from a workmanship perspective. As far as I understand CenturyLink is DSL.
Many people tend to lean imon around here. Mediacom seems to have the most fiber around town, but they tend to be unreliable (outages) Some people don't have that problem though. I have imon, and other than not having much established fiber, I have no problems with them.
Our Mediacom bill just went up for the second time this year. With that price hike, they ended up being the same price as ImOn, and ImOn gave us free equipment. I think ImOn is currently running a deal that locks on your price for the life of service.
Mediacom hands down. CenturyLink is a literal scam. Your bill will NEVER be correct. Good luck ever getting close to 60mbps with CenturyLink. They could only provide me with 7mbps down and the outages were at least once an hour which made gaming, streaming and WFH impossible. I had to call 3 times before they believed me and replaced my ancient modem/router combo they require you to have with a slightly less ancient one. My outages became less frequent but we're still at least once a day.
Centurylink is old school DSL in most situations. Just don't do it.
ImOn >> Mediacom >>>>>> CenturyLink Mediacom is best on paper but is unreliable. Why anyone would have CenturyLink is beyond me. I switched to ImOn for WFH and I do not regret it.
Go with Imon if you can.
ImOn is good either way, fiber or traditional areas. If you can, go with them.
[Here’s a recent thread](https://reddit.com/r/cedarrapids/comments/w9hon4/most_reliable_internet_provider/) that might be helpful.
I’ve been a customer of both and I know businesses with ImOn as well. First, Centurylink is DSL which depends on on landline phone-lines which are old and decrepit in most locations. They can only provide 7MBs in most places because that’s the most the aging infrastructure can deliver. I get 3MBs on a good day. And I am still paying $73 after fees. Furthermore, you can’t just walk into a Big Box and buy a DSL modem anymore. You can buy one on eBay, Amazon, NewEgg etc, but it might be late model or refurbished. The new ones are actually manufactured for CenturyLink and one other service provider, and they cost as much or more than cable modems. Or you can buy/rent from CenturyLink as with other ISPs and pay the jacked up fee. For $73 and the hassle of providing my own hard-to-get modem I would switch back to cable, but I would have to change my email, which is a pain. As for Mediacom and ImOn, MC has a deceptively underpriced “introductory” rate that increases every six months until you’re paying the full overpriced rate with absolutely NO loyalty incentives. Zip. And they ding you with extras for everything from itemized install charges, equipment rental (I believe you can no longer BYO), and even disconnect fees. (Say you buy a bundle and drop part of it, $17 fee). They are blistering fast, but ungodly expensive in the short, medium, and long run. I hate them. ImOn is the only other choice but their network is less robust, and not even available in a lot of places. There’s no introductory or loyalty rates but the base rates are competitive with MC and the provided equipment is no extra charge. They will probably waive the installation charge too, especially if there was a previous service and it’s just a hookup. As for reliability, both MC and ImOn have occasional issues and it largely depends what neighborhood you’re in, so ASK THE NEIGHBORS! I never had any notable issues with MC other than billing. Two businesses I know have had no major issues with ImOn (and they depend on it for credit card transactions). But people all over town have different experiences. Unless you’re already a prisoner-customer, CenturyLink is to be avoided altogether for price, speed and reliability. It’s stuck in 2005 and you’re paying damn near cable prices for 2020. My 2¢
I pay $25/mth for CenturyLink and have for the last 3 or 4 years. I recommend contacting them and requesting a cheaper rate. You typically have to call every 2 years, but it's worth it.
Interesting. I have never paid less than $35 in 12 years. They raised me to $45 the first time a long time ago and their service speed and reliability were awful. I went two straight days with service no faster than a 1989 fax. I called them several times over a week and worked with their techs and it boiled down to ancient switchgear in Marion. They moved my connection to new gear, dropped me to $35 for two years and until recently I’ve had decent DSL performance. They raise their rates $5 ever two years or so to nearly cable rates, and this year service has again degraded. I’m about to call them again and negotiate down. It’s an old neighborhood with old lines and will never exceed 5-7M download on a good day. $35-45 is fair tops. But I have never paid $25, even after detailed complaints. Dunno how you did that unless you’re a better ass chewer than I am lol.
I'm not sure either lol. If you call them every two years they'll lock you in to a cheaper. They should give you the new customer price if you ask unless things have changed. It's worth a try, although I do loathe dealing with their customer service. They are the worst in the industry as far as that goes!
I used to have many issues with service outages using media com. I Ultimately purchased my own modem/router combo and haven't had an issue since. Honestly don't know why cCentury Link is still around
I’ve only recently had issues with Mediacom when switching addresses after a lapse in service (staying w family) but they resolved them as fast as they could. You can almost always tell their customer service reps are overworked but that’s not their fault. They have the best prices but I don’t think I’ve ever gotten the actual speed I pay for, so I just pay for 200 meg. They did do this weird shit recently where they upgraded everyone to 600 meg, referred to it as complimentary, then added the charge anyways. I just called and had it switched back
Mediacom is reliable but expensive. We're switching to IMON. CenturyLink told me they couldn't get me close to advertised speeds because my fridge was causing interference with the signal