XTREAM Powered by Mediacom Internet Plans and Pricing Review

Xtream
Mediacom
  • pro
    Fast download speeds
  • pro
    Cheap introductory pricing
  • con
    Price hikes after the first year of service
Tyler Abbott
Mar 21, 2024
Icon Time To Read6 min read

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XTREAM, powered by Mediacom, is the fifth-largest cable internet provider in the country, and if you live in the Midwest, it’s probably one of the few internet service providers you can find.

The good news is that XTREAM offers solid data speeds and affordable introductory pricing. The bad news is that your bill goes up every year and maxes out at its full price in the fourth year of service. Since XTREAM doesn’t require signing a long-term contract, our advice is to use the cable internet service for a few years and then switch to a different ISP after the price hikes.

XTREAM, powered by Mediacom internet plans
Plan
Price
Download speed
Data cap
Details
Prime Internet 100$34.99/mo.*100 Mbps350 Mbps
Prime Internet 300$49.99/mo.*300 Mbps1500 Mbps
Prime Internet 1 GIG$54.99/mo.1000 Mbps3000 Mbps
* For 1 year. Plus activation, installation, modem rental, taxes & fees. Price includes $10/mo discount for autopay and paperless billing.
For the first 12 months. Plus, activation, installation and monthly modem rental fees.
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XTREAM powered by Mediacom prices and plans

You’ve got three XTREAM internet plans to choose from: A basic plan with 100Mbps, a middle-ground option with 300Mbps, and a nuclear gigabit option.

Plan
Price
Download speed
Data cap
Details
Prime Internet 100$34.99/mo.*100 Mbps350 Mbps
Prime Internet 300$49.99/mo.*300 Mbps1500 Mbps
Prime Internet 1 GIG$54.99/mo.1000 Mbps3000 Mbps
* For 1 year. Plus activation, installation, modem rental, taxes & fees. Price includes $10/mo discount for autopay and paperless billing.
For the first 12 months. Plus, activation, installation and monthly modem rental fees.

Understandably, the Prime Internet 100 plan and its $34.99 price tag is extremely tempting, but allow us to be a wet blanket and direct your attention to a little something called a data cap.

A data cap is like a monthly budget, and a 350 GB data cap (which is the Prime Internet 100 cap) is the equivalent of living on a shoestring budget. You want to download a new video game on your PlayStation or Xbox? That’s gonna cost you a third of your monthly data budget. You want to binge a season of something on Netflix? That’s gonna cost you another third of your internet budget.

Before you know it, you’ve used up your 350 GB data cap in a week, and now Medicom will add $10 to your bill and give you a measly 50 GB of data to get you through the rest of the month.

The scary part is that these data cap overage fees can keep stacking up as you keep burning through the extra data. It doesn’t take long before you end up paying more than the Prime Internet 300 plan. That’s why we don’t recommend the Internet 100 plan unless you’re the only internet user in the household and you can keep track of your usage. But who really wants to do that?

For our money, it’s smarter to fork over the extra $15 a month and get the Prime Internet 300 plan, which gets you faster data speeds and a much more generous 1,500GB data cap. And if you’ve got a house full of streamers and gamers, you absolutely want to spring for the full 3,000 GB and gigabit internet speeds.

Price hikes

Whatever XTREAM internet plan you choose, don’t get too accustomed to the introductory price.

After you finish your first second year of service, plans will return to standard rates. The Prime Internet 100 plan isn't too bad, as it only jumps to $39.99, whereas the Internet 300 plan jumps to $94.99, and the Prime Internet 1 Gig plan jumps to $114.99. It’s like the opposite of a customer loyalty program—the longer you stay with Mediacom, the more they charge you.

It’s worth noting that you don’t need to sign a contract or commit to service with Mediacom, so you can easily cancel your plan after the first or second year of service and check out a different internet service provider. Even if you think you don’t have other internet options in your neighborhood, you might get a better experience with a 5G internet provider or satellite internet.

XTREAM Xtra equipment fees

I tried to make this subsection sound more exciting (“xciting,” if you will), but you just can’t make “xtra” fees sound more enticing, can you?

Anyways, if you decide to rent your internet modem directly from XTREAM, you pay $14 a month (which is a few dollars more expensive than your average modem rental cost). But instead of paying $14 a month (or $168 over the course of a year), we’d recommend just buying your own modem.

You also need to pay a one-time $45 installation fee and a $10 activation fee. The $55 total you’re paying for installation and activation is annoying, but par for the course when it comes to cable providers.

All in all, count on paying an extra around $55 when you get your internet service installed, and an extra $14 every month if you decide to rent a modem directly from Mediacom.

Our advice? Stick around for just a year or two

If XTREAM by Mediacom is one of the only internet service providers in your neck of the woods, we recommend signing up for a plan for a year or two at most.

We still recommend skipping the Internet 100 plan unless you can stay under a 300 GB data cap. You get the best value by signing up for either the Internet 300 or Internet 1 Gig plans and jumping ship after your promotional pricing runs dry after the first or second year of service.

Where is XTREAM by Mediacom available?

XTREAM is available to about 6.8 million people in 22 states. The majority of its coverage is in Illinois, Iowa, and Georgia, but it also has pretty big service areas in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kentucky, Missouri, Louisiana, North Carolina, and the panhandle region of Florida. A few pockets of Arizona and southern and northern California have XTREAM coverage as well. But for the most part, XTREAM is a Midwestern internet service provider.

You can find out if XTREAM services your neighborhood by entering your ZIP code below:

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How does XTREAM by Mediacom compare to other ISPs?

XTREAM’s mid-tier Prime  Internet 300 plan costs less than comparable plans from other internet service providers:

Service
Plan
Price
Download speed
Data cap
Mediacom InternetPrime Internet 300$49.99/mo.*300 Mbps1500 Mbps
Xfinity Internet - WestFast$50/mo.Up to 400 Mbps1200 Mbps
Cox InternetGo Beyond Fast$149.99/mo.^Up to 2000 Mbps1280 Mbps
T-Mobile 5G Home InternetT-Mobile 5G Home Internet$60/mo.°72-245 MbpsUnlimited
CenturyLink InternetSimply Unlimited Internet 140 Mbps$55/mo.**Up to 140 MbpsUnlimited
* For 1 year. Plus activation, installation, modem rental, taxes & fees. Price includes $10/mo discount for autopay and paperless billing.
For 24 months. No term contract. Taxes not included. Includes $10/mo automatic payments and paperless billing discount. Not available in all areas. Prices may vary by location.
^ No annual contract or cancellation fees.
° w/ Auto Pay. Regulatory fees included in monthly price for qualified accounts. See full terms.
** Speed may not be available in your area. Paperless billing or prepay required. Additional taxes, fees, and surcharges apply. Get the fastest internet speed available at your location (max speed is up to 140 Mbps).

Of course, the big caveat to call out here is that the price you see with Mediacom only lasts for the first two years. After that, the plan gets $20–$40 per month more expensive.

Mediacom isn’t the only cable internet company that hikes up your bill (we wish it was); Cox and Xfinity also increase your bill after 12 months of service. Still, gotta give points to Mediacom for charging less than the average ISP for that first year of internet service.

The main exception here is T-Mobile 5G Home Internet, which doesn’t go any higher than the $50 a month the service currently costs. You don’t get as reliable data speeds with 5G home internet compared to cable, but at least your price doesn’t go up every year.

Save some money and bundle your TV and internet together

If you watch a lot of live sports—or live TV in general—it might be worth it to bundle your cable internet with Mediacom’s cable TV service. It saves you a few bucks every month compared to paying for the services individually, and you can rest assured you get your local sports networks, which can be annoyingly tricky to watch with streaming services.

Plus, from one sports fan to another, I miss watching NBA games with a cable service. When I stream games, I always end up a minute or two behind the live action and get moments spoiled for me when I check Twitter (or X) for reactions.

Here’s a look at what bundle deals from Mediacom look like right now:

Plan
Price
Internet download speed
TV channel count
Details
Prime Internet 100 + Local TV$44.99/mo. for 2 yrs100 Mbps50
Prime Internet 300 + Local TV$59.99/mo. for 1 yr300 Mbps50
Prime Internet 100 + Essential TV$84.99/mo. for 2 yrs100 Mbps125+
Prime Internet 300 + Essential TV$99.99/mo. for 1 yr300 Mbps125+
Prime Internet 1 Gig + Local TV$64.99/mo. for 1 yr1000 Mbps50
Prime Internet 1 Gig + Essential TV$104.99/mo. for 1 yr1000 Mbps125+
Prime Internet 1 Gig + Essential TV$104.99/mo. for 1 yr1000 Mbps125+
Prime Internet 100 + Variety TV$104.99/mo.††100 Mbps170+
Smart Internet 100 Mbps + Variety TV$119.99/mo.100 Mbps170+
Prime Internet 1 Gig + Variety TV$124.99/mo.††1000 Mbps170+
Smart Internet 1 Gig + Variety TV$139.99/mo.1000 Mbps170+
†† Plus activation, installation, modem rental, taxes & fees. Price includes $10/mo discount for autopay and paperless billing.

Is XTREAM powered by Mediacom internet good for gaming?

With the Mediacom internet plans, you can expect download speeds of up to 1,000Mbps and upload speeds that range between 5–50Mbps. In our top Internet Plans for Gaming Review, we recommend download speeds of at least 75Mbps and upload speeds of at least 10Mbps for gaming. If you opt for Mediacom's Internet 300 or the Internet 1 Gig plan, you’re set and don’t need to worry about data caps.

Recap: Is XTREAM by Mediacom good?

XTREAM impresses with affordable introductory pricing for its cable internet plans, but unfortunately, the price of plans goes up significantly two years after you order the service.

But on the plus side, Mediacom doesn’t require you to sign any long-term contracts when you sign up for an internet plan, so you could theoretically cancel your service before things get too expensive.

  • Prices and plans: XTREAM’s introductory pricing beats out pretty much any other ISP we could think of, but the price hikes are pretty intense. We recommend bailing and switching to another ISP after the second year of service.
  • Data Speeds: XTREAM by Mediacom offers internet plans with 100Mbps, 300Mbps, and gigabit speeds. We’ve got no issue with the data speeds offered by XTREAM, but we do take issue with the laughably low data caps, especially for the Prime Internet 100 plan. One person could easily pass a 350 GB data cap in a month, let alone a household of streamers and gamers. To avoid paying the infinitely stackable $10 fee of 50 GB of additional data, we recommend avoiding the Prime Internet 100 plan.
  • Equipment: XTREAM’s modem costs $14 every month to rent. You’d probably be better off buying your own modem.

XTREAM by Mediacom Review: Methodology

To review XTREAM by Mediacom cable internet service, our approach boiled down to analyzing five main factors: Price (including price hikes), data speeds, data caps, and regional availability. Our methodology used the following steps:

       1. Data Collection

We began by gathering data on XTREAM internet plans from official Mediacom sources, including its website and customer service representatives. We also read about user experiences on social media sources (like Reddit) to gain insights from real customers' experiences.

       2. Pricing Analysis

We looked at pricing for Mediacom internet plans and compared those prices to other ISPs around the country. We factored in introductory pricing, along with price hikes that may occur after the promotion ends. Additionally, we look through conditions of service contracts to make sure users don’t get fined if they decide to cancel and switch internet service providers.

       3. Speed and data cap assessment

Whenever possible, we test internet plans on our own and perform speed tests to measure performance. We also factor in data caps or any limitations imposed by each plan. We look for plans offering higher data speeds and higher data caps (or no cap at all) in making recommendations.

       4. Regional availability

As Mediacom's service isn’t available nationwide, we considered the geographical coverage of XTREAM internet plans. Understanding the areas where its plans are accessible helps readers know if Mediacom is even an option in the first place. In this case, XTREAM by Mediacom mainly services folks in the Midwestern United States, along with some pockets in the South.