Mediacom Internet Review 2020

If you live in the Midwest or the Deep South, then you may have noticed that many of the nation’s largest internet service providers (ISPs) neglect to service your area. Who needs internet anyway, amirite? (Just kidding—we know we need it.)

But one company that really gives some love to so-called “flyover states” is Mediacom. Its service area basically follows along the Mississippi River, from Minnesota all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico.

If you’re considering Mediacom internet, here’s the dirt: it’s got high speeds and decently priced plans. But watch out for its pesky data caps, extra fees, and not-so-great customer service.

Mediacom prices and plans

Mediacom internet prices look shiny—but not all that glitters is gold.

When it comes to speed, Mediacom has a respectable spread of options.

There’s a 60 Mbps plan, perfect for couples who just want to binge The Great British Baking Show after work. In the middle of the pack is a 200 Mbps plan with enough power to keep the kids distracted on Netflix while daddy goes wild in Call of Duty.

There’s even a 1 Gbps plan that offers more than enough bandwidth for you, your kiddos, and your gamer buddies to all hop online at the same time.

But all those plans with tantalizingly low prices come with a caveat. After one year, Mediacom ups your monthly bill by $30 every year until you’re paying the standard rate. (In the case of its Internet 60 and Internet 100 plans, your cost jumps straight to the standard rate.)

To be fair, this is what pretty much every ISP does after you’ve been a customer for so long. Mediacom just happens to be more transparent about it.

Still, just because everyone’s doing it doesn’t mean Mediacom has to follow suit. And we sure do hope it decides to soften the blow—or better yet, do away with price hikes altogether.

This gets a little confusing since the price hike doesn’t happen all at once. (Hey, we’re not complaining about that so much . . .) Here’s a quick example:

Let’s say you grab the Internet 500 plan at a starter price of $69.99 a month. Everything’s fine and dandy until a year later, when Mediacom bumps up your monthly bill by $30. Now you’re paying $99.99 a month.

When your third year of Mediacom service rolls around, your bill goes up again. Now you’re paying the standard rate of $119.99 a month, and what seemed like a sweet deal to begin with is now a pretty high price to pay for 500 Mbps of download speed.

Our Mediacom internet plan recommendations

Internet 100

Who it’s best for: Single professionals and small families

Why we picked it: This is one step up from Mediacom’s lowest speed tier, but for that extra $10, you’ll get upload speeds that are twice as fast (going from 5 Mbps to 10 Mbps), and your data cap more than doubles (going from 400 GB to 1,000 GB).

Internet 1Gig

Who it’s best for: Huge families, home businesses, and multi-family homes

Why we picked it: If you’ve got a lot of people using the internet at once, you don’t want to be competing for bandwidth. With 1 Gbps speed, you’ll never need to worry about that. Just watch out for that data cap.

Mediacom internet speed and data

Prepare for warp speed! Except during those peak hours . . .

We know that Mediacom’s speeds go all the way up to 1 Gbps. But internet speed is like age: it’s just a number. Some people act their age, and others do not.

Some 100 Mbps plans will provide more than enough power to keep your Destiny 2 game from lagging. Others (usually cable networks) can suffer slowdowns during primetime hours, and might just get you fragged by some n00b.

So, does Mediacom act its age? Well, sometimes.

The FCC’s 2016 “Measuring Broadband America” report found that Mediacom “provided median speeds of at least 61% of advertised to 95% of their panelists.”¹ In other words, sometimes customers were receiving 100% of the speed they paid for, while other times it was closer to 60%.

Those stats don’t earn Mediacom a place in our list of the fastest ISPs. It’s more of a C student. Right in the middle of the class.

Netflix’s speed rankings prove this point, with Mediacom coming in sixth place out of 13 ISPs.²

Mediacom data caps

In the last few decades, the internet has gone from being a fun novelty to being an essential utility. So having a data cap on your internet can feel like there’s someone threatening to turn off your electricity if use it too often.

Unfortunately, Mediacom does have data caps.

If you exceed your data cap with Mediacom, you’ll be charged $10 for every additional 50 GB increment (meaning that if you use 51 extra GBs, you’ll have to pay $20).

If you need internet with less data restriction, then check out Verizon Fios, Frontier, or Optimum.

Mediacom fees, contracts, and equipment

I’ve just put on the kettle for some tea fee. Do you prefer surprise, hidden, or installation?

Mediacom service contracts

Mediacom’s contracts are chock-full of hidden price changes. Fortunately, they are also month to month, so you can cancel anytime if your price goes up. (Just remember that Mediacom asks for seven days’ notice.)

Mediacom service fees

• Installation fees: There is a $99 installation fee, but it’s waived if you sign up online.
• One-time fees: You’ll be paying a one-time activation fee of $10. (Why? That’s just how it goes.)
• Early termination fees: None

Mediacom equipment and fees

You’ve got a computer, a cable line, and an internet plan. Now you just need a modem. Well, it’s gonna cost you another $11.50 a month.

If you’d like to avoid that fee (and who wouldn’t, honestly), then you can buy your own modem. Just make sure that it’s got DOCSIS 3.0 or DOCSIS 3.1 technology.

We recommend checking out the TP-Link model AC1750, available on Amazon, which works as both a modem and a Wi-Fi router.

Mediacom customer service

We’re not mad at you, Mediacom—we’re just disappointed.

It’s ironic that telecommunications companies have a reputation for being bad at—well, uh—communication. But that’s just the way it is, and Mediacom doesn’t buck the trend.

In fact, they are at the very bottom of the class when it comes to customer satisfaction, with a score of just 55 out of 100 in the American Customer Satisfaction Index’s 2018 report.³ Eeek!

Recap: Is Mediacom good?

Mediacom is like a contractor you’ve hired to remodel the kitchen. They’re a bit rough around the edges, they might overcharge you if you’re not careful, but they’ll get the job done at the end of the day.

So if you live in Mediacom’s service area, it’s a decent option for casual internet users. But if you’re looking for a company that goes the extra mile, then you might want to check out our rankings for the Best Internet for Streaming and Best Internet for Gaming.

Mediacom FAQs

Q: Does Mediacom have a mobile app?

Yes it does! A good way to keep an eye on that monthly bill.

Sources

1. FCC, “Measuring Broadband America”
2. Netflix, “ISP Leaderboard—December 2018”
3. ACSI, “Telecommunications Report 2018”