I've had Mediacom internet since 2006 and don't have any real complaints about their service at all. Their network reliability is great and the prices aren't too bad. However, like every other user, I received a letter in the mail last year from Mediacom about imposing a cap on my internet usage. I have a bottom tier plan, and as such they set my plan at 250mb.
Since then it feels like I've talked to every rep Mediacom's call center has to offer. It's actually been quite a while since I've even tried talking to anyone about it, because every time I get to the same "supervisor" who agrees with whatever I say, promises me he will put me in contact with his district supervisor, then disappears without a trace until I call back weeks/months later. Of course, I have yet to ever receive a call from any such "district supervisor". I guess they were hoping I would get frustrated and move on?
I almost did. I almost just let it go. I have enough other things in my life to worry about, which is also my biggest complaint about the imposed cap. I've never had to worry about something as stupid as "Hey, can I download this video of a cat playing the harmonica without going over my data cap?". I've never had to worry about getting hit with a bunch of fees because my wife enjoys watching streaming video. I've never had to worry about a malware program on my computer using up all of my precious data. That's what I loved about my Mediacom internet - it was always there for me to enjoy, worry free. I was told that I never used anywhere NEAR that amount of data by a rep at the time of the switch to caps. Unfortunately, she also couldn't tell me how much data I had used every month for the last year. She could only see last month's usage. But I was assured that I would probably never go over my cap unless I was an excessive user who deserved to be charged more for slowing down other users internet.
My wife and I are the only people who use our internet. That's a total of two people. Ultimately, we use the internet between 5:30 -11 on weeknights and on and off throughout the weekend. She streams video while she works, and I usually just browse the internet, occasionally watching cat videos on YouTube. I stopped playing xBox Live since the notice, and tried not to download any more cat videos. It was starting to seem believable that we would never go through much data. Then, last month I received a pop-up saying we were at 75% capacity.
That's when I got angry. Look, I'm not doing anything excessive here. I'm not running torrents, hosting websites, or anything stupid. I'm simply using the internet LIKE A NORMAL PERSON. Furthermore, I did NOT originally sign up for a metered plan. I've been a customer since 2006 when I signed up for a plan based on hypothetical download speeds. Since then I have only changed my plan twice, once to get a faster speed and once when they increased the speed of my package and I felt like I didn't need anything faster than the slower tier of service. NEVER ONCE was I told that these plans had "data caps" or that I was switching from an unmetered plan to a metered one. I was simply told "You're going from our XMps service to our XXMbps service.
So that's my only problem with Mediacom. I know other providers are doing it too, but at least when Verizon decided to meter my data I was given the option to stick with my current plan. Meanwhile, a Customer Service Rep from Mediacom flat out told me "If you don't like it, find another provider" - which is great advice for someone who lives in a small town that only has one cable provider. (We do have one other internet only provider) It all sounds very similar to Darth Vader saying "I have altered the deal. Pray I don't alter it further".
So, MediacomChad. If you're still with me and reading this VERY long-winded rant, this is the point of it all - I don't want to have to think about my home data usage. Period. I don't care if the cap is as high as 999Mbps, I don't want a cap. If that means a slower speed, that's fine. If it means paying slightly more, that's OK. (I'd be happy to go back to whatever plan I had before I got this one to save a few bucks) Heck, even if it means I have to start a home business to get a business plan with no cap, I'm on-board. Just let me know what I need to do to make it happen. I'm not an unreasonable man, and I'm really only asking for what I already had.
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