Mayor Bashes Mediacom Cable

Fairhope, Alabama

POOR SERVICE AND OTHER ISSUES


Mayor Kant told a city council work session that Mediacom cable has apparently not been adhering to its franchise agreement with the city: they no longer maintain an office in the city as required.

He also says he gets many complaints from citizens about the poor service -- and there are extra costs for the city associated with broadcasting public meetings (council, planning commission) since their Middle St. office here was closed last year (now in Loxley).

CONTRACT NEED NOT BE RENEWED

The franchise agreement must be renewed by August 31st for Mediacom to continue service in the city; the city council could decide to award their franchise to another provider, if any are interested. The contract's duration is five years.
Former Mediacom office on Middle St.

Current competing alternatives are Dish and Direct TV(satellite) and AT+T U-verse (cable-DSL). Satellite providers do not offer local public access channels for city events; AT+T does not yet service the entire city.

The mayor was to contact the company to try and work out the issues before the deadline (ie. electronically transferring video of meetings vs. physically delivering a DVD to Loxley); a special council work session may be needed soon.

PUBLIC'S OPINION SOUGHT

By law, a period of time must be given for the public to comment about Mediacom's service as well, before renewal at the end of next month.

The Federal Cable Act of 1934 is the overall governing authority.


Fairhope council discusses Mediacom with Mayor Kant.


Comments

Anonymous said…
Mediacom is probably no worse than any of the others. They are all out to cheat their customers. Secretly adding more useless religious and shopping channels and cutting back the rest ... all while raising monthly charges.
Anonymous said…
We've been less than thrilled with all servers we've tried. We tried to get ATT-Uverse, but our street wasn't prepped for it.
Anonymous said…
Agree that Mediacom is HORRIBLE, but the others aren't much better. Sigh. So glad I cancelled all cable and got Roku. Still have to use Mediacom for internet, though, and hate them. Please get Google Fiber!
Anonymous said…
The city needs to explore becoming its own provider, like in so many other parts of the country. Chattanooga, TN is a PERFECT example of how easily it could be done.
Anonymous said…
The current contract does not require Medicom to have a office in Fairhope. Once again King Kant makes a statment that is not supported by facts. Look it up. This guy is a joke.
Anonymous said…
Both A&&T and MEDIACOM are spending humungous amounts of money sending junk mail advertising their mediocre products. If they'd spend less on junk mail and hire more service technicians, then maybe these companies wouldn't be getting all this "hate mail." Services break down (power failures, cables break, equipment failures. etc). The more technicians are out on the jobs the better the public will support them.
Anonymous said…
You made a statement without any corroborating information.
Please, provide a link so we may look it up. Thanks.
Anonymous said…
There was an effort by the mayor a few years past to investigate creating a city cable system. The previous city council (which was almost entirely replaced) vetoed the initiative and it died.
Anonymous said…
Time for a change indeed....I think when the agreement was last renewed, Mediacom promised they were making upgrades throughout all of Baldwin County.
Anonymous said…
Recently it took eight, that's eight days before a MEDIACOM technician replaced my defective (lightening strike) wireless modem. Their customer service rep (???) stated that eight days was the earliest! Yep, eight days later a technician showed up with a replacement. In the interim, I had to use the good service of our Fairhope Library's computer system to conduct my business. Is AT&T any better? JCD928@JUNO.COM
Anonymous said…
Mediacom is awful. Their service is terrible and connections are unstable. Kick them out and get a fiber optic network for Fairhope.
Anonymous said…
Also don't like Mediacom. Would love for the city to start an initiative to upgrade whatever infrastructure is needed to bring the entire community ATT U-Verse.
Anonymous said…
Mediacom service is horrible!!! My latest experience...called them for an outage yesterday (Aug 31) and the first available service call appointment is Sept 11. Neighbor called for an outage today (Sept 1) and got a Sept 12 appointment. Fairhope, please get Google Fiber in here!!!