Mediacom Freebies

I’m inside the terminal of Quad City International - a spiffy, newish regional airport outside Moline, Illinois - waiting to board my flight home.

Check one in the plus column - I found a plug for my laptop.

And a big double-check in the plus column for Mediacom.  The cable provider offers free high-speed, flawless wireless access inside the terminal here.  Yeessssssss!

Also, I called Mediacom yesterday to ask a few questions on behalf of my elderly parents who are Mediacom subscribers.  The voice mail system was easy to navigate and simple.  After a 30-second wait, a helpful customer service agent named Erin (or Aaron) picked up and readily answered all questions to my satisfaction.

Over the years, my parents’ bill has inched up to $60/month for approximately 70 channels.   $720/year is a bit pricey for folks on fixed incomes, so I’m still sorting through their options. 

But, so far, my (admittedly limited) experience with Mediacom has been positive.

ETA:  While a regional airport like Moline has its wifi act together, Denver Airport/United Terminal (not in any way associated with Mediacom) is an annoyance. 

It’s free but the signal is erratic.  And it’s slowww.  In order to access the system, users are forced to first screen an inexplicable 30-second commercial featuring a guy in a racoon costume rifling through a trash can. 

Racoon Guy comes up with a…router that looks suspiciously like a Linksys router…and proceeds to do some kind of "router dance," hoisting his prize in the air. 

I’m mean, seriously.  Who thinks this stuff up?  Plus, Linksys must be just thrilled - thrilled! - to have their equipment displayed as, well, trash.  (Although come to think of it - that’s exactly where our Linksys router ended up after two years…)

Plus, the signal dropped so often that it took forever to watch the darn commercial.  Sitting in the "Mile High" Lounge - yeah, I know that Denver is the "Mile High City" but don’t make me laugh - expressions of frustration from laptop users could be heard/seen throughout the room.