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Adel - New Developments & The Internet

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Falselife

Active Member
Jul 28, 2011
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The family and I fell for the trap of the seven year abatement in Adel and are closing on a new build in the Southbridge development in a few weeks. My little bit of joy at this prospect completely evaporated when I happened to notice I see no cable junction boxes at all in the community - and some people have been there for months.

I called both of the companies that I loathe, Mediacom and CenturyLink, and confirmed my fear...No service yet.

Has anyone else experienced this scenario? If so, how long did it take? I find it so odd that they don’t progressively run lines, so they don’t have to destroy everyone’s yards, but I imagine this is easier for them. The best they could do for a timeline was for me to call them weekly on the off chance it gets added. Yay. We currently live in the unserviced countryside and have been using a third phone as a full time hot spot and I’m really hoping to get out of that scenario as soon as possible.
 
Yikes - the tax abatement will be offset with extreme data overages from Version. And $3 gas to get to work
 
Wow. I can’t believe a new development isn’t running lines as they go. I believe it’s a cost for the developer to run the new line to the existing line but still, you’d think that it’d be as important as running power or water these days. Is it far from houses with existing lines?
 
  • Agree
Reactions: jbindm
Cities usually don't administer electric and fiber lines. They should be on the plat the developer gets approved before building but I know for a fact mediacom likes to go in as the last piece of infrastructure before any houses go in.
 
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OP - Welcome to town! We're north of the pool in what I'm told is called the "old, new" development; house built in 2002.
 
Just dealt with similar issue.

In a bind, opted for emergency Hughes Net. But their data caps were actually worse then Verizon. Was doing the same tethering as well. Boosted Verizon data to unlimited as I work from home and blew through it quickly.

Just today was able to get Windstream to finally come out (after 2 months) and a whopping 25 Mbs.

If you get to know your neighbors have them call and ask for service discovery. Hopefully get enough to push them.

...and remember Iowa “apparently” has one of the highest rated broadband infrastructures.
 
Falselife said:
The family and I fell for the trap of the seven year abatement in Adel and are closing on a new build in the Southbridge development in a few weeks. My little bit of joy at this prospect completely evaporated when I happened to notice I see no cable junction boxes at all in the community - and some people have been there for months.

I called both of the companies that I loathe, Mediacom and CenturyLink, and confirmed my fear...No service yet.

Has anyone else experienced this scenario? If so, how long did it take? I find it so odd that they don’t progressively run lines, so they don’t have to destroy everyone’s yards, but I imagine this is easier for them. The best they could do for a timeline was for me to call them weekly on the off chance it gets added. Yay. We currently live in the unserviced countryside and have been using a third phone as a full time hot spot and I’m really hoping to get out of that scenario as soon as possible.
Click to expand...

How well does the phone work for a hot spot? My internet is poor to say the least. I've been thinking about giving that a try?
 
In most cases, Centurylink and Mediacom are not going to run lines to an empty subdivision. They want the developer to pony up and pay all or some of their new infrastructure, which obviously eats into the developers profit. New commercial areas yes, but not residential.
 
Took months for wife's uncle's new home to get wired in Altoona, his next door neighbor had it the whole time but he was the first new house in the next section. It was at least 3 months.
 
I live in a relatively new housing development in Waukee (around 4 years old) and for a long time we only had one internet provider available (Century Link) and the only speed available was 7mb. There is finally some faster speeds coming (a new fiber company) but they are pricey. I am amazed since these are new housing developments that there are not more/faster options.
 
Not sure how much the Satellite Internet costs or how good it is. Might be a better option than a throttled phone hotspot though.

Had a similar issue many years ago in a newly built townhome community in Johnston. When we moved in we were told that Mediacom would be out there soon. But we didn't wait and got DirecTV. Luckily Centurylink was much faster to get out there than cable. I don't think Mediacom was available in that development until about 8 months later, and by then everyone was happy with satellite and Centurylink.
 
Century link is usually pretty proactive with laying fiber but mediacom is not. a Buddy of mine built in North Ankeny 4 or 5 years ago and Mediacom finally put cable in last summer. Not a lot of happy folks because they chewed the **** out of their yards.
 
BillBrasky4Cy said:
Century link is usually pretty proactive with laying fiber but mediacom is not. a Buddy of mine built in North Ankeny 4 or 5 years ago and Mediacom finally put cable in last summer. Not a lot of happy folks because they chewed the **** out of their yards.
Click to expand...

We're probably in the same area: century link had their cables in prior to any houses going up, and now that most are built mediacom has decided this is the time to rip up everyone's yard to do what they should have done then.

Last week they managed to hit a gas line in one of the yards; I'm sure the home owner is pumped about a new box in the middle of the yard to correct it.
 
Hey, at least you didn't have to wait a month to have the local broadband company come out and hook up the internet in your house... where there is ALREADY fiber.

Actually, it was a week to have them come out and disconnect the previous owners' service. But no, they couldn't hook it up on the same visit. Then it was another 3 weeks before they could get somebody to come out and connect my service.

I'm just glad it's been good internet so far.
 
BillBrasky4Cy said:
Century link is usually pretty proactive with laying fiber but mediacom is not. a Buddy of mine built in North Ankeny 4 or 5 years ago and Mediacom finally put cable in last summer. Not a lot of happy folks because they chewed the **** out of their yards.
Click to expand...
Mediacom put a new line from the backyard pedestal to our house a couple years ago. We already had one but we upgraded our service and they must have needed to redo it.
I was floored at the minimal amount of damage they did. Even going under some landscaping fabric and rocks by the house to tie into the junction box.
 
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Reactions: khardbored
It should be a state law that all utilities and roads be installed before selling lots . In Colorado, developers don't get permits until they are installed.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Cyclonic1
cyhiphopp said:
Not sure how much the Satellite Internet costs or how good it is. Might be a better option than a throttled phone hotspot though.

Had a similar issue many years ago in a newly built townhome community in Johnston. When we moved in we were told that Mediacom would be out there soon. But we didn't wait and got DirecTV. Luckily Centurylink was much faster to get out there than cable. I don't think Mediacom was available in that development until about 8 months later, and by then everyone was happy with satellite and Centurylink.
Click to expand...

The insane ping associated with satellite internet makes it pretty much worthless. Also, at least as a of a few years ago they have some pretty draconian data caps.

Personally I'd look into a fixed wireless provider. Tend to have OK speeds, 10-20 mbps commonly, with larger data caps. A cursory search shows https://www.risebroadband.com/ is available in Adel. No experience with them personally.
 
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  • Agree
Reactions: cyhiphopp and jdcyclone19
My parents have 25mbps internet through hugesnet in the country. They have a data cap but I don’t remember what it is. I have Verizon and pull 15mbps on my phone in the country and it is much faster than the satellite due to the ping/latency. The hugesnet does work ok but Verizon LTE at 15mbps is actually quicker. Hugesnet will buffer and Verizon will not.

Sadly, your tethering phone is probably faster even when throttled.
 
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