CenturyLink vs Mediacom Cable

CenturyLink OVERVIEW

CenturyLink is a communications company that provides DSL and fiber Internet, phone, and TV service. Their TV offerings are marketed under the name “PRISMTV.”

 

CenturyLink TECHNOLOGY

Centurylink offers internet, TV, and phone service to consumers using two primary technologies: DSL and fiber-to-the-home (FTTH).

DSL is an older internet technology that uses Centurylink’s existing telephone infrastructure to deliver internet service. While DSL networks don’t offer the fastest speeds or lowest latencies, they are widely available and generally less expensive than other alternatives since they travel over the same cheap, readily available cables that carry telephone data.

If you are considering DSL, make sure to check the speeds available in your area as they can vary dramatically depending on your local infrastructure and distance between your house and the provider’s local office.

Fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), on the other hand, is widely considered the next generation of consumer internet access. In an FTTH implementation, Centurylink delivers a fiber optic connection directly to your residence, resulting in higher bandwidth and lower latency. The only problem with FTTH is that installing fiber optic cables are expensive, so this type of service is not widely available and usually comes with a higher monthly cost than DSL, cable, or fixed wireless.

CenturyLink RATINGS AND REVIEWS

35.3% recommendation rating according to 55,305 verified users.

Mediacom Cable OVERVIEW

Mediacom is a cable TV, broadband Internet, and phone service provider for business and residential subscribers, offering gigabit download speeds in some areas.

Mediacom Cable TECHNOLOGY

Home Internet, phone, and TV services from Mediacom are made available via their cable infrastructure, which uses existing cable TV coaxial cable to bridge the final distance between the Internet “backbone” and local subscribers.

In most setups, optical fiber cable is laid as far as a subscriber’s neighborhood, at which point data is switched from optical signal to electrical signal for transmission via coaxial cable. This makes the final bandwidth, speed, and latency offerings less ideal than a true fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) connection, but offsets the high cost of installing FTTH cables, allowing the company to offer reasonably fast service at a lower up-front cost.

Mediacom Cable RATINGS AND REVIEWS

42.1% recommendation rating according to 7,730 verified Mediacom users.