Opinions wanted on Metrocast Phone

sparkyaclown

Active Member
We seem to constantly have issues with our landline and are finally getting kind of fed up with it. It buzzes every time we have rain to the point it's unusable but by the time they will send someone out to look at it the issue resolves itself. We have been thinking about switching over to Metrocast's Phone service. For anyone that has it. Do you like it? experience any issues? have regrets about switching?
 

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
Only problem is, when the cable is out, so is your phone. Happened a couple times.
Otherwise, it's been just fine.
 

Goldenhawk

Well-Known Member
I do not have experience with Metrocast Phone, but I signed up for the Ooma voice-over-internet phone system a few years ago, and gave up the landline. (I'm using Metrocast for internet service which carries the Ooma data.)

I love Ooma. For $150 equipment cost plus $10 month, I get unlimited long distance, very clear calls (really can't tell the difference, aside from sometimes a slight lag), voicemails delivered to my email, spam-call blocking using NoMoRobo technology, an app allowing cell phone calls that look like they're from my home number, and more.

Since spring 2013 I've saved something like $1600 compared to my previous phone bill. All my landline phones still work exactly the same as usual, including caller ID.

If you're interested, PM me and I'll use the "Refer a Friend" program, which earns me a referral fee and give you a $50 discount
 

spr1975wshs

Mostly settled in...
Ad Free Experience
Patron
We chose Metrocast for cable, internet and telephone bundle, have been satisfied.
Phone circuit has battery backup, so dropped service has not been a problem.
 

MarieB

New Member
We seem to constantly have issues with our landline and are finally getting kind of fed up with it. It buzzes every time we have rain to the point it's unusable but by the time they will send someone out to look at it the issue resolves itself. We have been thinking about switching over to Metrocast's Phone service. For anyone that has it. Do you like it? experience any issues? have regrets about switching?


I had that problem in one home. That's an issue with your wiring and not your provider.

With metrocast if internet is down the phone goes down (which happens but not too often) but it would probably solve the issue for you
 

Popster

Member
Verizon land lines (not in the house, but underground) can be ancient depending on where you live. Ours had become unusable. I switched to Ooma a number of years ago and purchased a reconditioned unit at a bargain price from Woot. For $5.28 per month we have crystal clear service with oiur new panasonic phones.
 

sparkyaclown

Active Member
I had that problem in one home. That's an issue with your wiring and not your provider.

Nope, it's theirs. I always check at the NID whenever it crops up and it's always there. The few times they have actually sent a tech out before it resolved it has always been at some main terminal box a few miles down the road. Biggest part of my issue is that the problem is always in the same place yet whenever they fix it, it's good until the next heavy rain then the problem starts all over again.

Thanks to everyone for providing feedback. Sounds like in general everyone is happy with it. Metrocast internet is pretty stable, I can only recall a couple of times I've had it go down over the years I've been using them and they resolved it pretty fast.
 

todd

New Member
Had the exact same issue as you sparky. Bad buzzing, quite often unusable, after heavy or constant rains. Got tired of waiting for Verizon to fix it correctly, so I switched to Metrocast phone. It's been just fine. No complaints. Their voicemail isn't the best, but it gets the job done.

-Todd

Nope, it's theirs. I always check at the NID whenever it crops up and it's always there. The few times they have actually sent a tech out before it resolved it has always been at some main terminal box a few miles down the road. Biggest part of my issue is that the problem is always in the same place yet whenever they fix it, it's good until the next heavy rain then the problem starts all over again.

Thanks to everyone for providing feedback. Sounds like in general everyone is happy with it. Metrocast internet is pretty stable, I can only recall a couple of times I've had it go down over the years I've been using them and they resolved it pretty fast.
 

Potomac

Member
Verizon land lines (not in the house, but underground) can be ancient depending on where you live. Ours had become unusable. I switched to Ooma a number of years ago and purchased a reconditioned unit at a bargain price from Woot. For $5.28 per month we have crystal clear service with oiur new panasonic phones.

I have had the SAME problem, for many years with my Verizon landline. It's very frustrating. Ultimately, Verizon wants us all to give up our landlines and be on cell I believe. There is no longer any investment in the infrastructures supporting these services. I find it frustrating. I live far off of the main road, I can't get hardwired internet and keep the landline so that we can always call 911 services and in order to connect a home alarm system. Verizon sucks
 
I desperately want to give up my landline, but I have DSL service. Prereq for DSL is an active phone line. I never use the landline, and it gets no incoming calls other than spam.

I also have my email accounts tied to my Verizon DSL account. I could change off to another email account, but my dad also uses an account I set up for him. WAY too much hassle to change his email right now. Guess I'm stuck for the moment....
 

Restitution

New Member
It buzzes every time we have rain to the point it's unusable but by the time they will send someone out to look at it the issue resolves itself.

Its not hard to understand why this happens. Haven't you seen the junction boxes with the trash bags over them? The ones that are at a 45 degree angle because they were hit by cars, lawnmowers, etc. about 5 or 6 years ago and NEVER really repaired properly....

And, the buzzing goes away simply because the rain water has dried up from the sun. Its NOT because Verizon has done anything about it.
 

mitzi

Well-Known Member
We seem to constantly have issues with our landline and are finally getting kind of fed up with it. It buzzes every time we have rain to the point it's unusable but by the time they will send someone out to look at it the issue resolves itself. We have been thinking about switching over to Metrocast's Phone service. For anyone that has it. Do you like it? experience any issues? have regrets about switching?

I had it for awhile with no problems at all. I switched to Basic Talk/Vonage a few years back, it's under $13.00 a month and at that time they shipped their modem at no charge. I like having a landline.
 

luvmygdaughters

Well-Known Member
Our landline does the same thing when it rains. The only reason I have a landline is because I have DSL. I would love to get rid of the landline, the only people who call on it are salesman and people looking for donations.
 

BernieP

Resident PIA
I desperately want to give up my landline, but I have DSL service. Prereq for DSL is an active phone line. I never use the landline, and it gets no incoming calls other than spam.

I also have my email accounts tied to my Verizon DSL account. I could change off to another email account, but my dad also uses an account I set up for him. WAY too much hassle to change his email right now. Guess I'm stuck for the moment....

I don't know if I'm desperate to give it up, but I don't trust Metrocast and while DSL is slow, it beats no.
Also Metrocast doesn't carry at least one sports package. I could stream those games but the better half has a hard enough time with the DTV remote as it is.
The problem with streaming is everybody has different rules, can't use Chromecast with some apps, etc. Plus instead of one bill you end up with 20.
So, I'll stay in the late 20th century, don't feel like dealing with the hassles.
 

Goldenhawk

Well-Known Member
I don't know if I'm desperate to give it up, but I don't trust Metrocast and while DSL is slow, it beats no.
Also Metrocast doesn't carry at least one sports package. I could stream those games but the better half has a hard enough time with the DTV remote as it is.
The problem with streaming is everybody has different rules, can't use Chromecast with some apps, etc. Plus instead of one bill you end up with 20.
So, I'll stay in the late 20th century, don't feel like dealing with the hassles.

You must be talking to some other version of Metrocast, because what you're describing bears ZERO resemblance to my experience.

I've had Metrocast internet for at least 10 years (once I finally convinced them that yes, they DID service my neighborhood since my next door neighbor already had service).

My service has only dropped maybe five or six times for just a few cumulative hours, with only one extended (half-day) outage that affected most of the east coast. I was responsible for a couple cable cuts while landscaping, for which I can't ding them. I had one instance of degraded signal quality for which they sent out a tech within 24 hours who dropped a temporary cable and came back to dig in a new cable within a week or two. When I had some problems with billing, I got phone support within minutes. When I upgraded my modem, I self-installed and they provisioned the new one over the line in minutes.

So their service has been no worse than Verizon (who provides your DSL) but the speed is VASTLY superior to DSL.

I have NEVER run into a situation where my access was throttled for specific content. With teenagers streaming, uploading videos, etc., my speeds have always been exactly what I paid for.

"Hassles" is hardly the word I'd use for overall excellent service and a quality product. Adding one bill per month for all that? Hardly a complaint worth making.
 

BernieP

Resident PIA
I was stating the problems with going internet only or internet/tv from Metrocast.
Metrocast doesn't carry NHL Center Ice (for one)
If I choose to use internet only to stream tv, it becomes complex, some services (like CBS) don't allow Chromecasting, you can only use their app. Which means you watch on your mobile device or computer.
It also means managing multiple accounts for different services (Netflix, NHL, NFL, CBS, NBC, ABC, etc.).
If it were just me, I'd probably do it, but with multiple people and multiple TVs, I don't want to be the onsite tech support for cranky and teck illiterate users.
 

idiganthro

Member
We seem to constantly have issues with our landline and are finally getting kind of fed up with it. It buzzes every time we have rain to the point it's unusable but by the time they will send someone out to look at it the issue resolves itself. We have been thinking about switching over to Metrocast's Phone service. For anyone that has it. Do you like it? experience any issues? have regrets about switching?

We must be neighbors. We really only have our landline for our alarm system. I think we're gonna upgrade our system to mobile and lose the landline completely. Verizon customer service is the worst. We've called and called. They sent a guy one time and he puttered around and nothing changed. Then he said he was going to go down the line and check for issues and come back. Never saw or heard from him again. Sometimes the buzzing is so loud it's impossible to hear at all. I'd love to be able to tell Verizon to pack sand!
 
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