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3.3

Overall Score

Author: Kaitlyn Short

LAST UPDATED: August 29th, 2024

In 1933, Midcontinent Communications (Midco) was created to bring the leading technologies and media to the north plains. 

Over its almost 100 years in business, Midco has continually innovated and upgraded the service it provides to its customers. 

Midco offers download speeds up to 940 Mbps and upload speeds up to 20 Mbps. Customers can also bundle services for deals.

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Currently, Midco’s 300,000 customers enjoy fast broadband internet service with quick uploading and downloading speeds. Midco is committed to providing the best service for the areas it serves.

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The Good

  • Fast Speeds
  • Bundling Options

Fast Speeds

A major factor of internet service is the speeds that the companies provide for their customers. This is one of the major ways that Midco stands out among their competition within the industry. It offers quick downloading speeds that range up to 200 Mbps. While the downloading speeds are standard for the industry, Midco's uploading speeds are more impressive. Uploading speeds are a great deal slower than the downloading speed and are often overlooked. These speeds are:

  • Midco Xstream 25: 25 Mbps (downloading), 3 Mbps (uploading)
  • Midco Xstream 75: 75 Mbps, 7 Mbps
  • Midco Xstream 120: 120 Mbps, 12 Mbps
  • Midco Xstream 200: 200 Mbps, 20 Mbps

The speeds of the top three tier packages, (Midco Xstream 75, 120, and 200) are faster than those offered by other internet service providers. This can be important for customers who want to add content to the internet such as videos, and pictures.

Bundling Options

Many companies offer package deals with their internet service including phone and TV streaming.

Midco offers package deals along with smart home services. Providing smart home services is a unique aspect of this industry. Smart home services can include home security systems that can be monitored remotely through a mobile device. This innovative form of security is a huge empowerment for customers to feel safer when leaving their home.

Some packages also include the ability to control other aspects of the home remotely such as temperature, lights, and locks. These extra features can be very convenient for customers who are interested in home automation.

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The Bad

  • Lack of Antivirus Options
  • Customer Support

Lack of Antivirus options

Internet service providers have become a very large industry with high competition. Companies in this industry must stay competitive by offering high-quality services and competitive prices. Many companies in the industry offer online security features such as access to antivirus and anti-malware software.

These extra security features are extremely beneficial for customers to take advantage of. The internet can be a dangerous place, especially for personal information. Access to antivirus and anti-malware software can help protect customers from online threats.

Unfortunately, Midco does not offer this overall security to their packages. They do offer some security on their Midcontinent email accounts, but it only protects Midco email addresses. This should not be a deal breaker, but it can be a deciding factor if the customer is choosing between Midco and a company who does offer overall security.

Customer Support

Midco's customer support is lacking comparatively in the industry. Some other internet service providers offer their customers 24/7 technical support. This is convenient for customers who need assistance with their service outside of normal work hours. Midco does not offer this consistent support but they do offer an extensive forum and discussion board for customers to get answers and support.

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The Bottom Line

Midco is a really great option for internet service in the north plains. It provides fast upload speeds and average download speeds at a great price. 

Midco also offers package deals that include smart home services. However, it only offers service in four states North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. This leaves most of the country not covered by their service. The limited service area is a major drawback to the company.

Overall, the company offers great service for competitive prices. We recommend customers in the service areas to try Midco's services.

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Star Rating

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1.6

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107 Reviews

Review Breakdown

5 grade

7%

4 grade

6%

3 grade

0%

2 grade

7%

1 grade

79%

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Jeff Martinson Cambridge, MN

CenturyLink, Comcast, and even Windstream have a much larger service area but in the areas that Midcontinent offers service they are by far the best choice in my opinion. For two main reasons: 1. Bandwidth… Midcontinent offers all 3 of their main bandwidth tiers across all of their service areas. So if you're anywhere in Midcontinent's service area you can get their top Xstream 3.0 service. The Xstream 3.0 service is currently 200Mbs but Midcontinent plans on having this service upgraded to 1Gbs across their entire service area within the next year... and all of their customers will automatically upgraded. Whereas, companies like CenturyLink say they provide 1Gbs service already but these speeds are only available in a very small percentage of their service area with the vast majority of their service areas topping out at 40Mbs, and even worse, a large portion of their service area can only get a maximum of 5-7Mbs… hack, my co-worker can't even get more than 1.5Mbs through CenturyLink and he is paying over $40 a month for this service (I pay $60 for 100Mbs service through Midco). Then on top of this when CenturyLink adds higher bandwidth to price tiers in a service area they don't automatically upgrade their customers within that tier… these customers have to find out on their own then call support and request their service to be upgraded. So over all Midcontinent offers a much higher bandwidth on a national average than most other providers, especially CenturyLink… If you don't believe me do some research, there are several sites (like PCMag.com) that have actually done reviews which include Midco.net… they get over looked a lot because they're not considered a Major ISP. 2. Customer Support… Midcontinent's customer support is local, so when I need to talk to them I can easily understand them. Whereas the larger ISP's like CenturyLink outsource their support to India which makes it very difficult to understand their support techs and makes for a very frustrating and difficult experience. And I've been a Network Administrator/Engineer for 15 years now so when it's frustrating for me I can't imagine what it's like for someone who doesn't have my experience.

8 years ago

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Amber Johnson Thompson, ND

Customer service has evolved, and today's experiences may not match those of the past. However, I want to express my gratitude for Devin, a technician from Grand Forks, who recently addressed our internet signal issues. Devin demonstrated exceptional qualities - kindness, politeness, patience, and understanding. He exceeded our expectations, providing a level of service we haven't encountered much lately. Midco, it's crucial to recognize and retain employees like Devin. Thank you, Devin, for your outstanding assistance!!

1 year ago

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Terry N Sioux Falls, SD

I've been a customer of Midco since 1994 with cable, internet and for a while a phone. Over those years I can honestly say I have only had a handful of issues and if they weren't resolved over the phone they were there the same day or next day to fix. I don't understand how others can say they have such issues, I have to wonder if it isn't user error.

4 years ago

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KELLI&GARY Littleton, CO

They are the best cable company. Fast internet, super staff. Genuine people. Which in a time like this is a rare quality. They have worked with us giving us options on how to keep our wifi on instead of giving us disconnect notices. Couldn't ask for a better company and we would recommend them to all family and friends we have... THA NK YOU MIDCO FOR BEING PEOPLE AND NOT JUST A BUSINESS...

4 years ago

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Patrick Hudson Minneapolis, MN

Placed on on-line order for DSL (with customer owned Modem) at 6:15 a.m., providing the Modem Manufacturer, Model, S/N and MACID in the order form. Received a phone call at 8:10 am from Midco verifying the order. Plugged in the Modem when we returned home from work (around 6:00 p.m.) Modem connected within moments. (significantly faster initial handshacking than on Comcast - where the modem had been connected) FANTASTIC Sign Up and Activation. Thanks MIDCO !

7 years ago

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Tim McConnaughy Jr. Fairmont, MN

Great speeds at reasonable prices and I used have internet in California. The prices were double for the same speeds. Midco support is generally very easy to get in touch with (within 5 minutes) compared to waiting hours for service in CA only to get disconnected or transfered.

2 years ago

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Zac Emmers Waterville, MN

Very great internet. 99.99% uptime at full speed. Great ping that never goes up. Nice range of TV channels. Great prices.

8 years ago

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MIDCO

no matter what time I called thwem they are always available, and my problem is fixed

4 years ago