It’s been about a year since we installed MetroNet at home, and I wanted to provide a review of their Internet service in Portage. Overall, it has been fairly reliable with no major issues. However, with some price concessions from Spectrum and AT&T fiber now available, it might not be the best option.
Reliability
I hope it’s just growing pains for MetroNet, but there have been at least 3 multi-hour outages that spanned the entire city of Portage and Kalamazoo. These have all been during the week 8-5 M-F weekday, interrupting many people who Work From Home. Additionally, it seems that whenever a neighbor on my street needs service or new installation, they are unable to complete the work without disrupting the internet for the entire street. I contacted MetroNet during one of these brief outages, and they said that it was expected to happen.
Performance
Many speed tests over this year confirmed that they delivered the speed they promised. With their 500/500 service, I didn’t experience any bandwidth issues. I am not an avid online gamer, however, I do play Rocket League almost every day. There were no significant issues, and latency was often in the 30’s and 40’s. My router also measures latency to several websites regularly and it is about average, not super great. I have heard from several others that they are having problems with online gaming (the CGNAT doesn’t help), and are exploring AT&T which is now offered in the neighborhood.
Pricing
In November of 2023, my Metronet Bill totaled $61.95 per month for the first year of service for 500 up and down. This included the base plan of $49.95/month for the first 12 months, which would increase by $10 after 1 year. This was initially a slight discount from the Spectrum service that I had before. Spectrum showed up shortly after I cancelled and offered a $30/month plan.
MetroNet has always charged me a “Tech Assure” fee. On the May invoice, they notified me that they were increasing the price of their Tech Assure fee by $0.95 to $12.95. One of my neighbors had his router die and called Metronet on a Tuesday night. They were able to schedule the service call for 8:00 AM the next day. They replaced the Eero-provided router at no charge. Read More: https://www.metronet.com/support/what-is-tech-assure
My $62.95 bills continued until November 2024 when the price increase went into effect. Around the same time, AT&T had finished up their fiber install in the neighborhood and offered a $55 package with no additional fees and guaranteed pricing for 24 months. I gave MetroNet a call to see if they would match the pricing, and they offered me a $20 one-time credit and reinstated the original pricing which reduced the total cost back to around $63.
Conclusion
Metronet has been a great upgrade from cable, but with the pricing from Spectrum and competition from AT&T, it might be worth it to explore the other options. Reach out if you need any assistance with your home or business network.