Cutting the cable cord

[riser4]

Cellular data is starting to approach speeds that some are fully cutting their cable. But 5G will probably be the one that gives some more people that cable companies maybe not needed and closer to acceptable speeds on wireless cellular networks.

On the other hand, that fast cellular data is still pretty expensive per GB. Our usage jumps dramatically with just a tiny bit of streaming. And yes, some providers give a pass for some streaming.

[RShea]

Why? Do they actually get slower over time, or is it that cable or fiber internet keeps getting faster?

For context for my question - I'm on DSL, which is the only internet option at my house, and tops out at 6mbps. My router isn't my bottleneck...

Yes as you say Internet in your case is probably your major bottleneck. The reason some feel they need a new router regularly is one of 2 reasons. First either they purchase the cheapest (so slightly outdated already as far as wireless speeds and standards go) and a consumer brand that does not last and eventually needs regular restarts or just does not pass traffic. The other thing is as 100 mbps and faster becomes available either through standard cable offerings or better yet fiber to the home, then the wired traffic probably can be handled with a newer router that has gigabit ethernet ports, but the wireless side 2.4 ghz is still basically 300 mbps with Wireless N or Wireless AC. But old (more than 5 or 6 years probably) Wireless G standard was only 54 mbps. On the 5 ghz side of the wifi, you have Wireless N pretty much at entry level dual band routers. They are usually at best 300 mbps (and some lower if N450), but the AC standard is allowing multiple connections and can be very fast with an AC1750 or AC1900 or even higher gaming routers out there like AC2600 etc.

[Danno]

Renting comcast equipment is just bad economics.

Current price to rent a modem from Comcast Is $11/mo.

You can get a gigabit speed Netgear modem on Prime for $98 delivered today.


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I agree. But I still rent from them, because I think it's not entirely an economics problem. As soon as you take responsibility for your own equipment, you give Comcast a scapegoat for any and all problems. I have seen them use that scapegoat. So I view the $11/mo as just part of my internet fee.

[stalefish3169]

Is local news and sports available on it

Yes. There is (or was) a free week long trial.

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[Name Redacted]

I agree. But I still rent from them, because I think it's not entirely an economics problem. As soon as you take responsibility for your own equipment, you give Comcast a scapegoat for any and all problems. I have seen them use that scapegoat. So I view the $11/mo as just part of my internet fee.

I concur with this. Anytime I call about slow/intermittent service, they always ask about the modem first. When I tell them I rent from them, they exchange it right away, when I tell them I own my own, they say I need to buy a new one. Is it just one of their little scams to get my money? Of course it is! Do I feel like I can deal with playing the game and get decent internet service? Yes, probably upgrade our modem/router once a year, depending on the service.

I deal with Xfinity and Centurylink, lucky me...

[cinnepa]

right now leaning entry level xfinity tier for local channels only +internet...and picking up that hulu $40/month for other shows/live sports (espn)...hulu would also provide 2 philly local sports channels too. still saves me alot in the end.

.....so much for that - need the middle/upper tv plans for any package deal

[XXX-er]

I concur with this. Anytime I call about slow/intermittent service, they always ask about the modem first. When I tell them I rent from them, they exchange it right away, when I tell them I own my own, they say I need to buy a new one. Is it just one of their little scams to get my money? Of course it is! Do I feel like I can deal with playing the game and get decent internet service? Yes, probably upgrade our modem/router once a year, depending on the service.
..

its at their end/ your end/ somwhere inbetween, IME with telco/data centers its usually at their end but they pick the easiest thing which is ... you change your modem

com outages often occur on monday morning cuz data centers do upgrades on sunday mornings

[detrusor]

We do an antennae, get 30+ channels that way. We’re line of sight to the tower....

Then a Roku. No cable. The Winter Olympic package was a total scam from Xfinity/nbc.


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[cinnepa]

We do an antennae, get 30+ channels that way. We’re line of sight to the tower....

Then a Roku. No cable. The Winter Olympic package was a total scam from Xfinity/nbc.


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so you get the local channels.....roku get espn/live events?

[neckdeep]

Wow. It's almost like you guys don't know you can watch practically anything on third party host sites. For free. Either that or y'all is just the most scrupulously honest people on the net. When something streams, is released on blu-ray or just leaks, it is on the interwebs, for free, within hours. Shit, I recently watched a blu-ray copy of The Last Jedi a full two weeks before the actual blu-ray dropped. And I'm glad I pirated it because I wouldn't even pay 50 cents to watch that mediocre film again. That's how Hollywood works these days...they want us to pay up front for products that mostly suck once you actually try to use them. Literally 90% of Hollywoods output is complete garbage and we're supposed to pay for it sight unseen. Really, its the only industry where false advertising is the norm.

[grskier]

We cut the cord a while back. Apple TV. The new one is nice, we got it for free when we signed up for DirectTV now. Which we'll cancel after a bit. We'll keep netflix and HBO though.

[mcski]

Neck, what are your current go-tos?

I was gonna mention Kodi, but It's been kind of a pain anyway lately

[neckdeep]

Neck, what are your current go-tos?

I was gonna mention Kodi, but It's been kind of a pain anyway lately

Solarmovie, Fmovies and Putlockers. Live stream sports are more hit or miss but I usually find what I want on Firstrowsports.net. I run Adblock, Disconnect and NoCoin. I just run a basic free antivirus. Mostly, I think these sites exist to perpetuate click fraud; i.e. they harvest the historical query information to make it look like some other site is generating click-through hits. It doesn't seem they like are trying to put my laptop into a botnet and I never seem to pick up serious malware issues using these sites. That said, I only use these sites with my "disposable" laptop, the one which I never, ever use for any personal business. Basically, my malware sophistication is limited to monitoring my Task Manager for processes that are gobbling up resources, so if these sites fuck up your brand new Macbook, don't call me for reimbursement..

[PNWbrit]

Solarmovie, Fmovies and Putlockers. Live stream sports are more hit or miss but I usually find what I want on Firstrowsports.net. I run Adblock, Disconnect and NoCoin. I just run a basic free antivirus. Mostly, I think these sites exist to perpetuate click fraud; i.e. they harvest the historical query information to make it look like some other site is generating click-through hits. It doesn't seem they like are trying to put my laptop into a botnet and I never seem to pick up serious malware issues using these sites. That said, I only use these sites with my "disposable" laptop, the one which I never, ever use for any personal business. Basically, my malware sophistication is limited to monitoring my Task Manager for processes that are gobbling up resources, so if these sites fuck up your brand new Macbook, don't call me for reimbursement..

and a VPN?

[mcski]

Thx Neck. I used solar in the past but wasn't sure it as still around as these sites seem to change domains often.

[neckdeep]

Thx Neck. I used solar in the past but wasn't sure it as still around as these sites seem to change domains often.

Yep. Domain is key as there are usually bogus clones of a pirate site in other domains. There's usually one domain that works really well and the rest of the sites are just impostors that work poorly or just try to phish you.

The "legit" Solarmovie nows redirects to the Russian domain, FMovies is domained in Sweden and Putlockers is on the .plus domain. Until recently, Alluc.ee was the motherload; it was a crawler that searched every hosting site. It went down for good a few weeks back and now it redirects to a porn metacrawler. Hopefully something else comes along to replace it.

[goldengatestinx]

Why? Do they actually get slower over time, or is it that cable or fiber internet keeps getting faster?

For context for my question - I'm on DSL, which is the only internet option at my house, and tops out at 6mbps. My router isn't my bottleneck...

We don't have DSL or anything on the ground available and need to use satellite. Talk about shit. But it's literally the only game in the canyon for us. Over the air TV and an antenna in the attic gets us 22 channels. Only about 3 are worthwhile watching.

[Bunion 2020]

No matter how many channels you actually get, only about 3 are worthwhile watching.

FIFY.

[El Chupacabra]

I do have the option of satellite internet, but that's even more $ than I'm overpaying for DSL.

I keep hoping that we get some sort of neighborhood wifi towers, but that'll probably remain a pipe dream.

[stalefish3169]

Wow. It's almost like you guys don't know you can watch practically anything on third party host sites. For free. Either that or y'all is just the most scrupulously honest people on the net. When something streams, is released on blu-ray or just leaks, it is on the interwebs, for free, within hours. Shit, I recently watched a blu-ray copy of The Last Jedi a full two weeks before the actual blu-ray dropped. And I'm glad I pirated it because I wouldn't even pay 50 cents to watch that mediocre film again. That's how Hollywood works these days...they want us to pay up front for products that mostly suck once you actually try to use them. Literally 90% of Hollywoods output is complete garbage and we're supposed to pay for it sight unseen. Really, its the only industry where false advertising is the norm.

So the guy who rags on Bitcoin for being a scam is a thief. Got it.

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[Supermoon]

I mean, both of those things can be true.

[BeardMech]

I havent had cable in 10 years and before that only because my parents did. Ive been downloading/torrenting for ever even when my parents had cable. In college I downloaded the shows I wanted to watch or use netflix.

Now I have amazon prime that is glitching and lets me watch trials of all the channels they have for free over and over again, netflix, and a private torrent tracker I use for shows I want to watch. I stream live sports if I want to watch them. Gotta watch my Carolina Panthers.

[goldengatestinx]

I do have the option of satellite internet, but that's even more $ than I'm overpaying for DSL.

I keep hoping that we get some sort of neighborhood wifi towers, but that'll probably remain a pipe dream.

Careful what you ask for. If it's made easy to live where there's currently no high speed internet, no cell service, etc, all the dumbasses will move in and ruin the place. I deal with the satellite internet and no cell service.

[El Chupacabra]

Careful what you ask for. If it's made easy to live where there's currently no high speed internet, no cell service, etc, all the dumbasses will move in and ruin the place. I deal with the satellite internet and no cell service.

My internet problem is because my house is just far enough off the county road to make running cable or fiber very expensive. Most of the houses in the neighborhood are next to county streets so those utilities are available at the edge of the parcel and easy to install.

[Name Redacted]

My internet problem is because my house is just far enough off the county road to make running cable or fiber very expensive. Most of the houses in the neighborhood are next to county streets so those utilities are available at the edge of the parcel and easy to install.

Always wondered why farm houses on hudge tracts of land were always right next to the road. Now we know...... innernets!