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Cut the cable

jbfurdog

jbfurdog

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2015
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Location
Ohio
I know there's a thread about this topic already here but it's a couple years old so I thought I'd start new.

We are tossing around the idea of ditching cable TV and just using the internet service that my cable company provides. I have my choice of player narrowed down to Apple TV or Fire TV. The question isn't which device is better or what not. The question I have is on data usage. My provider caps usage at 400GB per month at my current internet package. Those of you out there that have cut the cord, what is the amount of data usage you have seen with your family?


Edit: Some dumb errors and misspellings
 
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Fire TV is android based. You can install Kodi with Exodus and stream to your heart's content.

As far as usage, I have no idea how much you could stream, but 400GB sounds like plenty.


Also, verify they don't nickel and dime you for cutting cable and using internet only.
 
Never heard of a home internet provider capping bandwidth. Who's the provider and what type of service is it?
You're going to hate me, but I have fiber optic 16 gigabits asymmetrical unlimited for about $30/mo, so I never bother to measure how much data I'm using. But if you have Netflix, I think you can setup some sort of throttling in Netflix to lower your usage.
 
George Scott said:
Never heard of a home internet provider capping bandwidth. Who's the provider and what type of service is it?
You're going to hate me, but I have fiber optic 16 gigabits asymmetrical unlimited for about $30/mo, so I never bother to measure how much data I'm using. But if you have Netflix, I think you can setup some sort of throttling in Netflix to lower your usage.
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Sorry that was confusing, and I didn't state that correctly. I have not heard of providers capping total data usage, not bandwidth. They all have some sort of bandwidth limits. Mine being 16GBits
You're talking about limits on total data transfer per month, that's different....

"According to Netflix, using their “High” data usage setting runs through 3 GB per hour when streaming High Definition (HD) videos and 7 GB per hour for Ultra HD. The “Medium” setting only uses 0.7 GB per hour for a Standard Definition (SD) "
 
We have Apple TV, Roku and a Fire stick. We use Apple TV the majority of the time and can find what we generally need with it. Cutting the cord, has come a long way, since I did it over 5 years ago.

You can also get Sling TV, which we had for about 6 months, for $20. It has ESPN and a bunch of other capabilities, which is great. We honestly just watch live TV off our HD antenna, which works great. I'd prefer the kids to be outside playing, but they also watch their tablets, mainly youtube/Netflix and we never have a problem with our AT&T Internet service. I did have to upgrade our Internet and I can't remember what I went with, for the simple fact that it was taking forever to download a movie off Apple TV and it would also buffer throughout.
 
George Scott said:
Never heard of a home internet provider capping bandwidth. Who's the provider and what type of service is it?
You're going to hate me, but I have fiber optic 16 gigabits asymmetrical unlimited for about $30/mo, so I never bother to measure how much data I'm using. But if you have Netflix, I think you can setup some sort of throttling in Netflix to lower your usage.
Click to expand...
You're right I hate you now :mad:. My provider is Armstrong Cable. They are the only game in town for fast reliable internet. Friends in other cities have Spectrum (formerly Time Warner) and they are capped as well. i do have Netflix and have changed the quality setting there so i know what you are talking about.

yes total data usage not bandwidth I'll change that in my OP
 
We have Amazon Fire TV. Just got Sling app.
All in all - not bad.

Also use TV apps on an IPad in a different room.

I did hear some good things about the new Driect TV now.
 
I need to do some research on what's available. Some current shows I like, and need to figure that aspect out. The Cable Companies are getting too damned greedy. My understanding is that some of those who are internet providers would love to charge by data usage.
 
Well, DirectTV NOW has a pay 3 months get an AppleTV free so I subscribed then went and bought another AppleTV for another room. Haven't started it yet because I still have cable TV for the weekend.
 
It's cheaper and better. No brainier, IMHO.
Of course, it may not be that way everywhere.
Cable here is just ridiculously expensive and offers little. Internet is much cheaper and offers whatever you want.
 
George Scott said:
Never heard of a home internet provider capping bandwidth. Who's the provider and what type of service is it?
You're going to hate me, but I have fiber optic 16 gigabits asymmetrical unlimited for about $30/mo, so I never bother to measure how much data I'm using. But if you have Netflix, I think you can setup some sort of throttling in Netflix to lower your usage.
Click to expand...
That's definitely a benefit of living in CA. We have high speed fiber optic options here, but the price sucks. $99 a month of you want it. We currently pay $40 a month. I have a high speed, not fiber optic 1 gig plus option and no cap on data usage. We have Century link (only reliable non cable option) here and bundle with DirecTV. We also bundle our wireless and end up getting around $15-$20 bucks discounted including with auto pay and paperless billing. I thought about cutting and setting up streaming only, but I can't figure out yet what programming I actually watch. More than likely I could ala cart most things and not miss much. If I do pick up sports packages steamed, it may or may not be about the same. Maybe not. Good luck.
 
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CMontoya79 said:
That's definitely a benefit of living in CA. We have high speed fiber optic options here, but the price sucks. $99 a month of you want it.
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Speak for yourself young man! Everyone's service providers are different. I'm in CA and have high speed fiber internet only for $32 per month. The differences in providers and areas is all over the map.
 
George Scott said:
Speak for yourself young man! Everyone's service providers are different. I'm in CA and have high speed fiber internet only for $32 per month. The differences in providers and areas is all over the map.
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I read an article about how crappy American internet is compared to many other countries. In all reality, there is no reason why we should have crappy internet service anywhere in the US. Rural or urban, the companies should all offer high speed and with comparable pricing. If certain folks get what they want, soon we may have to pay more for crappier service and products, and there won't be a damn thing we could do. There wont be gradfathering, we will all have to choose of inferior products and service at a higher price and like it. That, or just unplug all together.
 
I cut the cord on all services but Internet access about 2 years ago, and haven't looked back! I would have done it 4 years ago, but it took me 2 years to convince my wife to give up her TV. Now she's completely happy, and watches just about anything she wants.
  1. We still have a tuner that receives over the air HDTV, but that's only for very rare occasion, when you need to watch something live. I hate commercials and won't watch TV anymore if I have to see them.
  2. We have Amazon prime, occasionally watch the free content there.
  3. We pay for streaming Netflix, about $9/mo.
  4. I grab all our other daily TV off the internet (I won't go into detail here) and store it on a home server.
  5. I stream all my content mostly through a Blu-ray player hooked to the main TV. This has Netflix, Amazon, and DLNA for the server content.
 
I dropped satellite several years ago after finally getting Uverse internet. Initially was only 6Mbps (12 now) but we could still do 2 Netflix streams. AT&T upped us to 1TB of data/mo about 6 months ago. It was 300GB prior to that. With multiple people in the house that wasn't enough. I live about 10 miles out of the city so feel really lucky to have it. I know people in Little Rock that can only get 6Mbps.
Took the DirecTV Now, Apple TV deal too. It's ok. They still have work to do on their app. That reminds me, I need to drop Sling. :)
 
LarryH said:
I dropped satellite several years ago after finally getting Uverse internet. Initially was only 6Mbps (12 now) but we could still do 2 Netflix streams. AT&T upped us to 1TB of data/mo about 6 months ago. It was 300GB prior to that. With multiple people in the house that wasn't enough. I live about 10 miles out of the city so feel really lucky to have it. I know people in Little Rock that can only get 6Mbps.
Took the DirecTV Now, Apple TV deal too. It's ok. They still have work to do on their app. That reminds me, I need to drop Sling. :)
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But your 1TB is enough for all your streaming?
 
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