Cutting the cord (this again!)

Ashcor said:
And regarding internet speeds, most residential don't need anything near 100mbps if they're just doing normal internet browsing, email, and streaming services so don't fall for the Gigabit internet deals.
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Another thumbs up. I think I'm on 75 and at any given time in the house there could be 5 people streaming to 5 separate devices w/ two of those WFH and everything works fine. No issues of lag or otherwise.
 
I honestly haven't looked in a few years and with 4K streaming it might be more but basically you only need 5mbps for streaming services. Again it's been a while so say 10gbps for the newer 4K content. if you have 5 people streaming at once 75gpbs is fine.
 
a quick google search shows this

    • Bandwidth requirements for different resolutions:
        • 4K: Requires a minimum of 25 Mbps, with 50 Mbps recommended for optimal quality.
        • 1080p: Requires a minimum of 5-10 Mbps, depending on frame rate.
        • 720p: Requires a minimum of 2-3 Mbps.
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unlimited cell plan, family plans for streaming services split between members, cast to larger TV.
no cable, no home internet. tether your laptop to your phone (you'll need a plan with higher limits)

I just got Pandora family premium - it is up to $200/yr for 6 logins.
who's got $35 for me?
 
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I pay VZW $82.79 and YouTubeTV $82.99/month.

Sitting in bed (pretty far from the router and extenders) I am getting 199/239 down/upload.

VERY PIMP
 
stb222 said:
ok, these bundles ate starting to become difficult to follow. I have netflex, disney+, hulu. I had a legacy no ads hulu that was a reduced price when hulu went under disney +. However, my legacy no ads disney plus bundle is through my fios and i was trying to add max to watch the spring races and I couldn't do it. While on text support with hulu, I cancelled my no ads to try and get another bundle and then realized it would be more expensive. I still have hulu with my disney bundle with hulu but now it has ads. fart noise.
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I was able to get back my hulu no ads after a an hour on the help chat and creating two dummy accounts (at their direction).
 
I need some help/advice before I finally cut the cord. I'm tired of paying Optimum $233/month for basic cable, internet, and phone. I needed a home phone before for faxes, so I opted for their triple play at the time but now we just don't need it anymore and the only thing I watch on network television is Jeopardy so I figured I can dump those two and just stick with having internet and pay for a streaming service to get local channels if needed. So what do you guys recommend for a family of 3 with a gamer kid? I see commercials for all different service providers and it is so confusing. I'm wondering if I can stick with Optimum and just get their internet service or go with a competitor like Fios, Spectum, AT&T, etc. TIA.
 
tonyride said:
I need some help/advice before I finally cut the cord. I'm tired of paying Optimum $233/month for basic cable, internet, and phone. I needed a home phone before for faxes, so I opted for their triple play at the time but now we just don't need it anymore and the only thing I watch on network television is Jeopardy so I figured I can dump those two and just stick with having internet and pay for a streaming service to get local channels if needed. So what do you guys recommend for a family of 3 with a gamer kid? I see commercials for all different service providers and it is so confusing. I'm wondering if I can stick with Optimum and just get their internet service or go with a competitor like Fios, Spectum, AT&T, etc. TIA.
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OK, here's the thing, there are 30 different ways to skin this cat and unfortunately it's not something anyone can give you exact instructions on.

My company does IT and AV work for commercial and residential clients. The advice I give all my residential clients with this question is this.

Write down everything that everyone in the family watches. Every show, series etc.
Then go to the various streaming services websites and write down which services carry which programs etc..

This will give you a list of the streaming services you need:

Next decide on a streaming device: AppleTV (the device, not the service), RoKu, Amazone Fire, NVidia Shield etc...

If your an apple fan go with AppleTV's if you're not I recommend RoKu Ultra's.

Yes, smart TV's have the ability to install most streaming apps but this is not the TV manufacturers main focus and they tend to lag behind with software updates for the streaming apps. In addition, most people have many different makes/models of TV's so the setup will be different on each. Using streaming devices like AppleTV's or RoKu's on every TV will make the experience the same for everyone on every TV throughout the house.

Also the streaming box manufacturers stay right up to date on the app updates. So if Netflix updates their servers or service, the streaming box manufacturers will update their boxes software right away.

Once you've found all the services you need to subscribe to in order to make everyone happy and have decided on a streaming box, go get one for the main TV in the house and set it up. Once that's done, unplug your cable box for that TV for 2 weeks and see how it goes. DON'T Cancel cable, just unplug the box. If after 2 weeks you don't miss the cable service, call and cancel and go buy some more streaming boxes for the other TV's.

It should be noted, if your goal is to save money you probably won't in the end after you get all the subscriptions you need. You will however have the satisfaction of not giving that money to the cable company that you probably hate.

For internet speed, for streaming you really only need about 50-75gbps. If your kids are gaming then they'll want faster and their gaming consoles or computers should be hard wired to your router, not on wifi. You don't need Gigabit internet service to stream netflix, amazon prime etc... and if you're kids are gaming on wifi then they likely won't see any benefit to gigabit internet service as the WiFi will be much slower and will be the bottleneck.

good luck.
'
P.S. with regards to the streaming devices, DO NOT cheap out on these and get the "stick" versions. They are very slow in both processing and WiFi and will be a horrible experience. It's a one time purchase, get the full size box like the RoKu ultra or Amazon Fire. They have faster processors and better WiFi antenna's.
 
Ashcor said:
OK, here's the thing, there are 30 different ways to skin this cat and unfortunately it's not something anyone can give you exact instructions on.

My company does IT and AV work for commercial and residential clients. The advice I give all my residential clients with this question is this.

Write down everything that everyone in the family watches. Every show, series etc.
Then go to the various streaming services websites and write down which services carry which programs etc..

This will give you a list of the streaming services you need:

Next decide on a streaming device: AppleTV (the device, not the service), RoKu, Amazone Fire, NVidia Shield etc...

If your an apple fan go with AppleTV's if you're not I recommend RoKu Ultra's.

Yes, smart TV's have the ability to install most streaming apps but this is not the TV manufacturers main focus and they tend to lag behind with software updates for the streaming apps. In addition, most people have many different makes/models of TV's so the setup will be different on each. Using streaming devices like AppleTV's or RoKu's on every TV will make the experience the same for everyone on every TV throughout the house.

Also the streaming box manufacturers stay right up to date on the app updates. So if Netflix updates their servers or service, the streaming box manufacturers will update their boxes software right away.

Once you've found all the services you need to subscribe to in order to make everyone happy and have decided on a streaming box, go get one for the main TV in the house and set it up. Once that's done, unplug your cable box for that TV for 2 weeks and see how it goes. DON'T Cancel cable, just unplug the box. If after 2 weeks you don't miss the cable service, call and cancel and go buy some more streaming boxes for the other TV's.

It should be noted, if your goal is to save money you probably won't in the end after you get all the subscriptions you need. You will however have the satisfaction of not giving that money to the cable company that you probably hate.

For internet speed, for streaming you really only need about 50-75gbps. If your kids are gaming then they'll want faster and their gaming consoles or computers should be hard wired to your router, not on wifi. You don't need Gigabit internet service to stream netflix, amazon prime etc... and if you're kids are gaming on wifi then they likely won't see any benefit to gigabit internet service as the WiFi will be much slower and will be the bottleneck.

good luck.
'
P.S. with regards to the streaming devices, DO NOT cheap out on these and get the "stick" versions. They are very slow in both processing and WiFi and will be a horrible experience. It's a one time purchase, get the full size box like the RoKu ultra or Amazon Fire. They have faster processors and better WiFi antenna's
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Great advice. The only thing I'd add is that if you have a gamer kid then that's one of your streaming devices.

XBOX drives my main TV (forgot the model, not current, one back). Just like any compute device, over time it will slow down (will take way longer than the sticks do tho). Been using mine for I don't know how many years, and it's just starting to enter the annoying stage once in a while when turning it on and waiting.
 
Ashcor said:
OK, here's the thing, there are 30 different ways to skin this cat and unfortunately it's not something anyone can give you exact instructions on.

My company does IT and AV work for commercial and residential clients. The advice I give all my residential clients with this question is this.

Write down everything that everyone in the family watches. Every show, series etc.
Then go to the various streaming services websites and write down which services carry which programs etc..

This will give you a list of the streaming services you need:

Next decide on a streaming device: AppleTV (the device, not the service), RoKu, Amazone Fire, NVidia Shield etc...

If your an apple fan go with AppleTV's if you're not I recommend RoKu Ultra's.

Yes, smart TV's have the ability to install most streaming apps but this is not the TV manufacturers main focus and they tend to lag behind with software updates for the streaming apps. In addition, most people have many different makes/models of TV's so the setup will be different on each. Using streaming devices like AppleTV's or RoKu's on every TV will make the experience the same for everyone on every TV throughout the house.

Also the streaming box manufacturers stay right up to date on the app updates. So if Netflix updates their servers or service, the streaming box manufacturers will update their boxes software right away.

Once you've found all the services you need to subscribe to in order to make everyone happy and have decided on a streaming box, go get one for the main TV in the house and set it up. Once that's done, unplug your cable box for that TV for 2 weeks and see how it goes. DON'T Cancel cable, just unplug the box. If after 2 weeks you don't miss the cable service, call and cancel and go buy some more streaming boxes for the other TV's.

It should be noted, if your goal is to save money you probably won't in the end after you get all the subscriptions you need. You will however have the satisfaction of not giving that money to the cable company that you probably hate.

For internet speed, for streaming you really only need about 50-75gbps. If your kids are gaming then they'll want faster and their gaming consoles or computers should be hard wired to your router, not on wifi. You don't need Gigabit internet service to stream netflix, amazon prime etc... and if you're kids are gaming on wifi then they likely won't see any benefit to gigabit internet service as the WiFi will be much slower and will be the bottleneck.

good luck.
'
P.S. with regards to the streaming devices, DO NOT cheap out on these and get the "stick" versions. They are very slow in both processing and WiFi and will be a horrible experience. It's a one time purchase, get the full size box like the RoKu ultra or Amazon Fire. They have faster processors and better WiFi antenna's.
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Thanks for the info and advice. We have 2 smart TVs in the house and they're both Sony Bravia (don't know the specific models) so they already have the streaming apps on them therefore I don't think I need any additional boxes. Whatever internet speed I currently have with Optimum seems to be fine so what I'm paying right now is for the internet speed I'm good with plus basic cable and landline phone, the last two I want to drop. I just don't know if I should stick with Optimum for only the internet or with another ISP.
 
@tonyride if I remember your area is fairly flat unobstructed by trees and mountains, have you tried an HD antenna? That's what I use at the beach house and between that the wifi free channels on Roku and Google it meets my needs. ABC and Jeopardy comes in great, though I still miss Alex
 
tonyride said:
I need some help/advice before I finally cut the cord. I'm tired of paying Optimum $233/month for basic cable, internet, and phone. I needed a home phone before for faxes, so I opted for their triple play at the time but now we just don't need it anymore and the only thing I watch on network television is Jeopardy so I figured I can dump those two and just stick with having internet and pay for a streaming service to get local channels if needed. So what do you guys recommend for a family of 3 with a gamer kid? I see commercials for all different service providers and it is so confusing. I'm wondering if I can stick with Optimum and just get their internet service or go with a competitor like Fios, Spectum, AT&T, etc. TIA.
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Right there with you. Was going to call and threaten to quit, again. Last time they wouldn't lower the price enough for me to stay. Switched to Youtube TV. Wife hated the interface and having to deal with Roku constantly. 2 or 3 weeks later I received an email from Optimum offering me 50% off of what we were paying before I quit. Now of course it's crept back up.
 
rjr44 said:
Great advice. The only thing I'd add is that if you have a gamer kid then that's one of your streaming devices.

XBOX drives my main TV (forgot the model, not current, one back). Just like any compute device, over time it will slow down (will take way longer than the sticks do tho). Been using mine for I don't know how many years, and it's just starting to enter the annoying stage once in a while when turning it on and waiting.
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Sorry, I wasn't clear. I mean gaming on a computer (he has a gaming laptop), not a gaming console like XBox or PS. We have PS and Wii but they never get used anymore. Every once in a while he'll use his Oculus but he's mostly on his laptop.
 
OK, it took talking to 3 people (2 of them tried to sell me cell service) and I was finally able cut the cord. From $233 to $99 per month with triple the internet speed (even though what I had was fine for the 3 of us).
 
tonyride said:
OK, it took talking to 3 people (2 of them tried to sell me cell service) and I was finally able cut the cord. From $233 to $99 per month with triple the internet speed (even though what I had was fine for the 3 of us).
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Did you switch to fiber? The best deal they offered us was $175 for keeping the landline, the full TV package, 1g internet and 2 cell phones with unlimited plan. The problem is the wife doesn't want to switch to fiber yet because there have been horror stories about the installations followed by interruptions in service. So for now we're stuck at $190 for basically the triple play.
 
Bike N Gear said:
Did you switch to fiber? The best deal they offered us was $175 for keeping the landline, the full TV package, 1g internet and 2 cell phones with unlimited plan. The problem is the wife doesn't want to switch to fiber yet because there have been horror stories about the installations followed by interruptions in service. So for now we're stuck at $190 for basically the triple play.
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Are you talking about FIOS? It’s been installed in the last 3 places I lived with 0 issues. When I briefly switched to optimum it was a disaster, right back to FiOS with no trouble.
 
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