Help me get rid of my cable

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This applies to anyone in the Northeast or Carolinas who have TWC, if you have any questions PM me and I'll be happy to answer them as best I can
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Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
If we find that 3 Mb/s just isn't enough for reliable streaming, I'll bump it back up to 15 Mb/s. Shame there isn't a tier in between, such as 8 or 10.


That's a scam right there. There's no reason (except for $$$) that there's nothing in between.

AT&T = 3, 6, 12, 18, 24.

And here at work... 100.
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
CenturyLink has 1.5, 3, 10, and 25.

TWC should offer something between 3 and 15.



Well TBH it's a $10 difference between the 3 and the 15. And it just recently changed from 10 to 15. I'd guess the others will catch up soon, but I think they figure most people for the $10 difference would go for the 15. And in my experience, that's the case. We offer 1, 3, 15, 20, 30, and 50.
 
I streamed netflix just fine on a 768 kbit connection. What you need to do is get a better router, like one that'll run DD-WRT, that has quality of service trafficking.

If netflix "thinks" it only has 2 MBits/sec to work with, it'll adjust itself ahead of time and stream pretty okay, and free up that last megabit.
 
TWC just came out today to "trap" the video signal to our house from the street, so I assume the rest of the work order completed as well, and we really should have 3 MB/s service at the house now (it's been 15 MB/s through yesterday).

I was thinking that the Wii wasn't going to work in the bedroom because it doesn't stream all that well, but I was only watching something on Amazon. But I tried streaming something on Netflix last night using the Wii and the video quality was great and there were no signal lags. So maybe there's a bug or something in the Amazon app on the Wii.

Our router is a 5 or 6 year old D-link 802.11g router, so we could probably use a newer one and realize better performance.
 
Our cable is indeed 3 MB/s now. Actually, speedtest.net measures it at closer to about 2.4 or 2.5 (without streaming anything). Normal internet browsing seems unaffected. The only symptom I've noticed when streaming is it takes slightly longer to load the streaming video. I guess it takes it a bit longer to build up its buffer before it begins playing.

So far, we're happy. Will update if anything changes.
 
Happened into this sub-forum, I'll add my vote for Roku + external antenna. That's what we've done for the last 8 years. I get all of two channels, but, after a couple of years I absolutely don't mind. After a few months I didn't have a clue what I was missing out on, for various shows, or for movies going into the theaters.
 
So far, I'm really enjoying it. And my wife and kids are as well. I'm only watching what I want to watch, and not paying for commercials and premium programming that I don't use. I don't yet have an external antenna, and that may be okay. Our local ABC affiliate has a streaming feed on Nowheretv, so we actually have HD quality local news via the Roku.
 
To follow up on our internet connection speed, 3 MB/s has been working out very well for us. The other night, the kids were streaming something on Netflix and I was uploading a video to YouTube of my oldest daugher's piano recital. Video uploaded fine and never saw a blip on the television. This is as "loaded" as we ever run our internet connection, so if it withstands that, it's good to go for us.
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
To follow up on our internet connection speed, 3 MB/s has been working out very well for us. The other night, the kids were streaming something on Netflix and I was uploading a video to YouTube of my oldest daugher's piano recital. Video uploaded fine and never saw a blip on the television. This is as "loaded" as we ever run our internet connection, so if it withstands that, it's good to go for us.


Glad it's working for you. That speed worked well for us until my second child hit 13.
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
I very much enjoy having the golf match on on Saturday or Sunday afternoons when I'm out in the garage. We all watch the Hokies play football on Saturdays in the fall. I'll need an antenna for this for sure.

I've always enjoyed having football or baseball on during the weekends, whether inside or in the garage while I'm working. Problem is there are so many @#$^*& commercials, it really interrupts the flow of the game.

So last Fall, I plugged my radio into the confuser to record football straight onto the hard-drive using Audacity. Then I went back and edited out all the commercials. (I'd always wanted to learn audio editing anyways). I saved the audio in a mp3 file, loaded it onto my mp3 player, took it out in the garage and fed it into the stereo via a cable from the earphone output. Result? Football in the garage, no more commercials! I can also listen to it in the car on long trips. Works great.

I built on this experience and did the same with TV football off-the-air with the Panasonic HD/DVD recorder. It allows me to easily remove all the commercials, cut the play time in half (4 hour football + commercials = 2 hrs just football), burn a DVD with it, then play it in the garage, or in the car. Or I can pull the audio off, convert to mp3, load it in the player and go that route.

My neighbors are quite surprised to hear football in my garage in Jan, Feb, March, April....

Now more & more sports shows broadcast on FM, which sounds better, so I record it off of there. It takes a bit of effort to do this, but I had a definite goal in mind, enjoyed learning about editing and connecting the dots and smile everytime I listen to a game with no commercials.

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
I do think the cable TV market model is changing, though. Time Warner Cable already has a Roku channel. .....The next logical step for TWC would be to make their channel a subscription channel on Roku, say for $20/month. I'd buy it. In fact, that's all I'd need. A Roku box, broadband service, and the TWC Roku channel. .... In fact, I could stay a TWC customer no matter WHERE I lived, even if TWC is not in the area. For example, Comcast is the cable provider where my in-laws live in Virginia. If we moved there, we wouldn't necessarily have to leave TWC, if we liked the programming lineup. We'd buy broadband from whomever the local provider is, and we'd buy "cable TV" from TWC via their Roku channel.

I think the industry is quickly moving in that direction, and I'm pleased to see that TWC has at least made baby steps in that area.

Here, here! Finally! Phone service is no longer tied to our street address and computers no longer just sit on desks, so why should TWC/Comcast/ATT/Verizon programming be tied to a box at home? It's already a subscription service...why not allow it to move with us like phone, internet & email now do?

Perhaps FINALLY we'll get to choose the content instead of having it PUSHED to us....along with lots of embedded junk.

Congrats on your challenge to this old-way-of-thinking. Time to "Think Different".
 
Originally Posted By: sleddriver
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
I very much enjoy having the golf match on on Saturday or Sunday afternoons when I'm out in the garage. We all watch the Hokies play football on Saturdays in the fall. I'll need an antenna for this for sure.

I've always enjoyed having football or baseball on during the weekends, whether inside or in the garage while I'm working. Problem is there are so many @#$^*& commercials, it really interrupts the flow of the game.

So last Fall, I plugged my radio into the confuser to record football straight onto the hard-drive using Audacity. Then I went back and edited out all the commercials. (I'd always wanted to learn audio editing anyways). I saved the audio in a mp3 file, loaded it onto my mp3 player, took it out in the garage and fed it into the stereo via a cable from the earphone output. Result? Football in the garage, no more commercials! I can also listen to it in the car on long trips. Works great.

I built on this experience and did the same with TV football off-the-air with the Panasonic HD/DVD recorder. It allows me to easily remove all the commercials, cut the play time in half (4 hour football + commercials = 2 hrs just football), burn a DVD with it, then play it in the garage, or in the car. Or I can pull the audio off, convert to mp3, load it in the player and go that route.

My neighbors are quite surprised to hear football in my garage in Jan, Feb, March, April....

Now more & more sports shows broadcast on FM, which sounds better, so I record it off of there. It takes a bit of effort to do this, but I had a definite goal in mind, enjoyed learning about editing and connecting the dots and smile everytime I listen to a game with no commercials.

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
I do think the cable TV market model is changing, though. Time Warner Cable already has a Roku channel. .....The next logical step for TWC would be to make their channel a subscription channel on Roku, say for $20/month. I'd buy it. In fact, that's all I'd need. A Roku box, broadband service, and the TWC Roku channel. .... In fact, I could stay a TWC customer no matter WHERE I lived, even if TWC is not in the area. For example, Comcast is the cable provider where my in-laws live in Virginia. If we moved there, we wouldn't necessarily have to leave TWC, if we liked the programming lineup. We'd buy broadband from whomever the local provider is, and we'd buy "cable TV" from TWC via their Roku channel.

I think the industry is quickly moving in that direction, and I'm pleased to see that TWC has at least made baby steps in that area.

Here, here! Finally! Phone service is no longer tied to our street address and computers no longer just sit on desks, so why should TWC/Comcast/ATT/Verizon programming be tied to a box at home? It's already a subscription service...why not allow it to move with us like phone, internet & email now do?

Perhaps FINALLY we'll get to choose the content instead of having it PUSHED to us....along with lots of embedded junk.

Congrats on your challenge to this old-way-of-thinking. Time to "Think Different".


It may eventually happen, but it's a long way off. And the reason? Broadcasters. They dictate where and how the major TV providers can provide content. In other words, TWC/Comcast/Cox/etc has to go to the broadcaster for say, Disney Channel, and request that they be licensed to deliver it via smartphone/tablet in places other than in the home for where the subscription is. They can either say yay, nay, or yay but you have to pay us xx% more per subscriber to do it.

So the fact that it's just now starting up, don't blame your provider. Blame the broadcasters which have a chokehold on those providers and dictate when, where, and how it can be used.


Same thing applies, by the way to programming. The reason that you can't pick a la carte? The broadcasters don't allow it. They want the provider to pay a lot for a package of channels. Why do you think there was such a delay for TWC to carry the NFL network? Because Time Warner wanted to put it as part of a sports package that was pay extra, so it wouldn't need to raise rates on regular customers who don't care about it.

But NFLN insisted they wouldn't provide it if they didn't include it in the normal Digital package. In the end, it was a comprimise and the NFLN ended up on digital, and Redzone on the Sports pass.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick R


It may eventually happen, but it's a long way off. And the reason? Broadcasters. They dictate where and how the major TV providers can provide content.


Well, broadcasters are the over-the-air networks, I'm going to assume you mean cable networks like Discovery, TNN, etc. TWC is big enough to dictate their terms too.
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In other words, TWC/Comcast/Cox/etc has to go to the broadcaster for say, Disney Channel, and request that they be licensed to deliver it via smartphone/tablet in places other than in the home for where the subscription is. They can either say yay, nay, or yay but you have to pay us xx% more per subscriber to do it.


... and the writers, actors, and music producers guilds that are involved in that content have to give approval as well. It's a wicked mess. For example, "Wonder years" had a dickens of a time getting into home video release because of music rights. They replaced legit 60's rock with dumb sound-alikes at times. The guilds are rightly afraid of "IP streaming" and got their fingers into it before it took off big.
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So the fact that it's just now starting up, don't blame your provider. Blame the broadcasters which have a chokehold on those providers and dictate when, where, and how it can be used.


Well, cable providers, networks, and studios are vertically integrated. Time Warner, Warner Brothers are one media empire while NBC/Comcast/Universal is another. Fox/ NewsCorp/ DirecTV. The big players trade amongst themselves at a price advantage. My state still has/had a couple pockets with independent cable providers, and they have a hard time negotiating for content.

Quote:


Same thing applies, by the way to programming. The reason that you can't pick a la carte? The broadcasters don't allow it. They want the provider to pay a lot for a package of channels. Why do you think there was such a delay for TWC to carry the NFL network? Because Time Warner wanted to put it as part of a sports package that was pay extra, so it wouldn't need to raise rates on regular customers who don't care about it.

But NFLN insisted they wouldn't provide it if they didn't include it in the normal Digital package. In the end, it was a comprimise and the NFLN ended up on digital, and Redzone on the Sports pass.


yup this goes on and on and on. It's why I don't have cable.
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One could be an oddball and get a la carte with a (big) c-band satellite dish until extremely recently. You also get exclusive deals like NFL sunday ticket on DirecTV and "arrested development" only on Netflix. Speaking of, watch Netflix, Redbox, and Amazon streaming... They have future potential with strategic partnerships. They're just the right size to either get choked out of the party or leveraged into greatness.
 
Quote:
t may eventually happen, but it's a long way off. And the reason? Broadcasters. They dictate where and how the major TV providers can provide content. In other words, TWC/Comcast/Cox/etc has to go to the broadcaster for say, Disney Channel, and request that they be licensed to deliver it via smartphone/tablet in places other than in the home for where the subscription is. They can either say yay, nay, or yay but you have to pay us xx% more per subscriber to do it.

So the fact that it's just now starting up, don't blame your provider. Blame the broadcasters which have a chokehold on those providers and dictate when, where, and how it can be used.


Same thing applies, by the way to programming. The reason that you can't pick a la carte? The broadcasters don't allow it. They want the provider to pay a lot for a package of channels. Why do you think there was such a delay for TWC to carry the NFL network? Because Time Warner wanted to put it as part of a sports package that was pay extra, so it wouldn't need to raise rates on regular customers who don't care about it.

But NFLN insisted they wouldn't provide it if they didn't include it in the normal Digital package. In the end, it was a comprimise and the NFLN ended up on digital, and Redzone on the Sports pass.

Good point. I'm sure there are more players that make up the media-feeding-frenzy that is now the e-tainment empire.

Let them fight it out. I chose not to participate funding them a long time ago. That's why I watch rented movies from my library and get TV the old-fashioned (free) way: Outdoor antenna.
 
Update number...oh, I don't know how many it is now. We chose to bump back up to 15 MB/s, but not because of Netflix or Hulu. We did it because of Amazon of all things. I found that watching Amazon on the TV would effectively block out everything else. Netflix and Hulu seem to take next to nothing to stream, but Amazon must use some different programming, and it's quite a pig. If it weren't for Amazon, we'd still be on 3 MB/s.

So I called TWC and upgraded back to standard internet. I got the promotional price of $44.95/month (no contract, just a promotional price), so my bill is essentially unchanged over the basic internet that I had. The price will go up after 12 months, but we could re-evaluate at that time if we don't want to pay the new price.
 
She tried to sell me regular broadcast cable bundled with 20 MB/s internet for something like $68. I said that was too high for me; if you could sell it to me for $58, I'd buy it. She said that she couldn't go lower than the promotional price so I passed.
 
All you have to do is call your provider at the end of your promo price and say you're thinking of switching. They'll almost always put you on another promo.
 
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