I want online content NOW!!

[Snake Doctor]

I noticed that my AT&T bill, which is a bundled service, just jumped making it $200 a month plus taxes. That is a $70 jump and I am not doing it. I want to get away from high monthly fees but continue getting the same services and HD that I have always enjoyed. The problem is I don’t know how but here is what I am considering.

Get rid of the landline go solely with cell phones which will save $30.00 a month. Cut back to the bare minimum on cable but be able to get HD. I may switch internet providers since I can get faster service at a lower price for one year.

I have Netflix which, I really enjoy and of course that is steamed, l currently watch PBS, food network, ESPN, CBS, NBC, ABC, HGTV and sports (NFL). I know there are options but I don’t understand them or what they provide and/or if they are worth the costs. I am going to test drive Hulu. I Is Yidio on line for pcs and mobiles only?

If I drop cable TV completely will I still received some channels and be able to stream in HD? This last question come from the results of two people telling me they dropped their cable TV service, kept the internet service, and as a result they still get several cable channels………is that a fact?

I have read most of the posts here and it seems there are a lot of different options, but again I don’t understand the hardware/software that you are talking about since I have always had a provider to take care of everything for one low, getting higher and higher price.

Maybe just moving back to DIRECTV or TW is the better solution.

Do you have any suggestions?

 

[Flint]

I cut all my services. I only get internet from TWC and watch video from YouTube, Netflix, Hulu+, and Amazon. I get 90% of the content I want, all in glorious HD.

What I don't get... local news broadcasts, cable news, most sports (live).

It is pretty good and I am very happy with it.

I went from paying $21 for a land line and $199 for TWC cable + internet service to paying about $100 a month for internet plus Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Netflix.

 

[Botch]

SD, you're right where I was six months ago, $207/mo with Comcast. I intended to go with OTA and then a separate internet provider, but learned I don't have any reception in my location. So, now I'm getting TV with Dish, internet with a small local service, phone via internet (Ooma) and spending about $100/mo for all. I already had the $100/yr Amazon Prime for shipping, have been using it for a lot of viewing, like The Daily Show.

 

[Snake Doctor]

So I see a special for TW $114.95 a month locked in for a year. I call and find out that is right 275 channels including my choice of a movie channel like HBO/Showtime, 20mbs internet. :banana-rock:

I can live that so I give him the sign up information, at the very end the guy tells me everything I will get...me a big smile on my face ...and then he says okay that will be $165 a month. WHAT?? :scared-eek: So he explains modems, DVRs, plus other stuff, I said nope forget it. He said we have been talking for a long time, tell me what would make you happy? I replied $114.95 a month.

Guess what they wouldn't give it to me for $114.95 a month. I am still exploring options right so far it looks as if I am going to follow the "Botch and Flint" road.

 

[Haywood]

What pisses me off is when I am paying for 75Mb download speeds and honestly getting close to that, but still get a shitty streaming experience because the ISP is intentionally throttling it in order to extort money from content providers like Netflix.

 

[Flint]

Extort? That's pretty big language.

If a ISP spends billions of dollars building the most cutting edge network on the planet with expectations that they will pay for it over a few years before needing another upgrade then a month after firing it up they find Netflix and Hulu are consuming 95% of that brand new network capacity, what are they supposed to do? It isn't like Netflix is paying for that bandwidth utilization, they pretty much get it for free. Yet the video content greatly hinders all the other services the ISP has committed to provide.

I wouldn't call that extortion.

 

[Haywood]

Extort? That's pretty big language.

If a ISP spends billions of dollars building the most cutting edge network on the planet with expectations that they will pay for it over a few years before needing another upgrade then a month after firing it up they find Netflix and Hulu are consuming 95% of that brand new network capacity, what are they supposed to do? It isn't like Netflix is paying for that bandwidth utilization, they pretty much get it for free. Yet the video content greatly hinders all the other services the ISP has committed to provide.

I wouldn't call that extortion.

Netflix is not the customer. I am the customer. I pay for the bandwidth. I do not pay the ISP to intentionally throttle traffic to degrade my experience so that they can force content providers to pay them kickbacks to not throttle their content.

 

[Flint]

So what does the ISP do when every single customer is pulling multiple HD feeds simultaneously from Netflix and there isn't enough wire and technology available to support it.

I realize you think all that matters is you, but there is only one highway with limited bandwidth that you and all your neighbors share.

 

[Haywood]

So what does the ISP do when every single customer is pulling multiple HD feeds simultaneously from Netflix and there isn't enough wire and technology available to support it.

I realize you think all that matters is you, but there is only one highway with limited bandwidth that you and all your neighbors share.

That is simply not the case. The performance was fine until they intentionally slowed it down. If streaming were slower because of a bandwidth bottleneck, you might have a point, but that is not what is happening.

 

[Flint]

How do you know they were throttling Netflix?

I once saw a network usage report where Netflix changed source servers (moving from a more expensive caching host to a more affordable one further away from the target audience) and the performance slowed for the area where the ISP suddenly got complaints. It was Netflix's fault, but the ISP took all the support calls.

We have a problem with this. Disney, ESPN, HBO, and other content providers want to sign deals to ensure they and the network will meet the users' expectations, but Netflix wants it all few and assumes that if there are performance issues they shouldn't have to deal with it.

If every provider is willing to pay to ensure good performance, why should Netflix get the same treatment?

That said, there was one case of a carrier throttling Netflix for about a week, and it made the industry news in a big way. Perhaps you were a part of that - but it ended.

 

[Huey]

It's funny, before Netflix streaming took off big, we would all complain that Netflix would throttle us in shipping out dvd's and blurays, and now the shoe is on the other foot. Either way, it's us as consumers that get the short end of the stick in all of this. Although I can't complain at all about the streaming service from Netflix or it's quality at this point.