OT: Data Usage caps by ISP's, fighting back against cord cutters

[huskypantz]

The cable/ISP companies will continue to game the public to make their money. Next on the list: if you stream too much, you will pay.....unless you pay for TV too. This is the natural progression - unless cable and internet providers and completely separated, you'll see these tactics continue.

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/ATTs-Caps-Are-a-Giant-Con-and-an-Attack-on-Cord-Cutters-136616

 

[noeynox]

The cable/ISP companies will continue to game the public to make their money. Next on the list: if you stream too much, you will pay.....unless you pay for TV too. This is the natural progression - unless cable and internet providers and completely separated, you'll see these tactics continue.

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/ATTs-Caps-Are-a-Giant-Con-and-an-Attack-on-Cord-Cutters-136616

I get this unlimited data mi-fi for work. It would cost about 30 a month if I got a personal one and supposedly powers like 12 devices. Its 4g LTE. Could that be used to stream?

 

[whaler11]

Wait the same companies that sell cable sell the internet. I wonder what is going to happen?

 

[billybud]

I get this unlimited data mi-fi for work. It would cost about 30 a month if I got a personal one and supposedly powers like 12 devices. Its 4g LTE. Could that be used to stream?

My 4g LTE streams at 12-16 MBPS...yes you can stream HD sports with little or no buffering. With my new 4K TV, and more 4K content coming on line in the year or two ahead, you need 25 MBPS minimum to stream the 4K HD.

 

[Chuck]

My 4g LTE streams at 12-16 MBPS...yes you can stream HD sports with little or no buffering. With my new 4K TV, and more 4K content coming on line in the year or two ahead, you need 25 MBPS minimum to stream the 4K HD.

Also, most of the cellular providers slow your data when you go over a certain amount, even if the plan is technically unlimited. So if you hit 5g or something, you can continue to use data for "free" but its throttled.

 

[noeynox]

My 4g LTE streams at 12-16 MBPS...yes you can stream HD sports with little or no buffering. With my new 4K TV, and more 4K content coming on line in the year or two ahead, you need 25 MBPS minimum to stream the 4K HD.

So should we be expecting these mi-fi devices to start being upgraded to support 4k soon? That thing works like an absolute champ for work. Like Whaler, I expected there to be eventual blowback for the cord cutting via raising the fee on your internet. Those mi-fi devices from sprint, T-mobile, and att&t could be away to not get bent over a barrel in the future. I would worry that they would eventually collude and make that service as expensive as what the main ISPs are charging.

 

[dayooper]

So should we be expecting these mi-fi devices to start being upgraded to support 4k soon? That thing works like an absolute champ for work. Like Whaler, I expected there to be eventual blowback for the cord cutting via raising the fee on your internet. Those mi-fi devices from sprint, T-mobile, and att&t could be away to not get bent over a barrel in the future. I would worry that they would eventually collude and make that service as expensive as what the main ISPs are charging.

Expect? It's already in place. When I look at my Comcast account, it shows us the data used and what the limit is. The limit has been suspended, but we go over it and would have to pay extra every month.

 

[whaler11]

So should we be expecting these mi-fi devices to start being upgraded to support 4k soon? That thing works like an absolute champ for work. Like Whaler, I expected there to be eventual blowback for the cord cutting via raising the fee on your internet. Those mi-fi devices from sprint, T-mobile, and att&t could be away to not get bent over a barrel in the future. I would worry that they would eventually collude and make that service as expensive as what the main ISPs are charging.

My mi-fi is $30 a month for 4GB. Seems pretty doubtful they will save the day...

 

[billybud]

The problem with streaming HD sports is the amount of megabytes used....A HD 2 hour game will eat up 3600 megabytes on a TV...about 2900 on a tablet.

 

[noeynox]

My mi-fi is $30 a month for 4GB. Seems pretty doubtful they will save the day...

I'm not thinking about saving the day per se. I'm not cord cutting cutting. I just bought a nice 4k 65 inch. I want my directTV quality picture.

Cord cutting is here to stay, you simply have a generation behind us that are not going to pay for cable. Sounds like in return the cable companies will charge the rest of us increased prices to make up for the loss of those subscribers. There will be in time a rush to get out of paying BS higher fees for internet as well, though that is trickier than cable.

 

[upstater]

What about gamers? How much bandwidth do they use?

 

[huskypantz]

What about gamers? How much bandwidth do they use?

Extrapolated Data Usage over 1-hour:

• Killzone: Shadow Fall – 194.52MB
• Battlefield 4 – 66.88MB
• FIFA 14 – 26.7MB

Not that much in comparison to video.

 

[tjhusky]

Kansas City was one of the Google fiber pilot city. It has spawned competition with multiple providers sell 1 Gb speeds for 70/month.

CT is trying to kickstart Gigabit speeds. Detractors don't get that the prices we pay now and the proposed Caps for dsl and cable are a result of 0 competition (or they have a.vested interest in preventing competition).

CT Gig Project: Plan To Offer Statewide Internet 100 Times Faster Than Average Service

 

[huskypantz]

If CT laid the fiber, they'd own it and be able to lease it out to ISP's or form their own. The detractors work or lobby for the legacy ISP/cable companies and this is a fight to avoid competition. At work, we have 10GB dark fiber between each of our (larger) facilities. While that's a much larger bandwidth than what's being discussed, we were only able to establish 10GB between Fall River, MA and Boston in the past year or so and the path is far from a straight line. These infrastructure improvements are nice-to-have now but will probably soon move to being necessary. I hope this goes through.