Update on Cord Cutting (Cable TV) 2017 - 2020

[explanade]

+1

I've been reading about 5G. When fully deployed and mature (may take several more years), this will likely render wired ISPs (cable, DSL, fiber) obsolete for many consumers. There's no reason to pay for two internet providers, like most of us do today, when the mobile connection is faster than today's typical wired broadband connection.

I don't expect wired ISPs to go away, especially fiber, although not many people have access to fiber-to-the-home. But when 5G is fully deployed and mature, the wired providers will have to compete on price with 5G networks. I think this will end the price gouging for cord cutters who only want internet service from the cable company.

The economics of having Gigabit capability at home, without digging up streets and maintaining all the cables and equipment, is going to be very compelling. There will still be lots of new fiber and antennas required for 5G. But without wired connections to every home and business, the operating cost should be considerably lower.

No they plan to offer both home and mobile 5G.

Only the home service won’t have caps or throttling for video or certain other types of data.

 

[Chuckanut]

Update on Cord Cutting (Cable TV)

Only suckers price discretionary services based on cost. Pricing in a market is based on perceived value.

Yes.

Econ 101 - Price is a function of supply and demand.

 

[Cobra9777]

No they plan to offer both home and mobile 5G.

Only the home service won’t have caps or throttling for video or certain other types of data.

I'm not sure who "they" refers to in your post; or what is meant by "certain other types of data." Ultimately, there will be several players in the 5G space, with a variety of offerings, service levels, and price. We'll have to wait and see how it all plays out. But once the networks are fully deployed and mature, I'd be shocked if there's not at least 1 or 2 unlimited mobile plans that can also be used at home. If you have some authoritative information to the contrary, can you please share a link?

 

[audreyh1]

If the underlying costs between streaming and cable/satellite were the same there would be parity eventually. Fortunately the equipment and support costs for streaming are demonstrably lower and there’s more and more competition in streaming every day, so the streaming equilibrium will be higher than today but lower than cable/satellite. Content costs should be about the same.

Not to mention the lack of contracts for the consumer and the ability to subscribe and unsubscribe at will from a specific stream provider and use multiple stream providers.

 

[trapperjohn]

Probably the first thing the tech will do is hardwire to the router (or modem) and see if the download speed is OK with that connection (no Wi-Fi). Is 5 GHz Wi-Fi working for you? Can you transfer files between computers in the house (or Tablo recordings)?

I already have a cat5 cable running from the modem to the router.

Yes, I can record shows from Tablo on an external storage drive. (Not sure what that matters,)

 

[explanade]

I'm not sure who "they" refers to in your post; or what is meant by "certain other types of data." Ultimately, there will be several players in the 5G space, with a variety of offerings, service levels, and price. We'll have to wait and see how it all plays out. But once the networks are fully deployed and mature, I'd be shocked if there's not at least 1 or 2 unlimited mobile plans that can also be used at home. If you have some authoritative information to the contrary, can you please share a link?

Pretty sure AT&T and Verizon plan both home and Mobile 5G services.

Maybe there will be a bundle price.

Think about it, they charge for each phone you have on the plan now, though it’s suppose to be “unlimited data.”

Do you really imagine they will give that up and instead offer you one big pipe of data for both home and mobile?

You know that both c9mpanies sell both home and mobile data now right?

 

[bUU]

I'm skeptical of the "it will cost the same" argument.

To be honest, so am I: Whatever way we get our entertainment will probably cost more. Decade after decade, whatever discretionary purchases people were making have cost them more, as a percentage of total income, than the discretionary purchases people were making earlier. For example, between 1959 and 2000, "Recreational" services (as defined by the US BEA) increased by over 5% a year - a bigger average increase as compared to any other category (including "Medical care"!) Consumers keep thinking (or are misled into thinking) that they will eventually find a way to beat the market for discretionary purchase of products of services - not going to happen.

And competition is a myth in your view.

Not a myth - rather a dupe. The numbers don't lie. Who gets the money may change, but consumers will be paying more for discretionary purchases - unless of course the economy finally collapses entirely, in which case no one will be purchasing any discretionary anything.

Price is a function of supply and demand.

And when it comes to television, most pundits online say that the supply of high quality content is in decline. What's worse, the market is manipulating (increasing - see above) how much revenue they derive from consumers by forcing consumers to purchase more to get what they used to get by purchasing less in the past.

Think about it, they charge for each phone you have on the plan now, ...

Imagine that.

 

[trapperjohn]

Is your modem separate from your router or they both in the same box? If they are separate, what is the Ethernet cable between them? I have a separate router (Linksys EA7300 AC1750) and modem (netgear CM1000 DOCSIS 3.1) and upgraded from the cat 5e to a cat 7 Ethernet wire for that connection, and then I used a Cat 6 from the router to the Hopper. The cables me up to what I was paying for, as the Cat 5e Ethernet was not doing the job.

My cable modem is separate from my router. I have a cat5 cable connecting my modem to my router, then most devices that are attached to my router are attached wirelessly (including both both of my Amazon Firesticks attached to both TVs).

My cable modem is a Arris Surfboard SB6190 DOCSIS 3.0 modem capable of handling up to 1.4 Gbps. My router is a Netgear Nighthawk X6S AC4000 Tri-band router that handles up to 4.0 Gbps. Two of the three bands run at 5GHz. The other band runs at 2.4 GHz.

 

[target2019]

My cable modem is separate from my router. I have a cat5 cable connecting my modem to my router, then most devices that are attached to my router are attached wirelessly (including both both of my Amazon Firesticks attached to both TVs).

My cable modem is a Arris Surfboard SB6190 DOCSIS 3.0 modem capable of handling up to 1.4 Gbps. My router is a Netgear Nighthawk X6S AC4000 Tri-band router that handles up to 4.0 Gbps. Two of the three bands run at 5GHz. The other band runs at 2.4 GHz.

Is CAT 5 cable really that, or is it CAT 5E? Just an observation.

Comcast visit should be interesting.

 

[Chuckanut]

Has anybody cancelled their cable company TV service, and kept the internet service? did the companies come back with better offers to get you to return to TV service also?

I am asking for a friend who is paying to much for internet and TV service, IMO, and is looking for a way to get a lower cost package. He has no use for the sports channels which are required, and only watches about 5% of the total channels offered.

 

[timo2]

Has anybody cancelled their cable company TV service, and kept the internet service? did the companies come back with better offers to get you to return to TV service also?

I am asking for a friend who is paying to much for internet and TV service, IMO, and is looking for a way to get a lower cost package. He has no use for the sports channels which are required, and only watches about 5% of the total channels offered.

That is actually fairly common. People that keep their cable internet and change to Dish or Direct TV via satellite dish for instance. Also all the cord cutters need internet from somewhere.



I would recommend your friend check out the flex package with Dish. It is their cheapest package (no sports) and you can add various packages if you wish. By hooking your internet up to the dish hopper, you can also watch NetFlix and Youtube via the Dish Hopper.

 

[Cobra9777]

Pretty sure AT&T and Verizon plan both home and Mobile 5G services.

Maybe there will be a bundle price.

Think about it, they charge for each phone you have on the plan now, though it’s suppose to be “unlimited data.”

Do you really imagine they will give that up and instead offer you one big pipe of data for both home and mobile?

You know that both c9mpanies sell both home and mobile data now right?

I understand your point. But I'm thinking way beyond the initial 5G offerings from AT&T and Verizon, which are unlikely to deliver anything close to the full 5G potential in terms of capacity, bandwidth, and latency. Once that potential is realized, I think it's inevitable that people will start using their mobile 5G for home internet. Or providers will simply merge the two into a single offering.

It's VERY early in 5G deployment. Ultimately, there will be lots of 5G networks and the usual long list of MVNOs who buy and resell wholesale access. So it's also too early to know what kind of creative bundles, service tiers, and pricing options will be available once these networks are fully deployed and performing to specification. But I'm quite confident there will be unlimited anywhere plans.

5G offers considerably higher system capacity compared to 4G, plus ultra-low (1ms) latency and initial bandwidth similar to today's fastest wired consumer networks... and real-world expectations in the range of 10-20 Gbps. At that level of performance and capacity, some VERY interesting things will start to happen... like autonomous cars talking to each other in real-time, and IOT devices connecting directly to the 5G network instead of WiFi. Perhaps WiFi will be obsolete at some point. And yes, back to my original point, I think that's when wired ISPs will need to be more competitive on price for unbundled internet.

 

[MissMolly]

Has anybody cancelled their cable company TV service, and kept the internet service? did the companies come back with better offers to get you to return to TV service also?

I am asking for a friend who is paying to much for internet and TV service, IMO, and is looking for a way to get a lower cost package. He has no use for the sports channels which are required, and only watches about 5% of the total channels offered.

Yes, they do. It's been 2 years since we canceled cable. Still, every single month I get an offers from Spectum by both email and snail mail. Stop already! I'm not interested!

 

[Nick12]

I think my Cable provider is getting the message. I was paying $195 per month for Cable TV, internet and landline. Dropped Cable TV which lowered my bill to $78 for internet (60Mbps) and landline. Got myself a great antenna and an over-the-air DVR. Life is good, except I, seasonally, bought Sling TV to get more sports. Already had Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Last week, I found out that the cable provider had developed a Roku app. So now I have one cable provided set top box. Everywhere else, I am streaming live tv over my Rokus. Previously, I had to pay $7 per month for a set top box at each location. So now, I am getting 100 Mbps for internet, land line and the lowest tier of cable tv (125 channels). The 125 channels includes a bunch of sports channels.

Please, note that I have no connection to a cable company. I am just happy that I have gone from $195 to $105 per month. Your take?

Easy no brainer I use every year. Every year I call my local cable company and ask to speak to the retention dept. I ask if there are any special promotions that I can be part of because the monthly fees are very expensive and I may need to cancel my contract. Saves me $$$ in the long run and with that to invest more in the stock market.

 

[bUU]

Has anybody cancelled their cable company TV service, and kept the internet service? did the companies come back with better offers to get you to return to TV service also?

It works the other way, actually: Most of the time you'll find that there's a discount for Internet when packaged with television service: Cancel the television service, lose that discount.

 

[trapperjohn]

Is CAT 5 cable really that, or is it CAT 5E? Just an observation.

Comcast visit should be interesting.

I have a CAT 5 cable from my modem to my router. At some point I plan to replace it with a CAT 6 cable in the near future.

 

[steelyman]

Are cables marked as CAT-(whatever) or do you just make note of it when you buy? How do you know what you have?

 

[Perryinva]

I had triple play with Comcast and went to just internet, and they threw in the VOIP with it for $49/mo, (promotional for a year, normally $69 I think), down from the $184 I was paying. Never once sent me anything to get me back on cable. Added Hulu live TV for an extra $30 and I don’t miss it at all. I actually use the OTA HD a lot more than I thought. I also have an S+ for OTA DVR if I need it. Very rarely do.

It actually has “5e” or “6” printed on it if not, it is just 5.

 

[jim584672]

These telco and cableco companies do not reward loyalty, they punish it. Always bounce one off against the other to get their special deals.

 

[steelyman]

It actually has “5e” or “6” printed on it if not, it is just 5.

I’m guessing this is in reply to my question about Ethernet cables. If so, thanks! Next time I have a need to reboot the router (firmware update, etc), I’ll have a look.

 

[zinger1457]

These telco and cableco companies do not reward loyalty, they punish it. Always bounce one off against the other to get their special deals.

Yep, my promo rate of $60/mo with DirecTV ended a couple weeks ago and went up to $128/mo. Called DirectTV to cancel and they dropped my rate back down to $60 for another year. Next year I'll do the same thing and switch to another provider if needed, been doing it for the past 20 years.

 

[trapperjohn]

Are cables marked as CAT-(whatever) or do you just make note of it when you buy? How do you know what you have?

I just took note of the cable when I bought it. Actually, when I bought the cat-5, that was the only cat-anything that existed.

Just yesterday, I bought a cat-6 cable that I plan to replace my existing cat-5 cable with....soon.

 

[Bestwifeever]

We pruned the cord a couple of months ago by getting a new subscriber rate for a bit fewer channels and faster Internet (jury’s out on that one), so saving $1000 a year over the over-priced amount we had let our bill creep up to. Probably go Roku and Internet on the big TV when this rate expires, which I love on our second TV.

Yesterday a “free” new in-the-box iPad (this model’s value is $329 at Apple store, $279 at Costco) from Comcast was delivered to our house—we qualified for the incentive deal too, which I wasn’t sure about. I was waiting for the new iPad mini that is rumored to be coming out this year, but this will do just fine.

 

[REWahoo]

We purchased and installed a 65" 4K UHD TV yesterday, replacing our 55" HD TV. In a nod to the "blow that dough" thread, we didn't need it but simply wanted it. This is in anticipation of the long awaited (243 months and counting) availability of reliable fiber broadband from our Rural Electric Co-op, which is currently under construction (finally!).

We hope to be hooked up by the end of February, have the cord cut, and rely on OTA and streaming as our only sources of video entertainment.

Goodbye satellite.

 

[Bestwifeever]

We purchased and installed a 65" 4K UHD TV yesterday, replacing our 55" HD TV. In a nod to the "blow that dough" thread, we didn't need it but simply wanted it. This is in anticipation of the long awaited (243 months and counting) availability of reliable fiber broadband from our Rural Electric Co-op, which is currently under construction (finally!).

We hope to be hooked up by the end of February, have the cord cut, and rely on OTA and streaming as our only sources of video entertainment.

Goodbye satellite.

Yay! Our Hill Country good friends now have that installed too—they’re so made at the service provider for taking so long to do it that they say they won’t switch now. I give them a month