Update on Cord Cutting (Cable TV) - 2021 version

tb001 said:
Is t mobile providing hard wired internet service in your area, or is this through a cellular modem?

We have the option of spectrum or cox and we’re doing the happy dance last summer when we were able to kill cox and switch to spectrum, so it’s all dependent on your last experience! :)
Click to expand...

Yes, I guess it is a cellular modem. It takes the cell signal and turns it into wifi. The device says gateway on it so I called it a gateway.

Spectrum's service has been nearly perfect and I had absolutely no complaints. My complaint is with their constant price increases for exactly the same service. They continue to raise rates on a regular basis simply because they can. There is virtually no competition in my neighborhood. CenturyLink is the other provider and they only offer overpriced DSL. Thank goodness T-Mobile decided to start in our area to put a chink in Spectrum's near monopoly. I am a long-time T-Mobile cell customer and I have been checking regularly to see if I could get their internet service.
 
Interesting thing I found about the TABLO Quad DVR. I recorded Saturday night's NFL game (2 reasons, nights are too valuable to be watching football and the 3 hour broadcast plays in the actual 60 minutes -- sans commercials).

On our main TV, I opened TABLO with Fire TV Cube and selected the game. On our kitchen TV, I opened TABLO with ROKU and selected the game. Then wife and I pressed "watch" on both TVs at the same time. Surprise! The game played (in sync) on both TVs. I would not have thought it possible for two (or more?) devices to access the same saved file at the same time.

Hmmm. Just a thought... I will, later, do the same thing with last night's game but not start them in sync. TABLO DVR may simply broadcast to all connected devices at the same time. Either way, that's kinda neat.
 
Last edited:
RonBoyd said:
Interesting thing I found about the TABLO Quad DVR. I recorded Saturday night's NFL game (2 reasons, nights are too valuable to be watching football and the 3 hour broadcast plays in the actual 60 minutes -- sans commercials).

On our main TV, I opened TABLO with Fire TV Cube and selected the game. On our kitchen TV, I opened TABLO with ROKU and selected the game. Then wife and I pressed "watch" on both TVs at the same time. Surprise! The game played (in sync) on both TVs. I would not have thought it possible for two (or more?) devices to access the same saved file at the same time.

Hmmm. Just a thought... I will, later, do the same thing with last night's game but not start them in sync. TABLO DVR may simply broadcast to all connected devices at the same time. Either way, that's kind neat.
Click to expand...
I have a Tablo 2 tuner(older one) and use all ROKU devices. I just tried a program I recorded last night and was able to start all 3 a couple minutes apart and start each one from the start. I also tried on one to see if I could see live TV when streaming 2 feeds to other TV's, no problem. I guess the streaming of recorded content does not use a tuner, so your wi-fi speed will probably determine how many you can watch at same time.
 
Dave J said:
I have a Tablo 2 tuner(older one) and use all ROKU devices. I just tried a program I recorded last night and was able to start all 3 a couple minutes apart and start each one from the start. I also tried on one to see if I could see live TV when streaming 2 feeds to other TV's, no problem. I guess the streaming of recorded content does not use a tuner, so your wi-fi speed will probably determine how many you can watch at same time.
Click to expand...

Definitely a selling point.
 
Buckeye said:
Yes, I guess it is a cellular modem. It takes the cell signal and turns it into wifi. The device says gateway on it so I called it a gateway.

Spectrum's service has been nearly perfect and I had absolutely no complaints. My complaint is with their constant price increases for exactly the same service. They continue to raise rates on a regular basis simply because they can. There is virtually no competition in my neighborhood. CenturyLink is the other provider and they only offer overpriced DSL. Thank goodness T-Mobile decided to start in our area to put a chink in Spectrum's near monopoly. I am a long-time T-Mobile cell customer and I have been checking regularly to see if I could get their internet service.
Click to expand...

I understand your frustration with Spectrum's constant increases. Mine was just raised $5 a month too. We have plenty of competition here but doesn't seem to stop it.

Their service has also been nearly perfect. I did check out T mobile internet service as it recently became available here too. The bandwidth is not enough for my household.

I really have been waiting for Google Fiber Internet. It is available in Raleigh but not in my neighborhood. I beginning to doubt it will ever become available.

Ironically I'm probably going to give Spectrum more business. I've been doing some research on mobile plans and I like what they have. We don't use a lot of mobile data (mostly wifi) and currently paying $70 a month (for 2 of us) to T Mobile.

Spectrum's plan is $14 a month for 1 gig including all taxes. When I researched how much data we're using it is 1/3 of a gig per month. This is a no brainer PLUS they're using Verizon's lines, which in my area offers better coverage. This will save us $504 per year. Until, of course, when Spectrum raises their rate again.

I've decided once a year I will research all options available for internet and mobile. I will never go back to cable tv, just use them for internet.
 
Last edited:
We don't watch a huge amount of TV and haven't been able to totally cut the cord yet, but are finding CBS All Access to be a pretty good service in terms of content. Lots of old shows including some of our favorite comedies like Wings, Caroline in the City and Cheers. Good current shows like Seal Team (really good show - traditional Americanism which we sure need nowadays). All seasons of Blue Bloods with Selleck. Lots of Star Trek content. Old series like Perry Mason. Basically a lot of good old content mixed in with the new shows.

We also have Starz to watch Outlander, but with only 4 episodes left to go in Season 5 will drop that once done.

I'm considering Disney+ and will possibly also add Hulu (since they have a bundle) just to get the Marvel and Pixar content and ABC's Once Upon a Time. (We'd started watching that years ago and gave up after things got weird around S4..might be worth finishing..)

Peacock looks interesting with at least some of the old Law & Order..I 'think' the earlier seasons (which IMHO are the good ones) are not yet available due to some licensing issues with series creator Dick Wolf..but would love to watch those.

The one thing we can't get any longer is one of our all time favorite shows - Cold Case. Roku used to carry it (ad supported) and dropped it end of year. Rumor is that it might get added to CBS All Access when that's rebranded as Paramount Plus later this year, but no official confirmation on that yet that I'm aware of..

Net net - all these streaming services sure add up in terms of cost!! If there are certain shows you like, no doubt they'll be spread across services instead of everything being available through one or two main services like Hulu, Prime or Netflix.
 
Dave J said:
I have a Tablo 2 tuner(older one) and use all ROKU devices. I just tried a program I recorded last night and was able to start all 3 a couple minutes apart and start each one from the start. I also tried on one to see if I could see live TV when streaming 2 feeds to other TV's, no problem. I guess the streaming of recorded content does not use a tuner, so your wi-fi speed will probably determine how many you can watch at same time.
Click to expand...
It's a programming problem, not a hardware problem. It is just packets of bits distributed from the hard drive to different IP addresses. Just like 800 of us can view the forum at the same time.
 
JoeWras said:
It's a programming problem, not a hardware problem. It is just packets of bits distributed from the hard drive to different IP addresses. Just like 800 of us can view the forum at the same time.
Click to expand...

It's still something I had not run into before (TABLO delivering same data to multi-devices simultaneously). Is this commonly found with other Box's DVR playback... or is it unique to TABLO?
 
24601NoMore said:
...Net net - all these streaming services sure add up in terms of cost!! If there are certain shows you like, no doubt they'll be spread across services instead of everything being available through one or two main services like Hulu, Prime or Netflix.
Click to expand...

Yes, but the nice thing is that you can add or delete them at your pleasure and control your costs.
 
RonBoyd said:
It's still something I had not run into before (TABLO delivering same data to multi-devices simultaneously). Is this commonly found with other Box's DVR playback... or is it unique to TABLO?
Click to expand...

Back when I had Uverse, the main DVR box was a server to all other boxes in the network. Any TV could watch any program, or the same program. It appeared to be single threaded, i.e. a "simultaneous" distribution was really multiple streams that were slightly off.

I don't know if Tablo does this, but true simultaneous distribution can be done using IP multicast. (More here.)

The first iterations of Uverse that were done on the old copper wire used multicast. Each neighborhood had a DSLAM-like device that would multicast streams to you and your neighbors. This way, streams were not terminated all the way to the central office. Anyway, blah, blah, with more bandwidth and higher powered servers, a lot of this has gone away. This way you can start a show any time you like.
 
JoeWras said:
I don't know if Tablo does this, but true simultaneous distribution can be done using IP multicast.
Click to expand...

I am unsure. What I was describing is playing a locally recorded video on multiple devices each independently and simultaneously. In other words each device can pause, fast forward, rewind, etc. without affecting the other device's playback while using the same file.
 
RonBoyd said:
I am unsure. What I was describing is playing a locally recorded video on multiple devices each independently and simultaneously. In other words each device can pause, fast forward, rewind, etc. without affecting the other device's playback while using the same file.
Click to expand...
Gotcha. All that mumbo jumbo I blathered about doesn't apply. Most modern DVRs can do what you describe. This is a change from when they first came out years ago and playback was limited to one device per DVR.
 
SiliconDust now has a HD Homerun model with ATSC 3.0 tuners...for those near Raleigh or other major cities which already have some ATSC 3.0 broadcasts.
 
ncbill said:
SiliconDust now has a HD Homerun model with ATSC 3.0 tuners...for those near Raleigh or other major cities which already have some ATSC 3.0 broadcasts.
Click to expand...

As soon as Washington DC has ATSC 3.0 i will be ordering the new HD Homerun. Hopefully soon.
 
REWahoo said:
Have you plugged your address into https://www.antennasdirect.com/transmitter-locator.html ?

Be sure to use "advanced search", not just your zip code.

The results it shows for me (23 transmitters, 60+ channels) is an accurate list of what I actually get with my OTA antenna.
Click to expand...

We cut cable about 20 years ago, got a set of rabbit ears antenna that we got at a garage sale and could get about a dozen channels with that ,added a $10 antenna booster and can get about 20-30 stations now.

We had netflix for a couple years but dropped it as we saw most of what was of interest to us. I would say what we watch mostly now is "PLUTO TV" It has dozens of stations and weathernation which i prefer over weather channel. Already paying for internet so just go to pluto site and more chanells than we know what to do with. My wife does like old movies and tv from 40's 50' 60's and 70's on "Public domain television" that is on "You Tube".
 
Converted 2 tv's a while ago to fire sticks, where I just watch Netflix and YouTube. Brought the old equipment back to xfinity.

Yesterday went to Xfinity store because although they acknowledged the equipment return, they didn't reduce my bill.

After taking off $ for reducing no of tv's, they offered me a 2 year tv/phone/internet deal for another $30 less per month, and gave me a new modem capable off higher internet speeds. I took the deal because xfinity is the only high speed internet available, I still need a land line, and DW is addicted to the way the Xfinity tv works.
 
11522914 said:
I understand your frustration with Spectrum's constant increases. Mine was just raised $5 a month too. We have plenty of competition here but doesn't seem to stop it.

Their service has also been nearly perfect. I did check out T mobile internet service as it recently became available here too. The bandwidth is not enough for my household.

I really have been waiting for Google Fiber Internet. It is available in Raleigh but not in my neighborhood. I beginning to doubt it will ever become available.

Ironically I'm probably going to give Spectrum more business. I've been doing some research on mobile plans and I like what they have. We don't use a lot of mobile data (mostly wifi) and currently paying $70 a month (for 2 of us) to T Mobile.

Spectrum's plan is $14 a month for 1 gig including all taxes. When I researched how much data we're using it is 1/3 of a gig per month. This is a no brainer PLUS they're using Verizon's lines, which in my area offers better coverage. This will save us $504 per year. Until, of course, when Spectrum raises their rate again.

I've decided once a year I will research all options available for internet and mobile. I will never go back to cable tv, just use them for internet.
Click to expand...

The T-Mobile internet has been flawless for our first week. Our speeds run between 20 Mbps during the day to over 50 Mbs in the evening. The monthly charge is added to my T-Mobile phone bill which makes my phone bill look a little ugly...but then remember I am saving $25 per month overall and I'm not paying Spectrum!

That's an awesome price for mobile service. That's an extremely low amount of data. You don't use your phone for GPS? The rate is probably just a one year teaser rate although easy to take advantage for the first year and switch, as required, since you get to keep your phone number.
 
Ronstar said:
Converted 2 tv's a while ago to fire sticks, where I just watch Netflix and YouTube. Brought the old equipment back to xfinity.

Yesterday went to Xfinity store because although they acknowledged the equipment return, they didn't reduce my bill.

After taking off $ for reducing no of tv's, they offered me a 2 year tv/phone/internet deal for another $30 less per month, and gave me a new modem capable off higher internet speeds. I took the deal because xfinity is the only high speed internet available, I still need a land line, and DW is addicted to the way the Xfinity tv works.
Click to expand...

Well, after a year when your teaser rate disappears you can quit for a month and come back as a new customer again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Gumby
  • Sticky
Best CD, MM Rates & Bank Special Deals Thread 2024 - Please post updates here
10 11 12
Replies
289
Views
34K
Dash man
Dash man
Midpack
  • Poll
Poll: When Did You Cut the Cord (Cable and/or Satellite)?
3 4 5
Replies
106
Views
7K
Skitso999
S
SecondCor521
User CP not working right with E-R mailbag post
Replies
8
Views
672
Dtail
D
M
Fixed Income Investing II
28 29 30
Replies
737
Views
89K
Texas Proud
T
Ready-4-ER-at-14
  • Poll
Poll about do you like to dance? men vs ladies
2
Replies
47
Views
2K
harllee
H

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom