Any Cord-Cutters here? (2024)

berth said:

Verizon is announcing rollouts of 5G wireless next year (not here, of course...). At this point, something like this is probably my only hope for getting something better than I have.

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We have Common networks, which is a 5ghz mesh network, in Alameda. Unfortunately, they have some technical restrictions that don't work for me, like no port forwarding...

You're basically on a shared LAN across Alameda and they act as the WAN. I'd have no real control over my own LAN.

I run my own media server that friends and family use. Not to mention I use it when traveling. No port forwarding breaks that.

Can only access my home network via a reverse ssh tunnel.

No static IP.

Great idea, but not there for my needs. Perhaps other 5g networks will be better.

We've been cord-cut for about a month now. Here's a follow-up.

I was unaware that Comcast residential Internet plans have a monthly data cap (1 terabyte). If you go over the cap you pay significantly more. It's very easy for a family to go over the cap.

Streaming eats up data. Comcast keeps track of your daily data usage and you can see your current running total in your Comcast account. You can also see previous months' usage (before you started streaming). We were using less than 10% of the cap without streaming, and on our way to over 100% with streaming.

You can have Comcast send warnings to you when your data usage reaches certain levels: at 50% then every 10%.

Your screen resolution can make a huge difference in your data usage. 1080p resolution uses almost twice the data that 720p resolution uses. And the new 4K resolution will surely guarantee you'll need an (expensive) unlimited data plan. If your hdtv supports 1080p but you can't tell the difference from 720p (because of the size of your screen and your distance from it) you can lower your data usage a lot by setting your device to force 720p. See the following link:

https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-...tell-the-difference-between-hdtv-resolutions/

Another thing you can do is control your router's bandwidth for specific devices. However, you'll notice degradation in picture quality if you lower a device's bandwidth too much, especially when there's a lot of movement (sports). This might be the more complicated approach, but it gives the fine control needed to guarantee your household's data usage will fall below the monthly cap. And, depending on your router, you can disable bandwidth control for just your device while the game is on.

1tb is impressive...
Is that with 4k streaming? Also how many hours a day of streaming that translates too.

I have been streaming for few years now and I think other then couple months of 150gig binge watching Dr who on Amazon prime have been staying under 100 gig.
I use my phone for hot spotting and listening to music. Music is streamed pretty much all day.

UDRider said:

1tb is impressive...
Is that with 4k streaming? Also how many hours a day of streaming that translates too.

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We have two hdtv's, one is 1080p and the other is 720p. And both might be on at the same time. As for calculating how much data that is, it depends not only on the device's resolution, but also on what you're watching: Some channels are 720p no matter the device's resolution, and different channels have different compression techniques with different quality. And if you're watching on a device that doesn't support hdtv but only supports Standard Definition resolution (sdtv) then you probably couldn't go beyond the cap even if you tried.

I almost forgot to mention: When you decide to stop watching make sure to stop the device/application that is doing the actual streaming (in my case it's a Roku), In other words, don't just turn off the tv. Make sure to turn off the streaming device correctly by stoping it's application. The Roku can be set to automatically start the next program. So even though the tv is off, you're still streaming. Think DVR running forever.

oaklandish said:

I use a hacked firestick and stream everything from movies that are out now in theaters, to premium cable channels to live sprots. free.

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This is what I use too. Get a Firestick or whatever streaming media device and install kodi, once kodi is installed then install covenant, exodus or elysium

Abacinator said:

Comcast broadband user here. We exceed 2 terabytes/month pretty regularly. Never been charged extra.

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You will soon. They've been rolling out data caps.

Abacinator said:

Comcast broadband user here. We exceed 2 terabytes/month pretty regularly. Never been charged extra.

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Once there is a cap you get two months of grace before the penalties start adding on. Then it's $10 for each 50GB over. And unless you have your account set to send you alerts you could have already used your grace period and are about to be billed for a terabyte over (1TB/50GB * $10 = ~ $205).

Hoppalong said:

I almost forgot to mention: When you decide to stop watching make sure to stop the device/application that is doing the actual streaming (in my case it's a Roku), In other words, don't just turn off the tv. Make sure to turn off the streaming device correctly by stoping it's application. The Roku can be set to automatically start the next program. So even though the tv is off, you're still streaming. Think DVR running forever.

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Could that have contributed going over 1T?

UDRider said:

Could that have contributed going over 1T?

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Almost certainly.

I suspect that a single user with only one screen who spends an average amount of time viewing hdtv content should easily stay under the cap. But if your household has multiple screens with multiple users you could easily go over.

If you're streaming music with no active video then your datarate should be about an order of magnitude less.

Has anyone noticed a drastic reduction in internet speed on Xfinity since the Net Neutrality thing went down? We pay for 100mbps and usually got at least 80. Now we are lucky to get 6 mbps. Programs keep dropping out and freezing. It sucks.

Mad

Maddevill said:

Has anyone noticed a drastic reduction in internet speed on Xfinity since the Net Neutrality thing went down? We pay for 100mbps and usually got at least 80. Now we are lucky to get 6 mbps. Programs keep dropping out and freezing. It sucks.

Mad

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Unpossible. They PROMISED they wouldn't do that.

Hoppalong said:

Almost certainly.

I suspect that a single user with only one screen who spends an average amount of time viewing hdtv content should easily stay under the cap. But if your household has multiple screens with multiple users you could easily go over.

If you're streaming music with no active video then your datarate should be about an order of magnitude less.

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It would be relatively easy for a single user to go over 1TB. Nobody has just 1 device, anyway.

Maddevill said:

Has anyone noticed a drastic reduction in internet speed on Xfinity since the Net Neutrality thing went down? We pay for 100mbps and usually got at least 80. Now we are lucky to get 6 mbps. Programs keep dropping out and freezing. It sucks.

Mad

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I'm sure the timing is a coincidence. I don't think Comcast cut everyone's internet speed indiscriminately by 96% the day after the vote. I would start troubleshooting elsewhere.

There are a few online data calculators that can give you a rough idea of what your data usage will be:

https://www.att.com/esupport/data-calculator/index.jsp

On Comcast you can login to your account and SEE your running total, updated every 24 hours: No Guessing!

We're regularly around 600 GB a month in usage. But just bought a 4k TV when our last one sh*t the bed. For december we were over 800GB, with 1 of our 2 overages already used.

I torrent a lot of stuff, but that's never been a big problem. It also keeps from using up our data when my daughter watches the same movie/tv show time and again.

The cap is total bullsh*t and I am waiting for a better service to come to my area to get rid of comcast. Currently no one can match the 250mbps package that I have, of which I consistently see 230-ish mbps after a router and AP upgrade, non-comcast equipment.

Hoppalong said:

I almost forgot to mention: When you decide to stop watching make sure to stop the device/application that is doing the actual streaming (in my case it's a Roku), In other words, don't just turn off the tv. Make sure to turn off the streaming device correctly by stoping it's application. The Roku can be set to automatically start the next program. So even though the tv is off, you're still streaming. Think DVR running forever.

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This! I was watching some music videos on Vevo and turned off the TV. The next day I turned it back on (thankfully, since it’s our least used TV) and oops the stream was still going.