Author Topic: Questions about cutting the cord and Internet speed  (Read 6582 times)

Exprezchef

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Questions about cutting the cord and Internet speed
« on: January 19, 2014, 05:18:41 PM »
So I finally got my wife on board with "cutting the cable". My current internet speed is 25 Mbps and was considering stepping up to the 50 Mbps option which is $10.00 more per month. We are currently on a 25 Mbps package and rarely have download issues. The only time I notice it is if my son is gaming online on his Xbox and my wife is watching a Netflix movie. There is a noticeable slow down on the computer download speed and the steaming is slower. However, if I cut the cable and start using my internet more often instead of cable, will I notice much more lag and therefore step up to the 50 Mbps? The second question is about outdoor HD antennas. Per the www.Antennaweb.org web site, I would need a large directional antenna w/ pre-amp (I live in a rural area with a lot of mountains).  Can I just disconnect the coaxial cable connector on the side of my house and connect my antenna to that so it will work for both of our TV's or will I need hook up a separate antenna for each TV? Any recommendations for an outdoor large directional HD antenna w/ pre-amp?

This is the plan:

Cancel the landline Phone, internet and cable bundle package and switch to internet only. Buy a Roku box and sign up for Hulu Plus. I already have streaming Netflix. After the initial outlay for the Roku and HD outdoor antenna, I will be saving approximately $105.00 per month. Am I missing anything? 

Daley

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Re: Questions about cutting the cord and Internet speed
« Reply #1 on: January 19, 2014, 05:34:26 PM »
Give the first seven posts of the Superguide a read (link in the sigline).

The problem you have is likely your router and not the internet speed. After all, 3Mbps is more than fine for video streaming and online gaming doesn't require much bandwidth. If you're having latency issues with your setup and a 25Mbps connection, the problem is most likely with your network configuration and equipment, not your ISPs throughput. This post of mine might be of value to you - Ask Daley: cable modems and routers.

You can use a single directional aerial to power multiple televisions as you've asked, but every split will result in signal strength degradation. Tuck a masthead amp in line as close to the antenna as possible, and consider replacing the splitter with a newer one (check specs for signal loss). TV Fool is also a valuable resource for antenna setups and equipment.

You only have to pay for Hulu if you use a Roku box (granted, there's a larger selection on content via Hulu Plus, but not much that makes the money worth it versus waiting a week or two). Consider a cheap Android or Linux based HTPC instead running XBMC so you can do free streaming video from multiple sites, including Hulu's free content.

oddients

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Re: Questions about cutting the cord and Internet speed
« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2014, 05:52:35 PM »
Give the first seven posts of the Superguide a read (link in the sigline).

The problem you have is likely your router and not the internet speed. After all, 3Mbps is more than fine for video streaming and online gaming doesn't require much bandwidth. If you're having latency issues with your setup and a 25Mbps connection, the problem is most likely with your network configuration and equipment, not your ISPs throughput. This post of mine might be of value to you - Ask Daley: cable modems and routers.

You can use a single directional aerial to power multiple televisions as you've asked, but every split will result in signal strength degradation. Tuck a masthead amp in line as close to the antenna as possible, and consider replacing the splitter with a newer one (check specs for signal loss). TV Fool is also a valuable resource for antenna setups and equipment.

You only have to pay for Hulu if you use a Roku box (granted, there's a larger selection on content via Hulu Plus, but not much that makes the money worth it versus waiting a week or two). Consider a cheap Android or Linux based HTPC instead running XBMC so you can do free streaming video from multiple sites, including Hulu's free content.

What Exprezchef said. Cancel whatever you can and get a better router. There is no need to upgrade your internet speed.

Wesmon

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Re: Questions about cutting the cord and Internet speed
« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2014, 08:29:30 PM »
25mbps is completely sufficient!  We have a 7mbps connection and is fine streaming Netflix and Pandora and Skype at the same time.  Check your router - is it a good quality?  Are you connected to it at full speed?  Run a speed test on your ISP and on your network from PC to PC.

We recently cut the cord and I put in a clear stream (?) 2 uhv/vhf antenna in my attic along with an amp up there.  I tapped into the coax line coming in from the street.  We have a separate coax run for the internet.

I can't believe we waited as long as we did to cut cable and landline.

Now we have Netflix and amazon prime and crystal clear free OTA!

Nords

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Re: Questions about cutting the cord and Internet speed
« Reply #4 on: January 19, 2014, 10:31:30 PM »
The only time I notice it is if my son is gaming online on his Xbox and my wife is watching a Netflix movie. There is a noticeable slow down on the computer download speed and the steaming is slower.
Speaking as a parent (and payer of the ISP bill), I'd use the router's "Quality of Service" setting to throttle the gaming bandwidth and give top priority to the Netflix stream... more specifically, to the MAC of the computer doing the Netflix streaming. 

Of course it's always bad if your modem is steaming, no matter whether it's slower or faster...

BlueMR2

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Re: Questions about cutting the cord and Internet speed
« Reply #5 on: January 20, 2014, 09:59:32 AM »
Definitely not your connection, as others have said.

I'm on 1.2 Mib/s DSL and I can stream video from the major players as long as I'm not doing anything else substantial elsewhere (e-mail and generic web surfing from another computer are OK).  Anything over 5 should handily cover 2 streams and whatever else misc. stuff you're doing.

Exprezchef

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Re: Questions about cutting the cord and Internet speed
« Reply #6 on: January 20, 2014, 06:24:51 PM »
Thanks for the replies. I will check my router as suggested. My only concern now is what antenna to purchase.

Daley

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Re: Questions about cutting the cord and Internet speed
« Reply #7 on: January 20, 2014, 07:29:22 PM »
My only concern now is what antenna to purchase.

Again, check out TV Fool, get a signal map done for your location. If you know what sort of signal strength, directions and antenna type needed, that'll get you most of the way for antenna selection.
« Last Edit: January 20, 2014, 07:37:46 PM by I.P. Daley »

ohyonghao

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Re: Questions about cutting the cord and Internet speed
« Reply #8 on: January 28, 2014, 12:14:22 PM »
I had just moved into a place with an HOA which includes 100Mbps internet (I originally thought it was Gigabit but that turns out to be at an additional cost of $40/mo).  I was testing with my Linksys WRT-54g router and found I could only achieve 40Mbps on it!  I got a new router and was then able to achieve 97Mbps.  I'd say a router can really make a huge difference.  My wireless has also gone from 1.2MBps to 2.4MBps with the new router.

My own setup (we don't watch much TV but I do enjoy a few shows) is using a Raspberry Pi setup with Raspbmc (XBMC for Raspberry Pi).  It works fairly well, I watch Blu Ray videos, 5.1 Dolby sound on it all the time, and if I upgraded my stereo receiver I could get 7.1 or 9.1 because of HDMI passthrough.  My TV supports Amazon, Youtube etc itself so I don't even use the Pi for those.  If interested in it I have a Wish-list on Amazon with all the pieces needed for my setup.

Shor

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Re: Questions about cutting the cord and Internet speed
« Reply #9 on: January 28, 2014, 12:33:50 PM »
The only time I notice it is if my son is gaming online on his Xbox and my wife is watching a Netflix movie. There is a noticeable slow down on the computer download speed and the steaming is slower.
Speaking as a parent (and payer of the ISP bill), I'd use the router's "Quality of Service" setting to throttle the gaming bandwidth and give top priority to the Netflix stream... more specifically, to the MAC of the computer doing the Netflix streaming. 
And on top of that, if your son has lag spikes while gaming, he just complains about the lag.. which is easily ignored
But if your wife has Netflix issues, it becomes this whole thing about how we shouldn't have cut the cable, and the video is too slow, and I'm going to buy stuff online while I wait for this show to buffer(!)...
So you need to prioritize service to where the most damage can occur! XD