Ditching cable for streaming service?

Jus Cruisin

Jus Cruisin

Well-Known Member
Oct 6, 2021
2,301
Lake St Clair - MI (Belle Maer Harbor)
Boat Info
2004 390 DA
Engines
8.1's
One, is anyone using the new Verizon Ultra 5G home internet service? I received notification that it is now available at my home address. And it has my curiosity peaked.
Two, I've had Comcast/Xfinity back in Florida. Did the DirecTV satellite for a number of years and have been using AT&T Uverse for about 5 years now (both in Florida and now Michigan). I like the convenience of the individual set top receivers and controllers.
Now with Ultra 5G, I'm back to trying to decide if it's worth it.....going all streaming. I'm not going to use an antenna to pull in local channels to 4 tv's around the house. So, I need a service that streams local as well as the Uverse channels.
Because my tv's aren't all smart, I need Roku sticks to access streaming channels.
So, do I cut the cord? Do I go Verizon or keep AT&T just for internet and scrap Uverse?
Decisions, decisions....
 
I've been all streaming for 12 years now. If you're not a sports nut it's highly survivable.

Don't they have rather oppressive data limits on 5G at home internet?
 
We did some upgrades to our home video/music distribution system (based on Control4).

The absolute most significant thing we did - was the least expensive.

We added AppleTV (hardware device) as an input (other inputs are FIOS cable boxes, DVR, etc).

I absolutely love what I can do with the Apple TV hardware. Independent of a smart TV, I can bring in any app that runs on iOS and use that for streaming. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc. etc. No internet connected to the TV's.

As soon as I figure out how we will get reliable bandwidth on the boat, will be installing a AppleTV box and be off the Satellite.

We have more content on Streaming than we do on FIOS. In fact a friend who recently switched from Spectrum cable back to FIOS told me that in Texas FIOS no long offers content distribution. We still get TV channels via FIOS, but sounds like they are being phased out.

I was worried about sports. One of the streaming packages (I think it is Disney Plus) includes ESPN+. Wow, last night every single basket ball game was on. Some of the golf tournaments actually broadcast different holes concurrently. Streaming is definitely the future for sports.
 
Stee6043 said:
I've been all streaming for 12 years now. If you're not a sports nut it's highly survivable.

Don't they have rather oppressive data limits on 5G at home internet?
Click to expand...
The Verizon Ultra 5G is unlimited data (just need to read fine print if there's throttling) and right now they are including hulu/espn+/disney+ in the package with a phone bundle. We already have Verizon phone service so I'm kinda leaning towards trying it out. Hoping it would carryover to boat use.
 
Cut the cable about 15yrs ago. I now control my TV watching instead of the other way around.
 
I would consider a Plex server. I setup a FreeNAS server and am running Plex, I can download most any shows (though not in real time, they will show up within an hour or two of airing) and watch them anywhere in my house, even on tablets and other devices.

Plex will let you connect an HD antenna so you can stream your local channels through it. You don't need smart TVs, just a device that you can use (Firestick, etc) to stream content from your server.

It takes a bit of technical knowledge and expense initially to set it up, but there is a lot of help available online and once it is setup, it saves a ton of money in movie rentals, TV providers, etc.
 
Jus Cruisin said:
The Verizon Ultra 5G is unlimited data (just need to read fine print if there's throttling) and right now they are including hulu/espn+/disney+ in the package with a phone bundle. We already have Verizon phone service so I'm kinda leaning towards trying it out. Hoping it would carryover to boat use.
Click to expand...

I'd be interested to hear what you find in the fine print! I spend $75 a month right now for internet-only through Spectrum. I wish we had some competition...that is not throttled!
 
Been only internet for the past 5yrs. Still get all services just from different providers. But Live TV is now through YouTubeTv, previously was PlayStation-SonyVue but they went out. So far YouTube(owned by Google) has been great for the past 3yrs. Free unlimited DVR is awesome. Haven't missed a race yet. The great thing about this is I also use it on the boat as well.

I am still at the behest of Atlantic Broad Band however, would love to ditch them and life would be even sweeter.
 
I'm holding out hope that Elon Musk will free us all from the bondage of cable internet providers...

I checked Verizon after seeing this thread. The "Ultra, Uber, Wicked Broad Band 5G" is not available where I live...
 
I just ran speed test from my phone...

Phone speed test.jpg
 
I have been using an Apple TV and a Verizon hotspot on the boat for a few years now. The only issue with the hotspot was signal and throttling after 22gb in a given month. A friend of mine owns a Verizon store and hooked me up with a beta test on one of their 5g routers. It is $30month for 300gb. He says this is what Verizon is working towards. Now that they have 5g in places, the network can handle the added usage.
 
In terms of streaming services, we cut the cord at home about two years ago. We added a Roku ultra box to each TV and signed up for YouTube TV. Has lots of sports options, certainly enough for us. I also mooch off my sisters Netflix and we have subscriptions to Amazon prime video, Disney and Paramount TV.

it took a little getting used to but I really don’t miss the cable service at all. We still had to keep them for basic Internet but that’s a lot less than the cable TV subscription. Even with all the other services were still coming out ahead. We have 100 Mb per Second connection and that’s doing just fine even with her 4K TV at home. Plus working from home with video calls etc. etc. I have a no idea what my monthly data usage is for our home connection.

On the boat I have a Peplink 4G router with 100 Gb per month plan through T-Mobile. Honestly I haven’t used it that much.
 
$59 for frontier internet in Fla 500 MB’s very fast for our streaming Apple TV on every Tv tablets, cameras,etc. hate sports so no need.
$79 Verizon 1000 MB in NY same set up when in NY we use you tube tv and use the same service in Fla and pay $79 I believe for You tube tv we cut our cable bill in half.
 
Why would you not consider an antenna for local channels? We have the old VHF/UHF antenna in our attic and we get over 60 channels - so the antenna is not visible outside. IIRC the UHF portion is what receives the HD signals. Then we tap it into a splitter and viola, local HD. If you are in a home that has very low roofline but have access to the storage space above you could mount one up there if it’s a visibility issue.
 
So, jumped in. Signed up for Verizon Ultra 5G home yesterday. Switched over to unlimited data and ended up with a new S22 Ultra to replace my Note 9. It'll be a couple of weeks before I receive the modem to completely switch. 5G on this new phone flies. Got the base hulu, espn+ and Disney+ up and running. Part of the unlimited plan.
If I was watching I TV an antenna would make sense but not trying to connect multiple tv's to an antenna in the attic.
 
If you had comcast
Jus Cruisin said:
If I was watching I TV an antenna would make sense but not trying to connect multiple tv's to an antenna in the attic.
Click to expand...
I’m not familiar with the ATT Uverse, however if you were using coax to get signals to the TVs via Uverse, all you would need to do is get a quad shield from the antenna to that connection entering the home, and all your TVs should be serviced. If you wanted local news for weather etc. that is.
 
Jeremygavin said:
I have been using an Apple TV and a Verizon hotspot on the boat for a few years now. The only issue with the hotspot was signal and throttling after 22gb in a given month. A friend of mine owns a Verizon store and hooked me up with a beta test on one of their 5g routers. It is $30month for 300gb. He says this is what Verizon is working towards. Now that they have 5g in places, the network can handle the added usage.
Click to expand...
I am also using the pep wave with a Verizon 100 gig plan for 75 a month. You better hang on to the 30/300gb plan that fantastic.
 
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