Who has cut the cord?

Another update: finding that pretty much all public WiFi sucks! Added a WiFi extender to boost our WiFi signal but finding all marina WiFi are horrible.also being a Comcast isp subscriber we connect to their public WiFi and that too is unusable. I think if you’re going this route on the boat you need to invest in a good hotspot and subscribe and mange your data accordingly.

Dean my Wave rogue extender did pull in WiFi signals but most where locked or as you said unusable.
I think I’m going to dump it and go the hotspot direction
We never go to marinas so in an anchorage we can’t connect to a marina without a password.
Still searching for a good streaming package!!!
 
I have a relative who works for Comcast who raves about their services. I thought i would have luck with their public wifi but not the case. I was able to connect but it kept freezing. He's going to get an earfull when i see him this week. As for the hotspot it does chew through your data. I think my son ate up 6 gb of data just streaming a few hours of YouTube over the weekend. I have 30 gb left for the month.
 
We cut the cord earlier this year and couldn't be happier. It wasn't as much about the money as it was about the convenience and the fact that everything will be streaming eventually so I might as well get onboard. We were paying $140/mo for DirecTV with no premium channels - not bad. If I wanted to watch remotely, the DirecTV app was HORRIBLE for streaming and watching the DVR. It was absolutely useless. And if you could get something to watch on the app, the quality was crap and DirecTV would insert their own ads that you couldn't skip.

Here's our package:
1. YouTube TV - $50 (replaced DirecTV)
2. Netflix - $17
3. Prime Video - included with Amazon Prime
4. HBO Now - $20
5. Hulu Plus - $13

Total is $100 for everything.

All of our phones have the unlimited data plan with AT&T so I never worry about going over.

What I love best is that we only have 5 channels but we still have all the programming that we had with DirecTV and more. Also, the streaming experience is the same across all devices whether its the Apple TV, phone, iPad, Xbox, Roku, etc.

No need for a big dish on my house and I can watch all my stuff anytime, anywhere - including live TV.
 
Another update: finding that pretty much all public WiFi sucks! Added a WiFi extender to boost our WiFi signal but finding all marina WiFi are horrible.also being a Comcast isp subscriber we connect to their public WiFi and that too is unusable. I think if you’re going this route on the boat you need to invest in a good hotspot and subscribe and mange your data accordingly.

That’s what I’m holding out for.
 
So...the problem remains...cellular data. Some friends just returned from a month long RV trip from NC up into Maine-Canada. They purchased, from Verizon, a 8800 model jet pak with unlimited data. The jet pak was $250 but only $99 with a 2-year contract. The data charge is only $20/month as they also have 2-Verizon phones. W/o the Verizon phones, I believe the data charge for the jet pak is $65/month. Here is where it seems they all get you....data is wide open up to 20 gigs and then slows down. When it slows down, is it enough to stream live TV?

I did a little research on speeds that are needed and NetFlix recommends at least 3mbps to watch a movie, 6 mbps to watch 1080p live TV, 10mbps to stream in 1080p on 2-devices, and 20-50mbps for some gaming platforms.

I know I can watch 1080p live TV on 7mbps as I checked it this weekend. My main concedern lies during college football season. Saturdays are 10am often until midnight non-stop.....

More to follow...

Bennett
 
Watching response to that question Bennett

Something else I am looking into is an externally mounted HD antenna while at the dock. While my Glomex pulls in the major networks pretty good, I think I can make these 100% with an outside mounted antenna. This will get me the local channels. Finding the best streaming solution is next....

Bennett
 
My wife and kids have At&t unlimited cellular data plan up until they reach a limit. They then throttle your data to the point where all you can do is pretty much send text and email until your plan resets for the next billing cycle. Not sure how you can call that unlimited. I have a 40GB hotspot from verizon. I have full speed data until i hit my 40GB then i'm done for the month. I think i read that your average 1080P movie uses about 2 GB so i've been rationing the data. VZ hotspot only gets used in the evenings for 2-3 hours of tv viewing. This works for the weekends on the boat but when we depart for our 2 weeker this summer i may double the plan for that month. BTW i'm using a VZ jetpack mifi 6620L don't think you can purchase them anymore.
 
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So...the problem remains...cellular data. Some friends just returned from a month long RV trip from NC up into Maine-Canada. They purchased, from Verizon, a 8800 model jet pak with unlimited data. The jet pak was $250 but only $99 with a 2-year contract. The data charge is only $20/month as they also have 2-Verizon phones. W/o the Verizon phones, I believe the data charge for the jet pak is $65/month. Here is where it seems they all get you....data is wide open up to 20 gigs and then slows down. When it slows down, is it enough to stream live TV?

I did a little research on speeds that are needed and NetFlix recommends at least 3mbps to watch a movie, 6 mbps to watch 1080p live TV, 10mbps to stream in 1080p on 2-devices, and 20-50mbps for some gaming platforms.

I know I can watch 1080p live TV on 7mbps as I checked it this weekend. My main concedern lies during college football season. Saturdays are 10am often until midnight non-stop.....

More to follow...

Bennett

I called Verizon 2 weeks ago to get this jet pack plan and I missed it by a week.......
 
Dean my Wave rogue extender did pull in WiFi signals but most where locked or as you said unusable.
I think I’m going to dump it and go the hotspot direction
We never go to marinas so in an anchorage we can’t connect to a marina without a password.
Still searching for a good streaming package!!!

For now, try an iPad with a data plan and you can use it as a hotspot to stream music and TV content.
Never used it for gaming because we have no need, but it is great for streaming TV content.
The TV’s on my boat are smart so for things like Netflix or Prime Video they just connect to the iPad wirelessly. For things that I can only watch through an app or something on the iPad I use the Apple AV adapter to connect the iPad and TV.
Mine has an unlimited data plan as part of our AT&T family plan and along with streaming and using it as a hotspot it’s great for lots of other things while on the boat too.
They say they throttle the speed after you use a set amount for the month but I’ve never noticed an issue streaming. Not sure why. Either I don’t use enough, or the throttled speed is good enough for what I need.
I’d still like to get some sort of dedicated hard wired cellular hotspot for the boat that I can use with surveillance cameras while I’m not on the boat, but in the meantime the iPad is worth it’s weight in gold.
It also seems to always get a stronger cellular signal than my iPhone does.
Maybe a bigger internal antenna?

I’ve got no WiFi at my dock property and never seem to have any luck with WiFi in transient Marinas.
If I am at a transient marina with WiFi I can connect the iPad to it instead of using data but the cellular has always worked better for me than crowded or slow Marina WiFi.
 
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Something else I am looking into is an externally mounted HD antenna while at the dock. While my Glomex pulls in the major networks pretty good, I think I can make these 100% with an outside mounted antenna. This will get me the local channels. Finding the best streaming solution is next....

Bennett
Let me know how you make out my friend, I'll be watching!!
 
For now, try an iPad with a data plan and you can use it as a hotspot to stream music and TV content.
Never used it for gaming because we have no need, but it is great for streaming TV content.
The TV’s on my boat are smart so for things like Netflix or Prime Video they just connect to the iPad wirelessly. For things that I can only watch through an app or something on the iPad I use the Apple AV adapter to connect the iPad and TV.
Mine has an unlimited data plan as part of our AT&T family plan and along with streaming and using it as a hotspot it’s great for lots of other things while on the boat too.
They say they throttle the speed after you use a set amount for the month but I’ve never noticed an issue streaming. Not sure why. Either I don’t use enough, or the throttled speed is good enough for what I need.
I’d still like to get some sort of dedicated hard wired cellular hotspot for the boat that I can use with surveillance cameras while I’m not on the boat, but in the meantime the iPad is worth it’s weight in gold.
It also seems to always get a stronger cellular signal than my iPhone does.
Maybe a bigger internal antenna?

I’ve got no WiFi at my dock property and never seem to have any luck with WiFi in transient Marinas.
If I am at a transient marina with WiFi I can connect the iPad to it instead of using data but the cellular has always worked better for me than crowded or slow Marina WiFi.


I have the same set up an iPad with unlimited data as a hotspot from TMobile and it’s horrible in our location I use it to view my cameras at home and the picture is garbage on still cameras.
Forget streaming it’s useless.
Our phones are all unlimited and act as a better hotspot but TMobile sux when it comes to streaming to another device such as apple tv
 
I have the same set up an iPad with unlimited data as a hotspot from TMobile and it’s horrible in our location I use it to view my cameras at home and the picture is garbage on still cameras.
Forget streaming it’s useless.
Our phones are all unlimited and act as a better hotspot but TMobile sux when it comes to streaming to another device such as apple tv

I know that AT&T works well along the south shore of Long Island from western Suffolk to NYC and up the Hudson, but I don’t know how well it works where you are.
 
We cut the cord at home, but continue with Dish network on the boat. We didn't go big, only basic broadcast with locals. Its enough background channels to get by.
I do have a WIFI receiver antenna that will repeat the signal inside to boat. Much like many have said, finding a decent signal is difficult. Depending on where we drop anchor we'll pickup an optimum hot spot, which is good, but mostly need my cell phone hotspot. The service has always been strong in the NON WIFI marinas we frequent.

The kids have been conditioned to download any Netflix movies at home not to chew up all the high speed cell WIFI. On longer trips I'll bring the KODI with a HD to have movies or shows we follow. Some pre planning is needed to download to conserve on data.
I have not found the perfect solution, but have enough options and diversity to keep the family good.
 
I know that AT&T works well along the south shore of Long Island from western Suffolk to NYC and up the Hudson, but I don’t know how well it works where you are.
T Mobile on the south shore is really good too. I live on the north shore, and have found several spotty locations (my home included). The phone over wifi option helps though.
 
I have the same set up an iPad with unlimited data as a hotspot from TMobile and it’s horrible in our location I use it to view my cameras at home and the picture is garbage on still cameras.
Forget streaming it’s useless.
Our phones are all unlimited and act as a better hotspot but TMobile sux when it comes to streaming to another device such as apple tv

TMO's Hotspot off phone has always been severely rate limited unless you upgraded the package. Their new Magenta plans seem to help a little but still get capped and then slow afterwards. I signed up last year for the unlimited 4G LTE Hotspot option which worked great as it was truely unlimited (outside abusive conditions) but that seems have gone away now so I am locked at this plan until 5G eventually roles out to solve much of this.

-Kevin
 
We cut the cord at home, but continue with Dish network on the boat. We didn't go big, only basic broadcast with locals. Its enough background channels to get by.
I do have a WIFI receiver antenna that will repeat the signal inside to boat. Much like many have said, finding a decent signal is difficult. Depending on where we drop anchor we'll pickup an optimum hot spot, which is good, but mostly need my cell phone hotspot. The service has always been strong in the NON WIFI marinas we frequent.

The kids have been conditioned to download any Netflix movies at home not to chew up all the high speed cell WIFI. On longer trips I'll bring the KODI with a HD to have movies or shows we follow. Some pre planning is needed to download to conserve on data.
I have not found the perfect solution, but have enough options and diversity to keep the family good.

An Amazon FireTV Stick with VLC app and storing media on thumb drives may simplify your situation.

-Kevin
 
...never seem to have any luck with WiFi in transient Marinas.
If I am at a transient marina with WiFi I can connect the iPad to it instead of using data but the cellular has always worked better for me than crowded or slow Marina WiFi.

Thats because these marina usually have minimal data plans that are shared among 100 boats - all wanting to stream these days. Yes, you connect and get a good signal but the net usable bandwidth is horrible.

-Kevin
 
Thats because these marina usually have minimal data plans that are shared among 100 boats - all wanting to stream these days. Yes, you connect and get a good signal but the net usable bandwidth is horrible.

-Kevin
This is our issue. And where we are, there are very few digital channels. I need to verify my antenna even works, so it's still DirecTV for us.
 
I have found all the same issues as above. I had a rogue wave extender on the last boat but found we never used it except late Night when no one was up so basically useless on marina Wifis. So I got a Verizon mifi hotspot. I have an unlimited data plan for my business so it works awesome till it gets throttled when it gets to 22gb and then goes down to around 600mbps which streams shows but just barely. I asked about upgrading to a truly unlimited plan for the hotspot for the summer and it just doesn’t seem to be offered by Verizon even on the business plans. So as Dean is saying above, we just have to ration the hotspot to make it last through the billing cycle.
 

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