Good bye Satellite Dish -- Hello streaming

[DonandPatti]

After 8 years of Dish Network service and a lot of frustration I shut down my satellite service.

I am now using my laptop and streaming whatever TV content I want. With the HD TV antenna that we have on the DRV -- the local programming is pretty well covered. In addition most campgrounds we stay at have cable so there is another source. Specific football and baseball games as well as golf and network programming I can get through streaming.

Love it. Cable companies are going to have to be creative as to not loose customers to streaming. In our case, with Xfinity, our home cable service, provides streaming as part of the package.

Don't you just love technology.

Don

[JamieGeek]

Originally Posted by DonandPatti

After 8 years of Dish Network service and a lot of frustration I shut down my satellite service.

I am now using my laptop and streaming whatever TV content I want. With the HD TV antenna that we have on the DRV -- the local programming is pretty well covered. In addition most campgrounds we stay at have cable so there is another source. Specific football and baseball games as well as golf and network programming I can get through streaming.

Love it. Cable companies are going to have to be creative as to not loose customers to streaming. In our case, with Xfinity, our home cable service, provides streaming as part of the package.

Don't you just love technology.

Don

We kind of cut the cord as well: A few months ago ditched our home cable service, upped our internet speeds by a lot, and picked up a streaming service (Playstation Vue). This turned out to save us about $100/month.

Now I find I can watch the east-coast feeds even when we're travelling on the west coast (catch the shows early). It plays back on all our mobile devices (Apple or otherwise), my son's game console (yeah a Playstation), and other boxes (Roku, Apple TV). Should have done this years ago...

Of course to stream you need a fairly robust internet connection...

[wredman]

how are you guys getting your reliable and fast internet hookup.

[Bob Denman]

I agree...

Jamie,
Could you explain what you mean by "...a fairly robust internet connection..."?

The Missus and I are exploring the options.

[rynosback]

Originally Posted by DonandPatti

After 8 years of Dish Network service and a lot of frustration I shut down my satellite service.

I am now using my laptop and streaming whatever TV content I want. With the HD TV antenna that we have on the DRV -- the local programming is pretty well covered. In addition most campgrounds we stay at have cable so there is another source. Specific football and baseball games as well as golf and network programming I can get through streaming.

Love it. Cable companies are going to have to be creative as to not loose customers to streaming. In our case, with Xfinity, our home cable service, provides streaming as part of the package.

Don't you just love technology.

Don

Welcome to the club! I cut the cord 3 years ago when we sold our SB home and went fulltime. We record the OTR with a DVR for local channels, as we got used to not watching commercials and use our cellular data to stream. Watching our football team can be a challenge, so sometimes we go to bars to watch the game. And if you are still with Xfinity, you have access to thousands of there hot spots across the US.

[rynosback]

Originally Posted by wredman

how are you guys getting your reliable and fast internet hookup.

There are several sources. You should have several ways to connect to the web. Verizon, AT&T and I can hook up to Xfinity hot spots. Campground WiFi is not strong enough to stream and is not meant to as it soaks up the bandwidth and slows the intire network for EVERYONE. The more tools you have the better off you will be. There might be something coming down the pike in a couple of years that will be a game changer.

[JamieGeek]

Originally Posted by Bob Denman

I agree...

Jamie,
Could you explain what you mean by "...a fairly robust internet connection..."?

The Missus and I are exploring the options.

Here is a good resource pointing out the minimum speeds required for each streaming service.

I would add that the numbers there reflect "normal" speeds (e.g. if a service lists that requires 5 mbps then your service should show 5 mbps on a speed test--not what you're paying for). This means that you should probably get something 2x higher (approximately) than what is listed after adding up your intended uses (e.g. if you're going to have 2 TVs and 2 mobile devices using the service and TVs use 5 mbps, mobile 1.5 mbps then you'll need (2*5+1.5*2)*2 or 26 mbps service or so; at least that would be my recommendation).

When we signed up we got a decent deal for 500mbps but rarely see that on a speed test (I've seen as high as 450 or so which shocked me when I saw it LOL).

[wredman]

Originally Posted by JamieGeek

Here is a good resource pointing out the minimum speeds required for each streaming service.

I would add that the numbers there reflect "normal" speeds (e.g. if a service lists that requires 5 mbps then your service should show 5 mbps on a speed test--not what you're paying for). This means that you should probably get something 2x higher (approximately) than what is listed after adding up your intended uses (e.g. if you're going to have 2 TVs and 2 mobile devices using the service and TVs use 5 mbps, mobile 1.5 mbps then you'll need (2*5+1.5*2)*2 or 26 mbps service or so; at least that would be my recommendation).

When we signed up we got a decent deal for 500mbps but rarely see that on a speed test (I've seen as high as 450 or so which shocked me when I saw it LOL).

you are getting 450 "on the road, or camping" ??

[sky_blue]

I went the other way. I started out with Sling and relying on campground WiFi. But I soon discovered several things.

Sling is not the same in every area. While I could get HBO in my home area, I could not in most parts of the USA.

WiFi is abysmal in most RV Parks. They installed their WiFi 20 years ago. But there is simply not enough bandwidth to support 50 RVs streaming Netflix. Some of these parks have a device that kicks you off the system if they catch you streaming.

While my cellular service says that I have unlimited data, that does not cover using my cellphone as a hotspot. There is a limit of only 15GB in that mode. Thats only 4 or 5 hours of streaming. I can work around this by hooking the output of my iPad (with cellular data service) directly to the HDMI input of my TV.

So I simply bought a DISH Tailgater system. I can park my RV under the trees and put my antenna 50' away facing south.

I use the DISH network for TV, and the iPad tethered for movies.

[wredman]

Originally Posted by gbrown

I went the other way. I started out with Sling and relying on campground WiFi. But I soon discovered several things.

Sling is not the same in every area. While I could get HBO in my home area, I could not in most parts of the USA.

WiFi is abysmal in most RV Parks. They installed their WiFi 20 years ago. But there is simply not enough bandwidth to support 50 RVs streaming Netflix. Some of these parks have a device that kicks you off the system if they catch you streaming.

While my cellular service says that I have unlimited data, that does not cover using my cellphone as a hotspot. There is a limit of only 15GB in that mode. Thats only 4 or 5 hours of streaming. I can work around this by hooking the output of my iPad (with cellular data service) directly to the HDMI input of my TV.

So I simply bought a DISH Tailgater system. I can park my RV under the trees and put my antenna 50' away facing south.

I use the DISH network for TV, and the iPad tethered for movies.

all of this is not surprising to me, seems like the way to go with the flow. At my house, with cable internet, we use 10gb a day without streaming normal TV time. Not counting cell phone usage.

[JamieGeek]

Originally Posted by wredman

you are getting 450 "on the road, or camping" ??

I am getting 450 in my sticks n bricks. Typically when we go camping we try to (much to my teenage son's chagrin) unplug.

[wredman]

Originally Posted by JamieGeek

I am getting 450 in my sticks n bricks. .

OK,

that is via a "cord"

[Bob Denman]

We normally see 390, to 433 at home...
More than good enough for "Gilligan's Island" re-runs!

[Thehobe1]

We live in an older community (in Silicon Valley) and the cable system was horrible. We have been using a roof antenna for years now receiving all of the major networks providing HDTV for normal TV. We also went to an internet phone system using the "Ooma" box that provides internet fed home telephone service. The Ooma box is around $100 and we pay about $4-$5 in taxes each month for our phone service. We recently upgraded our terrible ATT DSL internet service (the best speed they could offer was 3 Mbits/sec ntoe that they all use Mbit and bot MBites in their adds). Streaming normally required about 1-3 Mb using our Roku 3 unit (about $100) and sometimes had problems at night when others were using streaming as well. Our upgrade was to Comcast for an introductory rate of around $30/month (for a year). The bandwidth now, because of their coax cable lines is around 5 Gb/sec and has never caused a data problem for streaming. So, having Ooma for telephone, Roku for streaming and a roof antenna for HDTV off air, we are happy now.
The off/air HDTV transmission allows very good reception in most major communities and only requires the very small in width roof TV antenna due to the higher frequency transmission for modern TV (most stations use the UHF band now as the lower frequency spectrum (old channels 2-13) have been taken back by the FCC for other uses.

We typically share our daughter's Netflix subscription as allowed by Netflix for families.

Many TV receivers are adding streaming functions to the "smart" TVs.

So, one good Internet connection does it all for us.

[DonandPatti]

Originally Posted by wredman

how are you guys getting your reliable and fast internet hookup.

We have an AT&T Velocity hotspot that works great. It not only gives us WiFi in the coach but anywhere else we go whether in the truck -- or the car when we are not camping or just walking around shopping or whatever.

We can watch full length movies and rarely does the signal stutter or pause the picture. (As far as that goes -- that would happen once in a while with our old satellite dish)

We are very happy with the setup. It works well.

don

[Porthole]

We still use cable at home for internet, and cable is the only way to get net service unless we go wireless, and as is typical there is only one cable company with a 15 year contract.

We use DTV for TV and that is up to $165 a month with showtime being the only extra. But I take the DTV receiver with us when we camp.

I have wifi ranger in the trailer (the expensive version) and in a word it sucks. Pricey, and does not work as advertised, unless maybe you are a geek with this stuff. I have never been able to get to work long enough to even watch a couple of YouTube videos.

Winegard recently announced their newest product, not sure of the name but version 2 of the WiFi cellular work around. Unlike the first version with exposed antennas, this version looks like the Razor TV antenna

[Travelin' Texans]

Over the air antenna has worked great for us all across the country, typically 50-60 channels so we usually can find something to watch (don't watch sports), it's free, no data required, no equipment to buy, just raise & scan.

[rynosback]

Originally Posted by Porthole

We still use cable at home for internet, and cable is the only way to get net service unless we go wireless, and as is typical there is only one cable company with a 15 year contract.

We use DTV for TV and that is up to $165 a month with showtime being the only extra. But I take the DTV receiver with us when we camp.

I have wifi ranger in the trailer (the expensive version) and in a word it sucks. Pricey, and does not work as advertised, unless maybe you are a geek with this stuff. I have never been able to get to work long enough to even watch a couple of YouTube videos.

Winegard recently announced their newest product, not sure of the name but version 2 of the WiFi cellular work around. Unlike the first version with exposed antennas, this version looks like the Razor TV antenna

I have a Ranger also. I used it for 3 months in Mission, TX pulling the club houses WiFi. As the cellular was VERY week. It is just another tool to get internet if you are in a cellular dead or weak zone. The more tools you have the better the odds you have to always being connected.

[sky_blue]

The major problem with WiFi amplifiers is the RV Park. Many of them have a device that kicks you off their system if they catch you streaming. So boosting their WiFi signal is futile.

[Mr Sunshine]

Originally Posted by JamieGeek

... Typically when we go camping we try to (much to my teenage son's chagrin) unplug.

Kudos to you for showing your kid there is life to discover beyond the little screen! There are so many good books we miss, and then there is nature, and so much more!