Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

When the high data internet plans are more then the cable cost + internet combined.

We cut back to basic cable so I have been streaming 95% of our TV shows mostly from netflix, and we already have blown through 220gb of data, our cap is 150, but shaw doesn't yet charge extra for doing so, but they do warn they might.

For our watching needs, streaming is clearly not a viable alternative when you have to pay for higher internet data plan which is nicely priced to cost the same as the lower internet plan + cable.


I have tried the reduced quality on netflix option, but it's so blurry it's annoying to watch.

I think the cable providers have gotten smart, lets price the internet so streaming costs more then cable.

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

You watch too much TV then. Our limit us 120 and we rarely reach that. When we watch anything other than Nerflix we select lower bandwidth whenever possible.

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

Probably do, but when you live in a small town and have no money to go out and do things, and work odd hours, TV is the only and primary source of entertainment.

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

We only have the Internet.... I have an unlimited package with Vianet $56 a month....

I prefer to read... Although i did buy and download the last series of Grey's Anatomy. I found giving up satellite when we moved to Canada made us quite discerning over even what we download from IPlayer.. The kids use Netflix occasionally.

Can't you get the same deals from internet providers over in BC?

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

No

Basic cable + sports (of course) and stream to fill in the gaps. All in we pay just over $100 plus tax

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

I did find a company called comwave but the reviews I am finding online are really bad, so not sure they would be worth going with, have to dig further and see if they are truly as bad as the reviews say.

Other then that, I just find Shaw, Telus, and Teksavvy which all have monthly caps.

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

Watch less then? ... Go for a walk instead.. Local library have a film lending section?

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

I'll just sleep more..lol

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

Greys Anatomy. How can you watch that without throwing things at the telly?

JSmith, we live in a village and don't go out much. We watch TV from about 6pm til maybe 10pm, him indoors listens to the radio, I read and waste time on here. I know you work nights so your schedules will spread the hours watching over a longer period so maybe downloading stuff you both watch would help?
Our local library lends out DVDs gave you tried your local place!
Otherwise walk the dog!

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

Don't listen to them Smithy, watch TV as much as u want, I do, and I have time to do other things too, if there is time to read then there is always time for TV

or even do both, I am watching TV, writing this, reading some info for tmws file and making a brew.

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

Okaaay ....

I live in a small town, on a very limited budget, & work (very) odd hours.

I neither have nor watch TV, & haven't missed it in years.

Along with the suggestions already made, you might need to revise your ideas about entertainment &/or think outside the box.

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

Booooo !! :thumbdown:;)

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

Bout side the box ! í ½í¸œí ½í¸š

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

:hehe::hehe::rofl::rofl::rofl:

:p

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

Shameless gawping at the male medical staff ;) never like that in my hospital..

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

What are all these caps and limited bandwidth people talk about? Do you mean you are restricted in what you want to watch?

At any one time this house might have three people streaming/downloading simultaneously.

(we do talk to each other too :lol:)

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

What do you do then? I can't think of anything to do in this town that doesn't cost money that isn't an outdoor activity involving doing outdoor stuff which I don't enjoy because of the heat.

I do take the dog out throughout the day, however the that only wastes about an hour in total each day, she is a small dog, 15 mins is about all she will do walk wise.

I do ride my bike, but it's an hour max and more exercise then fun, I can't say its enjoyable, its difficult, causes pain, and a lot of work....


Entertainment to me is something that is fun and enjoyable. Movies, TV, travelling around, going to museums, going to theme parks, aquariums, zoo's, etc is what I consider entertainment.

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

Shaw and Telus and others cap the data you can use in a month, after that some are not charging additional money, Shaw is still currently sending out warnings and maybe slowing down the connection, but Telus is now actively charging if you go over.

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

Ah, we have very different criteria of fun/entertainment ;).

I walk/hike, occasionally run (when my creaky & messed up left leg permits), cycle, canoe & kayak. Yoga in the park in summer. Skate & X-country ski in winter.

Balcony gardening. Sewing. Visit local fairs/festivals/markets/exhibitions/events. The latter are usually free for the most part.

I read books, hard copy & kindle. Lots of books. Reading is probably my equivalent of your TV time :).

I save my pennies & go visit friends in TTO/MTL/Ottawa every few months for a change of scene.

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

I would go to the weekly farmers market (not much else festival/market wise around here) but it's only on Saturday, and only 10am to 3pm, so being a day shift, I am not off work til 3 when its over, but I would go otherwise.

Almost all the events we see in town fall into 2 categories:

1) For families with kids.

2) Outdoor sports folks.

Some example coming up.

Scramble Run. (it involves running, but not sure what it is exactly.)

Squamish wind fest in July, I did go last year for an hour, if I can go this year, probably will, its interesting collection of things.

Echo Nebraska concert at the Brew Pub, no cover, but I am working that night.

Village Music at the BAG, on a day and time I am work, otherwise I'd give it a go.

July

Motorcycle Festival- its 3 days, so may be able to find time to check that out, bikers are always interesting group.

For beer drinkers there is a beer fest July 11 1p to 6pm. I loathe beer, plus working that day. (37 to 60 per person, 6 tastings)

Gear Jammer 2015 a mountain bike race, 45km

Each week there is also the play group, but its for parents.

August

Logger days

Squamish Valley Music Fest- Line up sucks this year, but its too much $$$ 149 for a 1 day pass and 300+ for the weekend, but because its a weekend and the hotel is full, not possible to get the day off.

September only has the farmers market and play group for parents with kids.


Then over the winter, very little goes on as the farmers market closes up shop.


It's extremely hard to find festivals and events that happen on a Wed or Thur as those are my days off currently.

I can't get weekends off, or holidays off as those are busy days at work generally and when they need people the most.


I do have a small patio garden, only takes 5 mins a day to water, and look after, no patio so they just sit outside our front door on the walkway. I do this every summer.


I do like some festivals and would go if work schedule permitted.

I'd also love to visit family more, but with them being in California and no cheap way to get there, we can only manage every 2-4 years on average, costs about 2,000 total between airfare, hotel stays, food, transport around California to see family since they live in different spots now.

Other then my wife, I have no real life friends.


Kyaking would be fun seems doable once maybe, 1 hour is only 20 dollars to rent one, just have to get a credit card first....

I like camping if its not in a camp ground, that is not fun to sit around with large amounts of people. I like backwoods camping, no clue how to do it in Canada though, or how to get to the backwoods without a truck of some sort, our car can't handle the logging roads which seems to be the primary way of reaching the back country.

If they were not so pricey, I would like to rent a boat to go out onto the sound for a couple hours to take photos and explore it a bit, but its pretty pricey to rent a real boat.


I do fall and spring hiking, summer it's generally too warm to hike, so I skip doing it. My body cannot handle heat due to a medication I take.

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

And these caps are so low that it impacts majorly on people's use?

That's what I find so surprising. It's something I often see on these forums. Slow internet speeds and limits seemingly affecting what appears to be normal internet use. :confused:

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

Everyone's mileage varies, but if we don't stream anything and just visit websites, and a random youtube video here and there, we would on the low end use 18gb in a month to 55gb in a month on the high end, looking at the last 12 months.

May 22 to June 21 we used 240gb in that billing cycle, our cap is 150 per month for a cost of $60 per month.

300GB is 70 per month.

450gb is 90 per month

800gb is 120 per month, the highest data plan they offer.

Cable + 2 entertainment bundles + cheap internet (65gb a month) is cheaper then netflix + higher cost internet to use netflix + unblock us to access the good net flix.

Actually costs more to use netflix, better off having cable and cheap internet.

I used all that data watching 2 shows, Orange is the New Black, and 3 seasons of a show called Raising Hope.

Compared to internet cable is pretty cheap at 40 per month for basic + 2 theme packs.

240 is the total, only 189 of that was downloads, the rest was from uploading things.

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

I'm afraid the figures are lost on me. I don't know if we're unlimited or that limits are so high as to be meaningless.

The only restriction I've ever been aware of was before we went fibre optic - at no extra charge. My wife downloading movies or my stepson streaming would affect me streaming (but not downloading as well) the occasional bit of football (proper football ;)) that I couldn't get on TV. But I'd just make sure I had the time slot "reserved" as they could stream/download anytime whereas the footie was live.

A lot comes down to taste obviously. We were paying just over $100 for our TV package and I struggled to find anything anything of interest. Criminal Minds, CSI and Person of Interest were pretty much all and that was more about taking a break and joining in the family viewing.

Increasingly the others began watching less live TV so we cut back to $50 a month. It's the absolute minimum available that allows some/enough football channels to be added without relying on live streams too much.

But we added Netflix for $11.99 via computer and it plays on TV via the PS, I believe.

Now I'm finding the others are almost exclusively watching Netflix output on TV.

It helps that I've been away from the UK for a few years and missed some good British shows and that I have discovered I missed some good US TV like the wonderful Breaking Bad. It also helps that I can access current Brit TV so there's a ton of stuff I can watch at my leisure.

But to be honest, if I only had Netflix there would be more than enough good quality (my taste) TV shows and movies to keep me happy.

The only 'real' loss of halving the TV package was losing the Space channel which shows Doctor Who the same day as the UK - but I can watch it live on BBC streaming if I want or, more likely, a couple of hours later (and before it's on Space) and all without commercial breaks. The others also miss it for the odd show but an alternative source is easily found.

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

I think this is one of those never the twain things. I've never owned a TV/ cable, so from leaving home at 20 to getting married at 33 I simply had no TV at home- never needed it. Now we have a TV for the ex-missus and kids.

When we move apart I'm wondering what I need TV-wise to keep the nippers happy for quiet times during the week and at weekends (assuming roughly 50% of their time is with me). Plus I do need internet and quite a lot of it.

Currently I'm probably heading for tecsavvy's $50 bundle and some FTA TV. If Bell can do something close on Fibe I might have a punt at that.

Funny when you talk to the salespeople they really can't get it into their heads that I don't watch TV. I do go to the pub to watch important sports events- ie Browns games. :cool:

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

The internet is the largest portion on our bill, taking off cable and streaming means going up 30 dollars to the better internet thus no money saved, so may as well keep cable and lower tier internet.

Ideally, I just wish I could get the few channels I want, CBS,NBC, ABC from the US, Discovery, Nat Geo, A&E, and ID Discovery, I don't need nor want any of the others. Basic doesn't give me Natgeo, Discovery, Discovery ID or A&E, so have to spend an extra $10 to get those.

Only thing I watch on basic is ABC,NBC,CBS for a couple select shows.

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

Life is short, watch TV now while yours eyes is good and allow u to

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

How about downloading? As I said earlier, even before fibreoptic we only had a problem where one computer was streaming, another wouldn't stream. While one was streaming, two others would happily download movies so maybe downloading wouldn't go over limit like streaming does.

You might be able to download everything you want to see, within limits, and watch later.

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

Where does one find legal downloads? The sites I know of are not exactly legit...

Does downloading use less data then streaming?

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

I just upgraded my internet with Telus to their 100mbps package, 500gb of downloads and for $50 for the first six months even though I'm already a customer, then $93 per month.
While they were fitting the new modem etc they told me it was just being announced that Edmonton will be the first city in Canada that will have telus fibre optic all the way to the modem, max speed of 4 terabits per second but Telus would restrict speed to 1Gb per second, they'll fit it free if i have it when they bring the cable into my street (by the end of summer) I stream lots, TV shows and movies all for free too, on season 3 of Family Guy at the moment lol But one of my friends is in IT and i have a Raspberry with lots of apps and i'm amazed at all the free stuff i can watch, including all the UK TV Channels and regardless of format the Rasberry will play it.

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

I'm guessing it must use less of something since streaming x2 was pretty much a no-go, while downloading x2 was fine even with a third streaming at the same time as well.
I suppose it depends how one rationalises it. If they are not charging anything and not carrying advertising then it's hard to put it on the same level as someone selling bootlegs.

There do seem to be people uploading stuff just to be nice. If someone records a show off TV and then uploads it, those who have produced it don't have their income cut. Everybody has received the same pay they'd get if it wasn't uploaded.

When a movie is available people have already had the chance to see it at the cinema. It's rare for a decent version to have been uploaded early.

You might argue that those watching it via a download site are doing so for free rather than paying at the cinema. I suspect that of those watching the download the vast majority would just not be paying at the cinema so it's unlikely to make much of a difference.

Is it any different to buying a book or DVD and lending it to someone?

It might affect DVD sales. On the other hand many find something they like and then buy it legitimately when they wouldn't otherwise have done so.

Arguably paying for a VPN so as to get past cross border restrictions is more 'dodgy' than using a non fee paying site.

If the download sites were considered a big problem I imagine more would be done about them. If they're not malicious and there's no profit made off the backs of others, maybe they're tolerated.

Maybe it's a bit like the old taping of music when it was found that the greater part of taping was people actually recording stuff they'd already bought making their own cassette compilations or just for ease of portability.

In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't seem much to get worked up about.

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

is it the 10/1 DSL package you have, what is the speed like where you live?

Vianet

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

I don't know why you are saying that TekSavvy has caps. I just checked on their website. Looked at the DSL options, and stuck in a postal code for Vancouver, so it's worth double-checking availability with your actual postal code.

But when looking for Vancouver (postal code V5K 0A1), for High Speed DSL 15mbps down (plenty for streaming), you can get a cap of 300GB for $40/month, or an unlimited package for $48/month.

I also checked the same packages for Kamloops (postal code V1S 0A2), got exactly the same package prices.

Same package prices as well for Coquitlam (postal code V3B 1A3).

If you want 25mbps down (which is what we have and it's more than enough and often with two devices streaming Netflix with no issues at all) then the package prices are $45/month for the 300GB package, and $55/month for the unlimited package.

So it would seem you do have unlimited bandwidth options...

I don't know if TekSavvy has the same deal in BC as in Ontario, but for us, any usage that occurs between 2am and 8am is NOT counted towards our cap, so any additional content acquisition we do we have set to only download between 2am and 8am, leaving the full 300GB for monthly streaming. I think the most we've managed to hit is 150GB, but we don't watch all that much, MAYBE one hour a day, if even that.

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

Their website say's 300gb.

I may have missed other options however, if they do have an unlimited that is good.

How does DSL work, do you need a phone line?

A bit too pricey to sign up with them at the moment.

1 High Speed DSL 15 Unlimited $47.99 $47.99
1 Dry Loop Band D $11.36 $11.36
1 Dry Loop Activation (Res) $39.99 $39.99
1 High Speed DSL - Start-Up Fee $75.00 $75.00
1 Activation Fee Discount -$20.00 -$20.00
1 ZyXel VSG 1432 VDSL2 - Rent To Own Down Payment $60.00 $60.00
1 Hardware Shipping $10.00 $10.00
1 Modem Rent to own - Monthly Payment $15.00 $15.00
Subtotal $239.34
GST $11.97
BC PST $16.75
Total: $268.06

Paying almost 300 just to get service, is a bit much.

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

Obviously might be different in BC, but for us, we don't have a phone line, we pay an extra $5/month for a dry loop (basically just the connection without a functioning "phone"). DSL we like better as it's cheaper and it doesn't succumb to traffic congestion (so peak hours). We have the 25mbps down option, and we get that 25mbps down around the clock. Cable is meant to be able to handle faster speeds as it's a "bigger" connection, but it can slow down during peak times. Friends of ours, and my parents, have cable and they do get a bit of a slowdown often in the evening hours when more people are watching TV (7-10pmish). For my parents they can still stream Netflix with no issues, but other friends who live in a "younger" area do sometimes have some issues.

Screenshot of TekSavvy's website below, you can see at the top I have it as BC, this is the one for the 15mbps but you can change it on the left. At the bottom there's the two pricing options, the first for 300GB cap, and the second one for UNL (unlimited). :)

Hope that helps!

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

Telus is better price wise then shaw around here.

Telus 25 is 250gb and costs 63 per month

Shaw version is 60 per month and 150gb

Shaw doesn't have a 250gb plan but they do have a 300gb for 70 per month, Telus is 78 but 400gb data.


Telus is just too picky on who they will provide service to, so they are not an option for us.

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

The dry loop here is 13 dollars, I found the plan on their website and priced it out to see what the cost to obtain the service would be.

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

OK so a bit more out there, but still seems competitively priced for an unlimited plan. :)

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

The price is fine, it's the start up cost that is preventing the sign up. It will take a couple months to save the necessary funds.


I think Shaw has decided I have streamed enough, netflix will not work today, loads plays for 20 seconds, then needs to load again, and well its impossible to watch anything.

Our download speed is usually 15, doing the speed test its 11 right now, upload is even slower.

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

Yeah that's the only downside with TekSavvy, the up-front cost is a bit higher, but it should be doable as it's not insane and then the monthly cost is definitely reasonable. Hopefully you are able to get it sorted!

Re: Is streaming really a viable alternative to cable?
 

DSL dry loop as Schnooks has..

Speed isn't great, but I think we're too far away from the server probably. Advertised speed is 6mbps...but we achieve 2/3 Mbps mostly. It's fine though. Good enough to run Netflix and we download the HD BBC stuff rather than trying to stream them..