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 )

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Does downloading use less data then streaming?

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.

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.