[Svoboda]

Originally Posted by yellowsnow

I have played the call and beg game twice now and it didn't work. It has worked in the past though. Just not this time.

I don't use or need cable at all. I stream all my TV so internet is all I need.

Pay attention to bandwidth caps for whatever provider you end up with. I don't know how many users/devices you have, but you can quickly chew through your data.

You can use the site below to see the broadband providers available in your area but as you know, it's likely just Cox for coax and CenturyLink for DSL or Fiber.

https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov

[Whiskey-Pete]

Originally Posted by Cold Warrior

If you have unlimited data you could simply tether to your cellphone and pay nothing extra.

That's what we are doing. We have 4 lines with Cricket Wireless ( AT&T pwned company) and pay a total of $100 per month unlimited everything. 1 of the 4 phones is an unlocked Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe and it allows you to use the phone as a hotspot without having to call the phone company to sign up and pay for the service. That one phone is basically our wireless internet provider. Its connected to 2 Roku TVs, 1 chromebook, chromecast 1 tablet and 2 android TV boxes. We have zero issues streaming internet TV/video on the TV's and other devices run fine as well.

[Tek_Freek]

Holy cow!

[clutchcargo777]

The $80 intro rate is a scam. You will never pay "just" that. Once taxes and fee's are added it will be closer to $130.


Talking about the fee's, there is a mandatory sports access fee, even of you never watch any sport. Basically a subsidy to help out the poor sports industry. Sheesh'

[RationalExpectations]

I've often thought it would be interesting to share a single internet connection with a neighbor, splitting the bill.

[Commander666]

Originally Posted by Whiskey-Pete

That's what we are doing. We have 4 lines with Cricket Wireless ( AT&T pwned company) and pay a total of $100 per month unlimited everything. 1 of the 4 phones is an unlocked Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe and it allows you to use the phone as a hotspot without having to call the phone company to sign up and pay for the service. That one phone is basically our wireless internet provider. Its connected to 2 Roku TVs, 1 chromebook, chromecast 1 tablet and 2 android TV boxes. We have zero issues streaming internet TV/video on the TV's and other devices run fine as well.

I have done the same thing with cricket for years. However, it only works with certain un locked phones, for me works with tmobile unlocked phones but not att unlocked phones. And for certain apps I use, the streaming isn't fast enough, one being real time streaming brokerage accounts. On a related subject, lots of Android apps will no longer work with anything below 5.0 lollipop.

[hank702]

Originally Posted by Whiskey-Pete

That's what we are doing. We have 4 lines with Cricket Wireless ( AT&T pwned company) and pay a total of $100 per month unlimited everything. 1 of the 4 phones is an unlocked Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe and it allows you to use the phone as a hotspot without having to call the phone company to sign up and pay for the service. That one phone is basically our wireless internet provider. Its connected to 2 Roku TVs, 1 chromebook, chromecast 1 tablet and 2 android TV boxes. We have zero issues streaming internet TV/video on the TV's and other devices run fine as well.

Wow

[sxmfan2018]

Originally Posted by OmegaSupreme

Going to have to hope 5G will shake things up a bit

Or start your own ISP, that way you too can be a CEO

i heard that verizon is putting up 5G towers there but it will be limited . i have 5G where i am and it's freaking mind blowing at how fast it is and with NO latency and to be able to download huge files at the blink of an eye is just crazy!!! you can bet your bottom dollar that 5G is gonna shake things up how many people do you know that want to tell there cable or fiber to go screw. though i am still sure there getting money in there pockets for doing the back hauls to the cell towers

[JonathanLB]

I have no clue if it works this way in Vegas, but everywhere else I've been (Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Portland), what I've been able to do is get that introductory rate, then inevitably 24 months later, it goes WAY up, and I tell them because of budget reasons I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to start cutting back on services. If I have TV and Internet, or TV / Internet / phone / security system or something like that, I'll just tell them I want their quote for just Internet. Then I'll kind of throw in, "I mean, don't get me wrong, I really love having it all, and I could totally afford to pay what I was paying, but when the deal ended and the rate just went up so much, that kind of forces me to have to reconsider, unfortunately." The person will always cut in, "Oh I understand, well we have some other deals going, would you like me to see what I could do for you?" "Oh, ok, well... sure if you wouldn't mind, I mean if I could pay closer to what I paid last month, I'd be fine with it, but a 30% increase in price for me is just kind of a budget-breaker."

I've almost always been able to get either exactly what I paid last month and extended for another 24 months, or I was able to get close to it, at least. One time it was about 5% more than I paid last month, but I figured that's fine, no big deal. In our economy sometimes it's hard to know what can and cannot be negotiated. Like, you don't go to WalMart and say, "This Blu-ray says $15. I'll give you $12 for it, not a penny more." They'll just look at you funny. It's not going to happen. But in my experience you can always negotiate with cable companies to some degree, because they always have various deals going or incentives and they don't want to lose you. It's so much easier for them to give you a discount where they're still making money than it is to lose the monthly income entirely.

[lvmensch]

I have a Verizon tablet that can play hot spot. Actually a Verizon giveaway as part of a phone purchase..We have been going to shut it down for the last years as it costs $10 a month or so. But on occasion it is useful. Can run all the MLS software in the car for instance. You can do it on a smart phone but it is awkward.

Just for fun I ran the speed test linking the tab hot spot to our lap top. Using the Verizon server and Switch it was pretty consistent between 2 and 6 meg down and 1 to 2 up. We could probably live with that in a pinch. More than an order of mag off our normal but we don't do much challenging so it would probably be OK to stay up.