Verizon testing fast internet for 4K streaming

[richlife69]

$300 a month is way out of my reach.    And frankly, I would be satisfied if Verizon would just offer wireless internet, even at existing speeds,  at a reasonably cost without a cap.  Being out in the hinterlands, we have two internet services.  Unlimited Centurylink DSL at the phenomenal speed of 2.5mbs (on really good days) for $35/mon and Verizon wireless at 20mbps with a 10G cap at $60/mon.  So over $100 just for base service.  The DSL is because my wife can't get by with less than 40GB/mon just for BROWSING.  It's my backup as quality AUDIO streaming quickly eats up the 10GB if I'm not careful.  And I can't deal with the slow speed and delays of DSL. 

So Verizon offers me up to 30GB at just $10/10GB by contract (so $120 for 30GB -- and that's a max) or pay $10 per GB for overage.  We didn't make even 3 months with THOSE limits. 

What we all need is to stop with the BS fiber and provide alternative transport (wireless, powerline transmission, whatever) at a rate normal people (the lower 99%) can cope with. 

[NBPk402]

$300 a month is way out of my reach.    And frankly, I would be satisfied if Verizon would just offer wireless internet, even at existing speeds,  at a reasonably cost without a cap.  Being out in the hinterlands, we have two internet services.  Unlimited Centurylink DSL at the phenomenal speed of 2.5mbs (on really good days) for $35/mon and Verizon wireless at 20mbps with a 10G cap at $60/mon.  So over $100 just for base service.  The DSL is because my wife can't get by with less than 40GB/mon just for BROWSING.  It's my backup as quality AUDIO streaming quickly eats up the 10GB if I'm not careful.  And I can't deal with the slow speed and delays of DSL. 

So Verizon offers me up to 30GB at just $10/10GB by contract (so $120 for 30GB -- and that's a max) or pay $10 per GB for overage.  We didn't make even 3 months with THOSE limits. 

What we all need is to stop with the BS fiber and provide alternative transport (wireless, powerline transmission, whatever) at a rate normal people (the lower 99%) can cope with.

I agree! We all in this day and age should have reliable fast internet for a reasonable price, and $300 a month is not reasonable in my world either. I am lucky mine is $49 a month with unlimited data, but a slowdown cap at 2TB. To me this is a fair rate, and hopefully everyone will have rates like this in the future. I won't even pay $100 a month for tv included in the internet package, so I went with HT OTA, and we get our TV channels from 100 miles away. Of course we have bad reception days due to weather, but it is still better than paying over $100.

[bmoney]

I have ripped all of my Media to my UnRaid NAS. currently I use various apps on my tablet to control everything, but I am now trying to get iRule setup so it is easy for anyone to select a movie, and watch it from the tablet or phone.

only issue now is...they cant do 4k ....yet

[AVSCraig]

I agree! We all in this day and age should have reliable fast internet for a reasonable price, and $300 a month is not reasonable in my world either. I am lucky mine is $49 a month with unlimited data, but a slowdown cap at 2TB. To me this is a fair rate, and hopefully everyone will have rates like this in the future. I won't even pay $100 a month for tv included in the internet package, so I went with HT OTA, and we get our TV channels from 100 miles away. Of course we have bad reception days due to weather, but it is still better than paying over $100.

You must live in the city. I'm way up in the foothills of the Sierra. OTA TV is pretty much non existent here.

[richlife69]

You must live in the city. I'm way up in the foothills of the Sierra. OTA TV is pretty much non existent here.

Yes, similar issue.  I'm only 60 miles from the towers, but the hilly, heavily wooded location causes us huge receptions problems.  But then, I would have issues without ESPN...  And yet I have to agree with ellisr63.  We pay $125 for Directv (FAR too much), but my wife has cable shows she is unwilling to do without and I've already brought up ESPN.  Add up the two TVs, HD, etc and the hurt is on!  And then there is still 4K to come! 

The first offer for a la carte channel service will get me as a customer!

[NBPk402]

You must live in the city. I'm way up in the foothills of the Sierra. OTA TV is pretty much non existent here.

I am in Concord and surrounded by mountains... If i aim the antennae at San Francisco I might get one or two channels...aimed at Sac I get about 20 (80+ miles away).

[richlife69]

   Wow!  That really does make me feel like I'm in the hinterlands.  It literally does take me a good 10 minutes to drive out of our hills to a station/corner store, but another 20 minutes and I can get to 3 significant (for NC) cities -- Cary, Chapel Hill and Sanford (ok, significant to those who live there).  15 more minutes gets me to RTP, Raleigh, Durham and almost to Greensboro.  But we've had our place called a "Godforsaken place"!   

Yet doing a full 360 circle of our antenna will get me a max of about 50 stations.  Many are duplicates, far too many are bible belt beauties, and maybe 15 are unique network (major and minor).  The dups, etc. are so prevalent, that I've learned I can point just SE of Raleigh and lose the rotator since there is no real value with it. 

But this thread is about "fast internet" and "streaming" and neither of those appears to be in our future at this point.   

Edit:  I should add why we choose to live here.  In the words of a So. Californian forum friend who saw some pics, we live in an "Ehnchanted Forest".  And this time of year we have a view! 

[richlife69]

This isn't precisely on topic, but I don't think one happens without the other -- at least as far as Verizon is concerned.  And this certainly pertains to the posts above. 

http://fortune.com/2016/12/06/verizon-5g-test-small-towns/

I wonder how I can nominate my "small town" (country community)?

http://deadline.com/2016/12/verizon-offer-skinny-bundle-video-test-5g-wireless-technology-lowell-mcadam-1201865178/#comment-list-wrapper

I decided to comment to this one, but also think I'll try a follow-up with Verizon.  After all, what do we have to lose?  2.5mbs?

[lorjam]

$128 a month for direcTV, main DVR plus one Genie.  50Mbps internet plus phone for $90 per month.  My projector is set up for movies only, and when I asked about adding a Genie to my projector set up DirecTV said they would be happy to, but even if I paid for it any changes would require a new two year agreement.  My Brighthouse is now Spectrum, so I don't know how the merger will affect my choices, but any sort of competition from Verizon or Frontier/Fios would be welcome.