I think it depends how crowded your spot beam is. Around here the beams are so crowded people usually can't stream during prime time reliably even when they're still using priority data and not FAPed. We have a Hughesnet Gen5 and a Viasat Exede system here and neither reliably streams during prime time, although the Exede system seems to do better even though it's only 'up to 12 Mbps' as opposed to Gen5's 25.
AT&T Should sell DIRECTV to DISH
- Thread starter Scott Greczkowski
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I think it depends how crowded your spot beam is. Around here the beams are so crowded people usually can't stream during prime time reliably even when they're still using priority data and not FAPed. We have a Hughesnet Gen5 and a Viasat Exede system here and neither reliably streams during prime time, although the Exede system seems to do better even though it's only 'up to 12 Mbps' as opposed to Gen5's 25.
And both would still help make the argument that a Dish/DTV merger isn't a monopoly. Would the DOJ and FCC buy it? Beats me...
The federal government defines "broadband" as a minimum of 25 Mbps downstream (and maybe 3 upstream?). I think it's fairly well established that the current self-reported maps from broadband providers are flawed and overstate the availability of broadband. I would estimate that broadband service (NOT including crappy, high-latency, expensive, data-metered HughesNet or other current satellite broadband) is available to about 85% (maybe even a bit lower) of US residents. But 15% without it is nothing to sneeze at. That's nearly 50 million Americans!
I'm optimistic that advances on the tech horizon (fixed long-range 5G wireless; low-earth orbit satellite broadband; AT&T 5G-over-AirGig in partnership with electrical utilities) will significantly reduce that 50 million number to something very low by 2025. If politicians make it a priority (i.e. throw funding at it), it could happen sooner.
Am I supposed to be impressed by those hideously shaped consumer grade mesh C-band dishes that look like they'll lose half their panels the first time a storm blows through and all the tiny little DirecTV pizza pan peasant dishes surrounding them?
There's nothing at all impressive about that picture. That just demonstrates to me that you don't know how to get everything that's up there. If you were using those BUDs properly then you would have no need for the DirecTV dishes.
Last time I looked into Viasat they offer plans up to 100 Mbps with unlimited data. Latency is a non-issue for video streaming.
For fiber providers this may be true but for cable providers when they say they offer a speed tier in an area they mean it. It applies to every home in that market.
AT&T likes to list cities that have FTTP rolled out to a single neighborhood in that city as "fiber ready". So their coverage maps certainly are misleading. Fiber is much more spotty in covering an entire city than cable is.
Am I supposed to be impressed by those hideously shaped consumer grade mesh C-band dishes that look like they'll lose half their panels the first time a storm blows through and all the tiny little DirecTV pizza pan peasant dishes surrounding them?
There's nothing at all impressive about that picture. That just demonstrates to me that you don't know how to get everything that's up there. If you were using those BUDs properly then you would have no need for the DirecTV dishes.
Last time I looked into Viasat they offer plans up to 100 Mbps with unlimited data. Latency is a non-issue for video streaming.
For fiber providers this may be true but for cable providers when they say they offer a speed tier in an area they mean it. It applies to every home in that market.
AT&T likes to list cities that have FTTP rolled out to a single neighborhood in that city as "fiber ready". So their coverage maps certainly are misleading. Fiber is much more spotty in covering an entire city than cable is.
Those dishes have been there for 25 plus years and there's not a panel missing. That's a 12ft Paraclipse with horizon to horizon mount in case you've never seen one. It's called the 'Classic' for a reason and gets Ku band as well as C Band much better than your moldy little fiber glass umbrella.I am sorry that you are so totally misinformed about almost everything, including what's available from Viasat but I don't have the time to waste to try and educate you.
Scientific Atlanta 9000 series dishes manufacture date back to the early 1980's and they are all metal, not fiberglass. My dish is almost 40 years old and still works good as new. It's been in use for most of those 40 years. My dish could survive a hurricane. Could yours? There's a reason why TV stations don't use mesh antennas.
And why are you trying to impress me with your dish having a H-H mount? So does mine. I even have an Ajak H180.
Awfully ironic to accuse me of being misinformed about everything when you think the Scientific Atlanta 9000 series was made out of fiberglass. If you can't take the heat get out the kitchen. Reminds me of when people say things like "your dumb."
to you too.Given your lack of comebacks to my last post, I'll go ahead and accept your admission of defeat then. GG, better luck next time fren
Given your lack of comebacks to my last post, I'll go ahead and accept your admission of defeat then. GG, better luck next time fren
I didn't know it was a battle, just you preaching a bunch of bull and me laughing at you.
And I expect that you'll feel the need to issue the last word in the form of more bull which I'll also laugh at, so good night to you.
Very iffy. Not with Nest cameras, VOIP phones, someone streaming with Alexa, etc etc etc At times streaming a show is a chore, other times seems ok.
While Fiber providers like AT&T might be guilty of what you describe, so are cable companies, and have been for decades. The data is in, and they've been lying to the FCC about how many homes they serve. This is the reason Spectrum almost got kicked out of NY state. It is nice to think folks in the US have ubiquitous access to broadband, but it is just demonstrably untrue. You can find stories all over the internet of people whose only option is paying the local cable company (or telco for that matter) tens of thousands of dollars to connect their suburban home even though there is service right across the road or a quarter mile away.
My parents are Spectrum customers and could subscribe to Gigabit at their address, but they'd still be stuck at 30/5 because that is all the backhaul into their town allows for. They are paying the same thing I'd pay if I had 200/10. My brother lives in Cooperstown, NY, and he is stuck on a WiMax WISP because Verizon and Spectrum offer no internet service at his address. It stops less than a mile away for no particular reason. My old boss was stuck with 3Mb Century Link DSL in Holly Springs, NC until Ting came to town. I'd bet big money his neighborhood was "served" by TWC/Spectrum in the FCC records. Why is it so hard to believe these giant companies lied to stay ahead/avoid the competition? It is the same reason their customer service was so terrible until everyone in the country complained, and it has only gotten marginally better: they are only going to do what they are forced to do because that is what monopolies do.
The only thing we can accurately say is cable serves more addresses than other broadband technologies, and a simple majority of those cable connections have access to near gigabit speeds. Beyond that, the data isn't available to us, but certainly looks like way fewer addresses actually have access to cable broadband than the cable companies want you to believe.
In many areas cable providers basically stop at the city limits or not far from it. The density of homes outside that footprint isn't large enough for them to think it is worth investing in, or will only agree to service people if they're wiling to bear the (very high) cost of running wire off a main road to where they live.
I don't doubt any of the stories about places lacking cable but I don't think I've ever really known anyone in my lifetime who didn't at least have cable available at their home (with the exception maybe of one college friend who was from the middle of nowhere, over an hour outside of Birmingham, AL). I can barely remember as a toddler our family getting cable TV installed when it was, I think, pretty new to our neighborhood in the 70s. It was small city suburban but not far from cow pastures. We got channels 3-13, one of which was a computer bulletin board screen, with scrolling local weather, announcements and ads. (Channel 2 was HBO; the "cable man" had to unblock it at the pole if you subscribed.)
When I bought my home 2 years ago the subdivision had just gotten cable. The subdivision is in town and started about 10 years ago.
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I can name a laundry list of places without access to cable just in my general region of upstate NY. For starters, here in the Buffalo, NY area we have three Indian Reservations. No cable (or cell phone towers for that matter) on Indian land, the Nation won't allow it. For some irony, one of the Charter techs that services my area that I got to know, lives in a town about 30 miles from me, he lives near my favorite slaughterhouse/butcher shop, that area of his town has no cable. Frontier is the telco but they don't offer DSL at his address so he has HughesNet. As a fan of the paranormal, what is considered one of the most demonic houses in the US, the Dandy House is in the little town of Hinsdale, NY. That area and most of the surrounding area does not have cable. My favorite maple syrup farm is a 14 mile drive from the Dandy House and there is no cable at all in the stretch.
About 10 years ago the maintenance guy where I used to work built a fairly large log cabin style home near the intersection of two major routes in a rural area. He was told he would never get cable. Two years later dozens of wind turbines were erected across the street and around the corner from him. Those turbines for whatever reason require internet access, maybe for monitoring, I guess. As a result of Time Warner extending their infrastructure for the turbines, him and the guy in the woods behind him were able to get cable.
I live in a rural area and have gigabit from Charter, there are more rural areas then mine around here where there is cable, and you could get Gig if you desire but there are plenty of areas without any service at all. One of the points made was that cable companies generally upgrade an entire market at once, or at least in a couple stages spread apart by just a few weeks. When DOCSIS 3.1 went live last year in my area, it didn't matter what town you lived in, if you could get service from Charter, you could get Gigabit internet.
Sounds like the kind of place you might visit for some fresh air and scenery but wouldn't want to live.
I’d have a hard time living without at least a 50 broadband. FiOS has me spoiled!
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A lot of people are on satellite for the “hate” of the cable companies.
I get calls every day for people asking about Hughesnet or Exede, because they do not want Comcast or spectrum.
It takes a bit of talking to but most eventually agree to go with Comcast after they realize how much their hate for Comcast is really going to cost them to go with Exede.
I hate to say it, the cable companies are winning as long as they keep providing internet.
I get calls every day for people asking about Hughesnet or Exede, because they do not want Comcast or spectrum.
It takes a bit of talking to but most eventually agree to go with Comcast after they realize how much their hate for Comcast is really going to cost them to go with Exede.
I hate to say it, the cable companies are winning as long as they keep providing internet.
