AT&T’s massive TV losses continue as another 900,000 customers flee.

[StanDarsh]

Where I live, ATT still has last-mile copper phone service and even tried to sell that last-mile copper to a 3rd party..but the FCC said noway...been about 5 years ago when they tried that...
But, the CO is fed by fiber...and the CO to the slick96 that I live directly next door to is fed by fiber..but does AT&T have fiber ran to customers? Nope. It runs past each customer's house in this area..but AT&T won't tap it for customer use. They claim it is "distribution only" and can't be used. Even though 2/3 of the fiber in my little area is dark and has never been lit up...
It actually took a municipal to run fiber to me...they already had been contracted around 8 years ago to run fiber to a big golf course business that's about 8 miles out of the city limits..so they have their fiber already here..and I am 1 mile from that line. I collected signatures between me and the fiber that was already in place in this area by the city..and it was about 1 mile. 23 people (actually, 19 houses and 3 businesses) signed up. That sounds major, but the 3 businesses were 1 church, the local water authority, and a hair cutting salon.
The area I live is pop 8k or so...so it's small..rural 2-lane, with 2 gas stations and our very own DG ...so we aren't horse n buggy old, but we have a way of life that doesn't involve any red lights. I am currently getting 150/150 for $100. A little high, heck yeah it is..but when I could only get 6meg/0.5meg for 11 years with AT&T on DSL...it's like "omigsh there is interwebs".
I've been clicking and clicking since I got installed back in October (the 6th to be exact) and I still enjoy the almost instant access.
I've seen the speeds when the modem isn't in the firewall at the cities clec....and I like gigabit...
But..honestly..the difference between 150meg/150meg and unthrottled nearly gigabit speed is minute and barely can be seen.

As far as TV services and what I have...I get Hulu via T-Sprint-Mo...and that's thru cell..
I also have Sling blue + orange.
And Dish.

Far as price..I can't really say (or even know) how much it totals up to.

 

[mwdxer1]

I seriously doubt that price line. Even for an introductory price. Elon, God love him, plans to use STARLINK to fund a Mars colony. Really.

If the satellite service is much more than $50, then I might as well stay with Spectrum.... But the price floating around is supposed to be in the $50 range....

 

[navychop]

I keep reading the primary customer is rural and under or un served. That sounds To me like they don’t plan to be price competitive with urban providers.

 

[Radioguy41]

Nah, Fiber and the cable providers will eventually kill off Dish and Directv.

Don't bet your pension on it, you're looking at it from the view of an urbanite. Until there is wired high speed cable/Internet available in every square foot of this country there will always be a market for satellite TV and don't hold your breath for that to happen, at least not until the gov legislates it. No profit oriented company is going to voluntarily run wires 40 miles out into the desert for 2 customers. And don't get me started on the shortcomings of 5G in a rural market!

 

[lparsons21]

Don’t have to use the way out in the boondocks to make the case for satellite to stick around. The small town I’m in has cable pretty much everywhere within the city limits with some spots of no coverage.

I live in a development at the edge of town, I have cable but that only came after the subdivision had been in place for about 10 years and was completed about a month before I bought the house.

Cross the street to the East and there is no cable at all for many miles and won’t be unless a government agency does it. Just too few people to make it fiscally responsible for any for profit to do.

 

[ncted]

Don't bet your pension on it, you're looking at it from the view of an urbanite. Until there is wired high speed cable/Internet available in every square foot of this country there will always be a market for satellite TV and don't hold your breath for that to happen, at least not until the gov legislates it. No profit oriented company is going to voluntarily run wires 40 miles out into the desert for 2 customers. And don't get me started on the shortcomings of 5G in a rural market!

I think it will change for rural areas.

1. The FCC and states are paying companies to run service to un-served areas, albeit slowly, just like they did with phone lines and electricity.
2. LEO satellites will provide IP connectivity. Will it be the same as FTTH? no, but it may be good enough for most people.

 

[Claude Greiner]

I think it will change for rural areas.

1. The FCC and states are paying companies to run service to un-served areas, albeit slowly, just like they did with phone lines and electricity.
2. LEO satellites will provide IP connectivity. Will it be the same as FTTH? no, but it may be good enough for most people.

Even the rural areas are served with basic analog dial tone.

Eventually that gets replaced with Fiber, which solves the internet issue.

The only places left will be the ones who can’t get basic analog phone service today.

 

[Jimbo]

Even the rural areas are served with basic analog dial tone.

Eventually that gets replaced with Fiber, which solves the internet issue.

The only places left will be the ones who can’t get basic analog phone service today.

This will be YEARS from now IF Fiber is ever thru out the country entirely.

 

[lparsons21]

Even the rural areas are served with basic analog dial tone.

Eventually that gets replaced with Fiber, which solves the internet issue.

The only places left will be the ones who can’t get basic analog phone service today.

‘Eventually’ is the key word and means in this case ‘no time soon’!

 

[dare2be]

Starlink will be available, and 'soon'.

 

[osu1991]

Starlink will be available, and 'soon'.

Is that Dish “soon” or Tivo “soon” ?

 

[dare2be]

That's Tesla soon....so....

 

[slice1900]

Even the rural areas are served with basic analog dial tone.

Eventually that gets replaced with Fiber, which solves the internet issue.

The only places left will be the ones who can’t get basic analog phone service today.

The rural areas aren't going to get served by fiber just because they are currently served by analog dial tone. Telcos have been selling off their POTS customers to third parties for years now, they will continue to be served on analog because there is no federal mandate requiring they get something better. There's no profit in upgrading them to fiber, since it is cheaper to serve them via cellular, or satellite for the really way out in the sticks people who don't even have cell service where they are (mostly in the western US)

 

[Claude Greiner]

‘Eventually’ is the key word and means in this case ‘no time soon’!

I think in the next 10 years.

A lot changes and it’s at the point where more and more people demand data and with the cost of repairing copper lines going up, going behind and running fiber is the next logical choice.

Even on my hunting land they ran fiber along the side of the road.

I think the government will step in and pay to get it done, unless they make it a requirement next time there is a merger or something.

 

[lparsons21]

If the LEO satellites turn out to work as well as touted and the price is reasonable, I don’t think running a bunch of fiber out into the countryside will happen at all.

Just look at cell service. Out west there are gaping holes where there is no coverage at all in those wide open spaces, probably never will be. And that would be easier and cheaper to do that running a bunch of fiber.

Heck, my daughter has a house in south central Missouri and wouldn’t have decent cell service if it wasn’t for the tower on their property. No internet except for satellite and tv is pretty much relegated to satellite though they can get a very few OTA stations. I don’t expect that to change real soon either.

 

[osu1991]

Windstream ran fiber out from the city to the area around the lake when my cabin is, but it was just to their distribution building. They were able to go to 15Mbps bonded dsl, but thats all they can do, they wont be running fiber to the homes or anything else.

I was totally surprised when I heard there were cable company trucks out there and my mom said some of the neighbors had cable now. I thought she probably saw a satellite installer or something, but she was correct. Vyve broadband

I switched to it a couple of months ago. They bought the old cable plant that hadn't been used in over a decade and upgraded it and ran new distribution and line cables where needed and now offer 1gig docsis 3.1 service to homes in that area. They spent about 4 hrs upgrading the lines and an amp coming down to my house. As I'm not there full time, I just went with the 25Mpbs service for $35 a month. It's been rock solid and my mom can use wifi calling and watch Prime or YoutubeTV with no problems.

 

[Bruce]

Just reported that Comcast lost 388,000 residential video subscribers in the first quarter.

While this quarter is going to be bad, next quarter is going to be many times worse with so many out of work, this is for all Traditional Providers, not just DirecTV.

Now the question will be, how many will come back once the economy recovers, or will they be happy just with the streaming options they switched to or already had.

 

[ewindowman]

I just saw a add for Comcast and the 39 dollar stater Internet were up to 49 dollars. Time to make up the lost revenue.


Sent from my iPhone using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[Claude Greiner]

I just saw a add for Comcast and the 39 dollar stater Internet were up to 49 dollars. Time to make up the lost revenue.


Sent from my iPhone using the SatelliteGuys app!

What area was that?

Most areas are $20, $34.99, $39.99 and $40

 

[Claude Greiner]

Just reported that Comcast lost 388,000 residential video subscribers in the first quarter.

While this quarter is going to be bad, next quarter is going to be many times worse with so many out of work, this is for all Traditional Providers, not just DirecTV.

Now the question will be, how many will come back once the economy recovers, or will they be happy just with the streaming options they switched to or already had.

Yeah but how many internet customers did they gain?

They hate to loose video, but on internet they have no cost to programmers or 3rd parties. They keep 100% of the revenue for internet customers.

Comcast will do pretty good this quarter, since most of the people are getting them for internet.

Unlike Dish or Directv who are not strong on offering bundles, once a customer gets internet through the cable company, they are likely doing a bundle with the cable company or are going with streaming.

Customers are likely not coming back.

The only advantage Dish has is that they offer several low cost packages with a handful of channels. For some customers, especially the older “cheap” customers, it’s hard to get them away from Dish when they might be paying less than $30/mo.

I have caused a lot of Dish customers to cancel service in the past month and a half since the Corona virus hit and everyone has been trying to get internet.

The higher value customers who need their sports and are paying $100/mo are the easiest customers to convert into a bundle which on average is $130/mo after taxes and fees.

When the lower value Dish customers call looking for internet, it’s hard to sell a bundle because nobody else offers the smaller packages with a handful of channels.

I get a nice warm fuzzy feeling when I talk a Dish customer into getting rid of Dish Network, which most are happy to do so.