Electronics

[Montana]

To recap, my old 1990's tv finally died and I need a new setup.  Now I have Comcast cable tv and Verizon DSL internet.  I plan on getting a smart tv and will need more internet speed.  My options are FIOS or Comcast.

I have decided to try Comcast first - no contract and only tv and Internet.  I figure if I don't like it, it will easier to switch to FIOS rather than the other way around.

I have looked at the Comcast plans, but am not sure how many Mbps I should get. Is there a minimum amount? I don't do streaming or downloading now, but since I have to change things anyway, I'd like to have enough speed to do so, down the road.  Cost is not an issue.

[hckynut]

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@Montana wrote:

To recap, my old 1990's tv finally died and I need a new setup.  Now I have Comcast cable tv and Verizon DSL internet.  I plan on getting a smart tv and will need more internet speed.  My options are FIOS or Comcast.

I have decided to try Comcast first - no contract and only tv and Internet.  I figure if I don't like it, it will easier to switch to FIOS rather than the other way around.

I have looked at the Comcast plans, but am not sure how many Mbps I should get. Is there a minimum amount? I don't do streaming or downloading now, but since I have to change things anyway, I'd like to have enough speed to do so, down the road.  Cost is not an issue.

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Hi @ Montana,

Not gardenman, just thought I would give this a shot. I am familiar with both provider names yon mention, but have never dealt with either of them. I can only tell you my experiences, with our present DSL.

Unfortunately, we do not have a lot of choices in the "real high speed" connections. The max, with Centurylink when it first became available was a slow 1.5mbps. Later it increased to 5.0mbps top speed. Over years we now have their max for our home of 15mbps.

With Centurylink, if they had higher speed I would pay for it, but since we are still using old copper wire(which I made for over 25 years), not fiber optic cable, our speeds may never get faster. Live in rural area so no cable available.

With Centurylink we can change speeds every month if we please, especially those wanting to go from 1.5 to 5 or 15mbps. 

Think you should check and see if that is an option with either or both companies. If you plan on Streaming, especially 4k content, the minimum suggested speed for movies is 25mbps. I stream 4k with our 15mbps and it keeps up without "buffering" on the 4k movies I have watched.

What you decide for speed, I think most companies would/could easily up your speed anytime. Don't see a reason they wouldn't want to see a customer pay a higher bill.

Wish I had higher speed options as I think you probably do. Money is somewhat of an issue in our home, within reason, but for faster speeds up to a certain point? I would find a way to reduce other bills if it came to a choice.

Sorry @GardenMom for butting in, but I didn't see a reply yet from you, so you know me!

hckynut

[gardenman]

@ Montana

I've got Comcast now and I'm getting around 120 mbps and it's great. Once you start streaming you'll wonder why you haven't been doing it. It's a very convenient way to watch programming.

Even though the FIOS line runs right by my front door Verizon won't connect us to FIOS. 

As to the minimum, I would always go for at least 30-50 mbps. While I get over 120 mbps on my wired connections, the WiFi speed is significantly slower. From time to time my Fire TV Stick will say my download speed is too slow. (Usually while my tablet or smartphone is also using the WiFi. The Fire TV Stick ends up working fine given a minute or two.)

[Nuttmeg]

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@Montana wrote:

To recap, my old 1990's tv finally died and I need a new setup.  Now I have Comcast cable tv and Verizon DSL internet.  I plan on getting a smart tv and will need more internet speed.  My options are FIOS or Comcast.

I have decided to try Comcast first - no contract and only tv and Internet.  I figure if I don't like it, it will easier to switch to FIOS rather than the other way around.

I have looked at the Comcast plans, but am not sure how many Mbps I should get. Is there a minimum amount? I don't do streaming or downloading now, but since I have to change things anyway, I'd like to have enough speed to do so, down the road.  Cost is not an issue.

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I have blast internet speed. It can run 120 to 240 on a new device . You need a speed of at least 100.

Please go out to DSL REPORTS the COMCAST Forum and ask how to get a fair price for service. 

[hckynut]

@Nuttmeg@gardenman,

You guys talk about 3 digit mbps, and here I am happy to have my 15 speed after so many years or 1.5/5.0mbps. With my (maybe) personally made copper wired home, doubt I will ever see the blazing speeds that you have available.

I am just happy that with my 15 speed I can watch 4k streaming and rarely see any buffering. Everything says minimum of 25 for 4k, but do far so good for me at 15.

hckynut

[gardenman]

@hckynut

John, read up on the new 5G wireless service that's coming starting next year and beyond. You may end up with faster Internet service than you could have imagined. Some of the experimental chips they've developed for that are giving download speeds of 25-35 gigabits per second. The first real, out of the lab chip, Qualcomm's Snapdragon X50 delivers 5 gigabit per second download speed. If it works like they say it'll work, pretty much the whole country will be blanketed with blazing fast Internet.

My understanding is cell towers will be a thing of the past. The modems will be embedded right into the fiber optic lines and simply unrolled and activated. Both the modems and fiber optic lines are expected to be affordable enough to be be deployed pretty much anyplace where electricity is available. They're saying that 5G will be a revolutionary change and if it works as promised, they'll be right. 

Qualcomm's website has a lot of stuff up about 5G and more and more information is coming out about it. It sounds like pretty much everything we buy in the future will come with a 5G modem built right in. Rather than rely on WiFi, our items (smartphones, tablets, computers, smart TV's, etc,) will just reach right out to the Internet themselves. It's pretty neat stuff.