Anybody else abandon all wired connections in their home?

[Exodus_2pt0]

First the lan line home line. With cell phones that are always in our pocket, the lan line is just another bill. (With the exception of running a business out of your home, I get that.)

Next cable/sattelite/whatever TV. Between netflix, amazon prime, and a plethora of other options, who needs it?

Now I've been forced into hunting broadband internet options relying on cell networks. My home is on a private road in the country. Without spending the coin or opening a business account with Comcast, I have no options for a wired broadband internet solution.

I was using 4gcommunity, which was a very cheap non-profit organization that provided you with a wifi hotspot and literally unlimited data. This worked for a while, but the speeds were severly limited in my area, and they recently went out of business.

Just switched to T-mobile one. 2 lines for $120 a month, and 50gb for each line, then deprioritized but not necessarily throttled. I opted for the international plan on mine which gives unlimited 4g tethering as well. It serves all our needs for streaming, gaming, ect. In games, when looking at the ping you wouldn't be able to pick it out from the rest. Download speeds are slow by today's standards, but I never needed more than 20mb/s anyway.

I'm wondering how long before the cellular network reaches a point where it can handle the high loads, and even wired internet becomes a thing of the past.

[varg]

The cellular networks never will be able to support the kind of bandwidth necessary to give widespread access to the kinds of home connections people are used to these days. A lot of people are on connections upwards of 50mbps, I have a 100mbps connection at home. 4G connections are perfectly adequate for most internet usage of course. In my speed tests of my 4G connection it's pretty fast - 5-15mbps, but that's not enough for simultaneous HD streaming or streaming and doing something else.

[Kershaw]

I'm a big fan of the electrical outlets.

[z31maniac]

Have to have a wired internet connection. I work from home 2-3 days per week, and even on my 100mbps connection at home the VPN we have to use can be slow.

For instance, it's Sunday morning and my Perforce workspace has been updating for nearly 20 minutes to bring me the latest files.

Sure, the office is only 5 miles away, but it's nice to be able to wake up, stay in your PJs get a drink and snack and go to your "office" which is on the other side of the house.

[superj]

We have to stay wired also. 4 xboxes, 4 cell phones, 4 laptops all going most of the time

[varg]

4 xboxes? What? Frat house?

[Northern]

Used to have cable/internet/phone in a package, but only because it was a 3 year intro price, and we didn't even hook up the phone. A year ago we dropped down to just internet and I have zero regrets, besides the fact that it's still around $100/mo.

I'd switch, but all there's just zero comparable competition.


Also have programmable thermostats wired, lol.

[AWDBOB]

~2020. It's going to be a bit before it happens, but 5g is supposedly going to be the thing that is really able to carry the bandwidth needed to "kill broadband".

Most cities are doing (or already have) fiber buildouts, and the headends of the cable companies are switching to strictly fiber vs hybrid fiber/coax which will be great to deliver 1GB/2GB speeds which many businesses need and won't be able to get for a long time via strictly wireless.

5G will be an extremely capable platform, it's just going to take a ton of small cells to make it work in your area (similar to fiber, obviously not wireless, just far more capable than coax based interwebz)

With that said, I had 75mpbs for a long while and upgraded to 150mbps, and really don't need it. It changed nothing functionally for me other than my speed tests, but I'm also not a heavy internet user or gamer/etc. I get cable for $0, but if I had to pay for it, I certainly would cut that cord.

[supermansocks95]

I refuse to get cable. I think it's stupid. Now, fast internet is a must for me.

[aaron325ix]

I'm probably going to run into some of these decisions soon. We are moving to a small town in the Colorado rockies. I will be getting internet through century link "high speed" internet. They advertised 20Mbps at my address online but when I set up the appointment they guy told me it was more like 10-12 Mbps. I work from home and we use Netflix, sling and such and depend on a good internet service so I'm concerned that my not be enough but I believe thats the best we can get.

Also, due to our location we cant even get the stations on antenna from Denver, so no HD football games or anything on the major networks. I really dont want to do satellite or cable but might have to consider it.

Feel free to chime in if you have any ideas

[Exodus_2pt0]

I just got a letter for Hughes net actually, what a joke. Capped at 50gigs and limited to 480p streaming.

So far so good for this T-Mobile route. Between the two of us we have plenty of data (100gigs), and since my phone has the plan with 4g streaming we use that most.

My bill is around $150 for 2 phones. Both with a soft limit of 50gigs. Mine tethers 4g speeds, hers at 3g. Even her phone will stream acceptable quality on Netflix, ect. T-Mobile also pays for our Netflix subscription do that's a plus.

In BF4 my ping is usually no higher than 80 m/s. So gaming is G2G as well. Speed test.net has been putting me around 10-15mbps which is fine for our use. And honestly, that fact that we can split up use between multiple hotspots means we aren't sharing bandwidth so that's a plus considering the limited speed.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

I gotta have internet/cable. I watch to many tv shows that don’t always get put on those apps and its easier to just set the DVR and walk away. Not to mention football and racing. I like to game as well so a high speed internet is a must. Usually speed test around 35-40 mb/s

[cheffy30]

i so happily cut the cable right off the house... we use centurylink. wireless. all seems fine and fast enough...
5 phones, ps4, xbox1, 2 laptops, 1 tablet...
yep 5g is on the way... but my car still does 0-60 in a few minutes though...lol

[Vincent Brick]

My roommates are like 2 months and $200 in extra gear into trying to get a brand new wifi smart tv to stream Hulu and Netflix reliably and so far still no luck, I was trying to watch it yesterday and its still unusable, constant buffering and errors despite really fast home internet. There is no way I would try and base a home media setup of my own based around a wireless connection, not until the technology improves.

[Exodus_2pt0]

My roommates are like 2 months and $200 in extra gear into trying to get a brand new wifi smart tv to stream Hulu and Netflix reliably and so far still no luck, I was trying to watch it yesterday and its still unusable, constant buffering and errors despite really fast home internet. There is no way I would try and base a home media setup of my own based around a wireless connection, not until the technology improves.

Sounds like a issue with the TV. I just bought a Vizio M series and been binge watching Stranger things while tethered to my phone. Nice, clear resolution and all.