I moved to the boonies over a decade ago. I get my TV over the air...and I don’t miss cable at all. With digital signal, and an amplified antenna, I get around 20 stations...none of which are cable news.
I’d cut the cord and do a trial run with over the air tv.
Lived with OTA for years and used the money I saved to buy DVDs TV and series.
Worked until I moved back to the city, no OTA, go figure.
I don’t understand one word of this. I have the networks (I never watch) and 700 other stations I don’t watch except for an hour of Fox and 12 hours of the Food Network. Oh, and lots of Turner Classics.
So I would go with a high-speed cable provider (not DSL).
And skip Sling. I subscribe to Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu. That's it. I have a Roku 3, which I can get tons of free channels. I get my regular TV stations through an antennae. My bill is less than $20/month, not counting the Prime which is paid up front annually.
Comcast Business operates completely separate from Xfinity and their support is 1000% better. It is like night and day. The 50 mbit is a guraranteed minimum (CIR) and their tech support is top notch. I run a server in my basement with a static IP addr and it's great.
Fios is not an option here - so the above are my 2 choices.
With DSL I wss getting 1.3 down on a good day. Comcast 30 down almost always.
From your description, 2 DSL lines buffering vs. one cable line with almost no buffering, assuming almost the same price, is a no-brainer.
I did have to add an extender to get wifi in one end of the house and I have one laptop on 5 ghz band and the other laptop, tablets, phones, etc. on the 2.4 band, but pretty much trouble free.
The router and extenders are mine, not Comcast provided.
A valid option is just stop watching so much video, of whatever kind.
I did that over 20 years ago, and it was the best decision I ever made. I always have more to do than I have time to do it.
It is amazing how much of life I was wasting as a TV zombie.
Here’s my setup, LOVE IT
1. Local network over the air TV - Silicondust HD Homerun receiver, HDTV Antenna hung on wall in a spare room, plugged into the cable TV wiring which distributes the signal around the house for spare TV’s. Windows Media center laptop in living room gives me a free guide and DVR feature.
2. Cable TV channels - PSVUE on several Roku’s and Amazon Fire stick
3. Kodi installed on Fire Stick to watch free movies and starve Hollywood of revenue
Cable actually offers more for similar cost.
My Internet is mid-level at $70/month. But, I have around 50 Mbps and 1 Tb of download/upload per month. Satellite and phone company cannot come close to that.
I think my local cable requires at least basic TV in order to get Internet. I add the next tier for most of the ‘better’ cable offerings: TNT, USA, A&E, etc., and large number of sports — Fox and ESPN.
My area does not even have 4G mobile, but the 3G is comparable to what I am paying for cable and the download/upload is about 10 Gb — insufficient for serious streaming.
I use both Netflix and Amazon Prime and seldom have any buffering, unless the cable company is working on the system. Streams begin almost instantaneously.
In a rural area, my Internet is CenturyLink. Still a good deal even at 5 MBS.
I could go 60 MBS with Spectrum Cable for slightly more but don’t think its worth it.
South Korea is moving to 1 gigibit internet ... US$20/month.
Why is everyone so intent upon streaming anyway?
Downloading is the answer to my DSL limits and I have more media than I have time to watch.
The price of high speed is only going 1 way - down. Go comcast and grit teeth for a while. You’ll thank me later.
Any microwave wireless ISP’s in your area? Usually more expensive than VDSL or cable, but may be worth it for you.
http://broadbandnow.com/Fixed-Wireless
We have Verizon Wireless and hate it. Horrible customer service, defective equipment, and a high price to boot.
We just tried to replace them recently.
We were promised by Frontier, that a 3 way bundle with them including internet would be 74 dollars.
I called to check up on that rate several days after the promise, and nope, it was going to really be $130.
I called it off of course.
We are still looking to replace Verizon Wireless.
I sympathize. The Internet is the sticking point in a lot of cases. Here in our part of MA, the only provider with adequate Internet performance is Charter cable. My wife needs it for telecommuting, and bundling it with the most basic cable package makes it almost affordable. But I would ditch cable in a heartbeat if I could get Internet service another way. Probably 85% of our viewing comes from Netflix streaming. The broadcast portion is mostly NFL or NCAA Div. 1 basketball. and little else. Sooner or later the market is going to have to respond... everyone I know hates their cable company!
My sister is near Minneapolis and Comcast charges $65 a month for internet only. She spent many an hour complaining to them to fix her connection. They finally replace some wire from the telephone poll to the house and that seems to have fixed the problem. I pay $41.95 for 70mb download speed from Time Warner here in the San Fernando valley by Los Angeles.
I do not have cable tv anymore but do have Sling TV for $25 which has the channels I had with cable and several more added. I use a over the air tv antenna to get the free channels. Check http://www.tvguide.com then What’s On> TV Listings to see what is available in your area.
I also have Netflix and Amazon Prime and a ROKU box and apps like XTV for all kinds of free shows from old to new. Google XTV and you can install to your ROKU or similar device.
My problem is I have so many shows I can watch that I hardly ever get around to doing so as I know they will always be there for later viewing.