Fiber Optics vs IP TV vs traditional cable internet

abice4214 · July 31, 2014

Hi Everyone, I'm completely new to the forum, this will officially be post number 1. I'm glad I finally found the forum, I've watched linustechtips youtube channel forever, I followed linus when he used to be with NCIX also, so I'm a big fan Linus! B)

My topic is broad in terms of internet and home networking. I'm moving and it is the same old conversation, what company do I go with for internet and tv? I hate this conversation because it frustrates me when you call the customer service people and they have no idea what they are talking about. I live in Raleigh, NC so the ISP and TV providers are the same as everywhere, DirecTv, Time Warner, Centruylink, At&t, and some Verizon. The new craze in my area is fiber optics, Google fiber is trying to make a move, while other companies like Centurlink, At&t and RST Fiber are starting to lay their pipelines for their fiber cables. Now that is great, fiber I feel is the way to go if you own your home and can pay to have fiber cable installed in your home, which will be great for when I buy a home in the next couple year, I'm not there yet.

In the meantime I'm renting so I have to go with the traditional cable and dsl internet. Currently I have two providers, DirecTv for TV and Time Warner for internet. I have the 30mbps package with Time Warner. Speeds are great at times, but other than that I have had nothing but problems with Time Warner so I think I want to switch, and I can't stand having to run to different lines for two different providers so I would like to start bundling. The major drawback and reasoning for this whole conversation is that I work from home. I VPN each day to one of the central servers in North Carolina, on top of that most of our data is pulled from international servers, and most work is done using the internet browser. Having 30mbps over the standard 15mbps has really made a difference in terms of speed, efficiency, and ease of use. It's pretty clear for me I need a higher speed internet, however, these companies do not offer it other than time warner offering 50mbps, I had seen 40mbps on centurylink's website, but that to me seems false. I think that the new TVs they are offering whether it is the Dish Hopper, Centurylink prism, or DirecTv Genie, I think that you are limiting your internet speeds a lot because of the fact that it is all connected via Wi-Fi. I just don't like the idea, but I don't have experience with it or know the actual facts, and it seems like it is hard to research because I can't find good knowledge when looking up on it.

The answer is clear to me that fiber optics is the solution because of the higher speeds (gigabit, etc), it's just not available just yet, in lieu of that, what do you think as tech wizards is my best option? With three laptops, two smartphones, an xbox one, an ipad, printers & tvs all connected to wi-fi, 10 or 20mbps is just not going to cut it. On top of that adding these wi-fi cable boxes just doesn't seem like a good option either, especially with all the connectivity issues I have had with my current internet, I could see my tv going out being an additional headache. I did smartly purchase my own my own modem and router though, I purchased those from best buy, I'm using the Motorola SBG-6782-AC in bridge mode, with a Cisco Linksys EA6500 router. I think it has been the best set up I have had thus far, nothing time warner could offer was doing the trick and their service and techs were terrible in helping to resolve the issues (another reason why I want to switch)

Apologies, for my first post being lengthy and more about what ISP are offering than about products, but I do think the discussion could lead to helpful answers, and I'm sure everyone can provide some good tips and experiences they have had with probably this same issue.

Thanks in advance!

Adam

abice4214 · August 2, 2014

Bumping this for a response, I know it's long but I'd really appreciate some advice.

Thanks

aka848 · August 3, 2014

Here is the thing, your circumstances are extremely nuanced. Cable companies perform differently in different areas, and so people can't really tell you what is best unless they live in your area. Competition, or lack of it, will make services awesome or horrible. Unlike most people (in the US) you have options, be happy you have the ability to switch companies. This means that not only do you have the option to switch to a better provider, but you are also more likely to get what you are paying for. In addition, you aren't locking into a contract with these companies. Your highest priority is internet speed. Get the fastest you can with free installation, if you dont like it just keep looking at your options. Since you can always threaten to switch carriers, you have leverage, use it. If you really have to pick one at gunpoint, here is an idea, instead of talking to people from all around the world, talk to people you live and work around you.. in the real world.

Your post is too detailed to incite any real conversation, if you want a discussion you have to leave room for people to disagree.