When I find what I read, I can answer this question.
Are you? You sure there's not a monopoly? It depends on where you live.
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Are broadcast networks becoming obsolete 10-20 yrs from now?
- Thread starter CurtisNEPA
- Start date
That's a user problem, not a streaming network problem. The network gets the subscription fee whether there's slowing (increasingly less likely as tech improves) or not.
Another possibility I wasn't considering: Internet providers that limit your data and then slow things down when you reach your limit.
The limits are typically so high that unless you're gaming 18 hours a day, you won't reach the cap. I worked from home extensively with my wife streaming movies during the beginning of the pandemic and never got close.
That's good. Maybe it's not as bad as I thought.
There's no such thing as a Google search for "what I saw years ago about xxx" so there won't be an answer.
Those were called "data caps". Here in suburban Sacramento we haven't had them in years---been unlimited since at least 2015--- and, every 18 months or so, Comcast tells me they can upgrade my internet speed to mega-giga-whatever and knock five bucks off what I've been paying for just giga-whatever.
And son of a gun, here's an article showing who still has them and who doesn't written eight days ago:
Which Internet Service Providers Have Data Caps?
Find out which internet providers have strict data caps, which charge extra for unlimited data every month, and which offer unlimited data on every plan.
www.highspeedinternet.com
That's good. I've heard of some providers who still do that.Those were called "data caps". Here in suburban Sacramento we haven't had them in years---been unlimited since at least 2015--- and, every 18 months or so, Comcast tells me they can upgrade my internet speed to mega-giga-whatever and knock five bucks off what I've been paying for just giga-whatever.
And son of a gun, here's an article showing who still has them and who doesn't written eight days ago:
Which Internet Service Providers Have Data Caps?
Find out which internet providers have strict data caps, which charge extra for unlimited data every month, and which offer unlimited data on every plan.
The main point I was trying to make was there is no limit when you are broadcasting information over the air, other than the limited number of channels available. If there are not limits when the information is delivered by cable, that's good. But when everyone is streaming, it sounds like that will slow things down for everyone.
Wikipedia doesn't count.
Am I what? Looking for a different ISP? I have SpaceX Starlink. It works great.
Each U.S. TV channel only has 6MHz of spectral real estate. And each 8VSB encoded stream is limited to 19.39Mb/s of usable data.
Of course there are limits as to how much data can be carried over a CATV system. Much of that depends on the age of the network, as in-how old the infrastructure is, and how many users located geographically are using data off that portion of the network.
Please see my previous comment. With modern systems that should rarely if ever be an issue. Viewer/user habits are changing and along with that, consumer expectations and demands have also changed. Internet Service Providers know this and have built their systems or in cases where older equipment was once in use, have made the upgrades to accommodate. There are always exceptions, like for those who live in more rural areas or are on older systems that that haven't been upgraded for whatever reason. In those cases, if a user really needs a reliable and fast connection, there are a number of options available to them.
You have multiple choices... unless you are on a farm or ranch in ultra-rural American. Cable, satellite and streaming give you choices by the dozens.
Don't like cable? Use an antenna for local TV and stream the rest. Or get DirectTV. Or just stream.
The biggest issue today in radio and TV is that people have so many choices and, to keep in the family and personal budget, they have to be selective.
I started my own website (link below) in part because online sources, such as Wikipedia, were outputting so much inaccurate or just-plain-wrong information about radio that there had to be a source for original publications with the real facts.
That is still true today, 20 years later, but on an even greater scale.
Of course, at times I feel like don Quixote, jousting with windmills. Or is it "windbags"?
At one point Spectrum was requesting permission from the FCC to start having data caps. They still don't but hopefully has that idea been canceled?Those were called "data caps". Here in suburban Sacramento we haven't had them in years---been unlimited since at least 2015--- and, every 18 months or so, Comcast tells me they can upgrade my internet speed to mega-giga-whatever and knock five bucks off what I've been paying for just giga-whatever.
And son of a gun, here's an article showing who still has them and who doesn't written eight days ago:
Which Internet Service Providers Have Data Caps?
Find out which internet providers have strict data caps, which charge extra for unlimited data every month, and which offer unlimited data on every plan.
This discussion made me investigate the trends of the last 20 years or so.
In 1956, my mom bought a Philco TV for about $600. Today, that would be about $6,600..
Last month I upgraded my "small" office TV to a 42" OLED. It was less than $220, and totaled $310 with a nice soundbar.
But now I spend about $450 a month for 1g/1g internet, cable TV and a variety of Netflix and Amazon Prime and HBO+ type services. So I spend every year about what the one-time TV set purchase cost in the 50's. We have moved to a paid service economy where now even one car maker plans to charge an annual fee for heated car seats!
Gotta adjust for inflation the other way, David. Your $450 for TV/internet/streaming is $41.33 a month in 1956 dollars. Probably would have raised Mom's eyebrow, but it wasn't godzilla dollars.
And BMW is going to get its arsch handed to it for that subscription idea.
It is very difficult if not impossible to compare these types of items over almost 70 decades. A $600 TV in the mid-50's would have been a luxury item whereas today's much enhanced TV's are ordinary consumable goods.
And I'm laughing at the heated seat annual fee. IIRC this was one of those luxo-mobiles and they probably better make it a mandatory option unless it is offered only in very cold weather climates. I can easily remember when cabin heaters were options (along with radios and a whole host of other things).
Then all TVs back then were luxury items. Look at the prices in catalogs available online. That is why it took over a decade for even 50% of US homes to get a TV.
I wish I could get a car without a heater... or heated seats, too.
Consumer tech prices always fall with volume. First Betamax (1975) was $2,000. VHS' advantage was supposed to be price---$1,200 in 1977. By '85, nobody was paying more than $500 for a VCR and by '87, it was more like $250.
The first flat screen TVs were 25 years ago. 42 inches and $15,000. Today, that size is in the $200-$250 range and you can get 90 inches for half what the first 42-inchers cost.
Even here in northern New England, I'd be more likely to pay extra for a seat (and driving wheel) cooler for our three-month -- if we're lucky -- summer.
Heated seats are likely to become a standard feature on all cars for one simple reason---you can warm the driver and passenger without using the heater.
In internal combustion vehicles, the heater is essentially a second radiator that takes heat from the cooling system and dissipates it into the cabin. In an electric vehicle, you don't have that, so a traditional heater is a drain on the electrical system, the same way air conditioning is. Electric seat heaters need a fraction of the juice.
EVs will continue to have full-cabin heaters because sometimes that's what you have to have, but the seat heater is a way to take the chill off on less brutally cold days and nights.
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