Fiber Internet and TV Services, Cord Cutting

[clf]

I hate that there is a billboard out side my window for USI but the told me they will not be going into my area until the end of 2016. Like they are taunting me : )

[jw138]

Saw crews working on 5th Ave S near 46th street yesterday. That area not scheduled to go live until October, does that mean they're ahead of schedule? (my street is scheduled in November but would love to get it sooner!)

The crews were in my neighborhood along Blaisdell about two months prior to service actually getting switched on. When it did get turned on, it was done so about a week ahead of schedule.

[Chip Whitley]

Just a tip for cable cutters. If you have a friend or family member that does pay for full cable/ satellite, get a Slingbox and hook it up to one of their TVs. I agree that you don't need cable for most things anymore but live sports is an exception. I bought a Slingbox for a one-time charge of $99. I hooked it up to the DirecTV box in my parent's family room that literally almost never gets used. I have full control of the box. I can watch it on my phone, tablet, PC, etc. Quality is amazing. I throw my parents a few bucks or pick up lunch here or there.

Note that doing this violates the terms of the contract and, because of the way the DMCA is written, is probably actually *illegal* in addition to being a breach of contract law. If you're doing this you may be wise not to post that you're doing so on a semi-public online forum.

I'm a little confused as to who asked you, how you know, and why you care. Firstly, what contract did I break exactly? In order to break a contract, you need to sign one. Secondly, it's not illegal. Here's a 31 page document from an actual lawyer that specifically talks about why this use of the Slingbox is not illegal ( http://repository.jmls.edu/cgi/viewcont ... text=jitpl ). Lastly, I highly, highly doubt anyone related to the television industry is reading this forum, cares at all, and/ or would use any resources to find me. I think I'll be fine.

On a topic related to this, does anyone from USI know when/ if fiber is coming to Elan in Uptown? Last I heard, they were trying to break their contract with Comcast to allow USI fiber. Anyone there know anything about this?

[FISHMANPET]

Well presumably it violates the contract of the person that's paying for Cable TV.

Sent from my phone

[Chip Whitley]

Well presumably it violates the contract of the person that's paying for Cable TV.

Sent from my phone

Again, I'm not sure what's being violated. It's not the DMCA because the DMCA, for the most part, relates to circumventing technologies designed to prevent copyrighted material. The Slingbox doesn't do that.

I really don't want to make a big deal out of this so I'm not going to post anymore regarding this non-issue.

[FISHMANPET]

Well you're not paying the fees to view copyrighted material, sooooooo.

I mean, whatever, I don't care, but it doesn't take more than about 5 seconds of critical thought to see that what you're describing is not 100% above the board legit

Sent from my phone

[jkrejci]

On a topic related to this, does anyone from USI know when/ if fiber is coming to Elan in Uptown? Last I heard, they were trying to break their contract with Comcast to allow USI fiber. Anyone there know anything about this?

As of Friday last week the install is being held up pending legal contract documents to be signed by the management/owner. Once that is received the outside and inside wiring installs would get scheduled.

[billhelm]

Saw crews working on 5th Ave S near 46th street yesterday. That area not scheduled to go live until October, does that mean they're ahead of schedule? (my street is scheduled in November but would love to get it sooner!)

The crews were in my neighborhood along Blaisdell about two months prior to service actually getting switched on. When it did get turned on, it was done so about a week ahead of schedule.

Good information, thank you.

I have been plotting the termination phone call to Comcast for months now. I'm very excited to be able to do that soon.

[talindsay]

I'm a little confused as to who asked you, how you know, and why you care. Firstly, what contract did I break exactly? In order to break a contract, you need to sign one. Secondly, it's not illegal. Here's a 31 page document from an actual lawyer that specifically talks about why this use of the Slingbox is not illegal ( http://repository.jmls.edu/cgi/viewcont ... text=jitpl ). Lastly, I highly, highly doubt anyone related to the television industry is reading this forum, cares at all, and/ or would use any resources to find me. I think I'll be fine.

It was friendly advice - no sense arguing with me. I don't care what you do. Save your argument for why it's not illegal for if you get a subpoena.

[mnjimn]

Has anyone tried USI's new wireless TDM network technology that's currently being rolled out with speeds of 25-75 Mbps? I'm wondering how the reliability compares to their traditional wifi network. I work in IT, so reliability is important to me when I'm on call. I'd love to switch from Comcast but I don't really have any other options until someone decides to put fiber in my Northeast neighborhood.

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2015/08/1 ... nneapolis/

[lordmoke]

Any chance that wireless TDM will make its way to Nicollet Island? The choices for service here are absolutely terrible. I haven't had internet at home since I moved here over a year ago, because nothing functional exists outside Comcast, which I refuse to give money to.

[mulad]

Is there more specific information on the networking technology being used and the frequency range? A quick Google search for TDM just returned "time-division multiplexing", which is a general radio networking technique and not very meaningful.

[seanrichardryan]

COMCAST to double speeds for free.

http://www.startribune.com/comcast-to-d ... 322744691/

[Anondson]

This competition is working out for me...

[trigonalmayhem]

They'll double the speeds but probably force a cap or usage based charges on top of the current price soon. They've already been trying out those models in areas with no competition.

[Silophant]

What are people's experiences with Centurylink DSL? Comcast just spiked my price up and signed me up for TV service that I do not want and did not ask for, so I'm looking for a cheaper, better option. (I know that I can probably call them, threaten to cancel, and get my old price back, but I'm sick of giving them money, and also concerned that they'll call my bluff and actually cancel me.)

Anyway, USI doesn't offer fiber north of 94 yet, so my only other choice is 7Mbps DSL from CenturyLink. The price is right, and that's plenty fast for my purposes (excepting big Steam downloads, but I don't do that all that often), so my only concern is reliability. Would this be a huge mistake?

[FISHMANPET]

I've got CenturyLink for a $20/month promo for one year (and the guy at the kiosk where I picked up the modem said I could just call and threaten to cancel and get the $20 promo rate back). Other than some issues with crummy telephone wiring in the house (not their fault) I haven't had any problems.

[swallman]

I'm quite happy with the speed increase from Comcast...I was looking at switching to Centurylink fiber (available in our building in the North Loop), but CL doesn't offer a basic, inexpensive cable package like we're getting with Comcast so for now I think we'll stick with what we have (100 down now!)

[mattaudio]

but CL doesn't offer a basic, inexpensive cable package

http://www.amazon.com/Eagle-Aspen-EASDT ... B000GIT002
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss? ... words=Roku

[swallman]

but CL doesn't offer a basic, inexpensive cable package

http://www.amazon.com/Eagle-Aspen-EASDT ... B000GIT002
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss? ... words=Roku

Thanks...I thought about cutting the cord completely and going to something like that (I already have 2 Roku 3's btw along with a Plex Media Server)...but there's a few issues:

1) Running to 3 different TV's, including 1 without a TV tuner is a challenge in a new apartment
2) My wife would never allow something so nice and ugly anywhere in the apartment lol
3) There's still quite a bit of content that we enjoy that isn't available via the Roku or OTA