Streaming services versus Direct TV

[paulsharvey]

Just canceled DirectTV right before Christmas. We pretty much just used it to turn something random on, as background noise. We have Netflix, Amazonplus, and I think, Paramount. The only real downside, is, you pretty much got to actively pick something to watch, vs just turn something random on.

 

[Furu]

Minimum for streaming is 5MB down.

What happens if you are a bit under 5Mb? Does it pixalate and freeze until the buffer refills or does it just fail. I have 4Mb down but it is only guaranteed to give me 3.4Mb. (Fiber is coming but not until April 2025 or so)
I have streamed off of Tubi some old shows that work pretty well at the reduced speed but does freeze at times.

 

[TractorTech]

We had 15 MB Frontier DSL with an average of 7-8 MB. It worked okay, but then buffer when it went to the low end. 4 would seem pretty marginal, ket alone 3.4

 

[plowhog]

can you use the Starlink Home ($120) in two different locations

I think Starlink residential is sort of welded to a specific location. I have one Starlink residential in NV, one in CA, and a 3rd Starlink "RV" for traveling/motor home.

One quirk about streaming through Hulu is their definition of a "main TV." Somehow they know if you use a big screen TV vs watching on your phone or tablet. Hulu only wants you watching your "main TV" at your home location. But watching on a tablet is OK anywhere.

Seems goofy but it is not Hulu imposing this on you, but a lot of broadcast rules in the back end that forces Hulu to behave this way. It works fine for me. I want my big sony TV at home, but only need a tablet or phone while camping.

Not that you would want to, but you could watch Hulu on your phone while sitting in a barber shop. You can't do that with DirecTV.

 

[stumblinhorse]

What happens if you are a bit under 5Mb? Does it pixalate and freeze until the buffer refills or does it just fail. I have 4Mb down but it is only guaranteed to give me 3.4Mb. (Fiber is coming but not until April 2025 or so)
I have streamed off of Tubi some old shows that work pretty well at the reduced speed but does freeze at times.

I wouldn’t stream with 4mb down. It will be frustrating. If you don’t need more bandwidth for some other reason, stick with sat tv. Streaming services offer everything that you can get from sat tv, but without bandwidth not worth the subscription.

 

[MoKelly]

Not that you would want to, but you could watch Hulu on your phone while sitting in a barber shop. You can't do that with DirecTV.

You can with DirecTV Stream.

If you have WiFi or an internet connection, you can watch whatever is available on your DirecTV package anywhere.

We do it all the time. They have an app.

 

[Torvy]

We had Direct TV when we first moved to Texas. I wanted to see my teams play. It was great...until ATT bought it. Then customer service went downhill. Prices went up.

Now we use Prime (one TV has a firestick, one is built-in) it allowed access to almost anything you want to stream (paid or free). Watching Paramount+ as I type.

 

[ultrarunner]

All my renters with Direct or Wild Blue? all dropped when Comcast was available.

One had a huge dish for distant sporting events but now all fiber.

Must be hitting Direct TV hard as I'm always seeing dishes out for trash pickup.

 

[plowhog]

If you have WiFi or an internet connection, you can watch whatever is available on your DirecTV package anywhere.

Apologies for inaccurate information. Yes I recall DirecTV was just starting to offer streaming when we made the switch.

We were paying upward of $150 per month and Hulu Live TV was $60/mo when we signed up. Not the same packages of course, but we get all we want with Hulu. It has since increased in price to about $70/mo.

What I can say that is positive about DirecTV is that they allowed me to cancel and behaved professionally. Quite unlike when I canceled my HughesNet subscription ...

 

[riptides]

I had an issue with Hulu Live, loading it, it would not set up properly because it could not figure out my Home location. Tracked it to an issue with "Home" being on a cellular network. Not sure if this has been "fixed" or not.

Went with YouTube TV instead.