Bandwidth needs

We have dropped our TWC cable TV and voip phone services in favor of Roku and Oomo with an antenna in the attic. We are trying to determine how much bandwidth we actually need to pay for.

We have two streaming devices (Roku and PS3) and will likely add a third at some point for the tv on the patio, but will probably never have more than two running at the same time.

We have two computers, an ipad and an android tablet that all share the N900 dual band wireless network. Again, its rare for more than two devices to be operated at the same time, but 3 or 4 at times.

I had planned to go with the 15 mbps plan TWC offers and purchase my own cable modem w/ a gigabit port to avoid rental fees. Is that sufficient? Too much? any other internet-only options I should consider? (FIOS is not available in my neighborhood for some reason, though Uverse is.)

That sounds pretty similar to my household. We currently have 15mbps plan through ATT using their 2Wire wireless router. Haven't had any problems in the past year.

What is Oomo? Edit: Do you mean ooma? http://www.ooma.com/

Regarding bandwidth, assuming you are streaming HD, as a general rule you should allocate about 5Mbps per streaming device (being operated concurrently) and probably 0.5 - 1 Mbps per web surfing device (being operated concurrently). Of course if you plan on streaming a lot of YouTube from the web surfing devices it's a good idea to allocate more bandwidth. This is also assuming proper packet prioritization, which I'm actually not sure if that's a safe assumption or not and will only really come into play if/when you have saturated your bandwidth anyway. With proper packet prioritization, assuming you have enough bandwidth for your concurrent real-time streaming devices, your web surfing devices will not interrupt the streaming but the web surfing will just be much slower. Bottom line, sounds like 15Mbps should be sufficient if you aren't streaming on more than 3 devices (or streaming on 3 and trying to surf at the same time).

I used to have FiOS and loved it. Now I have TWC and it's acceptable for the most part.

How much are the rental fees? Seems like it would take quite a while to make up for the cost of the unit. Then if it dies...

FIOS is only avialable where Verizon built out their fiber optic network. Unfortunately they will not be building any more infrastructure for a while. So if you don't have it you won't be getting it any time soon.

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Originally Posted by HudsonHawk

FIOS is only avialable where Verizon built out their fiber optic network. Unfortunately they will not be building any more infrastructure for a while. So if you don't have it you won't be getting it any time soon.

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Yes, it is unfortunate. However, I'm now waiting for Google Fiber to hit our area :) https://fiber.google.com
But I'm not holding my breath...

The rental box is $9/mo for the TWC wireless gateway. I can buy a DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem for $60.

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Originally Posted by OZMDD

The rental box is $9/mo for the TWC wireless gateway. I can buy a DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem for $60.

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It's been a while since I looked at cable modem prices. They have come down a lot since then (about half as much now iirc). And that is more than I was expecting for rental but I guess it's partly due to the wireless. I fully support going down that path and buying the modem.

15M is pretty good for most people. I feel highly constrained when I'm on the 3M at my inlaws. 10M (symmetrical) shared at work isn't too bad unless it's Youtube Friday.

Of course @ home I've got the 35/5 DOCSIS3.0 TWC one.

Goofy, is that a commercial plan? Don't see it advertised at those speeds...

Bandwidth. It's a sickness.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/2460682773.png

Unrelated but one of the hipster sailsguys asked my wife if she had "any bandwidth" that afternoon. She stared at him like what the F did you say. He reply's, "time for a meeting??" like duh...everyone knows this. Guess this is the new tech-hipster software company lingo.

That's all, I have nothing meaningful to contribute.

We ditched cable several years ago and just watch hulu and netflix. We have 12 Mbps and have not had any issues with bandwidth. If you will be doing two HD shows and ipads etc at the same time, could be worth having the 15 Mbps.

Somewhat related: I tested the speed of a 4g LTE phone the other day - 50 Mbps down, 30 Mbps up. Wow.

It's not a commercial plan. I think they have some marketing name for it and you have to ask for it specifically. I think they call it "Road Runner Extreme" or something like that.

The big thing for me is upload since I work from home frequently and push files up. 35/5 vs 15/1... I always want the higher upload speed (imaging uploading youtube, images, etc.).

I see it listed here: http://www.timewarnercable.com/en/re...net/plans.html

Looks like they give you a "free" modem @ that level too. I'm pretty sure I'm using their modem (although I've gone in and tweaked things in their setup, shhhh).

I have TWC 15 mb/s plan and i play xbox online and use netflix and havent had any "problems" but when downloading i see how i could use more speed. If i wasnt cheap/poor i would go with at least 20 or 30 mb/s and if i was "well-off" then 50 mb/s if not a commercial :clap: