# When you go OTT you'd better have reliable ISP



## makaiguy (Sep 24, 2007)

My internet service ( AtlanticBB, Aiken SC ) went down this evening. This meant I could not use my MLB.TV subscription to watch the D-Backs/Pirates game as I intended, not on my Roku, not on my computer. Nor could I fall back on any on-demand stuff from Netflix, Amazon, or any other OTT service. No problem, of course, watching satellite tv or recorded stuff from my satellite-based DVR.

I know my ISP was down for about two hours, may have been longer since I don't know when it started. This was much more irritating than the occasional 3-5 minute thunderstorm rainfade satellite interruption.

ISP is back up now and I've got my game on, but it really drives home that when you go OTT how vulnerable your eggs are in that ISP basket.


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## NYDutch (Dec 28, 2013)

We currently have Internet service from three providers, unlimited cell data that travels with us from AT&T and Verizon, plus Spectrum cable Internet when we're parked at our NY vacation cottage. All three work well with our OTT services. Redundancy is nice...


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Redundancy. 

We've had two OTT services regional outages in recent years that took down Comcast (our ISP, but for others also Comcast TV and Comcast phone), AT&T wired phone, and all cellular services.

The first time was after I had canceled everything with Dish but the minimum Flex Pack, meaning no "local" TV. Wanting to see what was going on, I went to add the Local Pack and then realized that without internet or phone service I had no way of doing that. After everything was restored I added the Local Pack.

The second time at least I could see live news broadcasts on the nearby wildfires.

That's as close as I can come to having redundancy.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

makaiguy said:


> My internet service ( AtlanticBB, Aiken SC ) went down this evening. This meant I could not use my MLB.TV subscription to watch the D-Backs/Pirates game as I intended, not on my Roku, not on my computer. Nor could I fall back on any on-demand stuff from Netflix, Amazon, or any other OTT service. No problem, of course, watching satellite tv or recorded stuff from my satellite-based DVR.
> 
> I know my ISP was down for about two hours, may have been longer since I don't know when it started. This was much more irritating than the occasional 3-5 minute thunderstorm rainfade satellite interruption.
> 
> ISP is back up now and I've got my game on, but it really drives home that when you go OTT how vulnerable your eggs are in that ISP basket.


I had problems a couple weeks ago with my ISP. Quickly became obvious that using the Net only was gonna be a bit of a PITA at times. I still have "normal" D* service, no plans on cutting the cord. "Vulnerable" is a good word to describe how I felt after that problem.

Rich


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

I am in the process of changing ISPs at home. I am leaving a slow provider (DSL) which has never been out of service for more than a couple of hours (in the wee hour maintenance windows) for a cable system that was out for several days when I last subscribed. I am hoping that they upgraded their plant to avoid long outages. Having cell phone internet to fall back on makes the transition easier.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

This is one of my sore points with the transition from Dial-Up Internet to broadband Internet. With Dial-Up Internet, you had your choice of multiple ISPs from the national providers to the mom-and-pop local provider. When DSL came along, the local telephone providers priced the access to the DSLAMs so high as to be unaffordable in comparison to the phone company-provided internet. Many mom-and-pop ISPs went under because of this.

So, it's 2018, and this is my access choices:

Comcast-provided Internet - high-speed broadband Internet, but with the television string attached, plus data caps
Consolidated Communications - lower-speed DSL Internet, 20 down/1.5 up, no data caps
Mobile provider - Extremely expensive, low data caps
Satellite Internet - Expensive, high latency
Some choices. The providers have us over a barrel, and know it.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Mark Holtz said:


> Comcast-provided Internet - high-speed broadband Internet, but with the television string attached, plus data caps


No video subscription required for Xfinity ... although the "packages" they offer in my area are annoying.
Internet only is in steps - 25Mbps, 60Mbps, 100Mbps, 150 Mbps, 300 Mbps, 1000 Mbps, 2000 Mbps. Where I live the price for 25Mbps Xfinity is about the same as 3Mbps DSL.
If I ask for Internet + TV Xfinity gives me four offers ... all 100 Mbps Internet but different levels of programming. They do give a choice of 2year agreement or no agreement ($10-$20 difference in price) but the full cost of the packages (after two years) is mostly hidden. (A price is given "for months 13-24" or "for months 25-36" but the full regular price is not given, as far as I can find.)

The data cap is the "real problem" although Xfinity claims that 99% of their customers never reach the 1TB cap each month. But if a busy family used an OTT service I can see where they could go "over the top" of that cap. (Uncapped plans are available at additional cost.)


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## Jhon69 (Mar 28, 2006)

makaiguy said:


> My internet service ( AtlanticBB, Aiken SC ) went down this evening. This meant I could not use my MLB.TV subscription to watch the D-Backs/Pirates game as I intended, not on my Roku, not on my computer. Nor could I fall back on any on-demand stuff from Netflix, Amazon, or any other OTT service. No problem, of course, watching satellite tv or recorded stuff from my satellite-based DVR.
> 
> I know my ISP was down for about two hours, may have been longer since I don't know when it started. This was much more irritating than the occasional 3-5 minute thunderstorm rainfade satellite interruption.
> 
> ISP is back up now and I've got my game on, but it really drives home that when you go OTT how vulnerable your eggs are in that ISP basket.


Which is why some have an OTA antenna and a Blu ray DVD player,the fact is ISPs do go down it's just the nature of the beast,but there will always be alternate options.


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## billsharpe (Jan 25, 2007)

Jhon69 said:


> Which is why some have an OTA antenna and a Blu ray DVD player,the fact is ISPs do go down it's just the nature of the beast,but there will always be alternate options.


OTA also comes in handy when I want to record two shows at the same time and watch a third one. 
I should have hung on to my Dad's big windup Victrola player so that I could play 78-rpm records when the electricity goes out. I still have a few of those records around plus some 45 and 33-rpm records too. Of course I can listen to music or watch shows downloaded to my tablet until the battery runs down.


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## dreadlk (Sep 18, 2007)

I know it’s an old thread but I ran into the same problem with my Cable internet going out for anywhere from minutes to almost a week.

I really enjoy Netflix and my Nvidia Shield box with all my streaming services so after numerous breakdowns I opted to get an 8mb ADSL connection to create redundancy with my 30mb cable internet.

I ran both services into a fall back router and if the main goes down within 30 secs it switches to ADSL. An 8mb connection is good enough to stream 1080p content and so far I have had no interruptions while watching my shows. Wife thinks I have gone over board but ADSL is cheap and reliable.


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## makaiguy (Sep 24, 2007)

dreadlk said:


> but ADSL is cheap and reliable.


Glad to hear it. When I had AT&T DSL it was far from reliable, but that was over a decade ago.


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## mjwagner (Oct 8, 2005)

dreadlk said:


> I know it's an old thread but I ran into the same problem with my Cable internet going out for anywhere from minutes to almost a week.
> 
> I really enjoy Netflix and my Nvidia Shield box with all my streaming services so after numerous breakdowns I opted to get an 8mb ADSL connection to create redundancy with my 30mb cable internet.
> 
> I ran both services into a fall back router and if the main goes down within 30 secs it switches to ADSL. An 8mb connection is good enough to stream 1080p content and so far I have had no interruptions while watching my shows. Wife thinks I have gone over board but ADSL is cheap and reliable.


Thankfully our internet service has been extremely reliable. That said we did have an outage a few weeks ago that lasted a few hours. Normally it would not have been an issue but it was prime viewing time, it started around 8pm. I just turned my hotspot on on my phone, switched the connection on my streaming box to the hotspot and was in business. It was virtually indistinguishable from the regular internet connection and costs nothing extra to have as backup. It was the first time I've had to use it since switching to all streaming a few years ago. I was surprised how well it worked.


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## NYDutch (Dec 28, 2013)

As fulltime RV'ers, our primary Internet providers are AT&T and Verizon using our two hotspots, and when we visit our upstate NY cottage, we also have Spectrum service available.


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## Jhon69 (Mar 28, 2006)

For those who do not know here is my formula that I use when my cable internet goes down.
Turn off main computer and attached devices for 2 minutes(For me that is switching off my multi outlet surge suppressor.).
When you turn the power back on,if the cable modem 3 lights don't stay lit,call the cable company.
This formula has worked very well for my system,your results may vary,Good Luck!


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## NYDutch (Dec 28, 2013)

When I'm on cable Internet at our cottage, I just look at the modem lights when there's a problem. If the "Online" light is flashing it's looking for a connection, telling me the cable system is down somewhere. By then, my router has failed over to one of my cell hotspots and I'm back online.


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## makaiguy (Sep 24, 2007)

Since I wrote the original post in this thread, Verizon offered us an unlimited data option on our cell contract by virtue of us being "old farts" ("55+" program). Thus we now have an internet backup to our cable-based internet via our cell phones' wi-fi hotspot capabilities. Now I hardly ever even turn the phone's wifi reception on.


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## NYDutch (Dec 28, 2013)

VZW's 55+ plan is ok if you don't do much tethering, and especially any streaming. The 600 Kbps speed limit is barely low end 3G speeds.


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## CTJon (Feb 5, 2007)

Yesterday - here in Maine and I hear elsewhere Spectrum had a couple of hours where internet would work fine for a while - go away for 10 minutes, come back but be very slow, then be OK for a while - 1/2 later gone again.
Was happening all around the area so it wasn't a person thing. Stuff happens


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## NYDutch (Dec 28, 2013)

Apparently it didn't affect upstate NY where our cottage is. My modem log doesn't show any service drops from Friday night to a few minutes ago.


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