So my internet has been intermittent and.......

[Gaffer1968]

In very early 90s I installed the VERY first directv Dish that came on the market. I have been a Directv service tech since the beginning. I still prefer to keep my internet and satellite service separate. YMMV

I started my career installing C/Ku band satellites. Eventually everything becomes a thing of the past BUT C/Ku/L band are still being used to transmit your internet services. How do I know because I use to fix their (internet providers) satellite systems.

I was an HF/VHF/UHF and M/W comms tech 1968-1976, graduated from the North Avenue Trade School in 1980 after I mustered out and became and RF electrical engineer and dealt with all forms of RF up to 220 GHz radars I built thru 2011. Taught RF and antennas for years. The fact is that long haul satellite transmission of media-based material prefers to use fiber because the transit times across the country are less than 40ms and reliabiliiities are much better over fiber ....not so with satellite which gets worse the farther north of the equator you are. Fiber is abundant now.....satellite entertainment media will be dead as soon as the last of the investors can recoup their investments, IMO. The constellation and backup satellites and launch support systems are unbearable...

 

[Bypass]

I was an HF/VHF/UHF and M/W comms tech 1968-1976, graduated from the North Avenue Trade School in 1980 after I mustered out and became and RF electrical engineer and dealt with all forms of RF up to 220 GHz radars I built thru 2011. Taught RF and antennas for years. The fact is that long haul satellite transmission of media-based material prefers to use fiber because the transit times across the country are less than 40ms and reliabiliiities are much better over fiber ....not so with satellite which gets worse the farther north of the equator you are. Fiber is abundant now.....satellite entertainment media will be dead as soon as the last of the investors can recoup their investments, IMO. The constellation and backup satellites and launch support systems are unbearable...

I was 31f 31d and 31 uniform when I first got into the military before switching to PSYOP. Been there done that. I made a fortune in satellite TV nearly 30k a month for 10 years and this was in the 90s.

 

[Bypass]

$374?!? I can't imagine making a significant car payment for tv and internet.

I have AT&T and pay the $100 for unlimited fiber which is partially offset by my employer now and I stream what I want to watch through Hulu and Netflix. The TV part has never been that important to us.

I have every channel that exists.

 

[Lionheart]

I have to pay $150/mo to Rural4G for slow internet off Verizon tower. It sucks. Then I pay another $135/mo for Directtv which goes out all the time.
I can just occasionally stream anything and Roku, Hulu, Netflicks are useless here.
My neighbor to the west (500 feet away) is on a Georgia Power pole and has had ATT UVERSE for years.
Up the road to the east ATT ran fiber optic cable to guy in a small expensive subdivision for a home business...and only connected him.
It’s about 500 ft away also.
When I saw the ATT guys hanging the fiber optic cable down the road I asked if it could come down to my house (and my 4 other neighbors) and they said no - this line is for one business customer who is paying them $600/mo.
They literally passed by 6 customers with no drop and stopped short of another 4 customers down the road to me and ignored another 10 customers in the subdivision. All 500k to $1m dollar homes.
I called customer no service repeatedly until I got to speak to a bigwig supposedly in charge of this area.
She politely refused to consider extending line to me and when I asked why no drops were offered to homes they were passing she said the drops were not financially viable for ATT and that I could ask for business service too and then they would extend to my house if I committed to $600/mo.
This is insanity.
They could get $1500-$2000 per month at $100/per house if they just hooked up our street to the damn cable that’s there! Instead they ran miles of fiber to ONE CUSTOMER.
If any of you guys know anybody at ATT please help. Steak dinner for you lol.
I am seriously considering buying cable, burying it from my house to the power pole and finding somebody to splice me in their fiber cable.

 

[Falcon1]

I had DirectV for decades....I was one of the first. Bought my own receiver from them, and the dish, installed it on my chimney...it was about $1000. Sure, the price was cheap per month...this was in the beginning....flash forward decades later and what I had was $157/month minimum and thunderclouds stopped it in a heartbeat no matter how many times I had them come out to 'align' the dish. I finally dropped that antiquated, expensive crap and went digital internet. Over a half decade has passed and NO interruptions people predict - my ISP is pretty good, in fact. Cost is reasonable for the speed and considering Prime, Hulu and NF costs each month, it's STILL less than half that last overpriced, underserved service I got from DirectV.. The fact is that subscribers have left it in droves and they don't care - they're just a bunch of money-changers who are trying to stave off starvation until their retirements when they can cash out. The satellite system is too expensive, they refuse to compete and they lose people every day. If you have decent internet speed available, go that way - DirectV and even Dish will be a thing of the past one day...

I had nothing but problems from att. Yep you're correct on their modems. I live over 1k foot off the road, they wanted, if I recall correctly 7k$ for a new line, I had quotes for having in done for less than 2k.,att wouldn't accept someone else running a new line, rip off ! I went with Comcast everything, cheaper with decent service. Comcast is nowhere near perfect, but definitely not the worst. I had problems with direct TV and others.

Directv was fantastic for years, then AT&T bought them and the decline has been speeding up lately.

 

[Bypass]

I was an HF/VHF/UHF and M/W comms tech 1968-1976, graduated from the North Avenue Trade School in 1980 after I mustered out and became and RF electrical engineer and dealt with all forms of RF up to 220 GHz radars I built thru 2011. Taught RF and antennas for years. The fact is that long haul satellite transmission of media-based material prefers to use fiber because the transit times across the country are less than 40ms and reliabiliiities are much better over fiber ....not so with satellite which gets worse the farther north of the equator you are. Fiber is abundant now.....satellite entertainment media will be dead as soon as the last of the investors can recoup their investments, IMO. The constellation and backup satellites and launch support systems are unbearable...

HF VHF and UHF is nothing more than an off air antenna. You did the equivalent of hooking up rabbit ears. Microwave is another story but still LOS. Just don't wear your metal K pot in front of the antenna.

 

[Bypass]

Directv was fantastic for years, then AT&T bought them and the decline has been speeding up lately.

Yup their service department is ****. Call and you get someone from Bangeladesh.

 

[Gaffer1968]

I was 31f 31d and 31 uniform when I first got into the military before switching to PSYOP. Been there done that. I made a fortune in satellite TV nearly 30k a month for 10 years and this was in the 90s.

And that has what to do with how well C and L band satellite work now? Ku band is the norm now (C-band dishes in the country are birds nests and chicken coops now - I've really seen that) and that only works because of the sub-meter dish sizes that are possible because amplifier technology reached the point of near-1 noise figure performance (which means you can amplify the crap out of a crappy signal and not add any appreciable noise)... I'm not about how much money I made...I made plenty enough.. what I thought we were talking about is performance, reliability and cost efficacy and from my standpoint, current DirectV and Dish entertainment satellite services are dying on the vine for a number of reasons.

 

[Bypass]

I have to pay $150/mo to Rural4G for slow internet off Verizon tower. It sucks. Then I pay another $135/mo for Directtv which goes out all the time.
I can just occasionally stream anything and Roku, Hulu, Netflicks are useless here.
My neighbor to the west (500 feet away) is on a Georgia Power pole and has had ATT UVERSE for years.
Up the road to the east ATT ran fiber optic cable to guy in a small expensive subdivision for a home business...and only connected him.
It’s about 500 ft away also.
When I saw the ATT guys hanging the fiber optic cable down the road I asked if it could come down to my house (and my 4 other neighbors) and they said no - this line is for one business customer who is paying them $600/mo.
They literally passed by 6 customers with no drop and stopped short of another 4 customers down the road to me and ignored another 10 customers in the subdivision. All 500k to $1m dollar homes.
I called customer no service repeatedly until I got to speak to a bigwig supposedly in charge of this area.
She politely refused to consider extending line to me and when I asked why no drops were offered to homes they were passing she said the drops were not financially viable for ATT and that I could ask for business service too and then they would extend to my house if I committed to $600/mo.
This is insanity.
They could get $1500-$2000 per month at $100/per house if they just hooked up our street to the damn cable that’s there! Instead they ran miles of fiber to ONE CUSTOMER.
If any of you guys know anybody at ATT please help. Steak dinner for you lol.
I am seriously considering buying cable, burying it from my house to the power pole and finding somebody to splice me in their fiber cable.

Commit to the 600 dollars a month then downgrade after the first month.

 

[Bypass]

And that has what to do with how well C and L band satellite work now? Ku band is the norm now (C-band dishes in the country are birds nests and chicken coops now - I've really seen that) and that only works because of the sub-meter dish sizes that are possible because amplifier technology reached the point of near-1 noise figure performance (which means you can amplify the crap out of a crappy signal and not add any appreciable noise)... I'm not about how much money I made...I made plenty enough.. what I thought we were talking about is performance, reliability and cost efficacy and from my standpoint, current DirectV and Dish entertainment satellite services are dying on the vine for a number of reasons.

We disagree all those platforms will be used for years from now. YMMV