I'd give a nut for HBO.

[Tom Foolery]

While I was at work on Friday, I noticed my phone had spilt down the side. It was fine before I clocked in, but at first break it was busted.
I told my wife while I was on the way home after work and she said ‘oh shit. That’s your lithium battery ‘bout to explode. Your phone is dead af bro. Sorry.’
So I went in Saturday and upgraded my iPhone 8 to a 17(I haven’t got a new phone in like 7-8 years. I’m not one of them trendy bitches). The sales guy talked me into bundling my streaming services onto my phone bill, so I’m basically getting Disney, Hulu, ESPN(which I use once in a blue moon), Netflix, and now HBO Max for what I was paying for just Disney.

Anyway. There’s a shit ton of content on HBO I can now go back and watch. I can rewatch Deadwood. I can watch GoT, Sopranos, Rome, Euphoria, etc. Peacemaker. Lanterns when it comes out.

[vynsane]

did you have Hulu before doing that bundle? because we signed up for that bundle through verizon, but already had individual subscriptions to D+ and Hulu - the bundle doesn't automatically transfer over to Hulu, so we were paying twice for it for a long time until i figured out how to untangle the whole mess.

also, it's Hulu with ads (which the mrs. was dead set against) and there's no way to upgrade from that bundle to w/o ads.

last month i finally went through all our services and cancelled or condensed the subscriptions into what was the cheapest options at the time (while also not having ads). found out, not only were we paying for Hulu twice (sort of) but also Peacock! i think my father-in-law signed up for a free trial week on Amazon Prime somehow and it was just banging us for $17 a month - all while we were already paying Peacock directly that same amount of money!!!

we were paying $181.87 a month all told with double-ups and a service that we used to watch my daughter's Winterguard competitions on (FloSports/FloMarching). i cancelled Flo a while back, but kept it in the over-all tally. without that it was still $141.88/mo (Flo was ridiculously expensive at $40/mo). that was including

Pandora Premium $17.99
Prime Video Plus $4.99
Netflix $19.45
Hulu (no ads), HBOMAX $37.48
Disney+, Hulu (w/ads), ESPN+ $15.00
AppleTV+ $12.99
Peacock Premium Plus $16.99
Peacock Premium Plus (Prime Video Channels) $16.99

after shuffling that all around, i cancelled Hulu/HBO, cancelled Disney+ verizon bundle, cancelled AppleTV, cancelled the Peacock through Prime, and then re-upped Disney+ with their Hulu and HBOMAX bundle, and upgraded our Peacock Premium Plus to a bundle with AppleTV+ and ended up with basically all the same stuff we had before (other than ESPN which we never used)

Pandora Premium $17.99
Prime Video Plus $4.99
Netflix $19.45
Disney+, Hulu (no ads), HBOMax $32.99
Peacock Premium Plus, AppleTV+ $19.99

saved $46.47/mo

[Tom Foolery]

We had the Disney/Hulu bundle before. She was paying for Hulu. I was paying for Disney and Netflix separately.

I get Paramount+ for free because I work at WM(it comes with my free WM+ subscription) And she gets Prime for free because she works at Amazon.

I’m also stealing my ex’s Peacock subscription that my kids downloaded onto our XBox and never signed out of.

And Tubi. It’s free, and it has quite a few movies that somehow never make it onto any other streaming services. I watched Krull on there a few months ago.

[Ran]

We've had DirecTV for 20+ years, and it is now over $200/month. We already have Disney+ and Netflix(which I never use). She figured out that we can get Hulu, Peacock, and Paramount for cheaper than DirecTV.

Our internet is through the cable company (Cox). We're paying $96/month for 500 Mbps. It is $6/month more to upgrade to 1GIG or $16/month more to get to 2GIG. Either way, I'd also have to buy a new modem, which is around $150. Even with the internet upgrade, this will still be cheaper than keeping DirecTV. Should I go with 1GIG or 2GIG?

[vynsane]

honestly 500Mbps is more than enough for streaming. our service is verizon home 5G currently at 150Mbps (it was 300 at first, but i guess that was a promo deal or something, IDK) and it's decent enough, though we do get some buffering every once-in-a-while. i might bump it to 300 just for a little breathing room, as it was better then. but 2Gbps would be absolute overkill unless you're planning on streaming something to every room in the house simultaneously. also, bear in mind, most of the devices in your house can't even utilize all that bandwidth. a smart tv streaming 4k video generally uses 25-30Mbps. my wife is currently watching something in the den and i'm monitoring the traffic as i type - the tv is using ~15Mpbs max.

are your tvs ethernet or wifi connected? if wifi, 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz? 5Ghz bandwidth tops out at 1Gbps but will realistically give you more like ~700Mbps, 2.4Ghz around 150-250Mbps depending on proximity to the router and any obstructions in between the two points.

is your router and/or any networking gear capable of utilizing that amount of bandwidth? realistically, you'd need a wifi 6E or wifi 7 router AND devices that can use that spec in order to even potentially take full advantage of 2Gbps (or really even 1Gbps) service.

[Ran]

Everything is connected to Wifi except my computer. Our house is 1 story, the router is near the center of the bedrooms/living room.

My modem/wifi router is ARRIS Surfboard SBG6950AC2 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem & AC1900 Wi-Fi Router, Four 1 Gbps Ports , 400 Mbps Max Internet Speeds.

So I guess my modem isn't even fast enough to use 500 Mbps internet.

[vynsane]

yeah, it seems like they would come set you up with a new modem/router if you upgraded your service. from what i've read that model is tailored for the bandwidth you currently have.

usually, any service-provider provided modem is going to be relatively cheap - they have to install hundreds of them. it's generally recommended to buy your own equipment that would suit your needs. if your house is "wide" (meaning one end of it is far away from the other) you may have weakening of the wifi signal at the far ends. a "wifi mesh" system might be in order. we have this TPLink DECO system:

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-wifi-7-m ... B0CN8QLS4K

before that we had a Netgear ORBI system. we needed a mesh system during the first year of the pandemic, we were really taxing the hardware we previously had, with me, my wife, and our daughter all working/schooling from home. the ORBI shit the bed about 1.5 years ago and we've been using the DECO since. it's been very solid, though i'm not using the most technically advanced parts of it since we don't have any wifi 7 capable hardware, but we're "future-proof" (for now).

[Ran]

I ended up buying my modem instead of using the one from the cable company. My house isn't very spread out. The living room and bedrooms are close together. The far end is the kitchen and garage.

It just occurred to me that the tv I am going to use in my office is older. It isn't plugged in, so I'm not sure how "smart" it is. I'll deal with that later.