reply to discussion
Page 6 of 6 FirstFirst ... 456
Results 76 to 89 of 89
  1. #76
    Paul Miner
    Guest

    Re: Sprint to get the iPhone

    On Tue, 26 Jul 2011 14:14:07 +0000 (UTC), Justin
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    >SMS wrote on [Mon, 25 Jul 2011 21:10:37 -0700 (PDT)]:
    >> But I was envisioning a system where you
    >> ordered online and picked the DVD up at the store a little while later
    >> (like ordering a pizza). Remember this is only for the non-new
    >> releases, the new releases would be stocked as they are now.

    >
    >Then you may as well stream!


    Streaming is applicable and appropriate in only a tiny subset of the
    cases encompassed by the preceding paragraph.

    --
    Paul Miner



    See More: Sprint to get the iPhone




  2. #77
    Paul Miner
    Guest

    Re: Sprint to get the iPhone

    On Tue, 26 Jul 2011 03:19:03 +0000 (UTC), Justin
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    >Paul Miner wrote on [Mon, 25 Jul 2011 22:08:43 -0500]:
    >> On Tue, 26 Jul 2011 02:42:10 +0000 (UTC), Justin
    >> <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>
    >>>Paul Miner wrote on [Mon, 25 Jul 2011 20:55:12 -0500]:
    >>>> On Mon, 25 Jul 2011 17:41:09 +0000 (UTC), Justin
    >>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>>>
    >>>>>Paul Miner wrote on [Mon, 25 Jul 2011 12:18:40 -0500]:
    >>>>>> On Mon, 25 Jul 2011 16:38:19 +0000 (UTC), Justin
    >>>>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>>>>>
    >>>>>>>Paul Miner wrote on [Mon, 25 Jul 2011 11:28:17 -0500]:
    >>>>>>>> On Mon, 25 Jul 2011 08:54:09 -0700, SMS <[email protected]>
    >>>>>>>> wrote:
    >>>>>>>>
    >>>>>>>>>Internet radio's business model depends on piggybacking
    >>>>>>>>>onto unlimited or high-limit data plans, both mobile and DSL/cable. Yet
    >>>>>>>>>Sprint is the only major carrier still offering unlimited data.
    >>>>>>>>
    >>>>>>>>>Both AT&T and Comcast now limit data on their U-Verse and cable
    >>>>>>>>>systems (though to a level that is high enough for audio if the
    >>>>>>>>>capacity isn't used up for video).
    >>>>>>>>
    >>>>>>>> Comcast has had caps in place for years. Their current 250GB 'soft'
    >>>>>>>> cap should be plenty for streaming a couple dozen movies monthly.
    >>>>>>>
    >>>>>>>Assuming you don't use your internet for anything else. Like the aforementioned
    >>>>>>>pandora, or for downloading new operating systems, or games or upload
    >>>>>>>photos to facebook or relatives, etc. etc.
    >>>>>>
    >>>>>> I wasn't assuming that.
    >>>>>>
    >>>>>> A typical movie streams (in HD) at less than 2 Mbps, but to be safe
    >>>>>> I'll double that to 4Mbps. That same movie is about 90 minutes long.
    >>>>>> Doing the math, that works out to less than 2.7GB per movie.
    >>>>>
    >>>>>Nope, from Netflix an HD stream is over 2Mbps, and most movies are 2 hours
    >>>>>these days. Doing the math you can stream for about 4 hours a day.
    >>>>
    >>>> As it turns out, I overstated the streaming bandwidth requirement.
    >>>> Apparently, it's less than 2.8 Mbps in practice, rather than 4 Mbps,
    >>>> which we could round up to 3 Mbps to facilitate the math. Dropping the
    >>>> bitrate from 4Mbps to 3 Mbps while increasing the runtime from 90 to
    >>>> 120 minutes leaves us exactly where we started: about 2.64 GB per
    >>>> movie.
    >>>>
    >>>> Two movies a day, every day of the month, is certainly outside the
    >>>> norm, but it's quite possible to do that and still have over 90 Gigs
    >>>> available for other things. I'm not seeing the problem.
    >>>
    >>>Even at those numbers, Mum & dad watching one show, kids watching another
    >>>and it's easy to push into that bandwidth cap.

    >>
    >> I think you're stretching things a bit. How many adult couples have
    >> time to watch an average of a full length movie every day, and of

    >
    >I know we do, two hours of TV a night is pretty easy. Netflix does a lot
    >more than just movies.
    >
    >
    >> those, how many have kids who are also allowed to watch an average of
    >> a full length movie every day? (Ignoring the complete lack of
    >> parenting for the moment.) Of those, how many will burn up the

    >
    >I know of several parents that allow their kids to watch the apparently
    >large selection of childrens programming Netflix offers. Have you never
    >seen a 6 year old watch the same movie, say Toy Story, three or four
    >times in a row?
    >
    >
    >> additional 90GB of monthly cap, and of those, how many will do it
    >> month after month and not just once in awhile? Are we at zero yet?

    >
    >Nope.
    >
    >It's EASY to hit that cap with cloud services. Download podcasts,
    >download music, download video games. One video game can be over 10GB
    >Youtube, facebook, pandora....
    >
    >Then there's the big gun, online backup. Since these caps are total bandwidth
    >
    >
    >>>Then there's the whole idea of the stay at home parent watching their
    >>>stories during the daytime.

    >>
    >> Get'em a DVR.

    >
    >If you have cut the cable and only have internet?


    You didn't sway me with your ever changing argument, but you certainly
    wore me out. ;-)

    --
    Paul Miner



  3. #78
    SMS
    Guest

    Re: Sprint to get the iPhone

    On Jul 26, 11:21*am, Paul Miner <[email protected]> wrote:

    > >Then you may as well stream!

    >
    > Streaming is applicable and appropriate in only a tiny subset of the
    > cases encompassed by the preceding paragraph.


    That's true, at least for now.

    Eventually Netflix will likely have most of their collection available
    for streaming. If Redbox and/or Blockbuster do VOD or BOD and have
    similar access to content then we'll see more of a price war. No
    company is doing great in this market; Netflix is very concerned about
    growth given that they don't control the pipe. Redbox seems to be best
    set-up to sell to those that don't want a subscription service with an
    ever-increasing price, and the Netflix price increase gives them some
    small leeway in increasing prices too.

    Time will tell if Netflix recovers from what happened following the
    price increase. The new pricing changes their service from "it's so
    cheap it's lost in the noise" to "oy, yet another monthly service like
    cell phone, cable, etc."

    Once the physical media is not needed then why do the content
    providers even need the middleman taking a large portion of the
    revenue? Streaming video is not something that's nearly as hard as
    managing physical discs. It could become like the airlines cutting out
    the travel agent commission because on-line reservations and
    electronic ticketing eliminates the need to pay a middleman. Those
    that control the pipe to the home also want to sell streaming content
    and they have the power to make third party content providers, like
    Netflix, miserable. Physical discs, whether sent by mail, or BOD,
    bypass those that seek to limit the amount of data available for
    streaming,



  4. #79
    Roger 2008
    Guest

    Re: Sprint to get the iPhone


    "SMS" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    news:[email protected]...
    > On 7/17/2011 11:20 AM, Roger 2008 wrote:
    >
    >> But a phone can still be used as a modem to watch hi-def movies on a
    >> laptop
    >> especially with 3G or 4G. Now is that so bad?

    >
    > Laptop or tethered data has never been unlimited except for a brief time
    > on Broadband2Go from Virgin (unlimited is no longer available). Not that
    > that has stopped people from tethering their phones using third party
    > applications and not paying for tethering at all.


    Sprint offered unlimited tethering called "Phone as Modem" for a short time
    but you had to get it with a 2 year contract which I did. I found out later
    they removed what I paid for their Vision service so the Phone as Modem only
    cost $15 more a month instead of $40 more a month.

    Tmobile also had an unlimited data plan for $19.95 and they automatically
    gave you Phone as Modem.





  5. #80
    Roger 2008
    Guest

    Re: Sprint to get the iPhone


    "Justin" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    news:[email protected]...
    >
    > hotel wifi is rarely up to the task of streaming.


    I've found at least one hotel that streams very well and I've even seen WiFi
    at a bar that streams over 1500k.

    > Also, have you ever seen what is called a rest stop? I have never seen
    > one with wifi.


    Most all the rest areas in Iowa have free WiFi as proven by the following.
    http://www.iowadot.gov/maintenance/restareas.html

    But I will add this. Sometimes you have to go inside the building for WiFi
    to work properly but most the time it works outside too.





  6. #81
    Ryan P.
    Guest

    Re: Sprint to get the iPhone

    On 7/26/2011 8:03 AM, Paul Miner wrote:
    > On Mon, 25 Jul 2011 23:45:43 -0500, "Ryan P."
    >>>> All the more reason the cable providers should charge reasonable fees
    >>>> for VOD. I'm sure part of it is licensing from the studios, of
    >>>> course... But if Redbox can rent DVD's, which can be copied pretty
    >>>> easily, for $1, there's no reason why TimeWarner or Comcast or AT&T
    >>>> shouldn't be able to do VOD for the same price.
    >>>
    >>> Unfortunately, we don't get invited to the room when they negotiate so
    >>> it's hard to say why each provider pays what it pays.

    >>
    >> Oh, I know.

    >
    > Then how can you be "sure its the licensing terms imposed by the
    > studios that the cable provides agreed to before the advent of
    > Redbox"? :-)


    You took me a bit too literally, I think. I didn't mean "I'm sure
    because I have absolute proof." I meant it as a figure of speech, like
    "I'm sure Paul Miner wouldn't approve of beating puppies." I don't KNOW
    this for a fact, but its a pretty safe guess that's LIKELY to be true.





  7. #82
    Paul Miner
    Guest

    Re: Sprint to get the iPhone

    On Wed, 27 Jul 2011 17:41:14 -0500, "Ryan P."
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    >On 7/26/2011 8:03 AM, Paul Miner wrote:
    >> On Mon, 25 Jul 2011 23:45:43 -0500, "Ryan P."
    >>>>> All the more reason the cable providers should charge reasonable fees
    >>>>> for VOD. I'm sure part of it is licensing from the studios, of
    >>>>> course... But if Redbox can rent DVD's, which can be copied pretty
    >>>>> easily, for $1, there's no reason why TimeWarner or Comcast or AT&T
    >>>>> shouldn't be able to do VOD for the same price.
    >>>>
    >>>> Unfortunately, we don't get invited to the room when they negotiate so
    >>>> it's hard to say why each provider pays what it pays.
    >>>
    >>> Oh, I know.

    >>
    >> Then how can you be "sure its the licensing terms imposed by the
    >> studios that the cable provides agreed to before the advent of
    >> Redbox"? :-)

    >
    > You took me a bit too literally, I think. I didn't mean "I'm sure
    >because I have absolute proof." I meant it as a figure of speech, like
    >"I'm sure Paul Miner wouldn't approve of beating puppies." I don't KNOW
    >this for a fact, but its a pretty safe guess that's LIKELY to be true.


    Understood, thanks.

    --
    Paul Miner



  8. #83
    SMS
    Guest

    Re: Sprint to get the iPhone

    On 7/27/2011 2:34 PM, Roger 2008 wrote:
    > "Justin"<[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    >>
    >> hotel wifi is rarely up to the task of streaming.

    >
    > I've found at least one hotel that streams very well and I've even seen WiFi
    > at a bar that streams over 1500k.


    I stayed at seven hotels this month. All had free wi-fi. Six had wi-fi
    that was fast enough for streaming while one, Microtel in Sutherlin
    Oregon, had slow and flaky wi-fi.

    It's rare that hotel wi-fi is too slow to stream. Where you'll find that
    problem is at more remote hotels where they have satellite internet.
    I.e. I stayed at a hotel in Gardiner Montana where the wi-fi was over
    satellite and was very slow with a lot of latency, but that was the
    exception rather than the rule (and at the time there was no 3G
    available in the town).

    All the hotels I stayed in had multiple routers, and presumably multiple
    DSL or cable connections in order to serve a large number of guests
    simultaneously. It's not worth upsetting guests with slow wi-fi given
    the relatively small cost of providing fast wi-fi. Hotels really need to
    watch themselves these days with so many hotel review sites around.



  9. #84
    SMS
    Guest

    Re: Sprint to get the iPhone

    On 7/27/2011 9:06 PM, Todd Allcock wrote:
    > At 27 Jul 2011 17:41:14 -0500 Ryan P. wrote:
    >
    >> You took me a bit too literally, I think. I didn't mean "I'm sure
    >> because I have absolute proof." I meant it as a figure of speech,
    >> like "I'm sure Paul Miner wouldn't approve of beating puppies." I
    >> don't KNOW this for a fact, but its a pretty safe guess that's LIKELY
    >> to be true.

    >
    >
    > Do any of us here know each other well enough to really make an educated
    > guess where each of us stands on the controversial puppy-beating issue?


    Yes.




  10. #85
    Justin
    Guest

    Re: Sprint to get the iPhone

    Todd Allcock wrote on [Wed, 27 Jul 2011 22:06:47 -0600]:
    > At 27 Jul 2011 17:41:14 -0500 Ryan P. wrote:
    >
    >> You took me a bit too literally, I think. I didn't mean "I'm sure
    >> because I have absolute proof." I meant it as a figure of speech,
    >> like "I'm sure Paul Miner wouldn't approve of beating puppies." I
    >> don't KNOW this for a fact, but its a pretty safe guess that's LIKELY
    >> to be true.

    >
    >
    > Do any of us here know each other well enough to really make an educated
    > guess where each of us stands on the controversial puppy-beating issue?


    Puppies, I don't know. Dead horses... yeah



  11. #86
    tlvp
    Guest

    Re: Sprint to get the iPhone

    On Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:23:31 -0400, SMS <[email protected]> wrote:

    > On 7/25/2011 9:46 AM, jcdill wrote:
    >
    >> The World Is A Very Big Place. On the turnpikes on the east coast they
    >> have rest stops with a food court to rival some malls, and they usually
    >> have free wifi (sometimes provided by the coffee shop - e.g. Starbucks).
    >> Out here (California) a visit to a rest stop is lucky to find flush
    >> toilets and a working pay phone.

    >
    > What about the world's most beautiful rest stop on 280 that just
    > re-opened? I haven't stopped there yet.
    > <http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=159762&title=Famous%20rest%20stop%20reopens>
    >
    > A lot of rest stops have added wi-fi recently, but it's not something
    > you can count on like wi-fi at a hotel or a coffee house.


    Agreed -- you can no more count on "wi-fi at a hotel" than wi-fi at a rest stop.
    Even if it's offered, it may not be working (DHCP may be broken, as happened to
    me at a SeaTac area Travelodge just yesterday -- and three router resets didn't
    fix it :-{ ).

    > We just got back from a week-long vacation through Oregon and
    > California. We didn't stop at any rest stops (just vista points). Every
    > hotel (seven of them) had wi-fi included. We visited two universities
    > and both had guest wi-fi throughout the campus. Probably about 1/4 of
    > the restaurants we ate at had free wi-fi, but we didn't go to chain fast
    > food places much.
    >
    > Some of the places in Oregon we went had only U.S. Cellular coverage
    > available for wireless. Verizon users roam for free as far as voice, not
    > sure about data. I had to pay roaming charges on Pageplus (I ran up an
    > additional charge of a whopping 29¢!). Our friends that went with us are
    > on T-Mobile and of course they often had no coverage at all, but they
    > were able to roam onto AT&T in some places so not all AT&T roaming is gone.


    My own recent experiences with T-Mo phones in the Route 97 -ish parts of WA
    confirm this observation -- several places indicated we'd gotten picked up by
    (and were roaming on) Cingular, not T-Mo, towers.

    > It was a data heavy week in terms of 3G. I racked up 12MB of usage
    > checking e-mail, making reservations, and looking for restaurants and
    > reviews.


    Cheers, -- tlvp
    --
    Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP



  12. #87
    SMS
    Guest

    Re: Sprint to get the iPhone

    On 7/27/2011 10:13 PM, tlvp wrote:

    > Agreed -- you can no more count on "wi-fi at a hotel" than wi-fi at a
    > rest stop.


    Sure you can. A hotel is very likely to have operational wi-fi included
    in the cost of the room while a rest stop is unlikely to have wi-fi at
    all. Of course there are cases where the wi-fi is not operating properly
    at a hotel but it's not the norm.




  13. #88
    Paul Miner
    Guest

    Re: Sprint to get the iPhone

    On Wed, 27 Jul 2011 21:19:48 -0700, SMS <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    >On 7/27/2011 2:34 PM, Roger 2008 wrote:
    >> "Justin"<[email protected]> wrote in message
    >> news:[email protected]...
    >>>
    >>> hotel wifi is rarely up to the task of streaming.

    >>
    >> I've found at least one hotel that streams very well and I've even seen WiFi
    >> at a bar that streams over 1500k.

    >
    >I stayed at seven hotels this month. All had free wi-fi. Six had wi-fi
    >that was fast enough for streaming while one, Microtel in Sutherlin
    >Oregon, had slow and flaky wi-fi.


    I've been staying at an extended stay hotel since the first of June.
    No Wi-Fi here, but they do have an Ethernet port in every room and
    will enable it for $10 a week. Throughput is all over the place, from
    a max of 3Mbps very late at night, (although just over 1Mbps is far
    more common) and into early morning, to about 400-800 Kbps during the
    day and evening. Every few minutes throughput drops to zero for a few
    seconds, then starts again. Too slow, too erratic, for streaming.

    >It's rare that hotel wi-fi is too slow to stream.


    I don't think I've ever stayed at a hotel/motel where the Internet
    service was fast enough and steady enough to support streaming. I've
    seen one or the other, but I don't think I've seen both together, so
    no streaming for me.

    --
    Paul Miner



  14. #89
    tlvp
    Guest

    Re: Sprint to get the iPhone

    On Thu, 28 Jul 2011 03:00:07 -0400, SMS <[email protected]> wrote:

    > ... there are cases where the wi-fi is not operating properly
    > at a hotel ...


    And that's all I was saying :-) .

    > ... but it's not the norm.


    Cheers, -- tlvp
    --
    Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP



  • Similar Threads







  • Quick Reply Quick Reply

    If you are already a member, please login above.