Problem - Internet issues

Internet with streaming problems.

Over the past couple of days I've found it difficult to watch anything on Netflix streaming.  I'm associating these issus with the fact that school is out.

We currently have Mediacom cable as our internet service provider.  We're getting 3mbps + some basic tv channels, mainly just the local broadcast stuff.  The problem with cable internet is if the kid down the street decides he's going to download a movie or stream some music, bye bye bandwidth. 


Netflix says all you need is a 1.5mbps connection for streaming.  That's true, but if you want to watch those show in HD, forget it.  What we have for 3 mbps usually works pretty good.  Mediacom sales their internet at a pretty fair $42.95 for 3mbps. Then they jump up to 12mbps for $60 and finally go to 15mbps for way too much.  I was thinking of getting the 12mbps since we'll be streaming alot more, but $60 is a little steep.  I'll have to see how much streaming we're doing and see if that cost is justified.  Bumping our download speeds to 12mbps would also increase my upload speeds to somewhere around 2mbps.  Then again, its on cable so it could actually end up being around 10mbps down most of the time.


Switching to At&t is out of the question now, unless its to UVerse.  DSL and UVerse internet are now capped as to how much you can use.  It's much lower on DSL.  If we were to get UVerse internet it could only be done if we got TV service too. Getting the TV service would give us free installation. But then again getting the TV service would defeat the whole purpose of cutting the cord. 


Hopefully we can think about getting the 12mbps and not suffering with anymore issues.



By the way, if you're on any cable internet service, buy your own cable modem.  Modems cost about $60 and would keep you from paying that $5.00 rental fee.  Plus if you get the modem, no one has to come out to install your internet (if you're already getting service).