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tomx2
join:2013-12-20
New York, NY

tomx2

Member

Looking for a good TWC internet package

Hi.
Hope you can help me decide the right Internet package.

Looking to watch streaming shows/movies from Veetle and Justin broadcast channels.
Notice their bitrate to stream is between 500-800 kbps. Some are in HD.
Also would like to watch major league sports online.

How much Mbps speed is needed to streamline 1+hrs videos+audios w/o buffering?
What TWC internet package would best fit my requirements?

Also they state the customer can purchase/setup a Modem w/o any supervision from TW techies.
I am not computer savvy, but if I order my modem, are the instructions supplied by the vendor
simple enough to connect my laptop to the modem. Or would you advise first time users (with no experience) rent the modem with TW performing all the installation.

I am mainly interested in wired connection with just my laptop having just a internet package, no bundles incl TV and phone.

Thanks.
Tom
New York City.
Expand your moderator at work
danmcdermott
join:2002-09-21
Dayton, OH

danmcdermott to tomx2

Member

to tomx2

Re: Looking for a good TWC internet package

Tom,

I have TW Internet Extreme (30Mbps down; 5 Mbps up). It is really fast. The reason I got the 30Mbps vs the TW 20Mbps is because, when a lot of folks are using the TW service in my neighborhood at peak hours of the day, I wanted it to still be fast. I have noticed at these peak hours I might only get 18Mbps, but the rest of the time I am 30+. These are my ethernet speeds, not the wireless whcih is much slower at about 10Mbps just one room over from my rented TW Gateway.

I am not sure you can ever get HD streaming that is not buffered unless you have a 50-100Mbps connection. All I know is my Netfix comes in HD buffered on my TV and it is a very good picture. And, this is using just my slower wireless connection to the TV. Got to be so much better if your TV uses a wired connection.

I did the self install of the Gateway and rented TW's equipment. They gave me a TW ARRIS DG860 Modem / Wireless WiFi Router). I got a set of their cbales as well. It is free, if you ask for them. The self install was a no brainer for me. For the most part I just plugged in the Modem and hooked up the wires. Never needed the CD that TW gives you. Once I hooked it all up, a page came up to ask me what username I wanted for email and what password I wanted to use for email. That was it.

Now, it you want to set up wireless and use the Modem setup Web page (aka the GUI), then that is a little more complicated to some extent depending on what you are trying to do. I am an engineer, so it was relatively easy for me but I still needed to read the User manual etc and call TW to understand that I needed to make a few setting changes for the wireless to work half way decently. All this was sort of easy as well if you are the technical type.

I rented the Modem because I wanted to tryout TW internet to see if I liked it over time. If I do, I may eventually buy my own modem. Also, FYI TW internet has a 30 day money back guarantee in case it does not work out for you. Lastly, you do need a cable connection in your residence to hook into.

Dan
Phroz
join:2005-11-23
Lewiston, ME

Phroz to tomx2

Member

to tomx2
Extreme is way overkill for his needs.

The cheapest 2 Mbps plan at $15/month is more than adequate here.
switchman
join:1999-11-06
ARRIS SB6183
(Software) OPNsense

1 edit

switchman to danmcdermott

Member

to danmcdermott
said by danmcdermott:

Tom,
I am not sure you can ever get HD streaming that is not buffered unless you have a 50-100Mbps connection. All I know is my Netfix comes in HD buffered on my TV and it is a very good picture.

30/5 service is way more than adequate for HD video streaming. I have had 2X Netflix HD streams running plus 15mb/s download going and web browsing on the 30/5 service all at the same time with no issues/buffering. The trick was to use QoS to control the flows.

At a minimum, I would go with basic 3mb/s or maybe standard at 15 mb/s.

jacko15
@rr.com

jacko15

Anon

I've got 15mb/s (standard service), and the only time I have any trouble streaming HD is when the source server is overloaded. That happens very rarely with a major player.