Community discussions

[Iona-D]

These forums are very quickly becoming cluttered with such topic choices like:    

HBO Max App is available everywhere else today, why not on Roku?, Its Time For Roku To Have HBO Max, Peacock TV?, Please add Discovery Plus, or my personal favorite; It’s a Pandemic Winter! Give us HBO MAX already!!!!

A real growing wish list just for app requests.  Especially this time of year.  The only thing these and other request topics lack is ho-ho-ho, reindeer delivery, and too much spiked Eggnog.  

Actually do look closer and something very vital and basic is missing.  What is it?  Can you not see for yourselves?  Basic low-even no cost internet access for the masses as a given.  “What’s this.?” You might say or think.  “What does that have to do with me or mine?  I have my _______ (fill in the Internet Provider’s name here) and I only pay $_______ (fill in the amount of money here).”      

That’s nice.  Since you are able to spend that amount of money, your Internet Provider will happily continue to do business with you and send the data over to your devices.  What happens if you don’t come through and pay up?  Especially during trying times like the Pandemic?  What happens if you lose some or especially all of your income?   Nothing here in Roku’s Complaint Department (which is what these forums seem to turn into) ever even touched on this part of the equation.  

I am already seeing this all around me.  The local food bank has a long line of very nice late model cars wrapping around the block.  The Homeless Encampments are sprouting up in places where they never would have been before.  What’s to say that these same people only a few months ago were just like you in their nice insular world with the latest blazing fast Internet Access speed now reduced all the way down to this level?  

Or simply getting a bill from my own Internet Provider with an unannounced very high charge for giveaway data that was offered for the same price I always paid due to the Pandemic?  What’s with this development?  There was no warning when AT&T “pulled the plug” on this lifting of their data cap for my now Grandfathered DSL Plan.  So I was really hit with a huge unexpected bill.  I was fortunate in being able to cover the bill entirely this month.  But now I will “tighten the belt” and look to alternatives to the more popular Cord Cutting options (see my previous post on “Re: HBO Max App is available everywhere else today, why not on Roku?”- on Page 94

https://community.roku.com/t5/Channel-Issues-Questions/HBO-Max-App-is-available-everywhere-else-toda...

Like Streaming in itself.  No Data using DVD player ever, here I come!

I will continue to look around for a plan that best reflects my own wishes and needs: (one person access ONLY), 1 terabyte of access usage is fine, better way of warning when approaching the data cap limit, more financially friendly prepaid option (similar to phone carriers-with it staying a HOME WiFi system only, and some flexibility built right in.  

So for those of you still not realizing the real problem here.  It is not a direct ROKU problem or issue.  It is a foundation of ANY resident of a developed nation that has to interact and communicate in this high tech world. That means even the food bank users.  Or any of you about to join them.  

Think about it and don’t dwell too much on any one given app availability.  It’s about being financially able to get online in the first place and stay there as long as you choose to be there!  Not just using or subscribing to some particular app or 2.

Think about it and you will come around.

[Iona-D]

If you have any doubts about why I have to really tighten my financial belt, here is an article to help you make up your mind about the blessings of Streaming.  It it really a blessing or just another way of being manipulated in some fashion?  See for yourselves:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/13/media/streaming-price-disney-netflix/index.html

Tread cautiously unless you are financially stable enough to afford it.

[Iona-D]

If you now feel the urgent need to place blame, perhaps it lies not on a Streaming platform like Roku or even the Internet providers themselves.  It is popularity of something promising huge gains of money.  Until it becomes passe and most move on from that device or activity.  And it fades out.

[Strega]

That article didn't really have any surprises in it for me.  New services on the internet are usually cheap (or even free) to capture eyeballs.  Then they hope to monetize/actually become profitable later.  I briefly worked for a company that wanted to sell a device with a MSRP of less than one third of its bill of materials and the plan was to increase ads or in some other way get more revenue in the future.  That company is gone.  Lots of companies like that disappear.  But a few become super-successful which keeps the venture capital coming in.

The great thing for consumers is that as one of them tries to monetize, something similar comes along and is still in the free/super-cheap/capture eyeballs phase so lots of people just jump to the new thing,

[atc98092]

It can be pretty easy to exceed what one might pay for cable/satellite service if you start subscribing to everything that is popping up. We switched from cable to satellite close to 20 years ago, well before Dish even had close to a million customers. We finally dropped Dish about 8 years ago, because we realized we were watching maybe 6-8 of the hundreds of channels that we were paying for. We started with Netflix (doesn't everyone?) and Prime Video, and we had Prime solely for the free shipping. We've since dropped Netflix (never seemed to watch it anymore) and added CBS All Access. But when my year is up I'll probably drop CBS as well. Other than Star Trek Discovery and Picard, there isn't much else there we care about. My daughter subscribes to Disney+, and since she lives with us we aren't violating their rules by using her account for our TVs. 

Generally, we watch over 90% of our viewing streaming from my media server. Between ripped DVD and Blu Ray discs and recorded OTA TV, we have over 5000 titles to choose from. Since we purchased the discs, it's obviously stuff we care to watch. We can have an Internet failure and it really doesn't matter to us.

That said, the satellite companies seem to have dropped their prices significantly since we stopped using Dish. We were paying well over $200 per month for four TVs, and it looks like that roughly the same package now would be closer to $100. If someone starts going crazy with online subscriptions, it wouldn't take long to exceed that cost.  

[PeteCharles]

I estimate I NEVER exceed 1/2 a terabyte per month, EVER.  I bet I'm in the significant majority of Spectrum internet users.  So why can't I opt for a cheaper internet fee?  Let the gamers and 4k fanatics who always exceed 1 terabyte pay for their high usage.  I have the current lowest package at 100 mbps at $75/mo., yet that is at a minimum 3 or 4 times more bandwidth than I need to stream Netflix in 4k.  Why can't I have a 25 mbps plan?!  I would be willing to pay $50/mo. for 25 mbps.  If Starlink is viable in my area anytime in near future and they offer a price/bandwidth package similar to my wish, goodbye Spectrum.

[Iona-D]

PeteCharles

Level 9

"..........I estimate I NEVER exceed 1/2 a terabyte per month, EVER..........."

**********

You sound like a single user with your ISP.  That was the way I set up my now Grandfathered ATT DSL plan way back in 2008.  In the 12 years I was using this, I never went over the data cap limit.  NEVER!  Why?

Most of the time, I myself was fine even with the rather meager upload/download speed offered with this particular plan.  It served me well as far as the basic computer needs of my household.  Until some unexpected variables came along and changed everything.  

1.  More, Then Too Many User Crush:  Meaning more "temporary" to now more admitted permanent "guests" (read: freeloaders) checked backed into parental house due to unstable finances/Pandemic.  All wanting to use this sad little modem/router that I already used and don't care about anything but themselves.  A real recipe for data disaster for me at least. 

2. Changing Needs Without Good Alternatives:  Since I got a very strong "crowded out" feeling or reality with  my formerly own data access, I decided to go look for another Internet Provider just for me-and let the crowd fight over paying the next expected overpriced bill THEMSELVES & not involve me in any way.  Where I reside, there is nothing offered except for AT&T (which I was trying to get away from in the first place!), phone carriers (too expensive for meager data usage offered and not what I wanted for home internet only use),  Cable (need to be professionally installed deemed not safe for a very strict Pandemic isolated household).  Satellite (ditto), and T Mobile cable like streaming service (too restrictive and too expensive). 

So, I guess I will have to put up with my present way of Inteinet Access until I can move somewhere else far away from the current mess I am living in!  And make sure I don't leave any contact information behind me!

[Iona-D]

**********

You sound like a single user with your ISP.  That was the way I set up my now Grandfathered ATT DSL plan way back in 2008.  In the 12 years I was using this, I never went over the data cap limit.  NEVER!  Why?

Most of the time, I myself was fine even with the rather meager upload/download speed offered with this particular plan.  It served me well as far as the basic computer needs of my household.  Until some unexpected variables came along and changed everything.  

1.  More, Then Too Many User Crush:  Meaning more "temporary" to now more admitted permanent "guests" (read: freeloaders) checked backed into parental house due to unstable finances/Pandemic.  All wanting to use this sad little modem/router that I already used and don't care about anything but themselves.  A real recipe for data disaster for me at least. 

2. Changing Needs Without Good Alternatives:  Since I got a very strong "crowded out" feeling or reality with  my formerly own data access, I decided to go look for another Internet Provider just for me-and let the crowd fight over paying the next expected overpriced bill THEMSELVES & not involve me in any way.  Where I reside, there is nothing offered except for AT&T (which I was trying to get away from in the first place!), phone carriers (too expensive for meager data usage offered and not what I wanted for home internet only use),  Cable (need to be professionally installed deemed not safe for a very strict Pandemic isolated household).  Satellite (ditto), and T Mobile cable like streaming service (too restrictive and too expensive). 

So, I guess I will have to put up with my present way of Inteinet Access until I can move somewhere else far away from the current mess I am living in!  And make sure I don't leave any contact information behind me!

[Iona-D]

I just wanted to add that using the Internet Access you pay for BY YOURSELF is generally fine and will suit you for a long while unless you drastically change your online habits.  Unless you are some kind of law enforcement type control freak or have a group of cooperative people with like minded attitudes and usage, "shared" access will not work.  

[Iona-D]

Follow-Up:

Well, I just received my DSL Internet Access bill for the past month after this fiasco happened.  By cutting back bytes over here somewhat, the bill also improved somewhat to be much nearer to "average" usage I was used to.  That does not mean that I am satisfied with this.  Far from it.  

I know I am in a far different place than in 2008.  The situations at my own residence and worldwide with this Pandemic inspired internet usage to do far more to run a household or generate income did make me examine, not only the ISP itself or it's plans, but who is "sharing" my own Internet Portal.  It boils down to if even just 1 other person "shares" your own access, there is less for you to use when you have a  data cap attached to your own plan.  Especially if there are no real choices to change or go somewhere else when you wish. 

So the moral of the story is.......don't share your private information like passwords, pass codes, or even if you have Internet Access in the first place!  I think even close life partners should have some space-and Internet Access is one of the main ones.