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Twinsmommy's avatar
Twinsmommy
New Member
6 years ago

Help me understand please

I am trying to figure out if a local company is as fast as Hughes net. The local company, I believe goes over cellular. They are telling me they have no data caps but do cap speed and 4 megaBITS per ...
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gaines_wright's avatar
gaines_wright
Tutor
Twinsmommy wrote:

I am trying to figure out if a local company is as fast as Hughes net. The local company, I believe goes over cellular. They are telling me they have no data caps but do cap speed and 4 megaBITS per second.

  That's a lot slower than my normal speed with Hughes of 26 to 31 mbps.

reluttr's avatar
reluttr
Freshman
6 years ago
gaines_wright wrote:
Twinsmommy wrote:

I am trying to figure out if a local company is as fast as Hughes net. The local company, I believe goes over cellular. They are telling me they have no data caps but do cap speed and 4 megaBITS per second.

  That's a lot slower than my normal speed with Hughes of 26 to 31 mbps.

Back when I was stuck with 3Mbps with windstream I had to "start" the video, immediately pause it, and let it buffer/load a sizable chunk before unpausing the video. But that was on youtube and amazon video, so I am not sure if netflix works the same way or not.

  • gaines_wright's avatar
    gaines_wright
    Tutor
    6 years ago
    reluttr

    "Back when I was stuck with 3Mbps with windstream I had to "start" the video, immediately pause it, and let it buffer/load a sizable chunk before unpausing the video......"

     

      IMO no satellite internet is suitable for streaming videos in the long run.  You can get around the buffering problem by using an add on like  VideoDownloadHelper to capture the video to a file and then watch it as many times as you want to offline with no buffering.   It's a little clunky to use, but it works for me.

     

      There's another app called PlayonCloud that I've seen mentioned here many times, I've never used it myself since it costs $8.99 a month, whereas VideoDownloadHelper is free.

     

      Keep in mind that video uses about 1 gig an hour of your data.

     
    • maratsade's avatar
      maratsade
      Distinguished Professor IV
      6 years ago

      reluttr,

       

      PlayOn Cloud does not offer memberships; they offer storage plans. The cheapest storage plan is $2.99 a month (there is no $8 plan).  The  storage plans are just for that, storing recordings in the cloud for as long as you pay for the plan. Without a storage plan, recordings are stored only for 7 days, so you need to stay on top of your recordings and download them promptly.  Storage plans also give you a set number of recording credits a month, but they need to be used during the month. 

       

      You can buy recording credits  that never expire for as little as 20 cents. Depends on how many you buy. Right now they're running a sale of 50 credits (that do not expire) for $10.   I find this option much better than the storage plan. I download recordings promptly so 7 days storage is fine for me .

       

      Cloud plan recording credits may be used for recording videos of any length and must be used during the subscription month. Additional anytime credits that never expire may be purchased as needed. You may change or cancel your plan at any time.

       

      Recording with PlayOn Cloud is legal, and you can record from many sources, including Hulu, Prime, HBO, Netflix, Showtime, etc.  Please be advised that using apps such as VideoDownloadHelper to record shows is actually illegal and that the MPAA and other agencies do crack down on such things. 

      • gaines_wright's avatar
        gaines_wright
        Tutor
        6 years ago

         

        "PlayOn Cloud does not offer memberships; they offer storage plans. The cheapest storage plan is $2.99 a month (there is no $8 plan)....."

         

          Ah, I see I didn't google deep enough. They've changed everything. Well, their disclaimer says that things are liable to change at any time.

         

        "Recording with PlayOn Cloud is legal, and you can record from many sources, including Hulu, Prime, HBO, Netflix, Showtime, etc."

         

          The big media companies would like to make it illegal if they could.  From what I've read, the actual legal status of POC downloaded videos is still a little iffy.

         

        "Please be advised that using apps such as VideoDownloadHelper to record shows is actually illegal and that the MPAA and other agencies do crack down on such things."

         

        A quote from the POC CEO:

         

        "We've looked a lot at legal precedent," Lawrence says. "We've looked at when the DVR came to market, and generally speaking, other than some noise, it really wasn't challenged."

         

          What's good for POC should apply to VDH also. AFAIK neither are paying the media companies royalties.

          I fail to see any real difference between POC and VDH other than cost,  either way you end up with your own personal copy, which the media companies absolutely hate, because you can make another copy, and give it to your friends, etc.

         

          There are a lot of things that are technically illegal.  For example, I've ripped my whole CD music collection down to MP3s and have copies on two different computers and in each of my vehicles.  The day a SWAT team shows up to confiscate my illegal music or my illegal videos, is the day I'll join the new American Revolution!

         

          BTW "Please be advised..."  Sounds like radio talk from my old Military Police days. Just wondering, were you a fellow MP?


        "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."
        William Shakespeare