ROKU

I'm thinking about  buying one. I am cutting the cord. I am wondering if anyone has any advice? No I am not interested in Apple TV.  So I am not interested in debating whose better.It looks like the cable an DTV etc are going the way landlines went with home phone I service. Right now I am just considering it , strongly considering it.

From my casual observations, it looks to me that Roku has risen to the top of the boxes while numerous competitors have disappeared.  We purchased the Google TV box and while they are no longer around, the box continues to operate and update.  Can't say that it has been better than "sliced bread" and we have been playing with Chromecast on another TV.  Chromecast has promised more apps but have been slow in introducing them.

You might find these two reports out of the Las Vegas Electronics show on Roku to be of interest:
http://gizmodo.com/so-heres-the-thing-i-agree-that-the-ui-on-virtually-e-1495318852/@brentrose
http://techland.time.com/2014/01/06/roku-infused-tv-sets-are-coming-this-fall/

I do agree that cable and satellite systems may be headed down the highway. I am looking very seriously at PRISM Internet TV being introduced by CenturyLink but it isn't available in our area as yet. Interestingly, they are offer two year pricing guarantees.

Yeah.  I got thru talking to verizon and I definitely need a dedicated line.  Cant use Whoever has unlimited data packages cause they throttle back after 5 g they say they don't but research it and they do your  movies would just buffer.

Am I understanding correctly that you are attempting to do this through a cell phone?

Well those links are excellent news, now I'll just wait for the tv.. appreciate those links!

Yes and no . I though my mifi unlimited data would handle it.

I am open to any change at this point. I like ROKU the best in my search so far. 
I am going to be downsizing soon at this point selling off property everyone that sees the  property wants my house.. Very conflicted as  these types of house are a dying breed it costs a fortune to build one and you can't grow these trees in my lifetime.

Color me a bit confused. We have 12Mbps service through CenturyLink, our DSL service provider. Our service actually provides 14 to 16 most of the time and we haven't experienced any streaming issues providing I make sure that our unit has the most recent updates. We have never has our provider throttle us back for too much usage.

You are hard wired? I am 4g except I have DTV  Verizon said 1 movie would eat up   2-3 gb. He said I needed to go I back to the old fashioned Internet ??  Clue me in ???

Yes we are hard wired. I am assuming you are talking Direct TV and Verizon cell? Two companies we will never do business with ever again!

We have Sprint cell service with the unlimited data plan. While our phones are 4G capable, Albuquerque is still 3G. Just as a test, I have watched a couple of movies on my Samsung Galaxy 3 Smartphone via 3G and not WIFI. Experienced no throttling and the streaming quality was excellent. We currently have DISH but as soon as the PRISM service through CenturyLink becomes available, we will drop DISH since we no longer have any contract obligations.

Hmm. I am checking prism out now. I can't believe Albuquerque is 3g.. I'm kinda in the sticks and get 4g.

Isn't everything bigger and better in Texas?

I'm glad I'm not making my mind up today. Keep me posted. Playon is also on my list. You can use it with ROKU to get  NFL and MLB its subscription tho.

Thanks for the hint on Playon! In checking them out, I found that they are having a sale and some of their lifetime packages are attractively priced at the present. I have downloaded their app to our Google TV box while I make up my mind on paying for the app for my PC. They claim a 30 day guarantee, so I guess no harm/no foul if I cancel within 30 days if it doesn't work for us?

We have been DISH customers for well over 10 years albeit with a brief trial of Direct TV. They keep reducing their packages while raising the prices while having no idea of customer retention. So cutting the cord is an attractive option if we can get our preferred programing. We do subscribe to Amazon Prime and our free two day shipping justifies the cost while the free videos and lower cost rentals are icing on the cake.

espiritu:

You may find the following Playon reviews to be of interest:
http://download.cnet.com/PlayOn/3640-2056_4-75000090-1.html

Playon  is nice.

Were I like the roku allot, IMO they left out the most important feature. I like that you can watch personal content off of the USB but for me, any device looking to get market share must support streaming from your wireless device. I am running an ezchrome dongle. Were its WiFi range is limited and I can't push content from my media server on the first floor to the TV on the second, it works great pushing content from my mobile device. So for me roku is a no at this point.

This company recommends buying one of their VPN routers which has burned a vpn service of your choice into the ROM. They claim to unify and protect all these wireless devices. You can also enjoy worldwide access to websites without country coding, for example Hula Plus U.S.A. The problem is that the internet speed here has been unreliable for streaming - only a mile from Chapala, but still a problem for Telmex.

http://www.flashrouters.com/blog/2013/10/07/popular-wireless-wifi-routers-vpn-service-providers-september-2013/

tictoc:

"ezchrome dongle"????? Would this by any chance be a Chromecast dongle? If so, I think I am having a similar experience trying to push through content from my laptop located in the living room to a bedroom on the same level a short distance away. However. when I use my smartphone to control from the same bedroom - very few problems. I am in the process of playing with a Kindle Fire as a controller.

International streaming is now available. Run a search for the area of interest...ie. British streaming US. Here is one site that is monthly for the US. I have no connection with them, nor do I know how it actually works for options wanted. It is just an example. But the world is here. VPN Locations

I found this on another forum not Mexico related but I thought some of you might find this to be of interest and  of course it might actually work!

BBC? See if this is an option. 
http://lifehacker.com/5504681/how-to-access-the-bbc-iplayer-and-tv-like-doctor-who-from-outside-the-uk