Ok, I'm not very technical when it comes to this stuff.

 

Just moved to JAcksonville, FL a month and a half ago and I'm really missing my FIOS.

 

We're about to mov into our new house next weekend and still debating what services to get.

 

Going with DirecTV for TV.

 

Have a choice of Comcast Xfinity or AT&T U-verse.

 

Not a fan of Comcast. Really not a fan of any of these companies.

 

We will have one or 2 new "smart" TVs where we can stream On Demand stuff from DirecTV and normal internet use.

 

Comcast internet and phone package is 50 Mbps and AT&T I believe is somewhere between 12 and 18 Mbps. I haven't talked to AT&T yet, so I'm not sure exactly what is available at my address, just looking at adds.

 

The Comcast is around twice the price of the AT&T.

 

Is 18 Mbps enough for normal use and maybe some streaming? What would be the minimum speed?

 

Thanks.

An 18mbit connection is plenty for streaming assuming you're not sharing it with the entire street but there is a guarantee of service there, so I wouldn't sweat it.

 

That said, I have an 8mbit connection and we stream all the time.  Where my issue is, is my upload speed is 768k as in .75mbit.

 

If I upload something to youtube, it wipes out enough bandwidth that it knocks out my netflix.

 

Hell, not that long ago(10ish years) 10mbit was the common lan speed with a single T1 line(1.544mbit) serving entire companies.

Thanks for the response Mark.

 

I'll have to talk to AT&T before I go forward with Comcast.

 

I don't upload things, so if the downloads work fast enough I should be good.

You should be fine.  We have a 150mbps/25mbps line at the house because my wife watches Hulu, my daughter watches Netflix, we have 20-some internet connected devices at any given time on the network (laptops, phones, tablets, etc.), and I like to play online games and don't feel like running the chance that we'll run out of bandwidth.  It helps that our service is only $80/month too.

Thanks Ty. Well, at this point I guess it doesn't matter as AT&T just told me that Comcast is my only real choice, so I guess the only service they provide must be real slow.