[biker1]

My point is the lowest tier from almost all providers is greatly in excess of what the vast majority of users in The Villages need. Paying more for additional bandwidth is silly since it will offer no value. I have 200 megabits per second up and down as that is the lowest tier offered. This is essentially 10x what I use. Even when I was working from home running software projects and sometimes moving around large tarballs, the lower bandwidth we had at the time (80 megabits per second) was in excess of what I needed. Regarding video, I also measured 4K at about 20 megabits per second. Currently, there isn't much material. Furthermore, at typical viewing distances you would be hard pressed to see the difference between 1080p and 2160p.

Originally Posted by jrref

Given your assumptions, for sake of discussion, I measured streaming a Netflix 4K HDR movie last night and the bandwidth was between 15 and 18Mbs. So let's assume 20Mbs for discussion as the most bandwidth anyone would need to stream Netflix on one TV. So, for a typical home here in the Villages with two people living in it, If both parties watched Netflix for example, on two separate TVs it would use about 40Mbs. Beyond that, each person might use their phone but let's assume that is minimal, also many might stream 1080P content using less bandwidth and 40Mbs is what's needed. Again I'm not trying to argue with you, just want to think this through.

This morning I went on the internet to see what's offers are listed for providers here in the Villages at my location In Osceola Hills. I know other areas in the Villages might have slightly different offers. Also, for simplicity, listed is base internet service without any special bundling.

What I found was:

1) Verizon Fixed Wireless: Plans starting at $35/month plus taxes and fees, No speed claims but they say Good for 1080P streaming. The $45/month plan says Good for 4K streaming. Price lock for 5 years. Couldn't find any limitations on monthly data.

2) T-Mobile Fixed Wireless: Plans startiong at $50/month plus taxes and fees. Typical Download Speed 87 – 318 Mbps (5G), Typical Upload Speed 14 – 56 Mbps (5G), No contract or price lock. Unlimited data.

3) Xfinity Internet: Plans starting at $35/month plus taxes and fees 150Mbs for the 1st year. Monthly limit on data.

4) Spectrum Internet: Plans starting at $30/month plus taxes and fees 100Mbs for the 1st year. Unlimited data.

5) Quantum Internet: Plans starting at $50/month, no taxes and fees, 500Mbs, uncertain the length of the deal given the controversy of "price for life". Unlimited data.

6) Centric Internet: Similar to Quantum.

So, given these offers and given the analysis that we don't need speeds over 40Mbs or something close to that, ISPs are all already providing a "base" speed plan for about $50/month given some you need to add the taxes and fees. Their advertising may be trying to convince you to pay more for faster speeds but they are all offering their base speeds at approximately the same cost.