JStump Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 (edited) Anyone use a sling box? I have been contemplating the idea of getting one so I can mooch off my parents dish service. Its like $80 for the minimum digital cable package with Time Warner and a slingbox is a one time investment of $150. If it works well its a no brainer to me, but I am curious who has used them and what kind of success they have with them. My internet speed usually hangs around 13mb/s down and my parents is around 3mb/s. my parents connection is where I am worried there will be a bottleneck. I should probably run a speed test again on their end for upload speed now that I think about it.Also, something I never really thought about since I am not hosting anything on my connection, does upload effect download? So say I watching sling box, will that destroy my parents download speed? I would think not but I have never tried to download while someone else uploads. Edited February 19, 2013 by JStump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rjettman Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 I had one for a while since I am on the road half the time. Your success with it will depend on the two networks. If its just your parents home and yours and you both have solid, fast networks, then it will probably work great. If you are on a hotel network, it will just depend.Also, realize that if you are watching the slingbox and change the channel, it will change the channel on your parents TV too, because you are actually taking control of their cable box remotely. So I hope you and Dad like the same shows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RHill Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 You could always pay them an extra $8 or whatever it is for an additional box, and have it dedicated to the slingbox. But first check the upload speeds.I dropped cable a year and a half ago, miss some shows, but netflix gets me by for the most part. There are always torrents up the next day for a very select few shows that I want to watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JStump Posted February 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 (edited) You could always pay them an extra $8 or whatever it is for an additional box, and have it dedicated to the slingbox. But first check the upload speeds.I dropped cable a year and a half ago, miss some shows, but netflix gets me by for the most part. There are always torrents up the next day for a very select few shows that I want to watch.You just described what I do to a T haha. I have not had cable for a little over a year but Netflix is getting stale(although I did just find new futurama episodes) and I just torrent shows I really want since they are usually up within the hour they air. I plan on getting the sling and trying it on a less used TV at my rents house and if it works I will pay the $10 or whatever it costs for an additional box.I just miss watching random shows when I am bored. There is usually something good on discovery, history or comedy central at any given point in time and my mom records movies and things from the premium channels like HBO so it would be worth the $10 or whatever it is. Definitely not though for $80!Also, does the slingbox continuously stream or is it just when you log on with a device? I plan on turning the dish box off when I am not watching it(you can do that right?) but I dont want it to be streaming all day if I forget to do that, or if turning the box on and off remotely is not possible. Edited February 19, 2013 by JStump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RHill Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 I just miss watching random shows when I am bored. There is usually something good on discovery, history or comedy central at any given point in time and my mom records movies and things from the premium channels like HBO so it would be worth the $10 or whatever it is. Definitely not though for $80!Yeah, I miss having discovery, history and comedy central...those along with some sports were about all I ever watched.Funny thing, after I dropped cable and signed a contract for ATT Uverse for internet, Time Warner gave me a call offering to cut my bill in half, literally. $90 to $45, but I was already under contract with ATT, so I had to pass. Good luck with the slingbox, I had the same thought when I first cut the cable, but my moms place has dsl with a slow upload rate, so it was out of the question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JStump Posted February 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 Yeah, I miss having discovery, history and comedy central...those along with some sports were about all I ever watched.Funny thing, after I dropped cable and signed a contract for ATT Uverse for internet, Time Warner gave me a call offering to cut my bill in half, literally. $90 to $45, but I was already under contract with ATT, so I had to pass. Good luck with the slingbox, I had the same thought when I first cut the cable, but my moms place has dsl with a slow upload rate, so it was out of the question.I may be in the same boat. My rents live out in the country and 3mb is the fastest they can get. I did however just notice my Time Warner internet bill went up almost $20 since we have had the service for a year. They claim it will go up $5 more every year I have service because thats how "Turbo boost" pricing is. Im about to tell them to fuck off and see what kind of deal they cut me, and if they dont cut me one I will drop the service and put it in my roommates name Cable companies can suck my dick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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