Recommendation on SF Bay Area ISP

[camb]

Hi,

I'm getting unreliable internet speeds from ATT Uverse. The price is also double that of promotional rates available from xFinity. For the price I am paying, I'm supposed to be getting 18mpbs. For the same price, I can get 150mbps from Xfinity. I realize this is only for one year, then $100/mo.

What internet speed package do you guys recommend for 5 IP cameras? I also stream music and video. I'm wondering if the BlastPro package with 150 Mbps down is an overkill.

Thanks!

 

[nayr]

IP cameras dont even need internet so I'm not sure what your getting at.. are you wanting to view your cameras remotely? If so then its your upload speeds that are what you need to be checking.. IIRC you can pretty much max out Comcast's upload speeds by the 75Mbps plan.

 

[camb]

Thanks. Yes to view remotely.

 

[nayr]

also beware of datacaps, video streams chew through data like nothing else.. If your planing on a remote monitoring station thats constantly streaming you'll want a plan that provides no transfer limits.. if your just checking it on occasion remotely, then its much less of an issue.

If your okay with just viewing sub-streams then you'll want ~5Mbps upload to start out for 4 feeds @ ~1Mbps each.. however just one full high quality 1080p stream will need ~6-8Mbps just for it, in general it takes about 10Mbps upload speeds for a relatively high quality remote experience.. Ive got 15Mbps uploads w/Comcast and it can stream HD video just fine as long as I only have one stream at a time, its really nice accessing my plex media server from friends and family's house.. especially if you have kids.

Use a variable bit rate if you intend on doing alot of remote viewing, it will help reduce upload requirements.. especially at night.