Is 4k the new standard now?

[Kagthul]

Shaw Cable

Then be very glad you live in an area where one of the Big Six doesnt have a stranglehold, ‘cause the vast majority of us dont. Data caps are a reality for most of us. To get true unlimited bandwidth from Comcast, i either have to upgrade my consumer package to the top tier (200Mbps down/25Mbps) - which costs 120$ a month (instead of the 70$ i pay now), and THEN I can add unlimited data on top for 50$ - so 170$ per month. Or i can get Business Class (50/10) for 110$ - all Business Class plans are unlimited.

Of course, theyre never going to tell a customer that calls in that they could get Business Class - theyll try to upsell you on the consumer plan + 50$ extra.

Now, those prices are for my area (SE Michigan). They can and do vary prices depending on the market. In the rare areas where they have real competition (another cable provider or fiber provider) their prices are WAY lower. When i lived in Livonia (near Detroitj, we had Brighthouse (now owned by Charter), Comcast, and WoWest available.. and id be paying 40$ there formthe same service i have now.

Out where i live now, though... its Comcast or nothing, except for the two areas near-enough a switching station to get DSL (which dont amount to much given the 3 cable mile requirement)... so their prices are almost twice as high here.

[Jtbrig7390]

Would I be shooting myself in the foot going 1080? Or is now the time to jump on 4k?

No not even close to becoming standard.

[Zandalarian Paladin]

Still a few years away from 4k. It's becoming more common, but it has a good way to go before hitting that threshold.

2021~2022 seems to be a realistic target for 4k.

[Kagthul]

Charter and Centurylink are both offered in my area. Neither have data caps. Centurylink had data caps on everything below their gigabit tier, but they got rid of the cap a little while ago. I have transferred terabytes for months on end using both. This month on my Centurylink Gigabit, I'm already at almost a terabyte and its only the 9th of the month.

The reason they dont have a cap where you are is because there is competition (more than one high speed provider); in my above example (Livonia MI, compared to where i live now (not even 30 miles away) my former roomates in Livonia dont have a data cap, either, AND they pay 30$ less than imdo for the same speeds - on Comcast. The majority of the US isnt fortunate enough to have multiple high speed providers in the same area, there y forcing competitive pricing. Here in MI, -maybe- 10-15% of people live in areas like that.

Of course, here in MI (and in 28 other states), prior to 2014 it was 100% legal for companies to contract with townships/cities to have local monopolies. Wasnt until the laws changed at the national level in late 2013 that this changed, but now that Comcast has had 30 years of monopoly, the other companies arent going to bother laying infrastrucure here since it would cost millions and theyd have to spend even more trying to poach customers for little gain.

The companies also collude to remove themselves from some markets in exchange for the other company leaving another market. Wide Open West has a decent bit of overlap in the Detroit area with Comcast, and they tried to cut a deal where Comcast would acquire their assets in Detroit in exchange for WoW acquiring their assets in SW Michigan... thankfully the State said no.

[ablib]

1080p is not a computing resolution. So many think it is because about 10 years ago, display makers starting going cheap on their displays, and consumers ate it up. It's quite sad.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Then be very glad you live in an area where one of the Big Six doesnt have a stranglehold, ‘cause the vast majority of us dont. Data caps are a reality for most of us. To get true unlimited bandwidth from Comcast, i either have to upgrade my consumer package to the top tier (200Mbps down/25Mbps) - which costs 120$ a month (instead of the 70$ i pay now), and THEN I can add unlimited data on top for 50$ - so 170$ per month. Or i can get Business Class (50/10) for 110$ - all Business Class plans are unlimited.

I live in Canada. The Big Six aren't really a thing here.

My Package is 150/15, unlimited data, 105 a month (though I'm currently on a promotion that gives me that for about 80 until about this time next year). That's Canadian money too...so that 105 is about 80 American.

[Deleted]

I live in Canada. The Big Six aren't really a thing here.

My Package is 150/15, unlimited data, 105 a month (though I'm currently on a promotion that gives me that for about 80 until about this time next year). That's Canadian money too...so that 105 is about 80 American.

In Finland im paying 17 eur a month for 100 mega down 20 up.. reading the prices in this thread is quite surreal considering that id never be able to afford internet in USA as a uni student.

[Ichifails]

In Finland im paying 17 eur a month for 100 mega down 20 up.. reading the prices in this thread is quite surreal considering that id never be able to afford internet in USA as a uni student.

Yeah...


Every time I see internet speeds, caps and prices in the US my head just explodes. I pay 9 euros a month and now there are plenty of places where I can download with 50-60 mbps.

[Shakadam]

Yeah...


Every time I see internet speeds, caps and prices in the US my head just explodes. I pay 9 euros a month and now there are plenty of places where I can download with 50-60 mbps.

Yeah seeing people paying $100+..... even up to $170! Just kinda seems insane. Obviously Finland can't compete with Romania on pricing but considering pretty much everything else here is significantly more expensive than in the USA, I'm still only paying 29,90€ for a 100/10mbit connection, can upgrade to 100/100mbit for the same price from next month, or go with 500/100mbit for 39,90€. No data caps.

Ontopic: 4k isn't the standard yet imo. High refresh rates at 4k resolution is out of the question even on beastly machines right now, it'll take a few years still.
Meanwhile 1080p is old and can be maxed out by any average gaming computer, which makes 1440p the sweet spot currently for high-end gaming.

[Deleted]

Poorly optimized games that struggle to run at 60 fps even at 1080p is the new standard.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

My opinion is 1440p is the sweet spot right now. I wouldn't go spend a lot of money on a bad ass 2k monitor and video card because I think 4k becoming the sweet spot will be coming in the next generation which is like what? Q1 or Q2 '18? Unless Nvida wasn't impressed with AMD and decide to release another limp dick generation of cards (that yes will be better than what we have now but not where they could in theory release) because they can.

When I say sweet spot I mean a few things. Mostly you have good gaming monitors with nice panels and re-fresh rates. Then video cards that can run games at 4k at what I would call at least mild settings and push some of those refresh rates beyond 60. Now if not going beyond 60fps matters to you than you are getting to that point now. But that also means in the next generation of games or so you won't be hitting that mark of smoothness as consistently.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

I moved to Telus from Shaw because while shaw technically doesn't have any data caps, they kept calling me whenever I'd go over 500 gigs on my 50 down 15 up plan, paid 80 a month for it too. Now I'm on telus fiber with 150 down 150 up and pay 6 dollars more a month without the annoying calls asking me if I need a higher cap.

I can't stand dealing with Telus. Shaw's always been good to me.

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In Finland im paying 17 eur a month for 100 mega down 20 up.. reading the prices in this thread is quite surreal considering that id never be able to afford internet in USA as a uni student.

Yeah, our prices here are rather crazy...I can admit that. That's just what happens when companies have virtual monopolies.

[lloose]

1080p is not a computing resolution. So many think it is because about 10 years ago, display makers starting going cheap on their displays, and consumers ate it up. It's quite sad.

Very much this. I still remember when my friend got a brand new 1920x1080 24" monitor. I had a 22.5" 1680x1050 and when I saw his I was really confused because it was so short. It was a little wider, but the loss of vertical display space was noticeable and I wasn't impressed at all.

[TripleZero]

1440p is pretty close to becoming standard, but you need a high end gpu (1080+) for demanding games. This will change with the next gpu generation. Shouldnt be that much longer.

[scart35]

In Finland im paying 17 eur a month for 100 mega down 20 up.. reading the prices in this thread is quite surreal considering that id never be able to afford internet in USA as a uni student.

IKR!

We are paying 20€ for unlimited 300/100 plan here...
Prices in USA/CA are insane...

4k a standard? not even close. TVs are expensive(cheap ones are crap), no real 4k content( our TV stations are broadcasting 80% in HD, not even FHD) and regarding games, according to steam survey very small portion of players/users are using 4k resolution or hardware capable of running 4k content on their systems.

[Saphyron]

Yeah...


Every time I see internet speeds, caps and prices in the US my head just explodes. I pay 9 euros a month and now there are plenty of places where I can download with 50-60 mbps.

Damn Denmark is Expensive compared to that.
I pay 58,38US$ or 49,72 euro for this.

[Laqweeta]

Not even close.

27" 1440p is the sweet spot unless you want an enormous display.

What this person said is 100% true.

Going from a 23.5" 1080P to a 27" 1440P is crazy as well. I wouldn't be able to comfortable view/game on a 32"+ monitor

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Damn Denmark is Expensive compared to that.
I pay 58,38US$ or 49,72 euro for this.

I pay $99.99 for this. Includes phone and cable as well as 2 premium channels (Starz and Showtime)
By the end of this year, all Mediacom customers will be able to take advantage of their 1GiG system for completely free. So it'll be $99.99 for 1GiG + cable + phone. (not sure why ping is so high, usually it's around 17)

[anon5123]

It's more common, but 1080p is still the "standard" that most people use.

As others said, you need a really fucking beefy GPU setup to run games at 4k with high graphic settings and/or 144hz.

[nocturnus]

Would I be shooting myself in the foot going 1080? Or is now the time to jump on 4k?

No, not by a long shot. Gamers are steadily going towards 1440p, but the vast majority are still using 1080p. 4k, is very far from becoming a standard.

[Deleted]

Good luck with that. If you live anywhere where there is no ISP competition (I.E. most of the US), you cant stream in 4K unless you love blowing your data cap in a week.

We have Sling for our TV service, and i set it to stream at 1080p with a fixed DL rate (2.8Mb/s). With just that, we run ~700GB a month (out of a 1TB cap). Add in online gaming (Wolfenstein is 50GB...) and patches and a few Youtube videos, and were averaging ~900+ GB, and ive gone over once (out of the two “grace” momths Comcast allows you before they start charging you 10$ for every 5GB you go over..)

Im looking at having to switch to Business Class (slower speeds - 50 down/10 up, instead of the 75 down/15 up) at 110$ a month (versus the 70$ a month for my current service) just so i can use streaming to replace tv and also install more than one or two games a month without getting gouged out the ass.

Its important to note that, not all of us are American, just say its largely an American problem, being in the UK with my ISP, I don't have this issue, hell I can even buffer;



Just because America has problems doesn't mean that should stifle others from getting 4K.

don't get me wrong, you guys have it shit and it shouldnt be like that.