Networking

I stream. You stream. We all stream. By March 2019, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) reported streaming video subscriptions passed cable television customers for the first time.

But how do you get to all that content? After more than 10 years of streaming, I know a thing or two about streaming devices. Here’s my pick of the best.
I also know streaming services. I recently reviewed both the best free streaming services and best subscription-based live TV streaming services. You’ll also soon be seeing my pick of the best Video-on-Demand (VoD) services. In short, I know my way around streaming.
You may be thinking, “Why bother with a streaming device? Can’t I get all the streaming services I want from a smart TV? Actually, no, no you can’t.
I wish you could, but today smart TVs are still a poor choice. That’s because, generally speaking, TV manufacturers do a poor job of supporting streaming services. For example, last year, older smart TVs from Samsung and Vizio stopped supporting Netflix. If they can do that to Netflix, the most popular of all subscription-based video streaming services, you know they’ll neglect other services as well.  
Some smart TVs also don’t support newer channels. For example, if your kids are demanding Frozen 2 on Disney+ and you have a non-supported Vizio Smartcast TV, you’ll have to explain to your five-year-old that they can’t watch Anna, Else, and Olaf after all. Good luck with that.
A related problem is that smart TVs don’t tend to support the more obscure channels. For example, I like the sport cricket, so I subscribe to Willow TV. If there’s a smart TV out there, which supports it, I haven’t found it yet. 

Eventually. true streaming devices may become obsolete. We’re not there yet. 
Besides, it’s a lot cheaper to buy a new streaming gadget than it to buy a new TV.  So, before you buy any of these, if you like a particular, non-mainstream streaming service, make sure your device supports it. Only Roku supports pretty much everything and anything. And, even then, thanks to business fights, some services may not be supported. For example, until recently, you couldn’t get HBO Max or Peacock on a Roku. 
So, with all that in mind, let’s dig into today’s best streamers.

Hard to beat Roku’s entry-level streaming gadget

If you want the best possible quality from a Roku device, you want the 2020 Roku Ultra. But, if you want the best deal for the money, you want the Roku Streaming Stick+.
For a list price of $50, you get Roku’s easy-to-use interface and access to over 5,000 streaming services. And, yes, as of late November 2020, that includes HBO Max and NBC’s Peacock. 
The Stick+ streams 4K and High Dynamic Range (HDR) video. Like all Roku devices, it includes the best streaming service search function of all streaming devices. 
The remote, which now includes a TV volume and power control, is also easy to use. Thanks to its Advanced Wireless Receiver, you can control your viewing experience from anywhere in your living room or even the largest home theater. 
As an option, you can also get the remote with earbud headphones. With this, you can watch the show you want without bugging your spouse who’s reading next to you.
Really, there’s no reason to look any further if all you want is an excellent video streamer. The Roku Streaming Stick+ is the best of the best.
$29 at Amazon $38 at Walmart $30 at Best Buy

The highest-end Roku is better with the right home theater gear

What’s that you want the Rolls-Royce of streaming devices? In that case, you’ll want Roku’s latest of its top-of-the-line streaming device: The 2020 Roku Ultra.
For a list price of $100, the Roku Ultra has everything the Stick+ and more. Like what? I’ll tell you.
In addition to 4K and HDR, the Ultra also supports Dolby Vision and three-dimensional audio Dolby Atmos acoustics on compatible TVs. With the right television, sound system, and video content you’ll get the best possible streaming experience.
Notice I said with the “right” equipment and set up. Most new high-end TVs support Dolby Vision, with the notable exception of Samsung, which supports its own HDR10+ format. Dolby Vision will give you a slightly better HDR experience than generic HDR. Dolby Atmos is a surround sound format. It goes beyond Dolby Digital’s 5.1-channels to add “height” audio channels for improved realism.  The only way you can experience this is with a home theater audio rig setup to use it. To do that, the Ultra will be the cheapest component of your home theater by an order of magnitude. 
The streaming device supports 802.11ac for an excellent high-speed Wi-Fi connection. It also comes with an Ethernet port, if you want the security of a wired network connection. Personally, I prefer the Ethernet port. 
It also includes a USB port. With it, you can connect an external hard drive or a Network-Attached Storage (NAS) so you can watch your own video library. That way you don’t need to worry about setting up a media server. Personally, I prefer setting running my own Plex server so I can watch my collection of 30s and 40s movies no matter where I am in my home. But you can’t beat just plugging in your video collection into the USB port for ease of use. 
Finally, the Ultra’s remote now has two customizable buttons to open your favorite channels. This is in addition to the default buttons for Netflix, Hulu, Sling TV, and Vudu. 
If you want the best possible streaming experience, and you have the rest of the home theater gear to go with it, get the Ultra. It’s that simple.
$69 at Amazon $70 at Best Buy $100 at Crutchfield

A full-powered TV streaming device

I’ve been a fan of the Google Chromecast since day one back in 2013. All it could do was mirror my Android smartphone and tablet’s screens and my Chrome web browser’s display to my TV. That was it. Screencasting, as it’s been come to be known, is actually pretty powerful. But, this fall, Google decided to make the Chromecast, under the name Chromecast with Google TV, a full-fledged streaming device.
This next-generation Chromecast now comes with a remote. Earlier versions required you to use your Android device to control it. This remote also supports TV power and volume controls. It also lets you change your TV inputs making it something of a simple universal remote. Although if you want a true high-powered universal remote, you’ll still want to buy a Logitech $70 Harmony 665 or $250 Harmony 950. 
Like the Roku Ultra, it supports 4K UHD streaming with HDR and Dolby Vision video support for video and no holds barred Dolby Atmos for outstanding sound. It also comes with the Google TV interface. Behind that, you’ll find the Android operating system with over 6,500 Android TV apps.
It’s best feature, however, is that while other streaming devices make you hop from service to service to find your show. (Example: Is The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix or Amazon Prime? Netflix.) On Google, all your favorite shows, across all your streaming services, are shown on one screen. It’s a killer feature.
Last, but never least, it has a list price of $49.99. With all that, you may wonder why I still prefer the Roku models. Frankly, the only reason at this point is that Roku has a long track history, while this radical new Chromecast is only a few months old. All other things being equal, by this time next year, Chromecast with Google TV may well be my first choice.
$50 at Walmart $50 at Best Buy $50 at Adorama

What do you get when you combine Alexa with a streaming box?

The Amazon Fire TV Cube (2nd Gen) comes with Alexa built-in. Now, I was an Amazon Echo user from the start, so I’m fine with that. If you’re not, keep looking. But if you’re OK with Alexa listening in, then you should check out the latest generation Fire Cube. 
This $120 list price version of the Fire TV Cube is faster than its ancestor. It also supports 4K, HDR, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos. It’s also one of the few devices that supports Samsung’s HDR10+. 
It and the rest of the Amazon Fire TV devices also –finally — support YouTube and YouTube TV. For a long time, Amazon and Google were squabbling, and even though you could get Amazon Prime Video on Google devices, such as Android TVs,  you couldn’t get Google-based content on Fire TV devices.
Where the Fire TV Cube excels, as you might imagine, is with voice commands. With this box, you’ll never need to worry about where the remote is hiding this time. It’s inside your couch, by the way; it’s always hidden between the couch cushions, in my vast experience of losing remotes. 
It also, thanks to Alexa, will let you, after setting it up properly, let you switch HDMI inputs and even change cable channels. 
There’s only one real problem with the new model Fire TV Cube, and it’s one it shared with the rest of the Fire family: Amazon is not shy about putting its Prime video offerings front and center in its interface. And there’s no way to change that. As it happens, I watch a lot of shows on Prime, but even for me, it’s gotten a bit old. 
Amazon also offers a wide array of other streaming devices in its Fire family. At  $50, the Amazon Fire TV Stick an affordable, high-quality streaming gadget. 
$80 at Best Buy $120 at HSN $82 at B&H Photo-Video

Apple TV (2019)
Ted deeply into the Apple entertainment world? This is worth the money.

I haven’t been happy with the last few Apple TV generations, but Apple finally got its groove back with the 2019 edition of the Apple TV 4K. For example, it finally supports 4K streaming, HDR, and applications for most of the major streaming services. But I really hoped there’d be a 2020 Apple TV. Alas, there wasn’t.
Of course, the Apple TV 4K is heavily Apple-centric. That’s great if you have your own iTunes or Apple TV app-based media library. On the other hand, it can’t stream a full 4K HDR video from such external services as Netflix, YouTube, or Vudu. It will play them, yes, but it downscales them to 1080p HDTV.
At $179 for the 32GB version or $199 for the 64GB version of the Apple TV 4K, like all Apple products, it’s not cheap. You can save some money by simply getting the $179 version. Unlike earlier models, the Apple TV only uses its onboard storage for applications and games. It streams all its videos. So, if all you’ll ever do with it is steam videos, there’s no reason to buy the pricier model. The Apple TV 4K’s bottom line is it’s great for anyone whose life is built around Apple products or the $4.99 Apple+ streaming service. Others can spend far less to watch the same shows.

ZDNet Recommends More

After delaying the 16th Starlink mission on Sunday, SpaceX has now launched its Falcon 9 rocket to bring its Starlink satellite count to 955. 
Deploying its payload of 60 satellites into orbit is the seventh mission for the Falcon 9’s first-stage rocket booster, which landed successfully back on the ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ droneship in the Atlantic. The rocket launched from the Space Launch Complex 40, or SLC-40, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Tuesday, November 24 at 9:13pm EST. 
SEE: Network security policy (TechRepublic Premium)
Per Space.com, this launch puts SpaceX within about eight more Starlink missions before it completes the first phase of its constellation of 1,440 satellites. 
These satellites orbit Earth at an altitude of 550km (340 miles). SpaceX is targeting “near global coverage” by next year. The second phase of satellites will orbit at over 1,000km (621 miles). 

SpaceX last month rolled out its ‘Better Than Nothing Beta’ to users in rural and remote parts of northern US and, as of last week, also to southern parts of Canada. 
Recent Starlink beta tests show that Starlink is delivering data speeds from 50Mbps to 150Mbps and latency from 20ms to 40ms. That blows away speeds that many residents in rural and remote areas of the US and elsewhere can access. 

However, SpaceX says as more satellites go up and more ground stations are installed, along with improvements in its networking software, it will be able to reduce latency even further. 

Networking

Kate Tice, a SpaceX senior certification engineer, said Starlink expects to achieve 16ms to 19ms latency by summer 2021. 
All the availability cells currently in the US and Canada lie within the 43 degree and 53 degree latitudes, but some areas within that band can’t get a Starlink service. 
SEE: Tesla jumps 10% on news its stock to be added to S&P 500 index on December 21st
However, as more satellites go into orbit, more cells become available. Tice said SpaceX expects to significantly expand its beta program in late January or early February 2021. 
Users who are accepted on the beta program need to buy a dish and modem/router for $499 and then pay a subscription of $99 a month. 
SpaceX engineers explained in a Reddit Ask Me Anything this week that when users first turn on a Starlink terminal, it knows nothing about where the satellites are. Instead, the dish “automatically scans the sky in a matter of milliseconds and locks into the satellite overhead, even though it’s traveling 17,500mph”. 
Starlink currently does not have data caps in the beta service, but its engineers said the company “might have to do something in the future to prevent abuse and just ensure that everyone else gets quality service”.
More on Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starlink and internet-beaming satellites More

Image: ZDNet
Cisco Systems Australia has reported its yearly results for fiscal year 2020 to July 25, revealing it fell just shy of clearing the AU$2 billion revenue mark.
In a filing to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the local Cisco arm saw its product revenue fall by AU$58 million to AU$1.21 billion while its service revenue increased by AU$24 million to AU$435 million. Once revenue from related entities and leases were taken into account, Cisco Australia reported total revenue of AU$1.997 billion.
With a lower cost of sales, the company reported a AU$78 million jump in pre-tax profit to AU$120 million, an income tax expense of AU$39.9 million compared to the AU$58 million booked last year, and AU$79.7 million in net profit compared to a AU$16.1 million loss reported last year.
In 2019, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) caught up to the networking giant, with the company reporting that it paid AU$86.2 million in income tax and made a tax adjustment for prior periods of AU$44.7 million.
Cisco Systems Australia has an immediate parent of Cisco Systems Netherlands Holding B.V. before reaching its ultimate parent Cisco Systems Inc in the United States. In 2020, Cisco Australia paid a AU$43.4 million dividend to its owners.
Over the course of the year, Cisco Australia was charged a total of AU$1.3 billion in service fees and cost of sales expenses by its parents and related parties, with AU$308 million flowing in the opposite direction to the Australian arm. The company said it also purchased almost AU$50 million in “various goods and services” from its ultimate parent and related entities throughout the fiscal year.
Cisco Australia added that it was in the early stages of negotiating a new transfer pricing arrangement with the ATO and the United States Internal Revenue Service.

In January, Cisco Australia parted with AU$118 million to purchase Zomojo, which traded under the Exablaze label and designed and built field programmable gate array network devices.
As of July 25, Cisco Systems Australia had 1,378 employees.
Microcredentials as software updates
Speaking to ZDNet recently, Cisco ANZ general manager of education Reg Johnson said when it came to microcredentials, it is best to think of them as bite-sized software upgrades to knowledge.
“I don’t think a credential is recognising a qualification in total, it’s the sum of the parts, and if you think about cybersecurity and how fast paced the changing landscape is, you’re constantly needing to do updates,” he said.
“That’s a great way of really you’re ensuring that people have kept up to date.”
A benefit of using microcredentials from universities for in-house training by companies is the ability for employees to have them recognised when they move onto their next job, Johnson said.
In July, the federal government said it would spend AU$4.3 million to build and run a microcredential marketplace.
“The microcredential marketplace will be a platform for job-seekers to see what skills they can gain by further study to help them get a new job or to get ahead in their current job,” Minister for Education Dan Tehan said at the time.
For Johnson, the use of these credentials allows universities to shift business models, make up some missing revenue due to the pandemic limiting international students, and perhaps get students into more traditional qualifications.
“This isn’t going away, I think the demands going to continue to increase, I think the quality of the credentials is going to continue to increase,” he said.
“I do think we’re going to see more of these bite-sized learning modules, but more about building blocks to bigger qualifications … [there’s] still a role obviously for degrees and those education programs, but I think it’s a recognition of the pace of technology and the need for moving with that.”
Related Coverage More

Dell Technologies third quarter results crushed estimates as it rode a PC demand surge amid remote work and learning.
The company reported earnings of $881 million, or $1.08 a share, in the third quarter on revenue of $23.5 billion, up 3% from a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings for the third quarter were $2.03 a share.
Wall Street was expecting Dell to report third quarter revenue of $21.85 billion with non-GAAP earnings of $1.40 a share.
Jeff Clarke, chief operating officer of Dell Technologies, said the company rode “unprecedented demand for remote work and learn solutions this quarter.” Hybrid cloud demand also fared well and the Dell Technologies also outlined plans to build out its edge computing footprint. 
Dell CTO: Home office technology will need to evolve in the new work normal
PC demand boomed in the quarter. Dell Technologies’ client solutions group reported sales of $12.3 billion. Consumer revenue was up 14% and commercial sales growth was 5%. Dell said that commercial Chromebooks had triple-digit revenue growth and Latitude and Precision notebooks had double digit sales growth. See: Dell Black Friday 2020 deals: XPS 15, G5 gaming laptop, and more | PC, dead? Shipments just hit a new high – and you can guess why
Third quarter operating income for the PC unit was $1 billion. Rival HP also reported strong fourth quarter results. 

Clarke added that digital transformation is a “must-have and accelerating.” Investments are also accelerating in edge computing, distributed work, cybersecurity and infrastructure to support 5G and data analytics.He said: 

Together, these trends are taking us to a future that is highly distributed with distributed workforce, learning and health care enabled by distributed technology infrastructure, computing, analytics and real-time outcomes at the edge. 

Dell Technologies also to more online selling for consumers and exited retail. That move hurt market share, but boosted margins. 
More:
Dell Technologies’ infrastructure group had revenue of $8 billion, down 4% from a year ago, and the company noted that customers were spending more on remote work and business continuity. Operating income was $882 million.  

Related: More

Splunk said Tuesday that it has signed a deal to acquire Flowmill, a Palo Alto-based provider of cloud network observability technology. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Flowmill’s platform lets customers ingest, analyze and act on cloud network and infrastructure data to resolve network-related issues, optimize performance and reduce costs.
With Flowmill, Splunk is aiming to extend its existing cloud monitoring capabilities and bolster its recently launched Observability Suite, which offers a combination of monitoring, investigation, and troubleshooting services for IT and DevOps teams.
“Observability technology is rapidly increasing in both sophistication and ability to help organizations revolutionize how they monitor their infrastructure and applications,” said Splunk CTO Tim Tully. “Flowmill’s innovative NPM solution provides real-time observability into network behavior and performance of distributed cloud applications, leveraging extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF) technologies. We’re excited to bring Flowmill’s visionary NPM technology into our Observability Suite as Splunk continues to deliver best-in-class observability capabilities to our customers.”
Splunk’s focus on the observability space has grown considerably since its $1.5 billion purchase of cloud monitoring company SignalFX in 2019. Splunk also recently acquired Plumbr and Rigor, and says the technology it gained from those two deals will be complementary to Flowmill.
The Flowmill acquisition is expected to close during Splunk’s fiscal fourth quarter, the company said. More

In my home in Asheville, N.C., I currently have 300Mbps internet to my home office. Back in my childhood home in Calhoun County, W. Va., where I still own some family land, I’d be lucky to get DSL speeds in Kbps. That’s kilobits per second. 

It’s no wonder a recent Satellite Internet survey found that 36% of people surveyed said poor internet access was keeping them from moving to the country. As Alexandre Menard, a leader of the McKinsey Center for Advanced Connectivity, told CNET’s Eric Mack, “You have still 10% to to 20% of the population, even in developed markets … that have an average DSL or bad 3G connection, and therefore doing video or doing higher-requirement usage is a challenge.” Working from home is only a dream for tens of millions, but the answer to their internet prayers may lie in the skies above them — with SpaceX Starlink satellites.
Recent Starlink beta tests show that Starlink is living up to its promise of data speeds from 50Mb/s to 150Mb/s and latency from 20ms to 40ms.
To get this, you need to be admitted into the Starlink “Better than Nothing”  beta program. If you make it in, your dish and modem/router will cost you $499 with a subscription price of $99 a month. 
Is it worth it? Starlink beta testers think so. It’s much faster than what they can get from their Earth-bound ISPs. Recently Starlink engineers answered questions from users, critics, and fans on a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) and revealed more about Starlink’s ins and outs. 
First, for now, if you get a beta invite, you’re going to need a clear line of sight to 53 degrees latitude (north and south) where the satellites are currently clumped up. That’s because “you should think about communication between the Starlink dish and the satellite in space as a ‘skinny beam’ between dishy and the satellite. So, as the satellite passes quickly overhead, if there is a branch or pole between the dish and satellite you’ll usually lose connection.” With that in mind, it’s working on software features to improve this. And, of course, as the Starlink satellite constellation grows so too will be the space in which you’ll find a working satellite.
When you first turn your Starlink terminal on, it knows nothing about where the satellites are. Instead, it “automatically scans the sky in a matter of milliseconds and locks into the satellite overhead, even though it’s traveling 17,500 mph overhead.” Once detected, the Starlink dish hones in on its position and requests to join the internet. Then, the terminal downloads a schedule of which satellites to talk to next to keep your connection going.

Starlink, of course, also has to work on keeping its satellite connected to the terrestrial internet. That’s a challenge. Starlink’s engineers have been working on “space lasers” to connect the satellites to improve speeds. These lasers would provide a high-speed interconnect between the satellites. The net result will be to speed up users’ broadband and decrease their latency. 
This works, the engineers explained, because the “speed of light is faster in a vacuum than in fiber, so the space lasers have exciting potential for low latency links.” This will also enable Starlink to better serve users where the satellites can’t see a fixed ground station. Starlink has already tested this and the prototype space lasers on two satellites that transmitted gigabytes of data per second. Add the engineers: “Bringing down the cost of the space lasers and producing a lot of them fast is a really hard problem that the team is still working on.”
In the meantime, Starlink engineers are working to lower Starlink’s latency even further. “We challenge ourselves every day to push Starlink to the fundamental limitations of physics. Current Starlink satellites operate at 550km, where light travel time is 1.8 milliseconds to Earth. The roundtrip from your house to a gaming server and back is at best 4 times 1.8 milliseconds at these altitudes, or under 8 milliseconds.”
That’s easier said than done. For example:
When satellites are not directly overhead, your data must travel through the air for more time.
Small levels of packet buffering are helpful for a stable service but hurt latency.
Starlink traffic travels through fiber on the ground. This is an indirect pathway that is 1.5 times slower than photons in a vacuum.
Some users also worried about whether Starlink can keep up its current speed. The engineers replied, “Unlike regular satellite internet where it gets way too crowded — as we launch more satellites over time the network will get increasingly great, not increasingly worse.”
Indeed, they’re planning to move from a limited beta to a wider beta in late January. This will give many more users an opportunity to participate.
Potential users expressed concern about data caps, which have proven a constant annoyance of older satellite internet systems. The team’s response:

“At this time, the Starlink beta service does not have data caps… We really don’t want to implement restrictive data caps… Right now we’re still trying to figure a lot of stuff out–we might have to do something in the future to prevent abuse and just ensure that everyone else gets quality service.”

Technically speaking, Starlink currently only supports IPv4. But it won’t stay that way. “We’re testing out IPv6 now, and will roll it out soon! Once it’s ready, you’ll get both an IPv4 and an IPv6 address. IPv4 addresses are a limited resource — IPv6 is the future.” 
On a more down-to-Earth matter, the Starlink staffers also revealed that their dishes come with heaters to melt off snow. As winter approaches, the company said, “We’ll be deploying a software update in a few weeks to upgrade our snow melting ability with continued improvements planned for the months ahead.” Today, the dishes are certified to operate at temperatures from -30C to +40C.”
Finally, Starlink founder Elon Musk is hiring and Starlink has many job openings. Whether it’s software development, engineering, or management, there’s a potential Starlink job for you. In the AMA, the team kept saying over and over again, “Send your resumes to starlink@spacex.com.”
Related Stories: More

The fallout from the new rules surrounding Australian domain names has already started, even though the rules do not begin until April.
Webcentral announced on Friday it was exiting its Netalliance “drop catching” business, which it described as “the purchasing of domains if they are not renewed by the domain owner and then on selling it to someone else or back to the original owner”. Naturally, they have left out the inconvenience and inflated prices when a customer forgets to manually renew a domain, versus the automated squatters swooping in, as being a factor in their decision.
“It is expected that this practice will be redundant in the near future once (auDA), the domain governing body makes much needed changes to the industry,” the company said.
For selling off its half-share of Netalliance, Webcentral has walked away with AU$500,000 in cash. Netalliance has less than AU$0.5 million in total revenue and around AU$100,000 in profit each year, of which half went to Webcentral.
“Our strategy is to focus on our core business, improve our customer experience, and simplify the business structure to drive profitability,” Webcentral and 5G Networks managing director Joe Demase said.
“We have identified a number of quick wins to optimise our platform assets and provided the team with clear direction of our roadmap for the future.”
See also: New .au domain namespace rules come into effect April 12

In the new rules, domain name monetisation by way of domain parking and affiliate sites expressly for the purpose of warehousing and transferring the domain to another will be forbidden on the org.au, asn.au, id.au, and edu.au namespaces.
Webcentral was recently taken over for approximately AU$19 million by 5G Networks, which involved a bidding war with Web.com and a delay from the Australian Takeovers Panel.
The formation of Webcentral occurred after Arq Group, which was formerly known as Melbourne IT, sold its enterprise services division for AU$35 million, and the company needed a home for the Arq SMB remnants.
Last week, 5G Networks announced that it expanded its data centre footprint into Brisbane, completing a AU$1.1 million lease agreement that will see it operate the 3MW Fortitude Valley facility.
“We are really excited to be exploiting our advantage of being a [data centre] operator and fibre network owner, I haven’t seen rack space and dark fibre product bundling from one provider before, but this is what our customers are asking for,” Demase said.
Related Coverage More

There are two kinds of paid streaming services: Live TV, such as Sling TV and YouTubeTV, and video-on-demand, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. Here’s what to look for in live TV packages.
Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve spent more time than ever watching TV at home. You might think that would be good news for the cable companies, Nope. More people than ever are dumping cable and satellite TV for streaming. 

Why? Because people want to save money. At the same time, though, 60% of viewers are paying for both cable TV and one or more streaming channels. That’s because they want both their regular channels and fresh, new offerings from video-on-demand (VoD) streaming services such as CBS All Access’s Star Trek: Discovery; Disney+’s The Mandalorian; and Netflix’sThe Queen’s Gambit. 
Guess what? With today’s streaming services you can have the best of both worlds. There are two kinds of streaming. The first, and oldest, is VoD, from such providers as Amazon Prime Video and Netflix. Increasingly, there are free, with commercials, VoD services such as Crackle, Peacock, and Pluto TV. Then, there are the live TV streaming services including AT&T Now, Philio, and Sling TV. Combine them and you can get all your old channels and fresh new shows for less money than you’re paying your cable or satellite TV provider today. 
But, you need to be careful. Back in 2009, when I first cut the cable cord, I saved over $100 a month and still got to watch all my shows. Just over ten years later, my internet video streaming bills are closing in on cable TV-level bills. 
Why? Internet streaming is copying the tired, old cable business models. Almost all the live TV services saw price increases in 2020, and I expect we’ll see even higher bills in 2021. 
Sure, the delivery technology is different. Instead of a set-top box, you use a streaming device, such as my own favorite, the 2020 Roku Ultra. Or you can just buy high-end TVs with full-featured streaming built-in. But the bills are increasingly getting closer. That said, you can still save money. 

To make use of any of these services you’ll need broadband internet. If you’re living on your own, you may be able to get by with as little as 10 Mbp. If you’re sharing your home with others and/or you want to watch 4K videos, I recommend you have at least a 25 Mbps internet connection. Not sure how fast your connection is? Run the Ookla Speedtest.
And, by the way, you won’t lose anything by switching from a cable box to a Roku or Amazon Fire TV 4K stick. The only real difference between conventional cable and internet TV is that live streaming sports lag 15 seconds to a minute behind live broadcasts.
With no further adieu, let’s first take a look at the live TV services.
Live TV Streaming Services
Before we dive in, you should realize that these services’ pricing, channel lineup, DVR capabilities, and how many streams you can watch at one time are all subject to change. They’re also the most important factors to consider before subscribing to a service. So, even if one service sounds perfect for you, go directly to its site and make sure that you’ll still be getting what I’m describing in this story. 
For the most part, all of these support the most popular streaming devices. For example, no matter which service you subscribe to, an Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV Cube, Roku Express, or Google Chromecast will almost certainly support it. But if you’re using a more obscure streaming gadget, such as an Nvidia Shield TV Pro or Tivo Stream 4K, it might not work with your preferred service. Smart TVs also frequently don’t support newer streaming offerings. The moral of this story is before subscribing make sure the service will work with your hardware. 
Fortunately, most of these services give you a free 7-day trial period. Before signing up for a trial though check the fine print. You don’t want to end up paying for a service that doesn’t work for you. 
Besides these factors, most of these services offer a variety of premium channels for additional fees. To see which services offer what channels at any given moment, again, check the service’s site. You can get a good idea of what’s what though from ZDNet’s sister site CNet’s Top 100 channels comparison chart.

AT&T customers will like it, others should keep looking.

As a long time DirecTV satellite customer, I wanted to like AT&T TV Now. I couldn’t. I always found it to suffer from buffering problems. It’s gotten better over the years, but its offerings and price got poorer.
In the early days, it came with a great 100 channels for $35 a month. That was then. This is now. Today, its Plus package base price is $55 a month for 45-plus channels. The company also offers AT&T TV Now Max, with over 60 channels, for $80 a month. Both offer access to local ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC channels in most, but not all, areas. Of all the major streaming services, it offers the least number of channels for your money. 
The Max offering’s best feature, as its name hints, is it includes HBO Max. Other nice features include 500 hours of cloud DVR service and three simultaneous streams.
But now for some confusion. AT&T also offers another streaming service, AT&T TV. They are not the same thing. AT&T makes it really hard to tell them apart. It even uses the same app. But A&T TV is more expensive and has long-term contracts. Between the two of them, AT&T TV Now is the service you want. 
If you’re an AT&T customer, you may want to subscribe to this service, but the rest of us can do better.
$55 at AT&T

Are you ready for some “football,” where the stars names are Ronaldo, Messi, and Kabe? Then check out fuboTV

Are you a serious sports fan? And when I say “serious,” I mean besides watching the US favorite trilogy of football, basketball, and baseball. Do you want to watch the English Premier League, F1 Racing, and cricket? Yes? Then, you should check out fuboTV. 
That said, fuboTV has some holes in its lineup. For example, it no longer carries TNT and TBS, both of which show a lot of sports. It also doesn’t currently include the MLB Network or the Fox regional sports networks. Still, if your sporting tastes run to European sports, you’ll find a lot to like here. 
Besides sports, fuboTV is a full-fledged streaming service with all the usual stations. It also offers your local ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC channels in many places. Its Family plan offers 100-plus channels for $65 a month. For $80 a month, you get over 150 channels.
The basic DVR capability and number of streams you can play simultaneously used to be on the small side. Until recently, you only got 30 hours of cloud DVR time and two streams. If you wanted 250 hours of video storage you had to pay $10 more a month, and if you wanted to have three streams, it would run you an additional $6 a month. For now, both of these additions are included in the base price.
Put it all together and you have the best streaming service for European soccer fans and other non-mainstream US sports. Personally, I’d like to see them add Willow TV, the cricket-specific streaming service, but that’s a small matter unless you’re a serious cricket fan. FuboTV is also a good, general-purpose streaming service in its own right.    
$60 at Fubo TV

The one and only combination live TV and VoD service has its pluses and minuses
https://www.hulu.com/live-tv
Hulu + Live TV’s big selling point is it’s the one service, which combines both live TV and a video-on-demand (VoD). It’s a powerful package. Besides great original content, such as exclusive titles like The Handmaid’s Tale, it also has a large catalog of other on-demand shows and movies. On top of that, you get over 65+ live and on-demand channels. 
Its channel selection has some blanks in it. Some favorites such as the AMC, the CW channels Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and VH1 are only available in extra-price add-ons. On the other hand, basic sports are well covered with the ESPN and Fox sports networks. Like most of the other services, it gives you access to local ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC channels in most areas. 
Hulu + Live TV’s interface and performance has been consistently improving over the years. I find it the easiest live TV service to use. 
Hulu + Live TV’s combination of on-demand video and live TV is nice, but its price is going up. For now, it’s still $55 a month, but on December 18, 2020, it will be going up to $65 a month. For that, you can also stream two sessions at once and get 50 hours of cloud DVR storage. If you want more, for $10 a month you get 200 hours of cloud storage. With this Enhanced Cloud DVR, you can also record multiple shows at the same time, and fast-forward through any content in your DVR. For another $10 a month, you can play more than two streams at once. But, unlike the other services, you can’t easily stream outside your home. As Hulu puts it, “Our Live TV plans are intended for single-home use.” 
Finally, if all you want is Hulu VoD streaming, it’s still available. The cheapest version of the ad-supported streaming library is only $6 a month. The no-ads version is also available for $11.99.
Until recently, I’d recommend Hulu + Live TV for most people. But, with its added costs, I think you should take a long, hard look at its offerings and its rivals before paying for a subscription. 
$55 at Hulu

Philo offers the best, cheap streaming TV deal

Short on cash? Not all that interested in sports? If that’s you, then Philo is the service you want. For only $20 a month you get over 60 channels.
But you won’t get any local or sports channels. Still, if you like popular entertainment and lifestyle shows with just enough news — BBC World News and Cheddar News — to keep you informed, Philo is well worth checking out.
Philo also boasts exceptional DVR capabilities. Most Philo’s channel TV shows and movies are available on-demand for 72-hours after their first live airing. It also gives you unlimited DVR storage. Once stored, however, you’ll only have a month to watch the shows. Still, that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make for unlimited storage. You can also fast-forward your way through your saved shows. 
The service also enables you to watch three different streams at the same time. If you go over that, the oldest stream stops working.
Philo may not offer some popular networks, especially sports, but you can’t beat the price and its cloud DVR functionality is second to none. For what it offers, I quite like Philo. 
View Now at Philo

Sling TV is the oldest and in many ways still the best live TV streaming service

Sling TV has an ala carte approach to channels that separates it from its competitors. While the others tend to offer only one or two packages, Sling TV offers two basic packages — Blue and Orange — and a wide variety of packages bundling up to a dozen-related channels.
This is a mixed blessing. I like it because it lets me get only the channels I want while others may find it confusing. It starts with two $30-per-month channel packages. Some channels are available on both Sling Orange, over 30 channels, and Sling Blue, over 45 channels. Orange is basically an ESPN/Disney package, while Blue offers a Fox/NBC package. Your best deal, if you want a broad selection of channels, is to combine them for $45.
What you won’t get though is local CBS and PBS channels. For those, Sling TV urges you to use an over-the-air (OTA) antenna. Indeed, Sling TV has its own streaming devices, AirTV 2 and AirTV Mini streaming devices to watch both Sling TV and your local channels. I’ve used and liked them both. If you already have an antenna you can buy them by themselves. If you need an antenna Sling TV offers them as a bundle with an indoor HD antenna.
Sling TV’s packages, besides such common offerings as Showtime channels, cost from $5 or $10 monthly. For example, the $10 Sports Extra comes with 15 channels including NBA TV, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, NHL Network, and several college sports networks. While the $5 Hollywood Extra offers 7 channels including — for my way of thinking — the essential Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and ReelZ. 
Unfortunately, Sling TV’s DVR starts with a quite limited 10 hours of recording time. That’s nothing like enough. For 50 hours of storage and the ability to prevent shows from becoming automatically erased, you must pay an additional $5 a month.  
Your streaming options are… interesting. Sling Orange only lets you stream one channel at a time, while Sling Blue allows for three. If you get the package, you can stream four shows at once. 
Personally, I’ve liked Sling TV since it pioneered live TV streaming back in 2016. I like the interface, I like its speed, and I like that I can fine-tune my channels so I get just what I want. It’s combined Blue and Orange price is still well below that of its main competitors. For my money, Sling TV is today’s best streaming service. 
$30 at Sling TV

YouTube TV has the most channel choices and a great DVR, but it’s pricey.

I used to love Google’s YouTube TV, and I still like it a lot. But, there’s this one not so little problem. The price-tag. At $65 a month, YouTube TV is starting to close in on cable prices.
That said, there’s a lot to love here. With over 85 channels, it offers more of the most popular channels than its competitors. It also enables you to watch not only your local ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC channels in most areas, but your local PBS stations as well. 
The service also just added its first add-on package: The $11 a month Sports Plus package. This includes NFL RedZone, Fox College Sports, GolTV, and Fox Soccer Plus.
YouTube TV unquestionably has the best cloud DVR. It comes with unlimited storage and a generous nine months to watch recordings. You can stream up to three simultaneous shows at once. 
If it wasn’t for the price, I could easily recommend YouTubeTV for everyone. As it is, if you’re not hurting for money, it’s still an excellent choice.
$65 at YouTube TV
Best of the best
Everyone has different needs. Here are my thoughts on which service is best for who.
Best all-around: Sling TV, with YouTube TV right behind it. If you like storing movies and series for watching later, YouTube TV takes the lead.
Best for a budget: Philo easily gives you the most for the least money.
Best all-in-one live TV and VoD: Hulu + Live TV is the only contender.
Soccer and other European sports fans: FuboTV
AT&T Customer: AT&T TV Now

ZDNet Recommends More