06-29-2026 — Thoughts about Fiber
Howdy all. Today summer is coming back strong. And the next few days will really bring on the southern heat. Already around 80 outside, and it’s still in the 10 o’clock hour.
The red vertical line on the left are the days they are predicting real-feel temperatures between 100-110 degrees of Fahrenheit.
And to go with that, they are predicting the wild fires out west will be blowing in smoke and pollution to make it worse outside.
Above 50 is unhealthy for me… And 100 will bother even the people with good lungs..
But today, I want to chat about Fiber. Kinetic has sent me a flyer asking me to sign up. It seems they are using the fiber optic cables that were just put out through my lawn (and all the neighbors to the south).
1 Gig is more than enough speed for my residential household. Yes, I do a ton of IOT (Internet of things) traffic and likely have closer to 75 devices, than 25 devices online at any moment. But the packets are minimal, most of the time.
And I am an AT&T wireless customer, so I’d save $20 a month from the highlighted prices. But this is just internet, and does not include TV.
Not much of a deal compared to any other way of getting YouTubeTV, but allows single billing.
That would be, from the 2nd year forward, about $50 for the internet, $10 for the gateway rental, $85 for basic YouTubeTV. Which totals $150 or less. So I need to compare that to what Spectrum is charging.
I already bundle Paramount+ through my Amazon Prime for $14 a month.
Spectrum is “giving” me Disney+ / Hulu and HBO Max basic with ads. I can’t use their Peacock app because my older Samsung Smart TV ain’t smart enough!! But I do have an Amazon Fire TV gizmo that I haven’t hooked up, that can do Peacock.
So what would Disney / Hulu and the others cost as an app on internet / YouTubeTV?
HBO Max is $11 through Amazon Prime
Peacock+ is $17 through Amazon Prime (and is a better version)
Disney plus is $12 with ads, or $18 without and this would include Hulu.
Looks like Spectrum is “giving” me about $40 a month in “free” upgrade streams. Comparing the two options, existing is $312.50 per month. Replacing that with Kinetic plus YouTubeTV plus standalone apps of HBO-Peacock-Disney, would cost less than $190 per month.
As soon as my Dental nightmares are over, I believe I will be switching. And, at that time, I will install an Ubiquiti Cloud gateway that will allow my T-Mobile 5G internet to be fail over backup to the Kinetic Gateway.
I’ll need to replace the existing Spectrum Wifi SSIDs that handle a lot of my IOT devices, with the same names on the EERO WiFi router that comes with Kinetic. A slight Pain in the Arse, but doable.
In other Fiber news, without subjecting the world to TMI (too much information), I now know why it is not a good idea to go from a low fiber diet, like I’ve had for years, to a level of fiber that is recommended, without increasing it slowly over a period of weeks. OMG. I felt like I swallowed a cement truck, for the last 4 days. The first day was bad, and being the dummy I am, I tried “more” fiber to see if that would help. The second day was pure hell. Yesterday I was not eating and did drink plenty, and a lot of that was gas remedies and Kayopectate. That is finally relieving the pressure and discomfort. But not in a fun way.
Fiber may be a good thing for us older folks, but too much of anything, is not. And apparently, for me today, the recommended amount is way too much. It has not been the way to Enjoy Life.