Cutting the cord. Questions

[Donger]

Hi All:

I'm firing Xfinity and getting fiber pulled to my house. I presently have and use their "TV" services to get local channels and a bunch of others. I really only use the locals and ESPN channels to watch Formula One. I also have a DVR.

How do I do the same with fiber? The outfit I'm getting doesn't offer TV.

Thanks!

[Fish]

Originally Posted by gh4chiefs

My issue wasn't happening with travelling, it just thinks I'm somewhere I'm not based on my revolving IP address. Even though I haven't gone anywhere. So far they haven't limited me to changing it back using the app on my phone. But as I said, I got tired of dealing with it, and at a minimum I'm going to take a break from it during the summer rerun season.

That is 100% a Verizon issue. Not a YoutubeTV issue. It's a major drawback when using mobile hotspot internet like Verizon. Not to mention the data prioritization issues.

[mr. tegu]

Before we got rid of cable and actually looked into our costs it was shocking how much we paid. The boxes, DVR, fees, etc. We now have fast internet for $35 through everfast and for TV we do Philo, $20 per month with DVR, no fees or boxes, and antenna for NFL. I also don’t NFL Sunday Ticket through YouTube but that’s just a personal splurge. Don’t really watch live sports anymore besides NFL so this works for me. But if sports were a must, (philo has none) I’d have to figure something else out.

[gh4chiefs]

Originally Posted by Fish

That is 100% a Verizon issue. Not a YoutubeTV issue. It's a major drawback when using mobile hotspot internet like Verizon. Not to mention the data prioritization issues.

Well we'll have agree to disagree on that. There's no reason YTTV can't let me set my home and viewing locations to match and then LEAVE THEM ALONE regardless of what my internet IP is doing. My TV isn't travelling. My ROKU isn't travelling.

EDIT TO ADD: The rest of the story on this is I have a buddy who lives across town and was able to get Verizon a good 6 months before I got it. And he had YTTV. He kept encouraging me to switch from Mediacom, but I'm a big "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" guy even if it's a lot cheaper. Well eventually Mediacom become "broken" and I made the switch. But I asked my buddy repeatedly about this location issue thing and the revolving IP before switching (because I'd read Frazod's ordeal with Hulu.). He assured me he had no problems. So I got Verizon and went several months and then all of sudden this location thing became issue for both my friend and me.

So it's pretty clear to me that YTTV made some kind of switch in late 2024 because that's when the problems started for the both of us.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by gh4chiefs

Well we'll have agree to disagree on that. There's no reason YTTV can't let me set my home and viewing locations to match and then LEAVE THEM ALONE regardless of what my internet IP is doing. My TV isn't travelling. My ROKU isn't travelling.

EDIT TO ADD: The rest of the story on this is I have a buddy who lives across town and was able to get Verizon a good 6 months before I got it. And he had YTTV. He kept encouraging me to switch from Mediacom, but I'm a big "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" guy even if it's a lot cheaper. Well eventually Mediacom become "broken" and I made the switch. But I asked my buddy repeatedly about this location issue thing and the revolving IP before switching (because I'd read Frazod's ordeal with Hulu.). He assured me he had no problems. So I got Verizon and went several months and then all of sudden this location thing became issue for both my friend and me.

So it's pretty clear to me that YTTV made some kind of switch in late 2024 because that's when the problems started for the both of us.

If they simply allowed you to set your location once and never check again, then it wouldn't be very effective at all. It's based on the actual IP address, which is given to you by Verizon.

Like I said, it's only an issue with cellular internet. And it's because of the nature of cellular internet itself. Cellular internet like Verizon doesn't provide you with anything close to a standard IP range. It's a known issue.

YoutubeTV has had the location limitations in place for a long time. Much longer than late 24. I've had the service since the beginning, and have shared my service during a good portion of that time. It's Verizon.

[gh4chiefs]

Originally Posted by Fish

If they simply allowed you to set your location once and never check again, then it wouldn't be very effective at all.

Why?

[Fish]

Originally Posted by gh4chiefs

Why?

Because they are legally bound by geographical viewership restrictions like any other service provider. Things such as sports blackouts and other media that's region based. It's not just the user's personal preference for local channels.

[gh4chiefs]

Originally Posted by Fish

Because they are legally bound by geographical viewership restrictions like any other service provider. Things such as sports blackouts and other media that's region based. It's not just the user's personal preference for local channels.

Well thank you, you're first person that's explained that. YTTV Customer Service refused to give me that information.

I still think there has to be a better mousetrap and I'm still really not clear how doing what I suggested still wouldn't accomplish that. In fact, what they're doing is JUST THE OPPOSITE. I live in Jefferson City, but I can watch whatever St Louis can get. How does that accomplish what you're referring to? It's literally just the opposite of forcing people to watch the programming in their own geographic area.

In fact, I used this very thing to get around watching my local ABC station here a few weeks ago. I wanted to watch the network shows one night and our local affiliate decided to pre-empt the programming to show hockey. So I deleted my YTTV app and reinstalled it and it defaulted me to St Louis and I could watch network programming not shown in my area.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by gh4chiefs

Well thank you, you're first person that's explained that. YTTV Customer Service refused to give me that information.

I still think there has to be a better mousetrap and I'm still really not clear how doing what I suggested still wouldn't accomplish that. In fact, what they're doing is JUST THE OPPOSITE. I live in Jefferson City, but I can watch whatever St Louis can get. How does that accomplish what you're referring to? It's literally just the opposite of forcing people to watch the programming in their own geographic area.

In fact, I used this very thing to get around watching my local ABC station here a few weeks ago. I wanted to watch the network shows one night and our local affiliate decided to pre-empt the programming to show hockey. So I deleted my YTTV app and reinstalled it and it defaulted me to St Louis and I could watch network programming not shown in my area.

YoutubeTV is doing its due diligence in requesting you to verify your location. When that happens, YoutubeTV queries your IP address. Which is provided by Verizon. The problem is that Verizon's internet is cellular based which is load balanced by many multiple towers in different locations that could theoretically be in different viewing areas as classified by YoutubeTV's coverage maps. Your devices are obviously getting an IP address that is sourced from the St. Louis area.

Note that Verizon does offer a fix for the issue. You can upgrade to their Business plan and get a static IP address which would solve the problem.

[gh4chiefs]

Originally Posted by Fish

YoutubeTV is doing its due diligence in requesting you to verify your location. When that happens, YoutubeTV queries your IP address. Which is provided by Verizon. The problem is that Verizon's internet is cellular based which is load balanced by many multiple towers in different locations that could theoretically be in different viewing areas as classified by YoutubeTV's coverage maps. Your devices are obviously getting an IP address that is sourced from the St. Louis area.

Note that Verizon does offer a fix for the issue. You can upgrade to their Business plan and get a static IP address which would solve the problem.

It still makes no sense to me to not do it the way I suggested. But whatever. I've dumped them for now, and may not go back. I may miss some Chiefs games but so be it. Push comes to shove, I may reinstate it for the playoffs.

As for the business plan, I didn't know that was an option but I'm assuming it's cost prohibitive. By switching from Mediacom I'm saving around $65 a month and it would be foolish to wipe that out with an upgrade. I might as well go back to Mediacom. But again, thanks for that info.

[gh4chiefs]

Originally Posted by Fish

YoutubeTV is doing its due diligence in requesting you to verify your location.

Follow up question, is this "due diligence" on a set schedule (Once a month, once a quarter, whatever) or this happening EVERY SINGLE TIME the IP address changes?

I just talked to my friend who also has Verizon and YTTV and we're both a little puzzled by this. Because, and I know you don't agree, but he went MONTHS before he was queried about his location. And I can't imagine that Verizon went months without rotating their IP address. And now, (well up until last week when my subscription expired) I was getting the location prompt a lot more than he does. I assume we're on different towers since he was able to get the service before me, maybe "my tower" rotates more something. It's just weird IMHO.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by gh4chiefs

Follow up question, is this "due diligence" on a set schedule (Once a month, once a quarter, whatever) or this happening EVERY SINGLE TIME the IP address changes?

I just talked to my friend who also has Verizon and YTTV and we're both a little puzzled by this. Because, and I know you don't agree, but he went MONTHS before he was queried about his location. And I can't imagine that Verizon went months without rotating their IP address. And now, (well up until last week when my subscription expired) I was getting the location prompt a lot more than he does. I assume we're on different towers since he was able to get the service before me, maybe "my tower" rotates more something. It's just weird IMHO.

Typically YoutubeTV will require a location check every 3 months. I know there are certain triggers that cause that check to happen more often than that. But honestly I'm not 100% sure how that works.

[gh4chiefs]

Originally Posted by Fish

Typically YoutubeTV will require a location check every 3 months. I know there are certain triggers that cause that check to happen more often than that. But honestly I'm not 100% sure how that works.

Thanks,

SOMETHING was definitely triggering it, so much so that between the first part of December 2024 and mid-March 2025 it happened so much that I became really annoyed with it to the point of cancellation. One night I was watching what I thought was my local NBC station and all of a sudden I realized I watching KY3 out of Springfield MO. I don't know HOW that happened. As I said, weird.

Also a word about location checks and due diligence. They aren't asking me anything. They just change it to ST Louis and don't tell me squat and if I left it be, as I said, it would be doing the OPPOSITE of what they're trying to do. That is, I would be watching locals, sports, etc, out of my geographic area. So I think they need to rethink this process. Because it's NOT accomplishing what they are intending.

Also I'm guessing someone might be thinking "Why don't you just change it or leave it alone, it's not that big of a deal." And that would be correct, after the first time I did it, it really became easy to change back to my locals using the app on my phone. I think I became overly annoyed with YTTV's customer service when they couldn't explain what/why this was happening. And outside of Chiefs football, the combination of Paramount Plus, Hulu, and Peacock, which I already have anyway regardless, gets me what I want to watch and saves me $83 a month. I've recently added Philo to pick up some cable channels that I miss so that cuts my savings to $55 a month.

Thanks.

[htismaqe]

You can blame it on Verizon but in reality, geo-locating via IP address is a very inefficient and antiquated way of doing it.

[crayzkirk]

Why not just get a VPN and assign a certain server so you connect to the same place each time?

Personally, I'm about done. Amazon double charged for BritBox, wants to charge for ad-free shows and most movies are available on free options. Netflix has gone from $7.99 to $17.99 and makes it difficult to watch when I am not home. I watch too much TV already and can do without all of the subscriptions.

I know people who subscribe/cancel the services to catch the shows they want. It's time to quit being lazy and take charge.

[gh4chiefs]

Originally Posted by crayzkirk

Why not just get a VPN and assign a certain server so you connect to the same place each time?.

Well here's the problem with that. First and foremost, I do not know how to do that and from googling it, the best I can figure I would have to plug a router into a router (the Verizon mobile hotpot cube) and it would take quite a bit of effort to set that up (according to what I read). Juice not worth the squeeze because I would have to pay someone to do it.

Secondly I was just reading about YTTV and VPNs and apparently they aggressively fight against that and POTENTIALLY could block access. So again, the juice is not worth the squeeze.

For now, my best solution is to do what I did, tell them to F off and find alternate ways to view the content I want. If they would have just did this location thing every 3 months I probably could have lived with that, but they got to a point where it was about every 2 weeks for me.

I was just reading that Disney Plus has a deal where they limit you to how many times you can watch out of your "home area." (Anti-password sharing protection I believe.) And I assume at some point, they're going to give me shit because my IP is going to be all over the place. I don't watch if often and I wouldn't even have them if it wasn't part of a Hulu, Max, and Disney bundle at a good price ($30 bucks a month for all 3 with no ads.) Push come s to shove, I'll just drop down to just Hulu.

I asked my buddy the other day "Why is that just trying to do something simple like watch a little TV has become such a major pain in the ass?