You've got an extra digit in your comment, chisue. 5 Mbps service (you always get slightly less than the spec) is perfectly adequate for streaming. Five. Amazon says you need 3.5, Netflix says 5Mbps for an HD show.

A good DSL connection (which depends on your house's distance from the phone company's neighborhood supply box, not anything else) can handle it. The only other choice offering adequate speed and allowable usage is via the local cable company .

You may be able to get them to wave the installation charge - call and ask.

In my neighborhood, the TV offering from Comcast isn't robust but the internet speed is awesome (go figure). The combination that gives me the best possible service (cost is really not a factor) is Comcast for internet and a Dish TV connection.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Edited to add:

After readying ravencajun's comments below, I was reminded that I forgot to mention here fiber-optic connections. Typically offered by phone companies (though Google and some municipalities have installed some), and typically in urban areas, they offer the fastest possible connections and carry phone-tv-internet.

There are also services offered by local ISPs and also so-called CLECs, companies unaffiliated with phone or cable companies who are allowed by law to piggyback access using the local providers' "wires" and infrastructure. Their services are the same as the main company they piggyback on (since the very same equipment is used), the prices may differ.

We have direct TV for TV, phones with att and Internet only through Comcast it's the perfect setup for us. Why not just keep your direct TV and phones as you have it and just get Comcast Cable Internet, they have multiple speeds and all are adequate for streaming. I called and got free installation, one year of the top speed for $19.99 and they charge me for the cable modem, I choose to add a WiFi router to the mix. Just call and tell them you are considering changing from att can they give you an incentive, they want you! I never just accept the regular price offer I talk to someone who can make it happen and I usually always prevail. Be sure to tell them you are a senior citizen too because almost all have a special deal but they don't tell you till you call and ask. I have several of my neighbors that I told to contact direct TV and tell them they are seniors and could they please give them a discount. Every one got a $30 discount, I did too. Also going to a Comcast store and having a face to face conversation will get you the best deal many times.

Here's a link to the requirements per amazon for streaming. Not sure why you are thinking you must have 50? That's quite high, I get above that with Comcast, but I know many people who stream regularly with a much lower bandwidth.

Amazon requirements

I've got 15 mbsp and it's perfectly fine for streaming tv and movies. We have just 3 conglomerates in Canada......Bell, Rogers and Shaw. I just left Bell to go with an independent and am saving $20/month.

Check to see if you have truestream in your area

Truestream
you can Google for your area for local small isp if you are in large cities you have a decent chance of finding one. I like broadband reports forums they are a great resource for information. Also called dsl reports. Dsl reports

OK...we'll go with 5.0 -- although the Amazon phone rep told me I needed fifty. (I'm certain, because I asked if she was saying fifteen or fifty; she confirmed fifty.)

Raven -- Truestream doesn't have me covered, but DSL Extreme does offer "Elite Direct" with 6.0 for $33/mo. One of the comments on the Dsl Reports link says, "Verizon disconnected my service." How does DSL Extreme provide its service to me -- on phone lines? Through Verizon?

I'm amazed that DirecTV doesn't want to help keep a customer by linking me to *some* internet other than AT&T's weak one (tests .38 on my laptop).

Re: Comcast. When we built this house in 2001, the house across the street had Comcast, but we did not. They tunneled under the street and brought their cable up to the side of our home, but we decided to continue with DirecTV, and have been very happy with it. It should not be a big deal to bring the cable into our unfinished basement or attic and string it 20 feet to where our primary TV is located. (The kitchen set is another 50 feet.) Not sure how I'd get the monthly fee reduced. Odd that their internet alone would be $90/mo. when that plus TV package is less.

Adding: Could my streaming difficulty be trying to use an old BluRay (2011) to stream from Amazon? We bought a new BluRay for the condo when we started streaming from Amazon -- I *thought* the only difference was that the new one could do closed captioning. Maybe other differences? The condo has Oceanic cable TV and internet.

Any part of the equation can be a problem. From the modem to the router to the streaming device to the TV. You can get a bottleneck at any point. I would definitely check the modem and router. It sounds like you have something throttling the signslsignal. Try doing a direct connection from the router to your laptop, use an ethernet cable not WiFi to get a more accurate reading of the speed you are getting. Use several different speed test sites. Dslreports has a whole page of tests. I like speedtest.net and test my speed as well as the ones at Dslreports.

How old is your router? Have you ever had them check your modem and replace it how long have you had it? Have you tried streaming directly to your laptop with a wired connection to the router that would be an excellent test. You would be eliminating the Blu-ray player and the TV in the equation. Do a few of those things to see if you have big discrepancies.

Question, do you have att uverse or what exactly? I don't understand what you mean by .38 on your laptop give the rest of the number information mbps kbits etc that is essential information.

I believe DSL Extreme is a CLEC. They can't offer faster speed than the other company's highway they travel on, so the "other company" should offer a similar service though not necessarily a similar price. There's always about a 10%+ broadband capacity loss for "overhead", so a 5.0 connection is likely to be 4.5 actual or a bit less.

If a Comcast cable wire is on the side of your house, as you say, the work to produce a socket would be simple - run a wire inside and then to where they'd punch a hole in the wall. No big deal if you have a basement. If you go this route, this would also be the easiest place to also locate your cable modem and router, if separate.

A 5 year old BluRay box isn't really "old", but that doesn't mean it's performing properly. Try streaming to a PC in the same location, see what speed/quality you can get. Or, they're cheap enough, get another. I recently bought a Sony box from Amazon for $70 - it's tiny and really excellent in quality. Has all the apps you'd want, including Amazon Prime, Netflix, Youtube, Pandora, etc. See attached link.

Sony BluRay

Raven -- I ran speedtest.net using USB and with Wireless. Results are the same with both: Download is .64 bits and Upload is .32 bits. The ping is 14 with USB and 27 with Wireless. Last week AT&T ran speedtest.net -- with me on the phone. The AT&T rep apologized that this is the best they have available for me. They 'are working on' Uverse.

I have a Netgear ADSL2+Router bought at AT&T a year ago.

I really doubt this is the aged BluRay. At the condo our similar-age BluRay streamed fine, but did not have captioning capability. I think it's just low-speed internet from AT&T.

I'll probably end up having to Make A Deal with Comcast!

Raven and Snidely -- Thanks for your patience.

Adding...We just tried to run an Amazon movie again. The screen says 0.5 Mbps and the picture is very blurry -- even waiting five minutes into the program.

Comcast Chat tells me $50 is the usual connection cost. That impossible. This is not some easy 'plug in'.

Sounds like you're describing .64 Mbps? Put another way, ,that's 640 kilobits per second and inadequate to stream video. That's pretty slow and pretty poor for a DSL connection, perhaps because of your distance from the hub or bad neighborhood wiring. You'll need maybe 8X more throughput (.6 * 8 = 4.8 Mbps) for consistently good streaming.

The Netgear ADSL device you're describing is a combo Modem and Router. This modem works only for a DSL internet signal. For a cable signal, you'll need a cable modem (it's different) and a Router , or a combo Cable Modem/Router similar to what you have now but expressly for use with a cable signal. Comcast rents these, or you can buy them from any seller (including Amazon).

There's nothing special about any cable company's signal, they're all broadly compatible with all the current equipment. I think you could probably use the router part of the DSL combo if you wanted but you do need a purpose-built cable modem connected to the Comcast signal wire.

When I switched to cable, I bought a modem and continued to use my old router (two boxes instead of one). The breakeven point for lease vs buy for the modem only was something like 10 months. For a router too if you're buying one, it will depend how much you spend on it, but for most entry level routers, you'd likely be ahead after 18 months or less.

Edit to add for your new post-

I did the connection myself when I bought my own modem and it took just a few minutes once everything is out boxes and ready to go. You connect the wires, call tech support to give them the MAC identity of letters and numbers shown on the bottom of the modem, wait a minute, boot it up and the modem should connect itself. Have your son help you if you want to save the $50, or negotiate some more to get it waived.

My DH and I may need to go TO the area Comcast Store to settle what they can do for us, and at what cost. Someone has to test to see if there still IS a connection outside our home; bring it indoors (to the unfinished basement); connect up a rental modem/router/whatsis. We can rent until we see how this all actually works.

We probably want the modem/router where we can see it -- not in the basement, right?

I'm hoping we can stick with our familiar DirecTV setup; buy a new BluRay; actually get a powerful-enough internet connection from Comcast -- without having to buy the whole setup for TV, HD-DVR, etc. from Comcast. Then, ta-da, we can watch movies from Amazon!

You should be able to do that. Like I saidsaid I only have Internet from ComcastComcast Cable with no problems

There nothing to require you to bundle services but all the same, you get a cheaper price when you commit to a period of time and not just go month to month. Also, you're less likely to be able to negotiate a break on installation and set up without a one or two year contract. Whatever they prefer to use.

The Comcast office nearest my house is staffed with people of limited knowledge and limited initiative- they collect cash payments and hand out set top boxes. I've always done better over the phone. It's more private too, but do it how you prefer.

I'm happy to hear from you two that you've been satisfied with Comcast -- and Comcast for Internet Only. I'm afraid Snidely is right about what to expect at the Comcast Store. I'll give them another try via telephone. Many thanks!

fyi....the Comcast employees on the phone try to sign you up for more services, selling bundling to keep their jobs, they have quotas. The people in the store do not have quotas. Ones customer service the other is sales.