My father cancelled his comcast cable internet in a fit of pique, which I can totally understand, Comcast is the devil.
But I had to spend several nights last week on the phone with him walking him through factory resetting his chromecast and amazon fire stick and attempting to get them all on his phone's wi fi hotspot.
I told him "Ok, talk to you in a few days when this stops working."
Sure enough, today I get the call. See, I come from a long line of cheapskates on my father's side who refuse to acknowledge that you get what you pay for (especially in electronics).
Unbeknownst to me, in order to save money, my father, grandfather, stepmother, etc all got on a single MetroPCS family plan that advertised itself as unlimited internet.
And I got to have the same discussion with him as I did with my maternal grandfather when HE thought he'd also found the mother of all internet access loopholes. "Unlimited internet for $20/mo! It's a good deal!"
Yeah, all these fly-by-night second-string cell phone service providers always have it written into the contract you sign up for that yes, your data plan is "unlimited" which means it never gets entirely cut off (just limited to 256kbit after X gigabytes), and oh yeah there's also an exception clause in the 4 pt font on page 7 of the contract that says that if they catch you streaming ANY video (even youtube) you are cut off.
So yeah, guess which side of my family just got cut off from the internet.
And I told him, "yeah, even the GOOD cell phone data providers will probably limit you to 10 or 20 gigs a month."
"But," he spluttered, "even one 720p movie is almost a gig by itself!" Little side note, literally all my parents do all day long since retirement is stream netflix/amazon prime/plex.
"Yes it is," I confirmed.
It's so exasperating when boomers think they have found a secret way to game the system. No, Dad, these companies have been gaming the system a lot longer and a lot better than you.
So anyway, now *I* am calling/emailing around for broadband alternative providers for my Dad, because I don't want him back on Comcast either, and his boomer brain breaks down and collapses under the weight and complexity of navigating today's broadband market.