And still watch most of the commercial TV channels? I have just completed my first year with Direct TV and my monthly rate has almost doubled. This was after dropping Comcast for similar reasons. The folks at Direct TV promised I was good for three years at the initial rate. I now believe they are all liars and thieves.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

No. Chromecast only allows you to stream stuff from your tablet or phone onto your TV, but content you are streaming still needs to be delivered through an ISP or be stored locally on your network.

What if I keep centurylink internet access and join Hulu + or am already a member of Netflix?

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

Then you could drop DirecTV and any other TV provider you wish to reduce your bills. Bear in mind that you will be limited to whatever Netflix or Hulu have available, but it is doable (and something I've been wanting to do myself if it weren't for my 73 year old step-father who lives with me and isn't very technologically inclined).

Also, keep in mind that the Chromecast merely allows you to stream from other devices, be it your laptop, tablet, phone, or your WiFi.

So far this has not been a good idea. This device is definitely not plug/n/play. I tried for about an hour to get it up and running to no avail. So I then called my IT guy and he tried for another hour without success. My next option is to call Google and see whether they can talk me through the installation over the phone. The setup software keeps saying there is no wifi connection but tests show my wifi is working fine. This computer is running Windows 7pro. I also tried using my laptop using Vista which is connected to the internet via my wifi and I get different screens but still no connection.

I guess it could be that one in a million chromecast devices that is defective so I may take it back to where it was purchased and get a replacement.

I knew it was going to be too good to be true.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

Dish Network is MUCH cheaper than either DirecTV or Comcast or Time Warner Cable. From 2005 to 2007, I was on Dish Network, had two DVR's to control 4 rooms, and one non-DVR box controlling a 5th room. I was on "America's Top 120" Package, with the sports package, and adding KWGN, and the bill was never higher than $74.97 per month.

Now, the packaging might have changed, and they have the Hopper DVR to control the whole house; however, I still bet that they are cheaper than Comcast, Time Warner, and DirecTV. Also, I NEVER had an outage of my Dish service.

Now, I'm staying with my parents. They have U-Verse, U-300, one DVR, 3 Non-DVR boxes, Stars, Encore, and Showtime included, with 18 Mb DL for $130/Month including taxes and fees. ($46 of that is Internet...)

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TimeLord04
Have TARDIS, will travel...
Come along K-9!
Join Calm Chaos

I couldn't tell from your post but, are you plugging the Chromecast into your computer or into the TV? It should be plugged into the TV. If your TV's HDMI port does not support enough power to the device, you'll likely need to use the power adapter (which should have been included in the package).

Also, if your WiFi is setup with WEP protection, the Chromecast will likely not work as this is an older, unsecure method of encryption. If your WiFi's SSID is hidden, your ChromeCast may not be able to automatically detect the wireless unless you unhide it for it to detect it, or manually configure all the WiFi options on the device.

The Chromecast module is plugged into the TV and when the TV is switched to the correct input mode the chromecast setup screen appears. I downloaded the chromecast software to my computer which is where a screen comes up saying my wifi is off. There are no other options on this screen except to retry and no suggested procedures. My IT guy went through several help screens he found on the internet but to no avail.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

So then we're looking strictly at the network. We know the network is working, but is it setup to work with the Chromecast? Not all WiFi is the same.

So, are you using WEP, WPA, WPA2, and/or MAC address filtering? And is your wireless SSID hidden or is it visible to all devices?

Here's the official router compatibility page. If your device isn't listed, it doesn't necessarily mean that yours is incompatible.

Also, I used the ChromeCast troubleshooter for you with the symptoms you describe and it said this:

Chromecast only displays 2.4GHz networks as Wi-Fi options in the setup app. 5GHz networks are not compatible with Chromecast and will not be listed. If you have enabled AP Isolation/Client Isolation on your Wi-Fi router, or if this is the default setting, you will need to turn it off. Learn more about AP Isolation here. If the network you want to connect to is hidden (a network that is set not to broadcast its name), you'll need to manually input the network's name and password. Please call your network provider if you don't know the name or password of your Wi-Fi router.

...which also points to the hidden network (SSID) issue, unless you have a 5GHz router/WiFi?

Thanks for the help. I will show this to my IT guy when he comes back over.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

Apparently the Chromecast device does not support my wi-fi box so I will either have to get Centurylink to supply me with a different make of modem or give up and get a roku3.

Judging from the volume of messages from unhappy customers I am not alone with this problem.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

Well, at least we discovered the source of the problem. Sad to hear there's so many complaints with the Google Chrome. I have two work acquaintances that bought the device as soon as it was available and they've been happy with it. I'm not really much of a gadget guy myself, so I didn't buy it.

I now have the Roku3 device and it was up and running less than an hour after it arrived. It amazed me how much programming is available via streaming off the internet and a lot of it is free (if you don't count your monthly internet connection fee). I switched my Netflix account to the $8/mo. streaming service saving $5 and there is more TV to watch than I can ever absorb. A lot of good science stuff too.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

That's great to hear Bob. Perhaps I'll have to give the Roku a look-see.