cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
Anonymous User
Not applicable

How much data does mobile app use on android?

Just signed up to now tv again after getting a year's sub with a phone contract. I have a 16gb allowance but going by the data monitoring app on my phone the Now TV app seems to use about 1mb per second so about 3.6gb per hour (for on demand), which if accurate is pretty high, even for using the app on my unlimited home broadband ( i have a Roku stick for watching on TV so renders the phone fairly redundant at when at home).

 

What rate should the app be using? For comparison on "high" quality the Neflix app estimates about 1gb for a hour.  I'd probably only use the app on wi-fi anyway but I woud have though I'd be able to watch a hour or two here anfd there with making such a big dent in my allowance.

 

 

8 REPLIES 8
Andy
Legend 5
Legend 5

@scruffybobby

 

Welcome to the forum. Tablets/phones stream up to 720p and NOW TV uses adaptive bitrate management meaning the exact data used will vary depending on signal strength and cellular traffic, moving from 3G to 4G etc so it's difficult to give an exact figure. Sky give data usage of anything up to 2.5GB for a football match for their Sky Go app, so I would imagine the NOW TV app is along similar lines. Can't comment on your results, but I imagine if you are watching on-demand content the app will try and buffer a portion of the content in advance which could lead to spurts of high data usage initially which may be what you are seeing.

 

Would be nice to get a more 'official' answer from a member of the NOW TV team so I'll tag @Anonymous User for you - he's very helpful and hopefully will find out something for you!

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hi @Anonymous User

 

 

I'll have a look into this and check with our Content team to see if they have an understanding of the data usage. I would say that @Andy is correct that when watching via a Mobile device the programs would buffer between 30 - a Minute ahead in advance so that you don't experiance any issues and this may use more date than normal. But i'll get back to you if i hear anything else.

 

 

Cheers

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Thanks for the replies. I'll keep an eye out for any updates.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hi @Anonymous User did you ever get a more confirmed answer to this, I would be interested to know. Thanks!
Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hello

 

I didn't get a confirmed answer but I did watch a full episode of Moone Boy on my phone which at about 22 minutes came to-as far as I remember- something like 600mb (give or take a few either way) which isn't as high as I intially feared, but still seems fairly high.  Probably best to stick to WiFi were you can.

SeeMoreDigital
Legend 5
Legend 5

Hi all,

 

The quantity of data is dependant on your mobile devices screen resolution... 

 

Currently NOW TV offers maximum service resolution is 1280x720 pixels. Along with a maximum bitrate of around 4865Kbps which equates to around 2.2 GB per hour.

 

If the screen resolution on your mobile device is smaller than 1280x720 pixels, the bitrate your device receives should be lower 😉

 

 

Cheers

Anonymous User
Not applicable

I have just been on vacation and wanted to watch the last GOT episode on mobile wifi, on my iPad. Imagine my shocked that for an ~ 80min programme, Now TV consumed ~ 15 GB (FIFTEEN GIGABYTES) of my mobile data. I challenged my provider (EE) and the reported that Now TV were to blame accordinging to they're data use monitoring (about 50% of data was the streaming itself but another 30% was to do with 'security' or something). Can someone please explain this to a luddite like myself.
Needless to say after paying Now TV £7.99 for the Entertainment pass and EE ~ £35 for all that data, I WONT be streaming this stuff again!!!!!!

SeeMoreDigital
Legend 5
Legend 5

Where were you on vacation @Anonymous User?