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Anonymous User
Not applicable

massive data usage for 2 films

Hi there,

 

Just recently bought a NOW tv box with free month cinema pass. I watched 2 films at the weekend and it used a massive 13 GB of my data allowance (which is not unlimited) and i only found out because BT contacted me to say i was nearing my monthly allowance.

Is it just movies that use up a lot of data? Or will watching iplayer, all4 etc use up a lot of data also.? 

Thank you in advance.

35 REPLIES 35
Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hi @Anonymous User

 

 

Thanks for contacting us. Anything that needs internet access to browse or stream will use up Data. The size of file and qaulity of the stream will vary with each program or movie and so will use more or less data each time. To answer your question though yes the iplayer and other catch-up services will use up data.

 

 

Thanks

Eddie

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hi, I am new to Now TV and I am also finding very high data usage with Now TV (I live in a rural location and my broadband is not unlimited).  I was wondering if there is a setting to reduce the download usage?  On netflix in My Account, you can change the download / streaming setting by selecting, high, med or low settings.  I have netflix on Low and the picture quality is still great but the data usage is less than half of the high setting.  Please can you let me know if Now TV has such a setting?  Thanks, Gez

Andy
Legend 5
Legend 5

@Anonymous User Welcome to the forum. Unfortunately NOW TV don't currently have any user-settings to reduce data usage, so you'll need to keep an eye on your available monthly data when using NOW TV.

ukbobboy
Legend

@Andy @Anonymous User @Anonymous User

 

 

Hi Andy & Gez

 

Another forum member, @Anonymous User, posted, " Only 80% of the country now has a high speed service." which equates to 20% of the UK having either substandard or no access to broadband.

 

Therefore, for Now TV to target that 20%, or a good portion, by making SD (480p) a user available choice will require them to make a reasonably sized investment, which will be difficult as more users are clamouring for 1080p and above picture quality and 5.1 and/or 7.1 surround sound.

 

To me, this seems the choice that Sky/Now TV is likely to make will be based on "return on investment".

 

I could be wrong on this but Now TV is first and foremost a business.

 

 

UK Bob

 

Anonymous User
Not applicable
Thanks for the comment.

I appreciate that NOW TV is a business - but you assume that it would be very expensive to provide a SD service - I don’t know if it would or not. Netflix does. 20% of the market is quite a big percentage to ignore I think. I don’t subscribe to NOW TV because it uses up too much of my broadband allowance - if they offered SD - I probably would. So that’s one customer they have lost if nothing else.

David
ukbobboy
Legend

@Anonymous User

 

Hi David

 

I know where you are coming from when you compare Now TV with Netflix but you must understand that Netflix was primarily designed for the US market, a much larger demographic. And therefore it would make sense for them to insure their services are available to slow/limited broadband users.

 

However, when entering the UK market Netflix already had the necessary technical facilities and it would not take them much to convert their US techniques and infrastructure to a UK model.

 

Meanwhile, Now TV's hardware facilities are based on Roku's OS and electronic devices and, as far as I'm aware, Roku does not make their streaming devices with SD capabilities.  In fact, if you look at any Roku US site you will find that their latest streaming boxes are capable of receiving and displaying 1080p, 4K and HDR, and that is the trend Now TV are likely to follow.

 

Finally, as for that potential 20% of the UK market, I wonder how much of that percentage cannot receive broadband at all, something I'm sure Sky/Now TV will factor in when it comes to making a decision.

 

Again,  this is all speculation on my part and I could be wrong.

 

 

UK Bob

 

Andy
Legend 5
Legend 5

It shouldn't be a big deal in the grand scheme of things, NOW TV already use adaptive bitrate streaming so they already encode content at various bitrates. All that's really needed is an option coded into the apps (like the SD/HD flip in BBC iPlayer).

 

I'm surprised NOW TV don't at least provide this for the mobile apps as people are more likely to use these apps with a limited (mobile) data allowance. For instance the Amazon Video mobile app 'good' option uses around 0.6Mbps cp. 'better' option which uses around 1.8Mbps. The lower option allows those with limited data allowance to get 3x the viewing for their data.

Anonymous User
Not applicable


@Anonymous User wrote:

it used a massive 13 GB of my data allowance (which is not unlimited) and i only found out because BT contacted me to say i was nearing my monthly allowance.


I used about 4GB on my mobile in the last month, and I haven't watched any movies on it.  Over 2GB were system updates (worth checking to see if your phone is eating into your allowance).  The 12GB BT plans are not really intended for streaming and downloading anything large like movies.  They are just basic plans for those who only need email and surfing.  

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Thanks for your reply.

I have a 45GB allowance on BT and average monthly use is between 10-20GB and that's watching catch up and Net Flix on my smart TV.  But since having this Now tv box (in the bedroom) it seems to use a lot more, well the movies did anyway.