Finally got Gen5
They finally allowed me to upgrade my showroom account to Gen5. Going to have some fun playing with this.. I can't play with customers accounts. Don't want to screw anything up.
Forum Discussion
You are going to like it, that's for sure. It's quite an improvement. The streaming, especially, and the "Video Data Saver" is a great addition.
GabeU wrote:You are going to like it, that's for sure. It's quite an improvement. The streaming, especially, and the "Video Data Saver" is a great addition.
OK, this is killling me. Still Gen4 here but with some digging I can get to the video saver option. So, does it work or not on Gen4? If no then why can I even access it?
BTW, I continue to be able to stream Netflix video fine. Maybe being on Ultra plan helps but my speed at night sometimes drops way down and can still stream. I do have Netflix set to lowest definition.
That's interesting that it's there for you with Gen4. You can probably see if it's working by going to Youtube and watching some newer music videos. Mine all default to 480P.
With that said, when I had Gen4, even during the day or late at night when I had great speed, I still sometimes had buffering problems. Trying to watch a video during the evening was a real pain, having it buffer every five seconds or so. It was terrible. Perhaps my beam or gateway was much more loaded than yours, even if the decent off peak speed didn't necessarily reflect that. My speed tests, even when I was hitting 30Mbps, showed considerable congestion, reflected in the graph of the test. It looked like the Rocky Mountains. Now it looks like a nice, smooth horizon. The smoother, the better, when it comes to streaming.
Yea, mine usually defaults to 480 and lower. I freak when even 480, as 360 looks fine to me. And my stream is generally steady although the server can also send a video stream in chunks and it will be up and down. Like I said, even when my speed is sub 1 Mbps I still can stream Netflix. Maybe does have to do with beam loading but does seem strange. Maybe I'm special. :smileyhappy:
And I have had some very low nighttime speeds also.
That's pretty neat that you can use the Video Data Saver, too, though, like you said, you tend to watch things in lower definition, anyway.
I even tried lowering the definition of the videos I'd watch, and during the off peak usage periods it sometimes helped, but during peak usage periods NOTHING helped. It was awful. It would automatically lower to 144P, and even then I would get the popup notice about speed problems. Now, even when watching in 480P the progress bar, save for the initial buffer, which they all do for me, zips across until finished. It's fantastic.
But, if you like what you have and it works for you, why upgrade, right? And, you have the Ultra plan, to boot. If I had that and it was working for me, I probably wouldn't upgrade, either. For you there's really no advantage. For myself, I had the addition of the Microsoft updates taking hours upon hours, once even nearly 27 hours for a mid 400MB update, so I almost had to upgrade. And, for me, it's more data for a cheaper price, and will still be cheaper when the Next Plan Up promo price expires. I really couldn't say no.
I do not see any difference with Gen5 othet then speed. I've got 20 GB and still running out. Have not changed anything as far as my
system. I cant download any movies or programs.
The following thread may help. If not, or you need addtional info on things you can do to save data, such as settings, programs and apps, it would be beneficial for you to start a new thread in the tech support section.
