10gb to stream a movie

[Damselfly72]

Really? I was completely out of data, aside from bonus bites. Bought 10gb and ordered a movie from Amazon Prime, (HD). No other devices connected to the network other than the router and the Samsung smart tv. It used ever bit of that 10gb to watch one freaking movie! Why?
I can stream an entire 15 episode season in HD of a tv series on my cellphone provider network, steam 2-3 hours of YouTube videos, stream music every day from Spotify, watch every Facebook video posted in my newsfeed, talk on Facetime for 40 hours a month, run a wifi phone service, surf the web, and pretty much run my mobile business for an entire month without using 10gb.
This has been an ongoing issue since I got Hughesnet service more than 2 years ago. And no it isn't a Hughesnet exclusive issue. This seems to be a satellite ISP issue. I have had 3 different satellite ISPs What gives?

[GabeU]

You mentioned a router being connected.  Does it have the ability to monitor data usage, and if so, does it have the ability to break the usage down by device? 

A two hour film shouldn't use 10GB of data in HD, but a spotty WiFi connection can cause higher data usage, as can things using data that you aren't aware of.  

Other than your Smart TV, what devices do you have that utilize your WiFi, and how do you ensure that they cannot connect at any given time?  

[Damselfly72]

This was basically a test. We made sure all other devices were disconnected or turned off. We have another satellite ISP with business class service for our primary provider and had turned off the router and modem for it as well. I only use it for business purposes, not entertainment.
I could see a spotty connection being an issue at times to cause excessive data usage, but not to this extent. Unfortunately, I don't have a meter on the router connected to the Hughesnet modem.

[MarkJFine]

There's the remote possibility of another explanation:

An active stream is not just a one-way flow of data. There are all sort of acks, nacks, and checksums that need to get fed back to the source so it knows that the frames are being sent in the correct order.

If (and a big if) those acks are not received back within the particular service's 'acceptance time window' it might imply a nack and resend the series of frames.

Where I'm going with this is that if the gateway is bogged down the latency may be sufficient enough to cause this to happen, if the frames are buffering or otherwise. Certainly sending the same frame sequence twice because of an late ack would cause a 5Gb movie to easily rack up 10Gb.

[Damselfly72]

In this case we didn't experience any buffering throughout the movie at all. ???

[GabeU]

@MarkJFine

Interesting.  I never knew any of that, though it makes perfect sense.

We really do learn something new every day.  🙂 

[gokartergo24]

If you where installed more then 2 years ago. That means you are on Gen 4 not Gen5. So there is no video data saver. So it is sending it in 1080p  Or it could be in 2080p. Depending on the movie.. Most cell service send all movies over 480P because the screens are so small..  B

[BirdDog]

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@gokartergo24 wrote:

If you where installed more then 2 years ago. That means you are on Gen 4 not Gen5. So there is no video data saver. So it is sending it in 1080p  Or it could be in 2080p. Depending on the movie.. Most cell service send all movies over 480P because the screens are so small..  B

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I'm still Gen4 plan but have VDS. Pretty sure they rolled it out for everyone on both the Echostar satellites. No?

[GabeU]

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@BirdDog wrote:

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@gokartergo24 wrote:

If you where installed more then 2 years ago. That means you are on Gen 4 not Gen5. So there is no video data saver. So it is sending it in 1080p  Or it could be in 2080p. Depending on the movie.. Most cell service send all movies over 480P because the screens are so small..  B

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I'm still Gen4 plan but have VDS. Pretty sure they rolled it out for everyone on both the Echostar satellites. No?

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That's what I thought, too.  I'm pretty sure I've seen other people with Gen4 mention having to turn of the VDS to stream.  

It's too late to call now, but tomorrow I'll ask my stepfather to check his, as my folks have Gen4.  

[Damselfly72]

We have the VDS, just have to turn it off/on...has a 4 hour window before it auto resets itself.

[MarkJFine]

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@GabeU wrote:

Interesting.  I never knew any of that, though it makes perfect sense.

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Just a theory of how it's possible... and a really remote possibility. Didn't even consider that it might have been a 4k thing or something that the VDS or some rate lowering scheme might not have an effect on.

[Amanda · Accepted solution]

Hi Damselfly72,

I believe this is because apparently Amazon is using a higher bitrate and does not seem to allow quality/rate adjustments outside of their own proprietary Fire TV products. Basically this means that Amazon won't automatically adjust itself based on multiple factors (screen size, bandwidth, device capability) like other video providers do, resulting in you having to receive video in the format Amazon has on file. Adjusting this setting using built-in options on devices like Roku's may change what you see, but won't change what you get. Sometimes this will also cause buffering or poor visual quality. Read more here

Regarding your mobile provider... I'm not sure who you have, but many providers are now automatically turning on their own versions of "VDS" to help save mobile data and ease network congestion. This might be enabled on your service plan, so it's worth a check. VDS is enabled for all customers on Gen4 and Gen5 service plans.

I hope I was able to offer some helpful info 🙂 

-Amanda

[Damselfly72]

Thanks for that info regarding Amazon. However, I am not using an external device to receive the video feed, ie. Roku, Chromecast, etc. The television is capable of receiving directly from the provider such as Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, etc.
As I stated in prior comments, this instance was a test to see how much data would be used for the one movie in this instance. I do have Gen4, as the equipment was installed 2+ years ago. We rarely use the ISP for watching movies or other television shows for the example this has provided.
About a year ago I tried to watch a movie and after 20 minutes of on and off buffering and 10gb of wasted data, I gave up. This has been a consistent trend, hence the reason we rarely try to watch anything.
Until recently, I had the ProPlus Plan. In a typical month, we would have blown through the 15gb in less than 2 weeks with basic usage. Emails, web browsing, online shopping, Facebook, other social media outlets, rare instances of short YouTube videos, and occasional music downloads from Spotify. There have also been several months that we have used the 50gb in the Bonus zone. There has to be some "unseen data hog" that I haven't determined.
We have multiple laptops, all dual-bootable (Windows/Linux). Mine is the only one running Win10 which I am aware is beast of a data hog and I have it set for a metered connection, pop up & ad-blockers, etc. installed. Anything and everything attempting to conserve the precious download speeds.
For what I have spent purchasing extra data in the past 13 years from Satellite ISPs, I could have paid Spectrum/TimeWarner cable the $25k they want to run the 2400ft of cable across a bridge to my house.

[BirdDog]

Chromecast can be a real problem if you haven't taken steps to reduce its background use especially with Backdrop images. The new Home update has a "low bandwidth" setting which helps and also turn off the other feeds like news that are defaulted to on.

Even then, if you have the Chromecast powered with the supplied adapter it will use data 24/7 using WiFi which really adds up at a low trickle rate. Should power it through a TV USB port that turns off when the TV is off or you manually remove power when not in use.

[maratsade]

Birdog, the OP wrote that "However, I am not using an external device to receive the video feed, ie. Roku, Chromecast, etc."   

[BirdDog]

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@maratsade wrote:

Birdog, the OP wrote that "However, I am not using an external device to receive the video feed, ie. Roku, Chromecast, etc."   

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Dang, that little "not" got me again! Think I'll just leave it though as good info for anyone reading this thread.

[maratsade]

It's very good info, and you should have a stickie with it, including how to change the images so they don't gobble up data. 

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@BirdDog wrote:

Dang, that little "not" got me again! Think I'll just leave it though as good info for anyone reading this thread.

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[Amanda]

Hi Damselfly72,

The Amazon bit rate 'problem' would basically apply to anyone who isn't using a FireTV/stick device. So through a Smart TV app, website, etc  then there is no way to change the resolutions or bit rate to reduce usage. VDS being on while watching an Amazon video can potentially result in buffering, but would not reduce the data usage since Amazon is delivering at their format/rate no matter what. 😞

-Amanda