How quickly will 15gb disappear if I stream Netflix for 5 hours a day?

[smotto]

I don't understand the whole 15gb thing. Yes, I'm a bit of a computer moron (but I bet I could run circles around you with my Word and Excel knowledge, LOL). How does this work? My daughter and I both have iPhones with 15gb of shared data. As far as the home internet access goes we use our iPhones and she streams Netflix about 5 hours a day. What if we go over our allotted 15gb? I know to shut of the HD on Netflix as well as the auto-update features on our phones and computer. I had the 10gb package but the installer told me that it would be used up quickly by streaming a movie or two on Netflix. The only reason I switched carriers is because I wanted faster speeds than I was getting with Frontier. Anywho, any info is appreciated but I would prefer you make your statements like I'm a 5 year old so I can understand it.  Thanks!

[smotto]

I've read a lot of the comments and I'm not feeling comfortable about my change to HughesNet (guess I should have investigated more before switching). I have 30-days to cancel though right?

[Chris11]

Hi Smotto,


These are general, so it can vary by device. Also you said 15 GB each? If your speaking of our service this would be to share. 5 hours a day will eat up your data quickly. However you also have bonus bytes of 50 GB during 2 am - 8 am. If that is not feasible we offer tokens that can be purchased to extend your allowance further. Let me know if this helps in clearing things up for you.

- Chris

[BirdDog]

First look here and set you Netflix accounts to stream in standard or low definition: https://help.netflix.com/en/node/87

Going by what Netflix says the usage is, it is then simple division. The 15 GB is 15 with 9 zeros and 300 MB is 300 with 6 zeros.

15,000,000,000 divided by 300,000,000 (300 MB/hour) equals about 50 hours at low definition. At standard definition (700 MB/hour) it would be about 21 hours of viewing.

This is assuming you do nothing else online though. Plus there would be a small percentage more for upload communication.

Like Chris says, even at low definition 5 hours per day would eat your Anytime data in 10 days.

[smotto]

Wow! It really looks like I shot myself in the foot here; I'm paying an outrageous amount of money for what I thought would be better service than Frontier. Guess I should have investigated further, which is what I will be doing. I'm on a very tight budget and, like most, I live paycheck to paycheck. This is just not going to work with what I need.

[BirdDog]

All satellite services are similar. The amount of usage you are wanting is pretty much only available with cable ground based internet.

[GabeU]

Just an idea.  If you MUST watch a lot of Netflix, there is something called NightShift, which can record the program/movie during the bonus period so you can watch it at another time.  Google Nightshift and Netflix to see.  I've seen it mentioned on these boards, though I can't vouch for it myself.  Just an idea.   

[smotto]

Thanks for the info GabeU, I'll look into it. I hate that I just laid out mega bucks for something I was mislead to believe that I would have no issues with the amount of Netflix I would be able to stream.

[deepdiver1]

Keep your DSL.

[BirdDog]

What was the speed and reliability of your DSL? Low and even standard definition Netflix should stream well at around 2 Mbps if the speed is constant.