For this post I'm again using voice recognition. Some errors may occur.
Does your data plan let you watch Netflix?Same question could be asked for other video streaming services, such as You tube or Amazon. In a video stream takes up much more bandwidth than simple webpages with basic graphics and a few animated features.
Now if you are an individual that has really unlimited bandwidth available, then this does not apply to you at all. But a number of us do not have that luxury because neither AT&T or Comcast will offer wired services in all areas. This is especially true of the semi rural areas outside the suburbs of some towns and cities. Although the cable and telephone companies already have services in these areas, the services needed to be upgraded to allow for high quality broadband connections. This is relative to services found in the United States. In other countries the conditions could vary quite a bit.
Now back to topic. Many individuals find the only practical way to get Internet is to pay for data usage over the 3G or 4G telephone networks. This cell tower networks are everywhere, even in some rural areas there is coverage by a cell tower. It has become the most universal communications available in the United States as well as many other parts of the world. You can get so tower service even in areas where there are no telephone poles or power lines available.
Now then, I am one of those individuals that has to rely on the cellular phone service to get a connection into the Internet. Both my daughter and I have telephone plans that include unlimited data. The cost is $60 a month for each of us, so the total bill is $120. Because we are a family we do get a little bit of reduction, about $10 off the total price. Still, it is a rather expensive way to have an Internet service.
Now you may be thinking about the use of a hotspot. Good idea, but the carriers also restrict the use of hotspots. If I use a hotspot to provide connection to more devices, a limit is put on how much data I can use inside of one month on my hotspot. Now let me get the point of this post.
Below is a link that explains the problem of using Netflix or some other video service over the system that has a On data usage. Bear in mind that the term on limited data does not mean you can always get as much data as you want for streaming videos. It means only that you can get enough data to check your e-mail and review websites, but not always enough speed to get video streaming. In other words, they effectively put a cap on video streaming by putting a hidden limit on how much data you can get in a month. That does not sound like unlimited data, yet this is how it is advertised. They explained that there is a cap on the data but you can still get data. Read the fine print. It says at first you'll get the high-speed data of either a 4G or 3G network. Then if you go over a certain limit, such as 10 GB, then your data stream will slow down to a crawl that does not allow video streaming of any quality.
So that is in essence my understanding of the current situation with many of us who want to use the Internet to watch movies found on Amazon, Netflix and YouTube. Somewhere I read that there is no such restriction if you are using Comcast. As far as I know, that is true. But Comcast is a hardwired connection and does not have the kind of issues that cell phone towers have. The cell phone tower has to handle a whole lot of communications from many people scattered over a large area. The cable company has their use is divided up by direct wires which means that in effect the total bandwidth for Comcast is much much greater than what you would have for any cell tower. If you have some information to the contrary, please respond.
Now here's the deal. It has been said, somewhere, that there is a special deal with Netflix and Amazon and some of the other services that you can get as much streaming data as you want as long as it is only from one of the preferred services. That would imply that some other video streaming services would not have that privilege and if you watched streaming video on one of their services your service will become stuck.
I here's the bad part. Once you hit the data limit you are stuck in low gear until the end of your current billing cycle. This is very painful if you do a lot of video watching at the early part of the month and then all of a sudden they get stuck in low speed and then you can't watch anything. That has happened to me.
Now my big gripe about this is that it's not well documented or covered in any information I could find. It's only on forums like this that users can express their frustrations and confusion about what's going on.
So if you know are out more about this that I do, please come back and respond.
Here is one of the key stories that explains what this is all about.
https://www.whistleout.com.au/Broadband/Guides/Netflix-data-usage-and-speed-requirementsIs your broadband plan ready for Netflix?
end of my dictation.
