Forum Discussion

Mark33's avatar
Mark33
New Contributor
4 years ago

Data Usage Questions

I have a few questions regarding data usage:

1.  Does casting videos from an Android phone to a Roku TV use a lot of data?  

2.  Does casting a live streaming video versus a recorded video use more data?

3.  Does mirroring videos from a computer to a tv use less data or is this the same as casting?

4.  Does any one know of way to view data usage in real time versus learning of the data used the next day?

Thank you so much!

14 Replies

  • ChrisL's avatar
    ChrisL
    Former Moderator
    I recommend checking https://bit.ly/2FnEEGV for more information on data usage and how it impacts your account and services. Everything we have to share concerning data usage can be found there.

    -Chris
    • Mark33's avatar
      Mark33
      New Contributor

      Thanks for that.  I already read this page.  My questions are more specific than what this page offers.

    • Mark33's avatar
      Mark33
      New Contributor

      What I am concerned about is that over the past several days for the exception of Thursday, I've been using only 11 gigs of Internet data per day.  On Thursday however, I learned that I used 42 gigs.  My usage has been the same outside of casting a live streaming video from my Android phone to my Roku TV for approximately 1 hour.  On Friday, my data usage returned back to 11 gigs.  I did not cast any videos on Friday. 

      Now, according to a specific website, 40 gigs of Internet data should give me the following:

      With your 40GB of data, you'll be able to browse the internet for approximately 480 hours per month, to stream 8,000 songs online or to watch 80 hours of online video in standard definition.

      There is absolutely no way that I could have used 42 gigs in a day after watching a couple of movies as I have done on the other days.  So, how could I have used all this data?  Could casting videos account for all this data usage?  Obviously, since I have a data cap, I need to prevent this from occurring in the future.  Thanks.

  • Bruce's avatar
    Bruce
    Honored Contributor III

    Is the Android on your wireless network or cellular network?

    Bandwidth is dependent on the format of the video.  SD, ED, HD, UHD, etc all have a different bitrate.  1 hour at each bitrate would consume different amounts of your data cap.

    You're trying to make it sound implausible to consume 42 GB of data in 1 day by listing high numbers of time-consuming sources with low bitrates.  Of course you can't consume 80 hours of SD in 1 day.  That'd be like me trying to fill my gas tank with a 1-ounce measuring scoop in 1 day with 3,584 scoops!  However, I'm sure I could consume 80 GB in 1 hour.

    • Mark33's avatar
      Mark33
      New Contributor

      My android in on the wireless network.  All my devices (Laptop, Smartphone, and Roku TV) are on the same wireless network using COX Panoramic Wifi.  When I go on the MyWifi page, the Smartphone doesn't show much wifi data usage, even on the Thursday in question.

      It seems to me almost impossible to have consumed 42 gigs in one day just by browsing the Internet and watching a couple of Youtube videos including the 1-hour video that I casted on Thursday regardless of the video format.

      • Bruce's avatar
        Bruce
        Honored Contributor III
        It seems to me almost impossible to have consumed 42 gigs

        It depends on what you watched.  UHD?  UHD at 30 frames per second?  UHD at 60 frames per second?  UHD at MPEG-2 or MPEG-4?

        For example, if you watched an hour of UHD at 60 frames per second, it would total over 110 billion bits of data...or 14 GB.