Remember a time when family movie night meant grabbing a VHS tape off a shelf and popping it in the VCR only to find yourself shaking your fist at the last user who forgot to rewind the tape? Thanks to streaming services like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu, the hardest part of movie night today probably involves simply finding the remote. With the ever increasing popularity of these video streaming services, users are able to find entertainment at the touch of a button, but if you aren't monitoring your Internet and streaming usage, this convenience could come at a high price.
Many subscribers of streaming services have seen a drastic increase in their monthly Internet usage. This may be due to an often forgotten setting. On most streaming services like Netflix, YouTube and Spotify, you can choose the quality of video or music, but users often forget that higher quality streaming burns through more data. For example, Netflix uses 700 megabytes per hour when streaming a movie at Standard Definition. If you want to see the latest action movie in Ultra High Definition however, that number jumps up to a whopping 7 gigabytes per hour!
So next time you sit down for a family movie night, while you can be thankful you don't have to blow the dust off the VCR and rewind the tape, be sure to check your settings and choose a lesser quality streaming option if you are concerned about using less data.
Whether you do your streaming on your wireless device or on your home network, keeping track of your usage could save you and your wallet from an above-average bill. Mid-Rivers offers a free tool called SmartHub that not only lets users track Internet data and cellular use, but also lets customers manage the rest of their Mid-Rivers services. SmartHub is easy to use, free of charge and can be accessed at any time on a computer or a convenient mobile app. Follow the link below to sign up today!
midrivers.smarthub.coop
