Unexpected data usage

Data Usage
1

Continuing the discussion from Purchased more data:

My data usage for today shows almost 4gb used. I watched the news this morning on Hulu for about an hour and 20 minutes before I left for work. No one else has been here all day. Seems like a lot for the news.

Hello, @Sjaf, thanks for letting us know about that data consumption. We’ll be happy to investigate that issue for you; however, in order to do so, we may need to take a look at your data usage. We can only do so with your consent, however, so could we have your permission?

Thanks,
Gregório

2

That’s fine. I think I figured it out. Maybe my cameras, it was very windy so they recorded mor than normal.

3

Thanks @Sjaf, I’ll take a look now.

4

Hi @Sjaf,

On May 9 in the morning I can see that you watched the news on Hulu live. Live streaming does tend to consume more data than streaming videos that have been previously recorded. What device did you use for that? What it a TV?

On May 10 at night I see about 11.5 GBs used streaming Netflix from an Android and an Apple Device. Are these an Android phone and an iPhone? Can you check if your video quality settings on Netflix are set to a lower quality that allows you to save data?

Thank you,

Nacho

6

Hi @Sjaf,

Just wanted to follow up on this one.

I was asking the question you see cited below because in our report it says that the Hulu Live data usage happened over an “unknown” device. We wanted to give a recommendation to change video quality settings according to the device that you were using.

7

Yes, I have to chromecast my local news from my android hulu app. My tv is a sony bravia. It has the hulu app and I’m signed into just like my phone. For some reason it does not find our local news channel. I don’t ever stream or cast from my Ipad.

8

hi @Sjaf,

Thanks for that reply. When casting from the app, are you able to alter video quality settings? At what quality are you usually watching the news?

Thanks,
Gregório

9

According to this link, Hulu Live Streams consume about 3.6 GB per hour. You watched news for an hour and 20 minutes so this would translate roughly to 4.7 GB.

But that’s not exactly what we see. We see Hulu Live traffic consuming roughly 3.4 GB and then another big chunk of data (~1 GB) earlier in the morning that is some type of background download to an Apple device. In any case, does this help explain your experience?

By the way, in response to people asking here to get Video Data Extender back, we have started a program we call the Data Saver Feature Experiment that involves re-enabling settings similar to the Data Extender and is designed to help us potentially develop a better Data Extender that doesn’t have the problems associated with the discontinued one. If you are interested in hearing more, let me know and I will message you privately about it.
‍