Lovefilm, Europe’s top DVD rental provider as well as a leading on-demand video streaming service, recently launched its iPad app. To stream a service such as Lovefilm to your computer, TV or iOS device you will need a broadband connection with at least 2Mbps for a half-decent picture quality.
The providers claim that the average 90-minute streaming title will eat its way through around 500MB of data. That doesn’t sound so bad but the amount will increase significantly if you have a faster connection speed or watch a longer film!
Users could be chomping through their data allowance without even thinking about it. So how can you stream content on the go without breaking the bank?
Unlimited Mobile Broadband is a Myth
The bad news for the majority of mobile users as there are only a few network providers that actually give their customers truly unlimited internet. The rest of us are strangled by tiny data allowances limits or fair usage policies.
For many that do plan to stream films online you will need to connect to a Wi-Fi connection while out and about.
Onavo
Onavo is a download which significantly reduces data costs by reducing the amount of bandwidth iOS mobile devices use by compressing the data.
An Android version is also available but it doesn’t include Onavo’s specialist data-shrinking technology. However both apps come with some tools to help mobile users better understand and manage their data usage such as alerts when users are coming up to high data usage.
Home broadband
In reality most us are going to have to turn to home broadband packages, which should be able to cope with online film streaming. A 40GB download limit should allow users to watch around 59 films.
If you are connected to a Wi-Fi router but are struggling with the streaming or picture quality, your broadband speed may not be high enough. To combat this, try stopping any online activity on other computers on the same connection.
Guest Author: This is a guest article from broadband deals site, Choose, which also covers DVD rental services such as Lovefilm.
Broadband Internet Speeds Explained - When, and How Much?
The Top 10 Torrent Sites of 2010
Top 5 Reasons Digital PCIe Storage Devices are Best for Business
Ultimate Collection of Top 20 Inspirational Steve Jobs Quotes
Facebook Buys Photo Sharing Network Instagram For $1bn
Jan Christian (9)
auto accident lawyers (4)
Farrell John Conejos (4)
Ronaldo Ferrer (4)
SEO Manipulator (4)
Teckop (4)
Vivek Bhatt (4)
Atul Kumar Pandey (3)
you said exactly correct “Unlimited BandWidth is a Myth” nothing in this world is unlimited..
Rohit Batra´s recent blog post ►► Siri Ported on iPod Touch 4G [Video]
Well Said, Rohit – as they say there is nothing such thing as ‘free meals’ on this earth
Unlimited plans are just unlimited till a limit, I was victim of such plan by Reliance
Mahendra´s recent blog post ►► Nokia Asha Series 303, 300, 201, 200 Price Features and Review
Lot of complaint these days against Reliance. Hope Mr. Ambani is listening…
They just follow their motive “Karlo duniya muthi main” else they ignore complaints.
Arjun Rai´s recent blog post ►► Repos
LOL, well said, Arjun!
Unlimited Mobile Broadband is just a marketing trick because they usually reducing the speed when we have passed fair usage
Aziz@techpcnews´s recent blog post ►► Check WHOIS Lookup From Your Desktop with DomainHostingView
And that is exactly why this practice is so UNFAIR even though the ISPs prefer calling it fair-usage.
Yea, the fair usage policies really put a crimp on enjoying streaming movies online. In some cases, even home broadband isn’t enough. A friend of mine used up more than 200 GB of traffic in a week by viewing HD movies online and his ISP gave him a warning.
-Jean
used tires´s recent blog post ►► How to stay safe while driving on wet roads
I guess he was lucky to have escaped with just a warning for using 200+GB in a week. Could have been lot worse; thanks to their ‘fair usage policy’ weapon!
Indeed! Since then he has stuck to renting movies from a physical store instead, lol. I really hope that ISPs do away with these policies though. Technology has advanced so much and bandwidth capacity of the world keeps increasing with better fibre optics technology so there should really be no need to artificially restrict bandwidth usage like they are doing.
-Jean
used tires´s recent blog post ►► How to stay safe while driving on wet roads
Usually I am not a conspiracy theorist, but when it comes to ISP’s fair usage policy crap, I can’t stop but think – CONSPIRACY!!!
Come on – the current fibre optics technology is already way ahead to let them allow us unlimited (REALLY UNLIMITED) broadband usage. Add to that the ever increasing broadband consumer base, and the affordability should be even greater.
just go for unlimited ……………