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How to Manage Your Streaming Service Settings

Watching TV shows or movies on streaming services such Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Crave, and Netflix, uses approximately 1 GB of data per hour for each stream of Standard Definition video, and up to 3 GB per hour for each stream of High Definition video. Downloading and streaming consume a similar amount of data. If you are concerned with data caps or bandwidth limits, you can adjust your data usage settings by following the steps below.

Most streaming services operate in the same way and adjustments can be made to manage video quality settings. For example, Netflix™ explains data usage and how to manage video quality settings on their website.

Controlling data use on your favourite streaming service:

  1. Sign in to your preferred service

  2. Select the profile you’d like to change your data usage settings for.
    Note: for some services, data usage settings cannot be adjusted from a Kids profile.

  3. Select Account.

  4. Under My Profile, select Playback Settings.

  5. Select your desired data usage setting (please note that each estimate below is per stream, and that restricting data usage may affect video quality):

    • Low (0.3 GB per hour)

    • Medium (SD: 0.7 GB per hour)

    • High (Best video quality, up to 3 GB per hour for HD and 7 GB per hour for Ultra HD)

    • Auto (Adjusts automatically to deliver the highest possible quality, based on your current Internet connection speed)

  6. Select Save.
    Note: It may take up to 8 hours for these changes to take effect. There may be slight variations in how to adjust settings depending on which service you use.

If you have multiple profiles set up within a service, data usage settings will often only apply to the profile you set them from, meaning you can have different playback settings for each profile. If you are concerned about the total amount of data that streaming uses, make sure to change this setting for each profile.

Need help managing your data? Consult this article on how to effectively manage your data so you can stream as many movies or shows as you want without worrying about your next bill: How you can Monitor and Manage your Data Usage

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