How much data for 1 hour a day of TV?

[Monty777]

As the title says, I am looking for advice from those who already use data to get their tv fix. Our old Hymer had sat tv which admittedly would only get the news on sky in Spain. Our new(er) Hymer doesn’t have a TV aerial of any sort so I am thinking that a MiFi with external aerial using a fire stick would be the best option for us-but I have no idea how much data this would use. We both have Tesco mobile sims in our mobiles which have 10gigs/month data allowance and Tesco have stated they won’t put an additional charge on for roaming-hence the question-how much data would we need?

 

[steve69]

I Gb of data = approx 1 Hour of TV

 

[Millcourt]

I Gb of data = approx 1 Hour of TV

In SD (standard definition)…… much more if you want HD……and even more if you are thinking of 4K/UHD.

 

[chesterfield hooligan]

I think Tesco limit usage after a set time.

 

[Speve]

I think Tesco limit usage after a set time.

Tesco use O2 network

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[Gellyneck]

Tesco use O2 network

I know VM\O2 have stated there will be no roaming charges applied however do they have a data cap in place \ proposed? If they do this could impact the OP in relation to streaming TV whilst abroad.

 

[dunnah01]

With O2 you can watch about 20hrs/month whilst roaming if your plan allows more than 25Gb/month. It's about £3.50/Gb after that

 

[63720]

On th the Firestick go to Settings, Data Monitoring and switch it on. Then you can select the quality you need and lowering this will use less data, on a portable TV you won't see the difference.

 

[Bolti]

On th the Firestick go to Settings, Data Monitoring and switch it on. Then you can select the quality you need and lowering this will use less data, on a portable TV you won't see the difference.

Also go into settings on iPlayer and lower the quality.

 

[Lee Rasberry]

At Maxview we found this site useful for estimating data usage:

Data Usage Calculator

Use our data calculator to help estimate your household Internet data usage based on your activity.

armstrongonewire.com

TV will depend quite a bit on exactly what you are streaming, and the advice above about reducing the video quality is well worth following. However, don't forget about all the other stuff you might use the internet for - video calls, social media, streaming music etc. as it can soon add up.

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[Lenny HB]

Rough estimate is 1gb per hour.

 

[Lenny HB]

Our new(er) Hymer doesn’t have a TV aerial of any sort

Yes it does if you have the van you say in your profile. Hymers have had built in TV aerials for years.
Depending on the year of your van if its less than 5 or 6 years old it will have a small whip aerial on the roof for TV, DAB & FM, they work very well.
If it is an eairler van it will be in the overcab, those don't work quite as well.

Both have amplifiers so you need to turn on 5v power to the antenna on the TV for them to work.

 

[Langtoftlad]

"According to Netflix, you use about 1GB of data per hour for streaming a TV show or movie in standard definition and up to 3GB of data per hour when streaming HD video. Nevertheless, you can change the data usage settings in your Netflix account to reduce the bandwidth Netflix uses and hence lower data consumption."

 

[dunnah01]

Another big user can be auto updates on any device connected to the mifi (ask me how I know ) now disabled on as many things as I can find.

 

[jako999]

Remember to put an over spend cap on your phone even if your on unlimited data or it could ge t costl.

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[Badknee]

I know VM\O2 have stated there will be no roaming charges applied however do they have a data cap in place \ proposed? If they do this could impact the OP in relation to streaming TV whilst abroad.

While I do agree it was winter 2020/2021 I did a test and used 129gb of my 150gb per month allowance on Virgin. In Spain now and all is well up to now.

 

[DavidG58]

Something caught us out first time away using data, we bought a French sim with. 16Gb data, worked well but was all used by following day

We had bought 2 cards so put second card in but then monitored data, within a hour we had used 2Gb

We have an 8 camera security system at home, dialled to check an alert, but left app open as we would on WiFi

We don’t do that now so many people have video door bells etc now you could fall into a similar trap

 

[RowleyBirkinQC]

Depending on the year of your van if its less than 5 or 6 years old it will have a small whip aerial on the roof for TV, DAB & FM, they work very well.

We have a 69 plated 2018MY Hymer Exsis i588. From what you’ve said, I’m a little amused/frustrated that Becks, the supplying dealer, transferred our Pioneer AVIC DAB head unit across using one of those little adhesive window DAB aerials.

Presumably, we should look into using that roof aerial for DAB to hopefully get better reception?

 

[Lenny HB]

We have a 69 plated 2018MY Hymer Exsis i588. From what you’ve said, I’m a little amused/frustrated that Becks, the supplying dealer, transferred our Pioneer AVIC DAB head unit across using one of those little adhesive window DAB aerials.

Presumably, we should look into using that roof aerial for DAB to hopefully get better reception?

Most UK dealers are totally useless and don't have any product knowledge just jumped up car salesmen (except Simon-Alan Kerr).
They also live to stitch customers up for 2 or 300 quid to fit a TV aerial thats not needed.

If it is the new model Exsis with the whip aerial the DAB reception will be very good, the cable will be behind the stereo.

 

[RowleyBirkinQC]

Most UK dealers are totally useless and don't have any product knowledge just jumped up car salesmen (except Simon-Alan Kerr).

If it is the new model Exsis with the whip areal the DAB reception will be very good.

Thank you very much for this pointer, the current DAB reception is somewhat patchy.

Presumably, this DAB aerial lead will just be behind the dash somewhere?

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[Monty777]

Yes it does if you have the van you say in your profile. Hymers have had built in TV aerials for years.
Depending on the year of your van if its less than 5 or 6 years old it will have a small whip aerial on the roof for TV, DAB & FM, they work very well.
If it is an eairler van it will be in the overcab, those don't work quite as well.

Both have amplifiers so you need to turn on 5v power to the antenna on the TV for them to work.

Thanks Lenny, I do have a small whip antenna on the roof-thought that was just for the radio-I will have to try it out-I know where the cable end is.

john

 

[kevenh]

Another big user can be auto updates on any device connected to the mifi (ask me how I know ) now disabled on as many things as I can find.

yy
Auto updates and cross device sync are good ways to eat data unproductively via MiFi. Putting devices in to "low data mode" helps but better to manually stop these. yy

"cross device sync": I used to keep my iPad & iPhone photos, notes, etc. in sync with each other. That's fine on home wifi but, in the motorhome the sync goes to the internet and back on the mifi

 

[Johnny Johnson]

Plusnet do various sim deals they piggy back off EE so signal is mostly always good

 

[Miggs]

Plusnet do various sim deals they piggy back off EE so signal is mostly always good

I fell into that trap. Plusnet don't have access to all of EE's bandwidths so signal in rural areas can be very sketchy. I got a Plusnet sim for my phone and was always borrowing my wifes EE phone because I couldn't get a signal.
I think the same goes for all the smaller outfits that piggy back off the main providers.