Cord Cutters Data Usage?

[ExFlyBoy5]

Things have been a little slow around these parts and was curious as to how much data we use since we "cut the cord". We use AT&T Uverse and we are allotted 1TB per month, but so far we haven't gotten anywhere close to this and was curious what other members here use.

Our usage involves the following:

Nextflix or Hulu in the evening from about 7 until 9:30 on a single TV. Once we go to bed, the DW will tune into something on Netflix for a "white noise" effect. That streams for about 2 hours. I will stream music periodically during the day from around 8 until 4 and mess around on the computer a couple of hours a day. Also, there are no kids in the house and we are not gamers.

So, our average usage is about 280 GB per month and our highest month was 330 GB for a maximum usage of 32% of our "allocation"

 

[Koogie]

Surprised you use that much. Gamers use a lot but ordinary users tend not to.
My DW is a heavy Netflix / TV app user and watches probably 3 hours a day. I watch an hour of Youtube videos maybe and we both read a lot online.

Our cheapo DSL plan includes 150GB of data and we rarely get over 70% usage in a month and often barely hit 50% It is a 7 down/1 up service for C$29/mo

 

[NYEXPAT]

I thought I had a spread sheet for that, but I must have misplaced it. Put me down for 150 as the nannies phone is streaming "ChuChu TV" all day for my two year old and my wife's employer pays for her and my wife's plan.

 

[Fishingmn]

We often get pretty close to our 350GB cap.

We do watch a fair amount of over the air TV but also have Sling TV and Netflix along with our daily full use of the internet.

 

[Dawg52]

I have a 1 TB cap and usually come in around 350GB. Before signing up for Amazon Prime I never came close to 300GB. Previously I had Netflix and watched lot's of stuff not in HD whereas Amazon is all HD I believe. I subscribe to PS Vue and watch a fair amount of their content.

 

[Totoro]

Video is the bandwidth hog, not gaming. Music is trivial as well compared to video.

Netflix for example eats up around 35% of all US downstream traffic
Netflix Chews Up Less Bandwidth, as Amazon Video Streaming Surges | Variety

As a ballpark, Netflix uses about 1GB up to 3GB (HD) per hour of viewing, 7GB per hour for ultra-HD.

So 300 / 30 days = 10GB per day. 4.5 hours => 2.2 GB per hour. So my guess would be you have netflix mostly in HD mode at home

 

[exnavynuke]

Binge watching Netflix for 8+ hours on the weekend and another 2-3 hours per night was getting me to 300GB in about 2 weeks about a year ago. Now that Comcast data limits have been raised I don't really pay attention (I also haven't been watching nearly as many shows lately)

 

[mpeirce]

If you want to avoid the 1TB cap, avoid setting up bit torrent for video "sharing".

AFAICT people using bit torrent are the real target of cable data caps. At least so far.

 

[tulak]

We're around 1TB/month. Most of it is video streaming, with the occasional video game download (50GB a game!).

The data caps are annoying, but as long as we pay attention we come in under 1TB. The nice part is Comcast gives us two months where we can go over without any charges. Hopefully that won't happen, but it's nice to know if it does we won't get charged.

 

[Texas Proud]

I have Comcast.... does anybody know how I can see how much data I use

 

[W2R]

I have Comcast.... does anybody know how I can see how much data I use

No clue!

I have Cox Cable and I have the same problem. I just logged in to look at my account and paperless bills. No record anywhere there of how much data I use, even on the detailed version of the bills.

It's not much, though. I have mid level internet service and nothing more. I don't stream more than maybe 1 or 2 hours a month. Not too much into TV lately for some reason.

 

[Dawg52]

I have Comcast.... does anybody know how I can see how much data I use

Log into your account with Xfinity, then My Services, click on Xfinity Internet and your home internet usage should be displayed on the right side of the page.

 

[Running_Man]

No clue!

I have Cox Cable and I have the same problem. I just logged in to look at my account and paperless bills. No record anywhere there of how much data I use, even on the detailed version of the bills.

It's not much, though. I have mid level internet service and nothing more. I don't stream more than maybe 1 or 2 hours a month. Not too much into TV lately for some reason.

Sign on to your COX account, there is under mytools data usage - if you can’t find it search for data usage on the site. COx provides perday usage of internet

 

[W2R]

Sign on to your COX account, there is under mytools data usage - if you can’t find it search for data usage on the site. COx provides perday usage of internet

Thanks!!! Great instructions and it was right there where you said it would be.

Since November 10th, I have used 23 GB and I have 1001 GB more to use before December 9th. That is a little over 1 GB/day, and that usage seems to be about average for me.

 

[Texas Proud]

Log into your account with Xfinity, then My Services, click on Xfinity Internet and your home internet usage should be displayed on the right side of the page.

Did as you say and nothing on usage...


OK... found a different page... found it through the question section.... a usage meter...

Only has the last 3 months.... but pretty consistent...

104 GB
109
131

Just starting Dec...

 

[Katsmeow]

Hmm... I see that Comcast now has a terabyte a month plan. Last I knew, they had limits but weren't enforcing them but they were much lower.

I do have Comcast TV though so not a cord cutter but I mostly watch TV on the computer. Our usage the last 3 months has ranged from 197 GB to 267 GB.

Note that this usage does include video streaming of Comcast TV itself. I actually do most of my Comcast TV watching on my computer often having 2 channels streaming at the same time. DH and I do play World of Warcraft usually for several hours each day.

Anyway, it doesn't look like we are anywhere close to hitting the data cap. We do watch some Netflix and Hulu as well.

 

[Ronnieboy]

We have Comcast and our 1TB cap went into effect this month (Nov). Since I am typing this just as the clock turns over to 12/1/16 I took a look at my data usage page and it shows me starting over at 0 for December. November we were at 895GB of 1024GB cap. I have two heavy gamers at home. I told them I would turn off the modem if we got close to hitting the cap b/c I am not going to get charged extra for going over.


We still have cable though and I wonder if "On Demand" viewing adds to the data used since it is technically streaming?

 

[Katsmeow]

We have Comcast and our 1TB cap went into effect this month (Nov). Since I am typing this just as the clock turns over to 12/1/16 I took a look at my data usage page and it shows me starting over at 0 for December. November we were at 895GB of 1024GB cap. I have two heavy gamers at home. I told them I would turn off the modem if we got close to hitting the cap b/c I am not going to get charged extra for going over.


We still have cable though and I wonder if "On Demand" viewing adds to the data used since it is technically streaming?

I read their questions about the data cap and found out a couple of things. The first 2 times you go over they don't charge you. Also, you can get unlimited for $50 a month more. So, if we went over twice (which we aren't close to doing so far), then I would think if I wanted to change habits and if I didn't I would spring for the extra $50.

From the questions, I don't think On Demand that you watch over the TV would count for the internet cap. But, if you watch TV on your computer (which I often do) that does count. But, I'm not sure so might be worth a call to them.

 

[marko]

This thread got me curious and I checked. I'm online all day but don't do a lot of video watching (some YouTube but no Netflix and such) but my data usage averages about 30 GB per month. Is that possible?

It seems low compared to the other posts here.

 

[exnavynuke]

Hmm... I see that Comcast now has a terabyte a month plan. Last I knew, they had limits but weren't enforcing them but they were much lower.

I do have Comcast TV though so not a cord cutter but I mostly watch TV on the computer. Our usage the last 3 months has ranged from 197 GB to 267 GB.

Note that this usage does include video streaming of Comcast TV itself. I actually do most of my Comcast TV watching on my computer often having 2 channels streaming at the same time. DH and I do play World of Warcraft usually for several hours each day.

Anyway, it doesn't look like we are anywhere close to hitting the data cap. We do watch some Netflix and Hulu as well.

The selected market limits were 300 or 350 GB (depending on plan) until fairly recently when they upped it to 1 TB for everyone not paying for unlimited in the limited markets as far as I'm aware.

 

[Dawg52]

This thread got me curious and I checked. I'm online all day but don't do a lot of video watching (some YouTube but no Netflix and such) but my data usage averages about 30 GB per month. Is that possible?

It seems low compared to the other posts here.

Streaming is where the GB's add up. Not really sure how much one would use just doing online surfing.

 

[DEC-1982]

Comcast Internet but not Comcast TV for the last @ 5 years

Netflix user
$20 antenna for regular "free" TV
DW watches movies from another (not Netflix) site

When we had the 300 GB limit, I used to start looking at monthly usage around the 25th of the month and throttle our Internet usage down if we we were around 270 GB by the 25th. The "normal" usage was 225-275 GB. The maximum that we ever used then was 291 GB.

Now that we have the 1 TB / 1000 GB limit I don't check usage normally. I checked just now and the maximum that we have used in the last 4 months is 325 GB.

 

[Texas Proud]

When I was poking around, I was passing through the on demand section.... they said there is an indication of a program would impact your data usage or not...

So, I would think most would not affect usage....

 

[W2R]

This thread got me curious and I checked. I'm online all day but don't do a lot of video watching (some YouTube but no Netflix and such) but my data usage averages about 30 GB per month. Is that possible?

It seems low compared to the other posts here.

That's almost exactly what I reported in my post #14 above; about 1 GB/day. Like you, I don't do a lot of video watching. When F is over here we sometimes watch a show together on his Netflix, but I really never use it otherwise.

 

[mpeirce]

Huh. Our internet service is with WOW and they have no data caps.

They're a great company. We signed up for the 110 mbps service a few year back. It's more than we need at this point (not working at home any more!!!) This is now their midrange - they currently offer 300 and 600 service as well as cheaper 10 and 30 speeds.

We're in a non-monopoly area with two cables running through our backyard - we can choose from WOW or Spectrum (nee Time-Warner).