Use My Droid To Ditch Cable!

[Chelovek]

I'm one of the few remaining VZW users that still has unlimited data. I was wondering if I could drop my cable provider and use my rooted D2G (3G) with the wireless hot spot (Open Tether) to stream TV (movies)? I already have the phone setup with the hotspot to connect to my computer for general internet traffic (e-mail and light web surfing.) Would a 3G data connection support streaming movies (like netflix or HULU?) As far as TV goes, I only watch one cable news program and the local news (which I can pick up OTA if I got an antenna.) Comments or ideas?

 

[bsweetness]

I'm one of the few remaining VZW users that still has unlimited data. I was wondering if I could drop my cable provider and use my rooted D2G (3G) with the wireless hot spot (Open Tether) to stream TV (movies)? I already have the phone setup with the hotspot to connect to my computer for general internet traffic (e-mail and light web surfing.) Would a 3G data connection support streaming movies (like netflix or HULU?) As far as TV goes, I only watch one cable news program and the local news (which I can pick up OTA if I got an antenna.) Comments or ideas?

You can stream Netflix or Hulu over 3G, but you may not get the greatest quality or consistency.

One thing to keep in mind is that streaming video uses a lot of data. So much so that if you're not paying Verizon for the hotspot feature, there's a chance it could catch Verizon's attention. I have an unlimited data plan, and I'm paying $24 a month (discounted corporate rate) for the unlimited hotspot through Verizon. I'm currently using the hotspot on my S3 as my only internet connection at home, and I do a lot of streaming. As of right now, I'm barely into the third week of my current monthly billing cycle, and I've used 82GB of data. I have an LTE device, so of course the increased speed allows me to stream higher quality shows and movies, along with downloading large files, so you're not likely to use as much as I do. But still, streaming video on 3G will use a large amount of data and might throw a red flag. More than likely, you'd be fine, but it's just something to be aware of.

 

[robert70]

Ok so here's the thing, everyone talks about how much data they use, my question is,,, how exactly do you know how much you use? I mean that I look at my usage and its like 7436859 whatever instead of saying 25gb of usage,, is it like a cd as in 701 megs is a gig? Pardon the stupid question but I'm having a really hard time relating this stuff to the of world,, pretty stupid for a guy that does IT AND NETWORKING, huh??

Sent from my wicked sharp razr!

 

[bsweetness]

Ok so here's the thing, everyone talks about how much data they use, my question is,,, how exactly do you know how much you use? I mean that I look at my usage and its like 7436859 whatever instead of saying 25gb of usage,, is it like a cd as in 701 megs is a gig? Pardon the stupid question but I'm having a really hard time relating this stuff to the of world,, pretty stupid for a guy that does IT AND NETWORKING, huh??

Sent from my wicked sharp razr!

You know by logging into your account on either the Verizon website or the My Verizon app. By default, both show your data usage in kilobytes. In the My Verizon app, if you tap on the My Data on the main screen, it will show you your usage in kilobytes, megabytes, and gigabytes. On the Verizon website, under the data usage number on your account overview, you can click "MB" (megabytes) or "GB" (gigabytes) to change the usage number from kilobytes.

Or, you can convert it the old fashioned way: 1,048,576 kilobytes = 1 gigabyte, 1,024 kilobytes = 1 megabyte, and 1,024 megabytes = 1 gigabyte.

 

[dezymond]

I'd ditch my phone before I ditch cable to be honest. Sure everything can be seen online, but nothing beats HD live TV, especially since I'm a huge sports fan.

 

[guidot]

Agreed Dezy, plus you are trying to put me out of a job lol.

 

[Chelovek]

What's Sports?

Hi DZ:

Watching sports probably won't be much of an issue for me, since the last sports game I watched was a live baseball game at DC Stadium, where I watched the Washington Senators play the Red Sox. Ted Williams was the Sentaors' manager and Carl Yastrzemski kicked our butts, hitting 2 HR over the right field bleachers. (I think he was trying to prove something to Ted Williams who preceded Carl as LF for the Red Sox.) :biggrin:

BTW, Thanks to all for the ideas and feedback.

 

[robert70]

Ok so far this month I've only used 0.508gb not even a full gb yet.

Sent from my wicked sharp razr!

 

[Slider11]

To be honest, Ditching your cable for 3g might not be worth it. I was lucky enough to upgrade to a 4g device the week before they removed grandfathering. Making the most out of unlimited! If I were you, It would depend on the 3g speeds. If they can handle streaming, go ahead. Also remember that verizon slows down any unlimited 3g users for 2 billing periods, if they are in the top (%10?) of users. It is said that that barrier is around 2-3gb. Trust me, Getting slowed SUCKS. 5 Kb/s is no fun.

 

[Chelovek]

Yikes! Thanks to all for your collective wisdom. Looks like it's back to the drawing board.

 

[bsweetness]

To be honest, Ditching your cable for 3g might not be worth it. I was lucky enough to upgrade to a 4g device the week before they removed grandfathering. Making the most out of unlimited! If I were you, It would depend on the 3g speeds. If they can handle streaming, go ahead. Also remember that verizon slows down any unlimited 3g users for 2 billing periods, if they are in the top (?) of users. It is said that that barrier is around 2-3gb. Trust me, Getting slowed SUCKS. 5 Kb/s is no fun.

Great point. Verizon does throttle data speeds on 3G for the top users. While I don't think 2-3GB will get you throttled, doing a lot of streaming video over 3G to an external device will rack up the data usage very quickly.

Verizon doesn't throttle 4G usage however. If someone really wants to use the hotspot feature for doing data-intensive things, getting a LTE phone off-contract (which allows you to keep your unlimited data) would definitely be the way to go. However, as I mentioned previously, that will probably lend itself to using a lot of data, and if you're paying for the hotspot with an unlimited plan, there's a chance Verizon will notice the abnormally high usage.