Streaming video on your data plan and how to save

[Evereddie]

Last year when we first started camping we would bring our Roku box with us and stream Netflix where my wife has a lot of shows she likes to watch. Then movies for both of us too. Granted it wasn't a lot of TV watching but when we did we used this. Some campgrounds had good WIFI but others, and all of the state parks, didn't. In those cases we used our cellphone Hotspot to watch. But it is real easy when watching HD to use up the 8 gigs monthly allowance (your allowance is probably different) if you weren't careful. I figured out that with the Roku I could set the resolution of it to only send out a standard TV signal at 480i. This cut down tremendously on the bandwidth and for the most part the picture was still very good. Not HD but plenty good for the smaller bandwidth we were using.

Just thought others might be able to do this.

Side note: We bought a bigger, better TV this year that is a smart TV. It can stream directly without needing the Roku, but I couldn't find a way to limit the bandwidth in the TV like I could with the Roku box. So it looks like the Roku goes with us still when we aren't somewhere with good WIFI.