How many GBs plan do I need to apply if I would like to watch TV and video on internet? Yuchang
26/11/2011
Hi Yuchang,
The short answer is it depends how much TV you want to watch and at what quality. I'll give you a guide to the different types of TV available online and you can work out the data you will need based on your own use.
1,000MB is 1GB.
Youtube
Most Youtube videos are short and sweet, and the quality (how much the video has been compressed) is not high definition on most clips. This means you can watch Youtube videos without waiting for a long time for videos to load and they won't take up much bandwidth. Typically, Youtube video streams at video streams at between 60-80 kbps, or almost half a megabyte per minute.
1 hour Youtube: 120MB
iView
iView is ABC's catch up TV service, available to view on a computer, smart TV or a Playstation 3. Viewers can watch many ABC shows up to two weeks after the original broadcast date. iView shows are not high definition and a half-hour show will take up around 125MB.
1 hour iView: 250MB
Foxtel on Xbox
Foxtel offers pay-TV and on-demand movies on Xbox 360 consoles with a broadband connection. According to Foxtel, an hour of high-quality TV uses up 800MB of data, medium quality would use 540MB and low-quality 360MB. Foxtel will allow customers to change the quality setting on the console, in order to save on data.
1 hour high-definition Foxtel: 800MB
As you can see, the amount of data used to stream or download TV over the internet varies considerably depending on the quality of the file. I would recommend looking at medium plans such as TPG's 100GB ADSL2+ plan (50GB in the peak, 50GB in the off peak) for $19.99 a month, plus a $30 home phone line. You can call us on 1300 106 571 for this plan.
Alternatively, an unlimited plan from Club Telco (call on 1300 138 155 for more details), Dodo (call on 1300 136 793) or TPG will give you unlimited downloads and you will never have to worry about your plan being shaped.
Hope this helps,
Sarah
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