I'm new to "data"

[highup]

Being relatively new to a smartphone and watching a lot of you tube stuff since I don't usually have a high workload, I pace my consumption so I don't run out. My Straight Talk plan gives me 25gb. At first that seemed like an endless supply. This month with not much data left....... I noticed you can change the video quality. It was set on automatic, usually 360, but sometimes 480.
I set it at 144 as a test to see the consumption and in 4 hours of intermittent use... Mostly using you tube, I only used .5 Gb.
Here's the consumption rate I saw on one site showing how long 1,gb lasts.
122 8.77hrs
240 3.7hrs
340 2.6hrs
480 1.41hrs

Dang, on this phone screen 122 isn't wonderful, but it's not bad either. Feels nice to be able to extend my viewing time so much.
I will add a new Straight Talk card in a few days and monitor my usage at 240 to see how that works out.
Wish I had paid attention when I first bought this smarter than me device.

 

[havasu]

You are a smart man. Usually, when watching on a 75" 4K TV, you need the video quality as high as possible. With a small 5" x 3" screen or smaller, this is a money saver no phone selling entity will tell you about. Good for you for passing it on!

 

[highup]

I just posted a couple of Cars videos here, and just noticed they were set at 1080... wowza, I only have 2 gigs till Wednesday.
Glad I only watched 1/2 the first song.

 

[havasu]

I had a contraption I could hook to my cell phone, and upload for viewing on my big flat screen at my vacation home. I later found out each 30 minute show I watched used 1 gig of data, which cost me an additional $15 through my Cell phone provider. That cost me $60 for 2 hours of shows. I now get unlimited data through Verizon, but I also have Directv, so those days are over.

 

[highup]

I have over the air tv, no cable, and my phone is my internet now. straight Talk plans don't allow you to upload to tv or the computer. I'm sure video quality at 144 on a 70 inch TV would look like a 3 year olds finger painting gone bad.
I just never gave any thought to the video quality impact on my usage. Now I can become a junkie.