Wi-Fi & connectivity

[twiceover]

10 hours of streaming per day, that sounds about right.  Your only real option is to limit the data at the router.

[LWT3]

Thanks.  Yes, it was a secret menu.  The Roku Ultra is set for 12 Mbps, and I lowered it to 1 using the following sequence:  Home button x 5, << button x 3, >> button x 2.  I guess it makes sense for Roku to hide a feature that doesn't work consistently.  If they could make it work, that would be a good selling point vs the competition.  On the importance of lag, I understand why it is needed for trouble-shooting.  But the amount of data we used in the past was very consistent month to month, and only one variable has changed in our internet usage.  No new phones, computers, or other devices (e.g, we do not have a security system), no new users, no changes in how we use anything except for adding DTV Now.  I will do some research on my options starting with the links you've provided.  Thanks again.  

[LWT3]

"twiceover" wrote:
10 hours of streaming per day, that sounds about right.  Your only real option is to limit the data at the router.

For what it's worth, I've read that 1 TB should be enough to stream over 11 hours per day of HD television without going over the limit.  If we're using 70 GB per day, that's over 2 TB per month.  Here is one source saying streaming live TV should use at most 2 GB per hour vs the 7 GB I'm apparently using:  
Live TV Streaming Data Usage

Cord Cutter News

Another source said streaming one hour of HD television should use between 2 and 3 GB per hour, so that would mean 10 hours of TV should use 30 GB.  Another source said a bit rate of 2128 Kbps (2000 video and 128 audio) would use 0.913 GigaBytes per hour, so if the Roku really limited the bit rate, at 1 Mps, I should use about 0.5 GB per hour.   

[Dukies07]

"LWT3" wrote:
Thanks.  Yes, it was a secret menu.  The Roku Ultra is set for 12 Mbps, and I lowered it to 1 using the following sequence:  Home button x 5, << button x 3, >> button x 2.  I guess it makes sense for Roku to hide a feature that doesn't work consistently.  If they could make it work, that would be a good selling point vs the competition.  On the importance of lag, I understand why it is needed for trouble-shooting.  But the amount of data we used in the past was very consistent month to month, and only one variable has changed in our internet usage.  No new phones, computers, or other devices (e.g, we do not have a security system), no new users, no changes in how we use anything except for adding DTV Now.  I will do some research on my options starting with the links you've provided.  Thanks again.  

Did overriding this setting solve this? I have encountered the same situation. I have been using a Fire TV with Playstation Vue for the past 2 or 3 years and never hit my 1TB data cap on Xfinity. I decided to switch to a Roku Ultra last month, and within about 3 weeks I got a message that I had gone over it. I have Google Wifi which monitors data usage by device. When I checked it for the past 30 days, my Roku Ultra used 778GB! It is using almost 8GB/hour when we are watching TV with it whereas my Fire TV was using around 4GB. So the Roku Ultra is using 2x the amount of bandwidth, can someone please help me understand why?

[DBDukes]

"Dukies07" wrote:
...I have been using a Fire TV with Playstation Vue for the past 2 or 3 years and never hit my 1TB data cap on Xfinity. I decided to switch to a Roku Ultra last month, and within about 3 weeks I got a message that I had gone over it. I have Google Wifi which monitors data usage by device. When I checked it for the past 30 days, my Roku Ultra used 778GB! It is using almost 8GB/hour when we are watching TV with it whereas my Fire TV was using around 4GB. So the Roku Ultra is using 2x the amount of bandwidth, can someone please help me understand why?

Are you hitting HOME when you are through watching TV? Or are you just turning off the TV?

[LWT3]

"Dukies07" wrote:

"LWT3" wrote:
Thanks.  Yes, it was a secret menu.  The Roku Ultra is set for 12 Mbps, and I lowered it to 1 using the following sequence:  Home button x 5, << button x 3, >> button x 2.  I guess it makes sense for Roku to hide a feature that doesn't work consistently.  If they could make it work, that would be a good selling point vs the competition.  On the importance of lag, I understand why it is needed for trouble-shooting.  But the amount of data we used in the past was very consistent month to month, and only one variable has changed in our internet usage.  No new phones, computers, or other devices (e.g, we do not have a security system), no new users, no changes in how we use anything except for adding DTV Now.  I will do some research on my options starting with the links you've provided.  Thanks again.  

Did overriding this setting solve this? I have encountered the same situation. I have been using a Fire TV with Playstation Vue for the past 2 or 3 years and never hit my 1TB data cap on Xfinity. I decided to switch to a Roku Ultra last month, and within about 3 weeks I got a message that I had gone over it. I have Google Wifi which monitors data usage by device. When I checked it for the past 30 days, my Roku Ultra used 778GB! It is using almost 8GB/hour when we are watching TV with it whereas my Fire TV was using around 4GB. So the Roku Ultra is using 2x the amount of bandwidth, can someone please help me understand why?

No, overriding didn't have any impact at all.

[PlainFacts]

the hidden feature on roku devices did the trick for me.
https://www.howtogeek.com/289289/how-to-limit-bandwidth-usage-on-your-roku/

[EFamily]

Per ROKU (technical service -  as of year ago sometime in 2018 you can no longer change your bandwidth by using this method):

Home button x 5, << button x 3, >> button x 2. 

I spoke with someone in technical service today and ROKU stopped that option about a year ago. 

How do I change 12.0 mbps to 3.5 mbps on all my devices?  You can't do it manually on ROKU.  I went over my 1000 gb with comcast and it's because my ROKU is set too high.

[nana43]

I'm am trying to achieve similar results by manually setting a resolution at say 720p vs 1080p.  But from what I've read in these forums, people are saying that apps, in my case youtube tv, will still pull data at a 1080p bitrate, and the roku will only change the display to the tv.  Call me crazy, but if thats correct?  wtf?

[PlainFacts]

Well, I'm not sure if you are playing YouTube on your tv or a computer.  If you are getting to it via the Roku menu, then yes it should limit the bandwidth.  Otherwise no.  Either way, you can change your youtube streaming setting on the youtube site versus trying to change it on each device - https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/91449?hl=en 

Treat each device individually in your house - computers, each roku you own, streaming to the built-in apps on newer tv's (bypassing the roku)... etc..  If you change it on one device, don't assume it is doing it for all devices.  The only workaround for that is limiting bandwidth on your router (a.k.a "traffic policing") -if and only if it has that functionality built in.  Most home routers are pretty basic though and won't.