Roku setup

[hamesb2]

I got a Roku Express for a family friend who lives with us and for the last few months the internet usage has been insane on the device.

I've tried to turn the resolution down to the minimum as well as power the Roku Device from a USB port in the TV itself instead of the wall so as to turn the stick off when the TV itself is turned off but still there is insane internet usage.

Does anyone have any ideas please? He mainly watches the free Roku cable channels if that helps.

Also, compare the top Roku device (the one with the usage problem) with the one under it. The one on the top is a streaming device whereas the one under is a 65in Roku TV. I don't know if this is helpful information.

Edit: I have Autoplay off and Bandwidth Saver on.

[atc98092 · Accepted solution]

What are you considering an "insane" amount? If the Roku is connected to the USB port on the TV, and that port is powered off when the TV is (some TVs have a setting to keep it powered) then the Roku cannot be using any data when it's off. 

An Express doesn't stream 4K, and if you've manually set the resolution to 720 that should reduce the usual bitrate a small amount. Most sources list a 720p stream at most around 1 GB per hour. You can determine if the data use is exceeding that amount.

If the Roku is truly powered off with the TV and the numbers aren't adding up for your overall data use, then there's something other than the Roku using the data.

[TastyCakes]

My roommates Roku device for example. (let me first say that I have an Xbox Series S and a 50" Samsung Smart TV, video cameras, I watch YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, HBO, all of it. constantly all the time. I'm one of those "has to sleep with the TV on types" so there's something constantly playing.)

The Roku device of the last week 7 days has used 156GB, whereas, the next most used device in terms of usage is my Xbox, which you would expect.. used a whopping 47Gigs of the last 7 days. How and why is Roku using such an extreme amount of data more?

[atc98092]

@TastyCakes you didn't state what Roku your roommate has. If it's a 4K player streaming 4K material you could expect 6-8GB of data per hour. That could be 144 GB in one 24 hour session. 156 GB over seven days doesn't sound extreme, depending on what's being watched and for how long. That's only about 22 GB per day. Again, it all depends on the use case and time spent streaming media. 

[RokuElmer-H]

Welcome, @TastyCakes!

Thanks for your first post in the Roku Community!

We have received some inquiries related to data usage on our Roku device. While you can refer to the information provided by @atc98092, We would like to share some tips on how to save your data usage. By following the steps below:

• Press Home  on your Roku remote
• Scroll and select Settings. 
• Select Bandwidth save
• Choose On

For a detailed instruction, you can refer to this support link How to use Bandwidth Saver to avoid going over your Internet data cap.

Best wishes,

Elmer