Netflix is one of those things people rave about that I thought wasn’t for me. I mean, it requires tons of bandwidth and high speed internet; right? I had the following thought yesterday.
Well, I now have 15GB of bandwidth a month, which is more than enough for what I absolutely need to do in a month. Once I get my high gain antenna, the connection is going to be pretty fast. Linda‘s Dave says that you can choose the quality of the video to use less bandwidth. Maybe it’s time to look at Netflix at little more closely.
So I did. The first thing I did was Google was how much bandwidth a typical Netflix movie uses up. To my immense surprise, I discovered that Netflix Canada movies are up to two thirds lighter than an equivalent movie in the US because even hardwired internet up here has ridiculous bandwidth caps.
I signed up for a one-month trial membership and got some recs from my best friend about what to watch. To my disappointment, Canadians don’t get the same options as Americans (but of course) so I can’t check out about 95% of her recs.
I eventually found a movie to try, it played smoothly even with my slooooooow connection, and I discovered that it used up only about 250MB (the Mifi actually updates usage in real time!). I obviously can’t watch a movie every night and do other interneting stuff, but it’s not like I have time to watch a movie every night anyway.
If I watch two Netflix movies a month, it’ll be cheaper than raiding the $5 bin at Walmart ($7.99 versus $10). Their selection, even in Canada, is pretty good. So I’m fairly sure I’ll continue with a paid membership.
Is there anything else I need to discover now that I have a good bandwidth cap in Canada?
We love Netflix and we know it isn’t as good in Canada as the U.S. We don’t have cable or satellite. Of course where we live we pick up all the Canadian and U. S . Channels in HD using our roof top antenna we have had since we came here (36 yrs ago).
Rae, I am live streaming the past seasons of “Downton Abby” from AMAZON. I like their selection better and I think it’s much easier to navigate and the reviews are much easier to access. Because I have a prime membership I’m watching it all free, though you can rent or buy movies or tv programs. I’m giving it a mother to see how much I watch and how much it costs. If it’s more convenient and cheaper, I’ll drop Netflix.
Hobopals, I also prefer the Amazon selection. I was able to share my best friend’s Prime account this past winter, but could not get videos free. I’ll have my own account next year and will stream there. I think Netflix is the only option for Canada. What is the bandwidth situation like for Amazon?
With regard to Amazon Prime vs. Netflix, we have both after deciding to pull the plug on DISH. Each has programming and movies that the other does not have. Both can be extremely difficult to navigate and find things on – depending on what you are using to access it. For instance, Amazon is difficult to navigate and search through our Blu-Ray DVD player while marginally easier through the Amazon website.
Navigating Netflix is not standard, either, from platform to platform. It isn’t bad through the Blu-Ray DVD player but is limited to a select number of programs/movies in each genre. I think the app for the tablet is the same, but it seems more polished. I find internet browsing the most cumbersome of all. But that’s just me, I’m sure. 🙂
Okay, so it’s not just me finding the Netflix site absolutely horrible to navigate!
iTunes also has some stuff you can’t find elsewhere. Between that, Netflix, and Amazon, you can get just about anything. I use iTunes mostly for shows from Quebec that are no longer being streamed on tou.tv, my favourite source for French-language streaming media (and that’s FREE).
I think Amazon is far superior as far as streaming, in fact in every way. No stops or drops. I buy just about everything except food through Amazon especially since my back surgery in Dec. saves gas AND my back, and for me, I make up the cost of prime with a few purchases. Then, it’s free books for my kindle and free movies, TV programs. I heard, recently, that Netflix had several contracts dropped so their inventory will suffer. I have had Netflix for years-started with the mailed DVDs.
In the States, I also shop almost exclusively at Amazon because of all my gift certificates and the free Prime shipping. From Canada, I lose a lot of my certificates to shipping, but it’s often still worth my while to buy there because they prepay the customs fees and taxes, so no surprises after the package gets across the border.