I can't tell you about the streaming policies of all the companies you mention but I know that Netflix offers a lower bandwidth option - but that will depend on your device. If your screen is a 1080P or higher it won't look very good if you are streaming at 720P. Because I have very poor bandwidth options I limit streaming to a 32" screen and set Netflix to 720P. If I was using a "smart" TV I couldn't do that, but then I'd have zero streaming options. Look at your account settings at those companies if your device(s) will work with the lower setting, it is probably available there.

Yeah, I found where to modify Netflix... I set it to the lowest setting and can't tell a difference, so that's good.

Neither YouTube TV nor Pandora offer that, though. I even went in to chat sessions with both to double check, and posted "feature requests" for them.

I found that Spotify has a data saver feature, so I guess I could switch from Pandora to that... but I much prefer Pandora :-( And that still doesn't help with YouTube TV, which is what I stream the most for video.

fwiw, youtube might be lowering quality during the pandemic.

[wired.com...]

fwiw, youtube might be lowering quality during the pandemic.

Netflix definitely is to the point that any dark scene looks like a game of Minecraft (heavily pixelated).

for a brief second I thought were going to say "looks like a game of thrones battle".

I watched tv and listened to radio in the 1950s. Was thrilled to have three tv channels and five radio stations, over rabbit ears and snowy reception.

These days I get better reception, even over constricted bandwidths, and remain a happy camper. Perhaps my expectations are not so high?

Meanwhile, if full bore is desired, investigate other alternatives to DSL...

Disclaimer: I am still on DSL even though area is fully wired for fiber optics. It remains cheaper in the long run since the data cap on 25mb/s DSL is 1 terabyte/month while the fiber plan for 100mb/s is 500gb/month, then $5 for each 100gb over. Keeps me honest on "need for speed" and 720 is very acceptable. ... Then again, I grew up with 1950s TV/Radio...

That said, what ELSE are you running? That could make a difference.

I watched tv and listened to radio in the 1950s. Was thrilled to have three tv channels and five radio stations, over rabbit ears and snowy reception.

Ohhh, you wuz a rich kid! LOL

I grew up in the 70s, but in rural America we had an outside antenna on a long pole that went over the surrounding trees (rabbit ears were too weak). We could pick up one channel clearly (CBS). Sometimes my parents wanted to watch something on NBC, though, so I'd have to go outside and hand-turn the antenna. On a windy day, I'd just have to stand there and hold it until their show was over.

We had 1 local radio station that played generic Top 20s, but they had 30 minutes of commercials every hour. I could pick up another station from about 100 miles away that played country music (yuck), but even that was pretty staticky.

So yeah, I totally get what you mean... we're totally spoiled today, and the next generation honestly has no idea what life is like without the internet or all of these luxuries (cell phones, central heat and air, etc). I've had it for more than half of my life, too, though, and I only barely remember life before it.

That said, what ELSE are you running? That could make a difference.

I'm using my Windows 10 computer as the router, but "Data usage" doesn't break down each program that's connected via Hotspot.

The #1 hog is Outlook, with a total of 39.22G over the last 30 days. I'm in shock over that one, I don't get THAT much email. I have it IMAPed with Gmail, though... is it transferring that much data every time it syncs?!

The second hog is "Mobile hotspot" (via WiFi) with 20.63G, so I guess that's combining Netflix, YouTube TV, Pandora, and (occasionally) Hulu, as well as my WiFi thermostat, my girlfriend's computer, and both of our cell phones (sporadically). But I only set up the Hotspot on May 7, so that 20.63G is over 5 days.

I'm totally guessing that Pandora is the biggest hog, because I keep it playing while I work virtually all day. I watch maybe 25-30 hours of YouTube TV every month, and maybe 16 hours of Netflix every month. And I might flip over to Hulu or one of the station-specific apps (like CBS) if YouTube TV is going to show commercials but the app isn't (eg, I watch "Magnum" on the CBS app because it doesn't have commercials), so that might be 4-5 hours every month.

cssdude: If that's correct, then can you guys and gals suggest any other way to save data, specifically on Pandora and YouTube TV? I've already asked both, and they have no way of limiting data on their ends.

Pretty sure you already know some of what I will post here, here it goes anyway to cover the topic.

What your router says VS other things... when you download let's say 100MB, it's not exactly 100MB. Your computer, router, etc will be constantly sending confirmation packets, it's like send, receive, wait... yes, confirmed. And so on. This might also be impacted on what you are downloading or how (peer to peer, browser, etc). Some packets have to be downloaded again sometimes, and anyway, your data transfer (depending where you look) might be counting upload + download.

I use a hotspot at home/office (cell phone), I have a amazingly cheap option that was upgraded and etc etc it's amazingly cheap and fast. I take care of how I use the web on my laptop / tablet / ipad / tv, etc. The place where I have most control it's on the laptop, yes an adblocker allows great savings, no kidding. You can also block specific stuff (non ads) and save more data. On tablets and smartphones I often use Opera Mini or anything saving data. It works. Having a router depending on your model, you can configure it to block ads, specific urls, tracking stuff, and even limit the download speed, this way those "automatically configuring services" that "detect" your speed and serve 720 or 1080 video will not have a chance.

The problem is video., there is little you can do there. You can try to config your services to provide you with 240 / 360 resolution, etc. Some services will not respect your setting and serve you high resolution, you can get some help there with your router configuration limiting the download speed as mentioned above.

Other than that: download stuff instead of using streaming. Your options might be diverse (or not) depending what you consume. You can find lots of movies at different resolutions online for download, and some options are underground (not exactly legal) but you can download them, sometimes getting a 600mb movie with option for a 800mb instead of the usual 1.5gigs. But it depends on you, what you consume and your nethiquete (copyright policies, etc). I personally download all the content I can and then watch it, RARELY watch streaming video, and yes I save a lot of data. And yes there are services to download movies or videos from video portals, and there are also browser extensions.

There are some browsers offering video compression (Opera Mini did, UC Browser offered it too), I'm not up to date on this because I stopped experimenting with it a while a go. What I mention here comes from personal experimenting, not that I'm telling people to download free movies and stop paying, or supporting free questionable browser extensions, I just tried saving data and I got some great results. I dropped some of the options because I honestly don't use it, it was pure curiosity.

BTW, when it comes to music, I download it, it's one download and allows me to listen unlimited times. When it comes to video: same, because most things I save it for reference (documentaries, how to tutorials, etc). When it comes to other stuff... it's funny, most videos are garbage and you can skip and skip, only watching like 20% of the video to get what you really, really need.

Good luck.