Then there are all of the other servers on the Internet that must relay this data. The server on the other end may be too busy to serve downloads at 100 Mbps. Those with 100 Mbps or faster Internet services may experience high-quality video however, downloading apps, music, and other content isn’t always faster. I’m sure readers are laughing at this slow speed, but I haven’t noticed much of a difference. However, they do cap the hotspot’s speed at 5 Mbps. They never throttle the end-user down to an unusable 256 kbps. Their hotspot service is truly unlimited. Visible is an excellent, affordable cellular provider. It’s actually better than Comcast, Xfinity, or whatever they want to call their unusable Internet service. I now use Visible and my iPhone’s Personal Hotspot feature for Internet access. I don’t have the time to file and represent a class action lawsuit. Nothing will get them to act responsibly. After struggling to get Comcast to maintain their infrastructure, resorting to filing a complaint with the California State Attorney General, I gave up. Every Internet service provider here is horrible. I’ve lived in the same condominium for over 15 years. Unfortunately, this gets them a bigger return on investment as customers are lured into and shackled by multi-year contracts. They’d rather spend money on marketing than servers. Tech savvy Bay Area residents gobble up bandwidth, as greedy telecoms refuse to maintain infrastructure. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area, we have to deal with some of the worst Internet service imaginable. Not everyone has excellent Internet access. Taking a cue from Apple, they default to the least frustrating settings. The slow download may not be Netflix’s fault, but most users will blame them. Users tend to take out their frustrations on others. Nothing is more frustrating than waiting hours for a download to finish. If you’re using an iPhone, you may be using cellular data or a slow, public, Wi-Fi hotspot. The end-user’s bandwidth is also important. Adjust Netflix Video Quality to Save Data You can also set video quality settings for your profile on the Netflix website.
Streaming quality, for cellular connections only, is set on the Cellular Data Usage screen. Of course, this is just the setting for downloads. Despite the smartphone’s impressive Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion, Netflix still defaults to standard video quality.
This is a screenshot of the latest Netflix version installed on a brand new iPhone 13 Pro Max. The lesser video quality is noticeable, but it can be changed easily. Unfortunately, when I installed the Netflix app, download quality was set to SD. It features 2048 x 1536 resolution, which is beyond HD quality. If you own an iPad, you will likely notice a difference. Most people won’t even notice the difference on a 6.7″ or smaller screen. Since HD costs Netflix more money (servers and bandwidth are not free), Netflix defaults to SD. Thus, HD is superfluous on most iOS devices. The biggest screen on an iOS device is 6.7” - a feature of the iPhone 13 Pro Max and similar devices.
iOS devices are portable and most have small screens. Even if your device has a Retina HD display, capable of the highest resolutions, Netflix defaults to SD.
Depending on your screen size, video quality can make the difference between a high-end home theater experience and poor quality video, reminiscent of old CRT televisions.īy default, the Netflix iOS app sets downloaded video quality to 480p standard definition.