Streaming Versus Downloading

[T&S]

Hello everyone. I have recently moved to Wellington, NZ, and I'm missing a few of the shows shown back in Blighty. As I have a 50Gb internet limit per month, I was wondering if streaming and downloading use the same amount or, as streaming is often at a lower quality, does this use less?

Hope this makes sense and thanks in advance.

[Mattk]

I see what you are saying but where would you stream from?

[T&S]

I'm talking about streaming from, for example, the BBC IPlayer.

[chrisgel]

I think it would be the same. It's the same amount of data coming down the line whether it's slow or fast. I may be wrong but I'd be interested to know myself.

[Buenchico]

As has been indicated, you can't (officially) use the BBC iPlayer outside of the UK. The BBC doesn't hold international broadcasting rights for its programmes, so the iPlayer servers check the IP addresses of people attempting to use the service and block access from non-UK ISPs.

However several people have reported getting around the block with this:
http://download.cnet.com/Expat-Shield/3000-2092_4-75211377.html

To deal with your actual question:
Downloaded files are likely to be at the highest resolution (with maximum file sizes) but some streamed services (such as BBC iPlayer) allow you to select a lower resolution (using less data).