Netflix India versus cable and torrenting. Who wins the 20 day challenge?

A few weeks back, couch potatoes everywhere went into a tizzy over Netflix’s launch in 130 countries.

Like a bunch of others, I missed my US-bred habit of streaming Netflix in my home country, and it finally gave me a way around having to either wait for cable channels to play edited (mildly, but still) versions on TV, or potentially encourage piracy by watching them on torrented versions.

So I turned into Netflix CEO Reed hasting’s model subscriber, got a new account as soon as Netflix India went live, and ditched good old cable and friends’ downloaded versions for good. For 20 days.

But now it is almost time for me (and other new Netflix users) to make a decision on whether to be a paying customer, and I, a self-professed Netflix lover, am not sure I want a renewal. Here’s why.

Rationed streaming

Netflix sells itself on the premise that you can play it non-stop, watching back-to-back episodes of whatever catches your fancy, and never miss TV again. Only in India, back-to-back streaming means carefully-rationed-streaming, as I found out. No good. The culprit? An antiquated broadband streaming practice that typically turns down user speeds to 512 kbps after they hit a certain “fair usage policy.”

Airtel, my data provider, says “Airtel sets a monthly data transfer limit, this is different for different plans. Once you reach your data transfer limit, your speed will reduce as stated in your plan. Of course, at the start of your next monthly billing cycle, your monthly speed/ data transfer limit will be reset.”

In simple Netflix-lover terms, it means you have to recharge/top up your data plan repeatedly in the middle of the month if you are trying to stream Narcos, Jessica Jones and Jane the Virgin.

As if being stuck on episodes because my internet speed was turned down was not bad enough, I am now being visited by guilt pangs over the bills I have generated recharging my 60 GB “unlimited” Airtel plan twice a month.

By itself Netflix charges a harmless US$7.63 dollars in India, Singapore, and elsewhere, but add all expenses, and I’m going to pay upwards of US$45 if I want to continue.

Netflix, but no chill