Using Apple TV with iPhone, no broadband

[Kentuckienne]

I live in an area where broadband internet isn’t available. I have DirectTV satellite for TV and an iPhone with unlimited 4G data and 15 gb hotspot data. I have a Jetpack from Verizon that gives me 15gb data as well. I would like to mirror movie content from the iPhone to the TV, and was planning to buy an Apple TV box for this. But from what I read, the movie would be displayed at iPhone resolution and not the 4K supported by the TV. Is that right? There’s no point getting Apple TV if I can’t watch in at least HD. I have an Amazon Prime membership which includes lots of free movies and shows, but if I can only watch in smeary blown-up iPhone quality then the Apple TV doesn’t do me much good. Any suggestions?

 

[TonyK]

Can't you make your phone a hotspot, connect the ATV to the hotspot and do it that way?

 

[Longkeg]

Can't you make your phone a hotspot, connect the ATV to the hotspot and do it that way?

He could but even with 30 gigs of data to play with he would find himself low on data after just a few 4k movies. 1080p would be a little better but not much. If you use the iPhone essentially as a modem to get the ATV the internet it needs "unlimited data" is meaningless since you aren't using the data for the iPhone. You're using the phone as a hotspot and that data is limited.

This question gets asked a lot here (always check previous threads). In the past I've suggested taking the ATV out of the equation completely. For $50 get the iPhone HDMI adapter and run your TV directly from your iPhone. Since no third device is involved your data (for the iPhone) will be truly unlimited.... until they throttle you.

 

[Tech198]

You really need a home broadband connection for Apple TV, otherwise you'll go though data like crazy over cellular and end up with hefty bills, unless all you wanna do is use Home sharing...

That alone, only requires internet connection just to sign with Apple ID, then disconnect, and watch. That's probably the best it can get.

 

[ActionableMango]

Any suggestions?

You can't get satellite broadband? It has high latency, but that's not a problem for streaming.

 

[Kentuckienne]

Satellite broadband is horribly expensive. Not unlimited, either. I had it for a long time, with very poor customer service and support if there was a problem, and there were lots of problems. I think the limit was 12 GB per month. Can't get DSL or any kind of copper-based internet. For a while I had Verizon's "LTE Installed" cantenna, which was a better deal but still limited to about 18 GB for all the devices in the house (two computers, phone, ipads). Now I have a Verizon Jetpack which comes with a 15 GB allotment I use for the computers and tablets. I have another 15 GB hotspot data on my phone I can use. I know it isn't enough to stream 4K, or even much HD video. But it would be nice to watch a few things that aren't on the DirectTV channels, like John Oliver's show or a couple Amazon Prime videos.

I looked into getting the Lightning-HDMI cable. Most advice seems to say pony up for the expensive one from Apple because with any software update they could make third party cables non-functional. That started me looking at Apple TV, since I could use AirPlay to stream to that. Apple support told me today that as long as the TV has 4K and HD, it should work with 4K Apple TV and the quality of the video will depend on the resolution of the Apple TV box. So if I'm streaming an HD movie from Amazon Prime, using AirPlay to cast to the Apple TV, the video will be HD quality on the screen.

Since the Apple TV is near the end of the life cycle, I think I will go ahead and get the lightning-HDMI cable from Apple and use that for now. Advantage is I can take it with me when traveling. I hesitate because I read that the video from the cable would be like a giant blurry iPhone screen, but I think if I have a direct connection and am not using screen mirroring the video will be ok. I'll go to the Apple store tomorrow to ask about it before i buy one.