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Watching movies on a prepaid phone can be challenging, but there are a few tricks to simplify the process. Perhaps the easiest way to do it is to sideload a movie from your personal computer as a file. Prepaid phones use the same underlying system software that most other smart handsets and tablets would. That means they should still be able to play MP4 video files.
If you have some video footage sitting on your hard drive, then this might be the perfect time to watch it. A majority of modern smartphones should be able to play MPEG-4 video even if they’re not connected to any network at all, so this solution should certainly work on your prepaid device. This also eliminates commercial interruptions. On the other hand, those who absolutely have to watch streaming content will need to rely on some extra tricks.
Make Sure You Have The Most Bandwidth Possible
Prepaid plans tend to offer very little downstream throughput, so it makes sense to at least maximize your chances of getting a good connection. Check out the bars on your phone’s screen. You’ll want to relocate to a place where you’re getting the maximum number if at all possible. Trying to watch a movie without a solid wireless connection is going to be extremely annoying, especially if you already have a low-bandwidth plan to begin with.
Long-distance providers will generally throttle people who don’t have a sufficient number of airtime minutes remaining, so you’ll also want to get in touch with a wireless phone refill service before you try streaming a film. Getting your phone back to its full capacity will go a long way toward making this as painless as humanly possible. Once you get your browser open you’ll want to drop the playback bitrate to a lower level to avoid taxing your connection. Movies don’t look great when played in 144p quality, but they should prove watchable on even the worst network by doing so. Those who can connect to a nearby WiFi router may be able to avoid this mess entirely.
Using a Local Area Network
Connecting your prepaid phone to a standard WiFi router should be no more difficult than connecting anything else to a wireless network. If you’re at home or somewhere like an airport that offers free WiFi, then you can use your phone to stream video directly over this network connection. Most phones will automatically use the higher bandwidth local connection the moment it becomes available.
All you have to do is wait for the usual pairing dance to finish and then you can open your browser and stream like normal. Since the connection should work at full speed, you’ll normally be able to stream at the highest bitrate provided your phone’s onboard graphics chip doesn’t mind processing video at that size. Reduce the video quality if you run into any issues.
Though it might seem as though prepaid phones are only good for making calls, they can make excellent pocket theaters if you treat them with care.
