The DW and I had Netflix for a few years just getting DVDs via the postal service. Netflix has a distribution center in Kansas City so usually we received a DVD with 1-2 working days after we requested one. You can pay more than the basic rate to have more than one DVD out at a time but we never did. We dropped the DVD mail service after they raised the rates (and later lowered after massive customer complaints). We now stream Netflix at home on a Roku. I'd say you need at least a 3 mb download to stream a movie without glitching. Streaming via a hotspot may work but I'm sure it would eat up your data quota.