Foxtel backed Presto has improved its device restriction policy, one of the most restrictive compared to local SVOD rivals.
Previously, Presto only allowed a maximum of four devices to be registered to a single account, and for two simultaneous streams to be viewed at any one time. With many users choosing to enjoy their SVOD viewing on multiple devices, and with dongles like the Chromecast counting as one device (which requires pairing with another device like an Android phone, which also counts as one device as part of Presto's limit), it quickly became apparent that in multi-user households, the four device limit wasn't nearly enough. Worse yet, user can only change or swap out one device per month.
Compared with rivals Netflix and Stan, both of which offers unlimited device support, and with Presto's subscription cost being the highest of the three, Presto's restrictions seems to be out of touch with what users need.
Presto's simultaneous stream limit of 2 streams, however, was more comparable to Stan (3 streams) and Netflix (1, 2 or 4, depending on the account type).
But with the latest changes announced this week, things have improved, although not drastically enough to make Presto's restrictions better than its rivals. Presto has upped the device limit to 6, and users can now watch three simultaneous streams, which matches Stan's stream limit. However, users that have used up all 6 slots are still stuck with only one device change per month - a problem that does not exist on Stan or Netflix.
