Skype bandwidth usage ?
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,156
Likes: 113
From: There and here
Skype bandwidth usage ?
So.....We have recently been joined by an au pair for half a year and as a fully paid up member of the computer youth movement 
she is busy Skype-ing family, friends and boyfriend for several hours each evening. The rest of the time streaming various sites and simple surfing. The wifi is blinking at such a rate that the diodes almost look like they're not blinking and this has got me thinking.....We have a (generous) bandwidth limit per month, but at the rate the au pair is using her laptop i am afeared that the limits will be breached long before the month is out.
I've tried Google, but most of the results are from several years ago and there didn't seem to be any real numbers of the usage that Skype can generate. Has anybody got hard numbers or even anecdotal evidence through experience ? I am aware that if your connection is set up as supernode or not will have an effect as well. Anyhow, any and all answers/advice gratefully received.
SHJ
she is busy Skype-ing family, friends and boyfriend for several hours each evening. The rest of the time streaming various sites and simple surfing. The wifi is blinking at such a rate that the diodes almost look like they're not blinking and this has got me thinking.....We have a (generous) bandwidth limit per month, but at the rate the au pair is using her laptop i am afeared that the limits will be breached long before the month is out.I've tried Google, but most of the results are from several years ago and there didn't seem to be any real numbers of the usage that Skype can generate. Has anybody got hard numbers or even anecdotal evidence through experience ? I am aware that if your connection is set up as supernode or not will have an effect as well. Anyhow, any and all answers/advice gratefully received.
SHJ
Official PPRuNe Chaplain
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 3,498
Likes: 0
From: Witnesham, Suffolk
If you are lucky, your ISP has given you a "Control Panel" where you can see your usage to date this month.
I don't think Skype is particularly heavy, but some streaming stuff is a good user of bandwidth.
I don't think Skype is particularly heavy, but some streaming stuff is a good user of bandwidth.
Per Ardua ad Astraeus
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 18,575
Likes: 4
From: UK
Per Ardua ad Astraeus
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 18,575
Likes: 4
From: UK
You geeks just have no style - first work your way in as a computer bandwidth analyist helper for SHJ, offer to check her dexterity while Mr and Mrs SHJ hoof it out and you might then get to explore the permissions of the au-pair......................
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 611
Likes: 62
From: Down under
If you use Firefox and if your ISP has provided the necessary XML facility which it requires, this little net usage meter is brilliant. It provides a visual "meter" on the Firefox toolbar of your data use and a pointer which indicates the reference point for the current day of the billing month.
More details here
Regards
FoR
More details here
Regards
FoR
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,156
Likes: 113
From: There and here
Hmmm 
You lot make me laugh, a technical thread turned into a letchfest Sadly, although said young lady is attractive, the operative word is young and if the real police wouldn't come after you, the moral police would 
Am with Sky broadband, operating computers are Macs, so sensible answers couldn't help due to being PC orientated. Apart from restricting her usage and risking triggering teenage petulance i'm not sure how to proceed
Back in the (recent) day, people read books/newspapers and phoned home every week.....how times and expectations have changed.
SHJ
You lot make me laugh, a technical thread turned into a letchfest
Sadly, although said young lady is attractive, the operative word is young and if the real police wouldn't come after you, the moral police would Am with Sky broadband, operating computers are Macs, so sensible answers couldn't help due to being PC orientated. Apart from restricting her usage and risking triggering teenage petulance i'm not sure how to proceed
Back in the (recent) day, people read books/newspapers and phoned home every week.....how times and expectations have changed.SHJ
Ramasseur des pommes
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 823
Likes: 19
From: UK
SHJ,
The amount of bandwidth Skype uses depends on the speed of each caller's connection. The way to get a ballpark figure for your connection is to call someone yourself and see what speed the connection is running. Skype will display this information if you go to Skype>Preferences>Advanced and tick "Display technical call info". You could then extrapolate an hourly usage.
Applemacster
The amount of bandwidth Skype uses depends on the speed of each caller's connection. The way to get a ballpark figure for your connection is to call someone yourself and see what speed the connection is running. Skype will display this information if you go to Skype>Preferences>Advanced and tick "Display technical call info". You could then extrapolate an hourly usage.
Applemacster
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 794
Likes: 8
From: Wiltshire
try this one thinkbroadband :: Broadband Usage Meter
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,156
Likes: 113
From: There and here
Thankyou Applemacster, have ticked the box and will see what happens 
No one on-line in my contacts yet, probably out enjoying the weather or cuddled up in bed no doubt.
Oldbeefer, thanks, but this meter is just PC supported and not Mac thus far. Any more advice happily accepted
SHJ
No one on-line in my contacts yet, probably out enjoying the weather or cuddled up in bed no doubt.Oldbeefer, thanks, but this meter is just PC supported and not Mac thus far. Any more advice happily accepted
SHJ
Joined: May 1999
Aviation Qualifications: ATP+Mil
Posts: 27,397
Likes: 857
From: Quite near 'An aerodrome somewhere in England'
Tenuous link between au pairs and aviation.....
The opening credit reel sequence of the woeful 1972 Tigon film "Au Pair Girls" (which, later in the film, featured some spectacularly revealing scenes of the divine Gabrielle Drake...
) was shot at Heathrow airport. At one point, the remains of the Trident damaged by the July 1968 BKS Airspeed Ambassador accident can be seen being removed from the area near what became Terminal 1....
An interesting variety of aircraft in both the opening and end credit sections.
(But Gabrielle Drake was even more 'interesting'....)
The opening credit reel sequence of the woeful 1972 Tigon film "Au Pair Girls" (which, later in the film, featured some spectacularly revealing scenes of the divine Gabrielle Drake...
) was shot at Heathrow airport. At one point, the remains of the Trident damaged by the July 1968 BKS Airspeed Ambassador accident can be seen being removed from the area near what became Terminal 1....An interesting variety of aircraft in both the opening and end credit sections.
(But Gabrielle Drake was even more 'interesting'....
)
Last edited by BEagle; 9th October 2010 at 09:29.
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,156
Likes: 113
From: There and here
It would seem that so far Skype alone, on in the background, but not being actively used, uses approx 10mb per hour, speech call only, 25mb per hour, but video call uses between 300-500mb per hour. All that is assuming one's laptop isn't a 'supernode'. So if usage is 3hrs per day, 7 days a week and 4 weeks per month, the approx usage of bandwidth is 33gb 
Our monthly limit is 'only' 20gb, which has always been more than enough and then some for surfing/streaming/downloading/uploading/anything and yet we are but mere amateurs in usage it would seem......
SHJ
Our monthly limit is 'only' 20gb, which has always been more than enough and then some for surfing/streaming/downloading/uploading/anything and yet we are but mere amateurs in usage it would seem......SHJ
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 1,630
Likes: 0
From: 39N 77W
I'm confused by the abbreviations used above. Are they consistent?
Some authorities say:
b=bit, though some other authorities say bit should always be written out. ie. bit.
B=byte, though B officially means "bel", a power ratio, as in dB. [named for Alexander Graham Bell]
o=octet (8 bits), mainly used in the non-English-speaking world.
Some authorities say:
b=bit, though some other authorities say bit should always be written out. ie. bit.
B=byte, though B officially means "bel", a power ratio, as in dB. [named for Alexander Graham Bell]
o=octet (8 bits), mainly used in the non-English-speaking world.
Administrator
Joined: Mar 2001
Aviation Qualifications: PPL
Posts: 8,121
Likes: 686
From: Twickenham, home of rugby
Good point Seacue.
I believe that a data rate is given in bps (bits per second), while a data quantity is in Bytes. So you might have a 10Mbps connection (rate) , with a download limit of 20GB (quantity).
But I doubt it's an absolute standard, or if it has been tested legally!
SD
I believe that a data rate is given in bps (bits per second), while a data quantity is in Bytes. So you might have a 10Mbps connection (rate) , with a download limit of 20GB (quantity).
But I doubt it's an absolute standard, or if it has been tested legally!
SD
Hippopotomonstrosesquipidelian title
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,825
Likes: 1
From: is everything
But SD, shirley 10 seconds with a calculator would tell you whether SHJ is using units consistently, and whether his use of "b" and "B" is correct. I know you can do this 
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 10,804
Likes: 1
I would reckon its about 5-16kb/s its using for speech max.
Which translates to 57MB per hour.
Which gives you 350 hours a month on your 20gig quota. Or 11hours a day.
Video is through the roof though at 30-70kb/s which is approx 80 hours per month on your quota or 2.6 hours a day.
Which translates to 57MB per hour.
Which gives you 350 hours a month on your 20gig quota. Or 11hours a day.
Video is through the roof though at 30-70kb/s which is approx 80 hours per month on your quota or 2.6 hours a day.