How much data does VOIP use?

[jnelsoninjax]

I was just thinking about it, and I am using Google Voice to provide VOIP phone service into our house, and obviously it uses data, but is there a way to see how much it uses? This all comes back to the BS I had/have with Xfinity/Comcast and there 1TB data cap.

[adrynalyne]

I don’t know how much, but I do believe it is quite minimal. 
 

Found this:

 

https://www.genvoice.net/how-much-data-does-voip-use/

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

IIRC, VOIP doesn't do all that much unless you are on the phone alot.

 

I do remember I had a 2GB data limit on my phone. And I wasn't answering it a lot. (mostly people trying to sell or make you donate) But, talking was alway seperate from your phone data.

 

I don't think you have anything to worry about.

[jnelsoninjax]

3 hours ago, Mindovermaster said:

IIRC, VOIP doesn't do all that much unless you are on the phone alot.

 

I do remember I had a 2GB data limit on my phone. And I wasn't answering it a lot. (mostly people trying to sell or make you donate) But, talking was alway seperate from your phone data.

 

I don't think you have anything to worry about.

I was not overly concerned, just curious more then anything, this way if/when the cap is reached and I call and bitch at them, I can list everything I have and dispute their claim.

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

41 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

I was not overly concerned, just curious more then anything, this way if/when the cap is reached and I call and bitch at them, I can list everything I have and dispute their claim.

Just make sure your daughter (or whoever it was) doesn't watch Netflix in 4G mode...  

[jnelsoninjax]

21 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

Just make sure your daughter (or whoever it was) doesn't watch Netflix in 4G mode...  

Niece, and I fixed it so it should not revert to 4K, but who knows!

[sc302 Veteran]

I have about 400 people with voip desk phones.  At any given time that entire network uses about 5Mb/s. 

[jnelsoninjax]

25 minutes ago, sc302 said:

I have about 400 people with voip desk phones.  At any given time that entire network uses about 5Mb/s. 

Good to know! So the data usage is next to none!

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

 

An uncompressed POTS (aka copper or circuit-switched) phone line on a channelized T-1 runs at 56 or 64Kbps.  A T-1 runs at 1.55Mbps and holds 24 channels.  If you use VoIP (and there are many different technologies for this), you typically run with some kind of audio compression codec like G.729 that gets it down to around 16-32Kbps, but you also have to account for variable versus fixed-length packets.  Some VoIP phone systems support both, while others may support only fixed length, etc.  Keep in mind, a 2B+D ISDN line (hello, 1990s) was 128Kbps and could support two simultaneous phone calls.

 

Of probable more concern is latency (delay) and jitter (distance between packets) on a VoIP call, plus dropped or out-of-order packets.  The former means you end up talking over each other due to delays on the call, while the others lead to mechanical-sounding voices (think 1950's robot) due audio being lost.  Usually commercial VoIP systems uses VLANs and/or QoS to ensure audio data transmits with the highest priority, as you don't really want to have problems with calls for your salespeople, etc.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

[+BudMan MVC]

You could have everyone in the house on a voip call 24/7 for the month and not come close to your limit...

 

Here is a good table off all the different codec that could be use, and how much bandwidth they might use..

 

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/voice/voice-quality/7934-bwidth-consume.html

 

Lets call it an easy 100Kbps for easy math... So a 2 minute call would be 12Mbits = 1.5MBytes for the whole call..  So 1 hour call would be 45MB..  This is worse case scenario math, calls don't use that much..

[jnelsoninjax]

3 hours ago, BudMan said:

You could have everyone in the house on a voip call 24/7 for the month and not come close to your limit...

 

Here is a good table off all the different codec that could be use, and how much bandwidth they might use..

 

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/voice/voice-quality/7934-bwidth-consume.html

 

Lets call it an easy 100Kbps for easy math... So a 2 minute call would be 12Mbits = 1.5MBytes for the whole call..  So 1 hour call would be 45MB..  This is worse case scenario math, calls don't use that much..

Thanks for the info, as I had said before, I am more curious about it, rather then concerned, we can go weeks without using the phone, so I know that it can't be using that much bandwidth

[+BudMan MVC]

Hasn't comcast removed all their caps?  To be honest caps might be gone for good to be honest, they said they needed them to curtail usage that would break their networks.. Well clearly that is not the case   So they are going to have a hard time to justify putting them back after this is all over.  Now they might just hide the cost in your overall bill going up.. But at least their won't be caps - we can hope..

 

You might find these an interesting read

https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/12/coronavirus-could-force-isps-to-abandon-data-caps-forever/

 

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/03/comcast-waiving-data-cap-hasnt-hurt-its-network-why-not-make-it-permanent/

[jnelsoninjax]

1 minute ago, BudMan said:

Hasn't comcast removed all their caps?  To be honest caps might be gone for good to be honest, they said they needed them to curtail usage that would break their networks.. Well clearly that is not the case   So they are going to have a hard time to justify putting them back after this is all over.  Now they might just hide the cost in your overall bill going up.. But at least their won't be caps - we can hope..

 

You might find this an interesting read

https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/12/coronavirus-could-force-isps-to-abandon-data-caps-forever/

Yes, they have removed the caps temporarily, but I am sure that once this Covid-19 is over, the cap will magically reappear...

[+BudMan MVC]

Don't be so sure about that - it could be a PR nightmare to be sure... Also there is plenty of information about their metering system just being wrong..

 

Here is a perfect example that could explain your sort of nonsense on your numbers

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/10/comcast-incorrectly-charged-2000-customers-for-exceeding-data-cap/

 

If your really concerned there are ways to do your own metering... Some more detailed than others.. But then you would numbers to compare with what they are saying your using.

 

1 way, while it would be rough and not give you details of who is doing what.. Would be a simple smart switch, where you run ethernet from your cable modem to your router wan port through the switch.. And then just looking at the interface stats..

 

Example

 

Just reset the stats when your billing date cycles... And you should have a number atleast close to what they are saying your using.. This could be done with any cheap $40 switch...  Where it would be problematic is if you use some gateway device from them, and can not put this switch between internet and all your devices.