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Skype Data Usage

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primexx
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I'm trying to find out approximately how much data a Skype call uses, but I'm finding really bad numbers. Skype has an official FAQ about it here https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA10853/how-much-data-will-skype-use-on-my-mobile-phone

 

Skype-to-Skype calls: 50kbps or around 3MB for one minute of calling

 

but that is completely inconsistent, as 50kbps only adds up to 375KB, not the 3MB that Skype estimates. That makes a huge difference for an hour of calls (~22MB vs ~180MB). There's a lot of Skype forum topics that just parrot the official FAQ, so that doesn't help at all.

 

I also found this http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2010/07/dont-worry-about-saving-minutes-with-skype-think-data-use/

 

we made a five-minute call from Skype on an iPhone over 3G to another Skype user. During that time, we received 1.5MB of data and sent 1.8MB for a total of 3.3MB of data transmitted.

 

which is 0.66MB/min, in between the two Skype estimates. But it's from 2010 so may have changed by now.

 

Does anyone have current real-world experience with Skype data usage? About how much does it take for Skype-to-Skype calls or Skype-to-phone calls?

 

Thanks!

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primexx
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Sorry, but Skype estimates 3Mb per minute, which is in fact equal to 50Kbps, since 50Kb * 60 = 3000Kb = 3Mb 

You misread the b in Mb to be uppercase instead of lowercase, so it is megabits, not megabytes.

Wolfram Alpha to back me up: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=50Kbps+to+Mb+per+minute

 

Skype fixed their page.

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funkydude
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Looking at the Windows 8 task manager I have the Skype app stated as having used 84MB over the past month and I've barely used it.

If you're running Window 8 you can gauge it yourself, but I'm not sure if that would use more bandwidth than Skype for phones. It's possible that the phone version prefers a lower quality.

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jakem1
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Looking at the Windows 8 task manager I have the Skype app stated as having used 84MB over the past month and I've barely used it.

If you're running Window 8 you can gauge it yourself, but I'm not sure if that would use more bandwidth than Skype for phones. It's possible that the phone version prefers a lower quality.

 

I've never noticed that you can do that with Windows 8.  It's pretty cool.

 

I've used almost 14GB over the last month and I use it for about four hours of video calls a week. 

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Roger H.
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I think you are looking at Video calls and voice calls and getting confused. Which is it you are concerned about? I know video calls are about 300-500Kbps based on my tests. So in that case it could add up a lot. Now if we are only talking about voice calling then that's different which should be a lot less, maybe like 5-15Kbps instead.

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primexx
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I think you are looking at Video calls and voice calls and getting confused. Which is it you are concerned about? I know video calls are about 300-500Kbps based on my tests. So in that case it could add up a lot. Now if we are only talking about voice calling then that's different which should be a lot less, maybe like 5-15Kbps instead.

 

the Skype FAQ lists video calls separately at 500-600kbps. what I posted was for Skype/Skype voice calling only (Skype/phone is lower). However, they gave two wildly conflicting numbers.

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gohpep
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Sorry, but Skype estimates 3Mb per minute, which is in fact equal to 50Kbps, since 50Kb * 60 = 3000Kb = 3Mb 

You misread the b in Mb to be uppercase instead of lowercase, so it is megabits, not megabytes.

Wolfram Alpha to back me up: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=50Kbps+to+Mb+per+minute

I'm trying to find out approximately how much data a Skype call uses, but I'm finding really bad numbers. Skype has an official FAQ about it here https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA10853/how-much-data-will-skype-use-on-my-mobile-phone

 

 

but that is completely inconsistent, as 50kbps only adds up to 375KB, not the 3MB that Skype estimates. That makes a huge difference for an hour of calls (~22MB vs ~180MB). There's a lot of Skype forum topics that just parrot the official FAQ, so that doesn't help at all.

 

I also found this http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2010/07/dont-worry-about-saving-minutes-with-skype-think-data-use/

 

 

which is 0.66MB/min, in between the two Skype estimates. But it's from 2010 so may have changed by now.

 

Does anyone have current real-world experience with Skype data usage? About how much does it take for Skype-to-Skype calls or Skype-to-phone calls?

 

Thanks!

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gohpep
Posted

Skype fixed their page.

Oh ok. I'm glad they stalk Neowin

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