How much data does video calls (Skype or similar) consume?

[dpham00]

I use Skype and on 4g, at max, i see it using 10-12MB/min, or 600-720mb/hr. However, according to Verizon, it says that even on 4g, it should only be using 260mb/hour for video calls. Just curious if there is something wrong with my phone? What type of consumption are you guys getting on video calls?

Mobile Broadband / National Access - Terms & Conditions - Verizon Wireless Support

 

[dpham00]

no one uses Skype anymore? I just checked, talked for about 2.5 hrs, and consumption was about 1.5gb, so on par with the 10MB/min estimate. btw, on the extended battery i did a little bit browsing, maybe 20 minutes, 1hr pandora, and skype, and my phone was down to 3% after restart.

 

[Cyber Warrior]

no one uses Skype anymore? I just checked, talked for about 2.5 hrs, and consumption was about 1.5gb, so on par with the 10MB/min estimate. btw, on the extended battery i did a little bit browsing, maybe 20 minutes, 1hr pandora, and skype, and my phone was down to 3% after restart.

Same here.. I had to get rid of Skype.. just having it run in the background wiped out my battery within a few hours.

 

[jstewart0131]

That only calculates out about a 180KB/sec call. That is about what I would expect from a phone based skype video call. If I run Clearsea I can see 1024KB/sec easily.

 

[bjboucher]

I feel sorry for folks who don't have unlimited data. Skype and Netflix will be WiFi only for them since they use so much data.

 

[dpham00]

Same here.. I had to get rid of Skype.. just having it run in the background wiped out my battery within a few hours.

after using skype, you can log out, that helps a bit. but usually, if i use skype not near a charger, i will just do a restart.

 

[dpham00]

That only calculates out about a 180KB/sec call. That is about what I would expect from a phone based skype video call. If I run Clearsea I can see 1024KB/sec easily.

How are you getting 1024KBps? Clearsea shows their professional up to 2Mbps or about 2000kbps. though, does that mean one way?

180KBps = 1440 kbps
1024KBps = 8192 kbps

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I should also point out, that the person i'm chatting with has a weak upload speed, they see me crystal clear, i see okay, but not great. so the numbers should be higher if both sides had good upload and download speeds. which was kinda why i created this thread, to see what kind of bandwidth others were getting.

 

[nurse_gal]

skype on my thunderbolt was killed after the last update. how are you still able to use it? did you decline the update?

 

[dpham00]

skype on my thunderbolt was killed after the last update. how are you still able to use it? did you decline the update?

It you have mr2 ota, You need to root to get skype to work, any mr1 or gb rom will work with skype.

 

[tankianmoh]

I just measured Facebook Messenger over 3G network using 2 1-minute calls. One call is 3.3MB while the other is 3.7MB.
I guess over 4G will be similar to what you got.

 

[RogueVart]

Zangi messenger app uses the lowest amount of data. It works with 2G/EDGE internet connections and even satellite networks.
You can activate the low bandwidth mode and talk up to 9 minutes on voice call using only 1 MB of the Internet and it's a record.
Try out, this app is really light weight and even bypasses VoIP blocking if needed.