1 Hour of Data Consumption

 

1 Hour of Data and Bandwidth Usage

 

As offices and schools head home, competition for bandwidth is intensifying.  A usually smooth operating home network can be ground to a halt under new data demands. Running multiple video conference calls, streaming binge-worthy TV,  listening to music, and streaming a lecture can cause all parties to suffer extra loading times or lower quality.

 

To help you understand the most demanding activities, here is a list of the data usage rates for some of the most popular work from home activities.

 

Work Activities

 

Email <1 MB an hour.

Email is one of the lightest weight activities you can do.  While usage varies based on attachments, typically, text email takes less than one megabyte per hour.

 

Web Browsing 60MB an hour.
Browsing the web is a multi-media experience as you read text, graphics, and video.  Each element has to be downloaded, which takes up data.  For typically mixed usage internet browsing, you will use around 60 MB an hour.

 

Skype 130MB - 700MB an hour.

Skype allows you to connect with your co-workers, friends, and family.  Voice calls require around 130 MB an hour, and video calls require 700 MB an hour.

 

Google Hangouts 45 MB - 600 MB an hour
Similar to Skype, Google Hangouts offers voice and video calls.  Voice calls are the least data demanding at 45 megabytes per hour, and voice calls higher at 600 megabytes an hour.

 

Zoom 810 MB an hour

Zoom is popular for its affordable video conferencing solutions.  A typical hour-long Zoom video conference

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