<p>My daughter is studying abroad. I bought her a 5 gb/mon data usage plan. It was $40/mon. She used it 10 times, mainly for Skype (video) and 2 itune music download. She did leave the internet on while she was using her laptop (no download or upload on her part), but did leave her Skype acct open. She just checked her usage, and it showed 12 gb usage. By their calculations, she is going to owe them $350, .05 per mb for anything over 5 gb. </p>
<p>Is there anyone here who is familiar with Skype or general data usage on the internate? I just want a sanity check before we speak with the provider. Thanks.</p>
<p>Data requirements vary greatly depending on the type of data accessed: compared to text, video and music downloads require 100 to 1000 times as much data. Skype requires a moderate amount of bandwith. </p>
<p>Is your daughter using wireless broadband with a cellphone, smartphone or laptop? Using cellphone based wireless to watch video, download songs, or browse the web will always be expensive abroad. Google maps can also drive up broadband consumption.</p>
<p>Using Skype PC to PC at an internet cafe is likely to be cheaper than Skype on the mobile device.</p>
<p>If voice communication is the primary requirement, a cheap GSM phone with a local SIM card and an international callback service will be the cheapest means of overseas calling. If international callback sounds too cumbersome, she could send you an international SMS to prompt you to call her local GSM phone using your cheap long distance.</p>
<p>See Skype</a> Community > Skype data usage and <a href="https://www.uwtcallback.com/international_call_back.html%5B/url%5D">https://www.uwtcallback.com/international_call_back.html</a></p>
<p>It wireless on her laptop. I looked at her usage. There was one day with close to 2 GB of usage. Considering she could only be on the internet for 3-5 hours max in one day, I just don't see how it could be possible.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>skype is using your computer as a supernode - to facilitate other people's calls. skype is a peer-to-peer network. You can disable this function but it requires you to mess with the registry (assuming it is a Windows computer).</p></li>
<li><p>You can use significant bandwidth just by skype being on staying connected to the network- up to 0.5 KB/sec, which is almost 2 MB every hour. This is less important that #1 however.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If she is downloading movies to watch them later it is possible.</p>
