...to wonder if Skype is gobbling up my download allowance?

[woollyideas]

Computer dunce here. I have a language student staying here who spends around 6-7 hours a day on Skype. I do have a fairly generous download limit on my broadband package which I've never worried about as I couldn't even get close to hitting its limit, but I'm wondering whether someone being on Skype for that long every day for a month might have an impact that I'll notice.

Don't get me started on how irritating it is to have someone shouting their heads off in Portuguese for hours and hours every day...

yes it could be
are you with bt?
we just switched to them and it coincided with an influx of teenagers, quickly exceeded our allowance. It's the moving pictures, they take up a lot of whatever it is apparently

Depends what they are doing on Skype all day.

If they are using it for chat then chances are no.

If they are using it for voice/video chat then possibly yes.

If they are using it without the webcam I don't think it will have that much of an effect. However, I would think that adding the video stream of a webcam would eat up a lot more of your allowance.

But I don't really know...

Short answer, yes it will. Big time.

This link explains www.pc-broadband.com/articles/skype_and_broadband.html

Not sure if this helps or not - Skype Support: How Much Bandwidth Does Skype Need?

Also this from community.skype.com about reducing Video size and framerate.

If they are talking on Skype in Portugese for that long every day, then this is not helping them with their English is it? Are they a paying guest? Could you tell them to stop or tell the language school, their behaviour is out of order. You must be very annoyed.

woollyideas, Skype definitely eats bandwidth if used with webcam. However, your language student may have no idea that he is affecting your internet connection, as in many countries broadband comes with unlimited downloads. Have you tried explaining this to him? He may be shocked to learn about it!

Thanks for your answers and links. I didn't want to talk to the student about her behaviour until I had a few facts because I honestly didn't know if it would be affecting my download limit. Yes, she is using it with video link-up all the time.

No, it's not helping her to learn English.

And it's probably keeping the Spanish girl she shares with awake because she seems to need to shout to use it! After all, Brazil is a long way away!

Anyway, thanks chaps... off to look at those links now.