Does Skype "eat" a lot traffic?

Question

Skype

I'm wondering if Skype "eats" a lot of traffic, but not only with active use, but also in idle time. And how much it loads the network, and sometimes, when Skype is turned on, it starts to slow down for me.

Answer 1

apparently you have super-node mode enabled

Answer 2

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Skype]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Skype\Phone]
"DisableSupernode"=dword:00000001

Answer 3

Idle :
On average Skype uses 0-0.5 kilobytes/sec while idle.
When making calls, it is clear that it is different. From 10 kbps usually, as a rule, no more than 30 kbps. For video calls, usually up to 70 kbps, although it can take all 300 if High Quality is turned on.

Answer 4

According to my feelings, it strongly depends on whether the computer on which Skype is running has the ability to listen to ports for connections from the outside and, if so, on the channel width. I was very unpleasantly surprised after six months of using Skype in 24/7 mode (and a maximum of a couple of kilocharacters of text messages), which resulted in hundreds of kilobytes of traffic on a 1 Mbps channel for a provider nat, when I received a bill for traffic (1r per Mb) on the channel at 10 Mbps with a white IP in the same mode - the traffic exceeded the usual one by several (not one, as I expected) orders. It was not possible to protest the account (which, in principle, is reasonable, but the attempt is not torture), since then Skype has only been in the “Urgently go to Skype, otherwise we stop cooperation” mode on soap / phone and if cooperation is worth it :)

Answer 5

and depending on how much you find.
talking to people on bad channels (up to skype over gprs), he doesn't eat much.
but in general it was somehow a gig for 4 hours in a conference of 4-5 people. then the conferences reached a dozen and a half, but I didn’t count the traffic anymore.
and yes, with 12-15 people in the conference, my e7300 slowed down noticeably.

Answer 6

You can put Netmeter and fix the current speed.

Answer 7

MacOS. Viewed the data stream during a call - In: 15-35 kbps Out: 14-20 kbps

Answer 8

download.skype.com/share/security/Skype-v1.7.adm
download.skype.com/share/security/network-admin-guide-version2.2.pdf
There may be newer versions of these documents.