How Much Data Does a FaceTime Call Use?

So what did we find out?

Now that we have made FaceTime an integral part of how we communicate, we decided to find out how much data it is consuming. This is important for a lot of users who may not be on an unlimited data plan be it 3G or wi-fi. Keeping an eye on how much data Facetime is using, will make sure you never cross your data limit, and don’t get over billed for the usage.

For those living under a rock, here are some FaceTime related articles:

Facetime is free, and works best when you are using high speed internet connection (Wi-fi, 3G, 4G).  We made a FaceTime call from our iPhone 4 (over 3G) to our new iPod Touch 4G which recently shipped. The results for the test call are as follows:

Call Duration: 10 minutesData Sent: 14.6 MBData Received: 15.1Total Data (Sum of above) : 29.7 for ten minutes

We can conclude from the above that FaceTime is using approximately three megabytes per minute. So, an hour long conversation would involve around 180MB of data. A similar test conducted by 9to5Mac yielded the same results. Though, this result may vary depending upon which version of iOS device you are using.  So, when you are choosing a wi-fi plan at home go for unlimited connections to avoid huge data charges. Similarly, make sure you consider data charges on all the networks before you choose a 3G connection from the upcoming providers in India.

Tagged as: apple facetime, iPhone, Video Calling

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