How to Estimate Your Internet Usage?

What is Internet Usage?

Internet usage is the amount of data which is transferred between your computer or other device (e.g. smart phone, tablet) and the Internet over a certain amount of time. This amount of data is measured in bytes, kilobytes, megabytes and gigabytes.

Data can be transferred in two ways;

  • From the Internet to your computer or device (download - e.g. watching a video online);
  • From your device or computer to the Internet (upload - e.g. uploading pictures to a social media site).

However you use the internet on your computer or device, all activities that use the Internet contribute to your overall usage which includes Uploads and Downloads.


What is a gigabyte (GB) of data?

A gigabyte (GB) is measurement unit for computer data that is technically about 1,048,576 Kilobytes (KB) and around 1000MB... but in the real world, this equates to approximately:

  • 1.5 hours of Video Conferencing
  • Around 200 music tracks (5MB each); or
  • Approximately 1000 images or photos (1MB each);
  • 1.4 standard definition movies (700MB per movie)
  • 2 hours of streaming TV (500MB an hour)

What can cause unexpected high usage?

The most common culprits for data disappearing are;

  • Videoconferencing: Communicating with other offices and/or your customers for extended periods of time via a Video Conferencing application.
  • Streaming: Video or audio content on YouTube, illico.tv, tou,tv, etc.
  • Online gaming: such as XBOX LIVE, Miniclip.com, Games.com
  • Automatic updates: e.g. Adobe, Windows, Explorer, etc.
  • Exchanging files via iTunes, LimeWire, Zik.ca, Kazaa, BitTorrent, etc.

How can I check and monitor my Internet usage?

For information about your current usage levels, please contact Customer Service by calling 1300 305 000.


How much data does it take to... ?

Below are some general estimates of common amounts of data used for usual internet activity. The guidelines below are only approximate so please be aware that actual usage could be far greater (e.g. if you utilise High Definition Video Conferencing, or download High Definition movies or images instead of standard definition versions or if you receive or send a large amount of emails with large attachments).

Activity Type Measurement of estimated / approximate data used
Internet browsing/surfing 5MB per hour
Emails 500KB per email (estimate includes attachments & spam)
Video Conferencing 600MB per hour
Films 2GB per film (avi, mpeg, divx)
Game/Movie Trailers 100MB each
Music tracks 5MB per song (4-5min duration)
Online gaming 15MB per hour
Online radio Average stream at 128Kbps
Photos/Documents 850KB per image
Videos 2MB per minute