Vodem & Video Skype

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rosiered

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#25108 12-Aug-2008 12:30

Hi all, I have been searching and searching for some help regarding Skype and Vodem. I am currently connected to a Vodem and have started using video skype on my iMac - Leopard. I would've made approximately three, 30 minute video skype's to my mum who is on Telstraclear Broadband.

I received my bill from Vodafone yesterday - $359!! I nearly died. My usage for last month was evidently 2652.2267MB and my plan is a 2 gigabyte $59.95 per month. I have been billed at 50c per mb for 600MB.

Oddly enough when I was visiting my mum last week I checked online to see how much she had used of her monthly gigabyte with Telstraclear and one of our 30 minute Skypes only used about 75MB. Anyway, can anyone tell me if there is anyway of knowing how much of my monthly gigabyte I am using when I video skype? Is it so expensive because I am on wireless broadband (vodem)? Shall I jump ship and connect to regular broadband? Why did mum's usage show up as only 75MB for a 30min conversation..... Thanks!

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#156253 12-Aug-2008 12:40

Have you looked at your data usage using MYA on the Vodafone site to see where/when the data was used?

rosiered

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#156259 12-Aug-2008 12:56

Thanks, but boringly enough I can't register with the Vodafone 'my account' because I have a Telecom mobile - therefore cannot receive the password they will generate for me. I will endeavour to seek out someone with a vodafone mobile so I can receive a password to set up access to 'my account'. This will ultimately allow me to check usage. It just seems odd that my usage seems so high while mum's much less.... Thanks for your advice.

JoeBloggs

355 posts

Ultimate Geek

#156306 12-Aug-2008 15:47

Generally the data charges are quite accurate however I know from experience that Skype only uses around 1MB per minute for regular calling. I would assume this doesn't increase by such a large margin for video. I think your charges are related to other types of usage rather than Skype. There are many invisible applications that use data. I set up an external firewall recently and discovered over 20 services running under Vista arbitrarily sending and receiving data. Automatic updates are by far the worst.

wellygary

8328 posts

Uber Geek

#156309 12-Aug-2008 16:07

If you are using the vodem as the only link to the internet, while you are using skype I suspect a whole bunch of apps were silently updating themselves in the background,

Get yourself a copy of little snitch and have a look at what requests are being made when you go online

http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html

Gamefreaks

17 posts

Geek

#156335 12-Aug-2008 16:57

rosiered: Thanks, but boringly enough I can't register with the Vodafone 'my account' because I have a Telecom mobile - therefore cannot receive the password they will generate for me. I will endeavour to seek out someone with a vodafone mobile so I can receive a password to set up access to 'my account'. This will ultimately allow me to check usage. It just seems odd that my usage seems so high while mum's much less.... Thanks for your advice.

The Vodem is capable of recieving txts. In the VMC software there is a SMS tab, use that. Alternatively borrow a friends mobile and put the sim card in there.

Using Skype with a VMC card or Vodem is HIGHLY unrecommended. In fact the paperwork you get when you first sign up for a mobile data account should state this!

rosiered

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#156353 12-Aug-2008 18:06

Thanks, firstly on my iMac I can't even open VMC - application not responding. I have reinstalled but to no avail. Secondly, I attempted to open VMC on my iBook and while this was successful I could not find a tab for SMS, only Service/Support. I fear I will have to find someone with a Vodafone phone. Thanks for your help.