Data consumption , FT Workaboard

[bpbpbp]

Hi, interested to know weekly internet

 

[bpbpbp]

Hi, I’m interested to know your average data consumption using 4G for a typical day working online. I plan to be working full time from a boat and want to set realistic expectations. I will be videoconferencing max 1hr per day, minimal upload/download the rest of the time, mostly browser work. Thanks!

 

[RobbieW]

For two we use 40 to 60 Gb/month. That's emails, browsing, occasional conferences, system updates etc. The big data hog is TV

 

[laika]

I probably consumed 10-15ishGB/month using Citrix workspace for remote access and a cisco vpn phone thingy, but not video. I avoided video streaming because, as RobbieW says, it will eat all your bandwidth. Most videoconferencing services will tell you their bandwidth requirements if you Google them. Multiply bandwidth requires in Mb/s by 450 to get MB/hr. As this is the 2020s though…why wouldn’t you just do it via a phone rather than a separate dongle, have an unlimited contract and write it off as a business expense saving the tax?

 

[Yngmar]

Check how much you're' using now. Your OS, ISP and router probably all have stats on that.

I was okay with the 12 GB a month EU roaming the Three SIM offered. Without video that is - video eats bandwidth like crazy. As devs we mostly used text chat anyways, and the occasional voice call.

For comparison, on land I used between 100 and 150 GB a month, with YouTube streaming, and watching movies and TV series.

Also keep in mind that even in a marina there will be times where you can unexpectedly not work due to inclement weather, internet being down (yes, mobile internet goes down and especially in marinas gets congested too) or other distractions (neighbour just failed docking and hit your boat, boat eletrics acting up or something needing urgent repair). A lot more distractions than in a house/office. Make sure your work/customers can cope with this.

 

[V1701]

I live on board FT in UK, wfh two days a week, watch quite a lot of Youtube, Amazon Prime, BBC iPlayer, rarely go above 50gbpm. Was on Three's sim only all you can eat @ £20/m but just reduced to 100gbpm black friday deal £12/m for 1 year. Three's bandwidth though is pants at peak times but they probably all suffer at peak times...

 

[bpbpbp]

I probably consumed 10-15ishGB/month using Citrix workspace for remote access and a cisco vpn phone thingy, but not video. I avoided video streaming because, as RobbieW says, it will eat all your bandwidth. Most videoconferencing services will tell you their bandwidth requirements if you Google them. Multiply bandwidth requires in Mb/s by 450 to get MB/hr. As this is the 2020s though…why wouldn’t you just do it via a phone rather than a separate dongle, have an unlimited contract and write it off as a business expense saving the tax?

Phone unlimited contract is a neat idea thanks. I’m employed so no tax deductions for me I think.

 

[Mistroma]

We cancelled fibre at home several years ago and switched to a 4G dongle. I think we were with Vodafone initially but switched to VOXI (effectively still Vodafone). I download films and TV programs fairly regularly and only thing I really avoid is Cloud based backup (important files only).

I had 45GB/month and never really came close apart from one month. Largish Windows updates for 3 laptops and I left another task running by mistake and used 10GB on that overnight.

My VOXI deal is now 100GB/month for £20 but it is no longer available. Current deal is 60GB per month but includes unlimited social media, YouTube, Netflix etc. I did notice in the past that VOXI only seemed to give about 60% of YouTube free and 40% from data allowance (even though it was all meant to be free). I also get unlimited texts and calls but rarely use these.

I actually tried quite hard to use up a lot of my allowance last month and my router got to 71GB. VOXI only reported 66.6GB.

The usage is over 30 days for 2 people using 3 laptops, 2 Smartphones, 2 tablets and a Smart TV (Android but not linked to network very often). I think that's around 16GB per week but 8-10GB was more usual over last year.

Speed is OK but we aren't in a great reception area. I met someone who practically lives next to a mobile mast and he mentioned 150Mb/s. VOXI would give me 5G for the same price but no coverage in our area. I'm retired but used to work from home and don't think my usage would have been much higher than 16GB per week when working.

 

[Sandy]

Hi, interested to know weekly internet

That really depends on how you work and what you are working on.

A small document or a spreadsheet to run the planet on.

 

[Daverw]

Not livaboard but as site based project manager and hotel 4 days a week use 4g both for work and evenings etc, with teams conferences and connections to company servers and then Netflix, YouTube etc in evenings use easily 50Gb per month, also windows updates add up

 

[bpbpbp]

Awesome, thanks everyone!

 

[bpbpbp]

Check how much you're' using now. Your OS, ISP and router probably all have stats on that.

I was okay with the 12 GB a month EU roaming the Three SIM offered. Without video that is - video eats bandwidth like crazy. As devs we mostly used text chat anyways, and the occasional voice call.

For comparison, on land I used between 100 and 150 GB a month, with YouTube streaming, and watching movies and TV series.

Also keep in mind that even in a marina there will be times where you can unexpectedly not work due to inclement weather, internet being down (yes, mobile internet goes down and especially in marinas gets congested too) or other distractions (neighbour just failed docking and hit your boat, boat eletrics acting up or something needing urgent repair). A lot more distractions than in a house/office. Make sure your work/customers can cope with this.

Activity Monitor on my MBP shows 5GB per day roughly. I've not tried to limit the data activity, so could probably reduce that with effort. Good points about reliability. I do a lot of project work so should be ok.

 

[Ningaloo]

I have a 200Gb home package used for all TV and my monthly usage is generally less than 150Gb.
Sailing this summer I struggled with 1Gb/day after ASDA changed their unlimited roaming to 25Gb/month.