Skype steals bandwidth — even when you are not using it
Skype can seriously damage your business. This week we had our connection cut to a crawl. There are three of us wired into the network and when the telephone supplier applied the cap we simply could not work. At all. The lines were too slow.
What had happened is that my duaghter had been down from Thailand and insisted we all install Skype. She did not know (no one told her and it is not on the site) that if your computer is on, Skype is happily trolling the waves and using up you bandwidth. Skype did not tell us this. There was no warning.
As far as we are concerned in computers, sudden death. We though the fault lay with us, with our wiring. We checked everything. Then I went on to:
http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=16251
It happens to everyone. If you put Skype on your machine all the time your computer is on it will troll the air waves. And use of 1.3GB a month has been reported. Try it with three machines and see where it gets you.
There is an FAQ on the Skype site and the question was asked: “How much bandwith does Skype use where we are not using it?”
It would not give any answer. But from the Technical FAQ we go this:
From the Technical FAQ
On average Skype uses 0-0.5 kilobytes/sec while idle. This is used mainly for contact presence updates. The exact bandwidth depends on many factors.
Using simplistic maths, a Fermi equation, we get:
0.5*3600*24:43200.000 kByte per day (43 MB)
#*30:1296000.000 kByte per month (1.3 GB)
*3 computers=3.9 gigs a month.
Yes, there is an option you can to stop this. Not easy to find. I will give you a clue. It is in the bottom right hand corner of one of the screens and you actively have to tick it to stop. Better still is another method: remove Skype from every machine. Which is what we did.
Related Posts:
July 23rd, 2009
Hi Gareth
I don’t suppose you could expand on your comment from the article “It is in the bottom right hand corner of one of the screens and you actively have to tick it to stop”. My work relies on Skype as we are based in various countries, yet it is a huge bandwidth hog. A way of preventing Skype using bandwidth when not active would make a big difference.
April 19th, 2010
Wow. Why won’t you tell us directly where that bandwidth shut-off is? You’re not talking about shutting down the Windows network connection, are you? That works, but shuts down all the other bandwidth too.
June 11th, 2010
Hello, everyone… I am a soldier in the US Forces… While deployed in Iraq, we are being charged $65 for 2.5GB upload and 5GB download limit. Needless to say, Skype is the only way we may keep in touch with family, take care of personal business back in the states and complete online college courses. I have to renew my Internet connection at $65 a pop every few days, which is costing me a fortune! How may this situation be rectified? I am in dyer need of a viable solution. Thank you for any input you may be able to provide.
July 1st, 2010
Skype should make it really clear UP FRONT that they use the bandwidth of participating computers.
I couldn’t find anything in skype preferences to prevent skype launching at startup. it slows the computer launch to have it start up, and then have to turn it off each time. Anyone know how to set it so it only starts up when I choose? For now, I’ve deleted it from my applications, and will reload it when I want to use it.
I would rather pay for a program that isn’t so SNEAKY than have a free program that is based on a trick.
July 5th, 2010
Thank you for the article and comments. It answers many of my concerns as to why some months my usage is high. I have left my computer on with Skype running in the background.
I have a genuine use for Skype and will keep it.
What I will do is sign out when I do not need it and make sure that when I sign in the bottom two options are unchecked so that when I fire up the computer Skype is not started. I also read an article that Skype is still downloading until the contacts I have are logged off. So I simply will restart my system to cut them off. Thank you
December 21st, 2010
There are options for notifications, like Notify me when: someone begins to chat with me etc. When I cleared all the options and restarted Skype its idle memory use dropped from 93M to 47M. I can’t check it now but the options might influence bandwidth too. The notify options are only about the baloon-like popup, turning them off will not make me unaware of people calling me.
January 16th, 2011
First to the soldier :D THANKS and try oovoo.com or paltalkscene.com. Both sites have other programs that are not as “hoggy” as skype. Also I believe the reference to ticking something off in the bottom right corner was a right click and exit of skype :D … One last thing…for the person that couldn’t figure out how to get skype to not start up on boot…click the start button, type msconfig in the blank text box…hit enter…and uncheck the box by skype then save the settings. Voila! No more skype at startup!
January 23rd, 2011
Dont use msconfig its a diagnostic utility you muppet, use revouninstaller or microsofts autoruns applications specifically for problems such as this.
February 9th, 2011
ur the moppet, muppet. msconfig is not only diagnostic it’s also an editor of ur programs/process. if the guy were following Your advice then program gets removed so he cant use it anymore. which is fine if he wants to remove it. and fine if u had checked that it cant be removed in normal way, which i dont see any complaints here about it not being removable in normal way.
February 20th, 2011
@BillyDickinson
Wtf? You an idiot? Why the fuck should people install the gargage programs you mentioned when msconfig solves the problem proper.
February 28th, 2011
FUCK YOU ALL. OBLACKMA RULES YOU USA BITCHES USING SKYPE. HOPEFULLY EVERY FAGMERICAN IN IRAQ GETS BLOWN THE FUCK UP FOR 39,000 IRAQI CIVILLIAN DEATHS. THANK GOD FOR WIKILEAKS.
March 3rd, 2011
Actually it IS in the User License you agree to.
Take a peek at this site.
http://nic.phys.ethz.ch/news/1106655341/index_html
it says:
As far as this looks like to me, Skype is using some kind of peer-to-peer like distributed network of “servers”, actually the computers of their own users/customers to distribute the connections from their other customers so they do not solely need to depend on the availability of Skype’s own servers and performance. I had not to read very far in the Skype End User License Agreement until to get to Article 4. Permission to Utilize on which the following proved my guess:
4.1 Permission to utilize Your computer. In order to receive the benefits provided by the Skype Software, you hereby grant permission for the Skype Software to utilize the processor and bandwidth of Your computer for the limited purpose of facilitating the communication between You and other Skype Software users.
Yesterday there was
March 30th, 2011
In deed it is in EULA, but is buried deep and even there is misleading. I would have assumed that “it will use bandwidth and cpu” is the same legal boat like “don’t dry your cat in a microwave” not a notification that will STEAL my resources.
There is no warning that is a peer to peer network and you would end up acting as gateway for other users.
Is like buying a car and in middle of the night my neighbors would use it whenever they need a ride without even putting gas in. Could the dealer hide behind the same legal crap like “the car will be using gas and will get used to serve it’s purpose – transportation”? I don’t think so. So why do we take it from software companies? In the end is stealing, I pay for the bandwidth they are using and probably THEY GET PAYED FOR IT by other customers.
I wander how many settlements checks they’ve already signed over this.
March 30th, 2011
And for whoever thinks “that’s what you get for using free software”, that’s the trick! Is not free, I had to pay for calls done with skype, at a lower rate than using my landline for the same calls, but that’s not the point. It turns out that in the end I was paying for whatever they steal from other customers.. worse than a ponzi scheme!
May 14th, 2011
For those non-technie morons who are complaining here, Skype is a peer-to-peer network, so it’ll use your computer and network bandwidth so that you are part of the network. yes, if’s not free, but that only happens when you make computer-to-phone/cell phone calls!
June 4th, 2011
could you explain to all of us what is peer-to-peer network? and why its need band width?
September 27th, 2011
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer
The link above is the explanation P2P network.
I read one or two people complained about how difficult it is to prevent skype to start when our computer starts. Well, it’s easy to solve. Next time, you are offline from Skype, just uncheck “Start Skype when computer starts” and “sign me in when Skype starts” options.
And I don’t believe Skype takes our bandwidth when we don’t turn it on. So, if you don’t use it and don’t want it takes your bandwidth, just close it and don’t sign in.
And Skype is free when you want to call other Skype users. But, it is not free if you use it to call cellphone and landline.
Before you start to confuse and make some irresponsible statements, it better to check the help section. Or read reviews on websites, there are plenty there.
October 1st, 2011
how can i reduce jitter in skype, which simulator help
November 25th, 2011
what are you some kinda troll? “it’s in the bottom right corner of one of the screens….” that’s just down right ignorant and retarded!
December 10th, 2011
“I will give you a clue.”? What an asshole.
December 12th, 2011
Tools->Options->Advanced->Connections->Untick “use port 80″
December 26th, 2011
Hi everyone,
Here is what I do with my Skype, I only load it when I need it, in other words, my computer do load it at the start up.
You do not have to start the Skype at the start up of your computer, therefore, i remains off until you decide to to use it. however, you have to uncheck it from your start up menu. that’s all. As long as Skype is off ( i.e. Not Loaded) your computer does not interface with Skype, therefore no bandwidth is used.
Good luck,
Ali B.
January 25th, 2012
The following comment summarises the relevant posts above to stop Skype raping your bandwidth, while still being able to use it.
Once installed, run msconfig (ignore the muppet several comments above – BillyDickinson should be banned from giving any kind of PC advice) and select the startup tab. Uncheck Skype.exe – all this does is prevents Skype from autoloading itself every time you turn on your machine. Nothing more.
Now Skype will only run when you want it to.
Next up, killing it when you’re done using it. Hover your cursor over the system tray in the bottom right corner of your display or use the ^ arrow to expand running apps (windows 7 etc). Find the Skype logo and right click it, then “quit Skype”.
To make absolutely sure you that Skype is fully off, use ctrl+alt+del and open up task manager. Check in ‘processes’ and ‘services’ for any mention of Skype or Skype.exe and if necessary kill/end the tasks by right-clicking on them.