How much data a work video call really costs
One-to-one, a group room and audio-only are not in the same league. A couple of switches inside Zoom and Meet change the number for the whole trip.
早わかり
- A one-to-one video call uses roughly 500–900 MB an hour; a group room with several faces on screen climbs to roughly 1–1.5 GB an hour.
- Turn the camera off and join audio-only and you are down to roughly 30–60 MB an hour — a tenfold drop with the meeting still doing its job.
- A weak signal does not make the call cheaper. The app keeps sending, the picture just breaks up — so find a spot with decent coverage before you start.
| How you are joining | Roughly how much | A 7-day trip at this rate |
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よくある質問
How much does turning off my own camera really save?+
It helps a lot but not all the way, because switching off your camera only cuts the upload while everyone else's video still comes down. To actually reach roughly 30–60 MB an hour you have to stop receiving video too — in Zoom by joining as audio, in Meet by combining Limit data usage with minimising the video tiles.
Is Zoom or Google Meet lighter on data?+
Set up the same way, the two sit in the same range, and the real difference comes from configuration rather than the app. Meet has the advantage of one obvious Limit data usage switch; Zoom gives finer control through Enable HD video and Speaker view. Configure both properly and the gap is small.
How much should I set aside for a two-hour meeting on mobile data?+
With the camera on in a group room, roughly 2–3 GB is a comfortable allowance. With the camera off and the data-saving settings already in place, roughly 100–150 MB covers it. That enormous spread is why the camera decision belongs before you join, not after the plan runs low.
If the picture breaks up on a weak signal, am I using less data?+
A little less, but nowhere near as much as you would hope. The app only steps down once the call is genuinely failing; before that it keeps pushing and resends whatever gets lost, which adds traffic you get nothing back for. The better move is to walk to a spot with better coverage, or drop to audio and finish the conversation there.
Instagram and TikTok have no web share button, so we open your phone's share sheet or copy the link instead.