Internet Radio download usage amount?

[ringway]

Hi everyone,

My uncle is going to buy a wireless dongle for an old laptop he has been given.

How much of his 3GB monthly allowance would he use listening to internet radio? (Probably 4-5 hours per day).

TIA.

Paul.

 

[amwebby]

I am still astonished when I read about people with Internet accounts with a cap on downloads. How cheap are these accounts? I have an unlimited download limit at 20MBPS from O2 Broadband for the princely sum of £7.34 a month.

 

[Sp!ke]

I assume you meant 20mb/s but yes, unless its mobile data over 3G or something, I dont understand why anyone would have a cap on broadband usage.

If it is 3G data you are talking of, then yes, I think you'll exceed the usage limits pretty quickly. With a very average bit rate @120Kb/s it works out at about 60 Meg per hour.

 

[wemorgan]

A short while ago on this forum I was recommended:

Broadband Download Monitor - track downloads to your PC using our free software

it monitors the amount of data you download each month. It might be useful for your Uncle during the first few months to get a feel for the volume of data.

edit: don't forget that a Freeview TV box will also give you access to many UK radio stations.

 

[Dryce]

I am still astonished when I read about people with Internet accounts with a cap on downloads. How cheap are these accounts? I have an unlimited download limit at 20MBPS from O2 Broadband for the princely sum of £7.34 a month.

The OP was refering to 3G mobile broadband where caps are the norm.

And the O2 broadband at £7.34 is 8Mbps not 20Mbps (which is £9.79) and you need an existing O2 account to get those prices.

 

[grober]

Internet radio bit rates are typically up to 128kbs if this is of help
e.g.

The best-known example of an on-demand radio service is the BBC's Listen Again service, which has recently been fully integrated into the BBC iPlayer alongside the on-demand TV streams. The BBC has also significantly improved the quality of the on-demand streams, as they're now using the following bit rates with the MP3 codec:


Content type MP3 bit rate/kbps/Audio mode
Pop music Radios 1 & 2 128 Joint stereo
Classical music Radio 3 192 Joint stereo
Stereo speech Radio 4 128 Joint stereo
Mono speech Radio 5 80 Mono



The BBC has said it is going to switch its live and on-demand streams to using the AAC/AAC+ audio codec later this year.