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[IbizaPocholo]

Google Stadia’s data use is over 100MB per minute at 1080p

Google Stadia's streaming can use a lot of data even at 1080p, and that's going to add up quickly for anyone worried about a data cap.

venturebeat.com

Google Stadia is every bit the data hog that everyone was expecting. The service warns that it can use between 4.5GB and 20GB of data per hour. Where you’ll fall within that range depends on the quality of the video feed you get from Stadia. But I didn’t want to just take Google’s word for this, so I set up a quick test. At 4K and 60 frames per second, 20GB per hour seems right in line with my experience.

Tracking data use by device is more difficult than it should be. But I settled on connecting a Chromecast Ultra and Stadia controller to my phone as a hotspot. I could then use Android’s built-in data-usage tracker. The problem here is that I could only get 1080p quality from Stadia instead of 4K I get over my broadband connection. But the results still illustrate how much data Stadia eats

Red Dead Redemption 2 at 1080p60 on Stadia:

• Duration: 13 minutes
• Data used total: 1.55GB
• Data per minute: 119MB
• Estimated data per hour: 7.14GB

I couldn’t track the use at 4K, but at four times the pixels of 1080p, Stadia should easily hit that 20GB/minute throughput.

Sticking with just my actual measurements, though. Stadia’s data use could end up extremely high. Red Dead Redemption 2 takes an average of 47 hours to beat, according to howlongtobeat.com.

That means just to play through the story of Red Dead Redemption 2, you will use more than 335GB of data on Stadia. Again, that’s at 1080p60. At 4K, you’re likely using at least twice that.

On PC, Red Dead Redemption 2 is an approximately 150GB download. So that’s significantly less than 47 hours on Stadia. And that doesn’t include any extra time put into Red Dead Online. Now, to be fair, you don’t need to download any updates for Stadia games. But streaming is still far more data intensive.

What this means is that if you have a data cap, Stadia is going to add up quickly. That’s especially true for 4K60. If you are consistently hitting that 20GB-per-hour mark. At that rate, you’ll go over a typical Xfinity 1TB cap after just 50 hours of Stadia alone.

 

[Eimran]

With the average ISP in Belgium and our data limits I could play 20 hours per month.

Still enough time to go through the current library though.

 

[-Arcadia-]

Are caps still a thing for most people? I’d presume so.

If so...

 

[CuteFaceJay]

When on Live was a thing I can't remember people talking about data caps or usage as much as people are doing these days. What gives?

 

[a multicultural team of v]

Netflix numbers for comparison:

How to control how much data Netflix uses

Control data usage: from a web browser go to your account page, then profile and parental controls. From a mobile device go to My Netflix and select Cellular Data Usage.

help.netflix.com

3 gigs per hour for HD, 7 for ultra HD

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

So, is Stadia just very inefficient, or is this problem unavoidable for game streaming? At least in theory, I'd expect it to be equivalent to any given video streaming service, but with the addition of uploading controller inputs.

 

[llien]

Uh, even Belgium is capped?
Makes me wonder how people watch Netflix/Bezoszone/Other stuff.

 

[gunslikewhoa]

When on Live was a thing I can't remember people talking about data caps or usage as much as people are doing these days. What gives?

Hardly anybody was talking about OnLive, so...

 

[johntown]

I guess Comcast users will have problems with this and data caps.

 

[kraspkibble]

not an issue for me.

datacaps are non existent. if it was 100GB a minute then it still wouldn't be an issue.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Stadia was never a service for people with Internet caps. Even if you have a huge limit you have to remember that you use your bandwidth for other things as well.

Also I'm not a tech guy, but I wouldn't compare it to Netflix usage. You can easily compress video files while maintaining high quality and you don't have to deliver 60fps material.

 

[kraspkibble]

100mb per minute is reasonable. 1gb/minute is reasonable.

as much as Stadia sucks the fault for your crappy internet does not lie at Google's door. it's your ISP.

 

[MiguelItUp]

This was something I had wondered about in the first place, as caps still exist in various parts of the world.

Definitely could say that this isn't for everyone (those with a cap), but that's still pretty insane data, especially for those with a cap.

I'm really interested in seeing how they're going to twist all of this. It's not in a good place.

 

[Kenpachii]

So, is Stadia just very inefficient, or is this problem unavoidable for game streaming? At least in theory, I'd expect it to be equivalent to any given video streaming service, but with the addition of uploading controller inputs.

60 fps other stuff that runs on the background probably that needs traffic.

 

[John Day]

It just means infrastructure needs to get with the times. We consume a lot of data, providers want to make the most profit and control that data usage.

Lot of players here.

 

[too much eslim]

How does that compare with xcloud?

 

[Thanati]

Deleting my post as I had a dumb brain-fart moment.

 

[wipeout364]

Can't wait to see the news stories about some kid streaming on their parents phone for hours a day then they get the 10000 dollar data charge.

 

[mckmas8808]

Can't wait to see the news stories about some kid streaming on their parents phone for hours a day then they get the 10000 dollar data charge.

OMG lol.

 

[Fbh]

That's quite a lot.
Sort of makes it DoA to anyone that has a data cap (unless it's a really high cap and that person doesn't use the internet for much else)

100mb per minute is reasonable. 1gb/minute is reasonable.

as much as Stadia sucks the fault for your crappy internet does not lie at Google's door. it's your ISP.

Sure.
But while Google isn't at fault for these crappy data caps, it doesn't change the fact that the amount of data that it uses makes it instantly unappealing to everyone that has to deal with one

 

[Horsemama1956]

Which is actually less than Netflix. Streaming an SD movie is around 1gig and HD is around 3Gigs.

So 600mb an hour seems on par.

100x60=6000

 

[EverydayBeast]

I tip my cap to developers that can get the data lower.

 

[Mista]

You’re telling me this is the future?

 

[TLZ]

If it's that many in an hour, might as well download that data in the background so the next time it loads off local hardware, which of course Stadia doesn't have.

 

[KingdomHeartsFan]

So I could play 56 hrs at 1080p and 20 hours at 4K a month IF I don't use my internet for anything else that month. Lol what garbage.

 

[Stuart360]

not an issue for me.

datacaps are non existent. if it was 100GB a minute then it still wouldn't be an issue.

So you have 6 terabyte internet do you?, ok then.

 

[Fake]

Are caps still a thing for most people? I’d presume so.

If so...

Is a nightmare in Brazil. Almost unreal.

 

[Vawn]

Are caps still a thing for most people? I’d presume so.

If so...

Even people who "think" they don't have a cap are affected. ISPs will start limiting the bandwidth of customers after they hit a certain threshold.

Stadia users may find their games running great early in the month, but get progressively worse as the month rolls on.

 

[ethomaz]

ISPs will probably start to do data caps again more people start to use the service.

 

[Foamy]

Holy crap that's a lot. Stadia is DOA now for certain.

 

[zeorhymer]

There goes my data cap!

 

[scydrex]

Well in my country is impossible to use Stadia...

 

[ethomaz]

Which is actually less than Netflix. Streaming an SD movie is around 1gig and HD is around 3Gigs.

So 600mb an hour seems on par.

You need over 6G per hour to use Stradia.
It is more than Netflix.

 

[newtypepilot]

remember people, the good generous guys at Comcast and Time Warner won't throttle you once you reach a certain threshold.


lol

 

[ethomaz]

remember people, the good generous guys at Comcast and Time Warner won't throttle you once you reach a certain threshold.


lol

Let people believe they don't have any data cap lol

 

[Thanati]

100x60=6000

Doh! You’re right. Lol. My bad!

 

[LittleBusters]

Not an issue.

 

[CrimsonNagus]

I'm curious to see how xCloud will compare.

 

[Alebrije]

Welcome to the future.

 

[DeepEnigma]

You’re telling me this is the future?

License and IP/TM holders are, yes.

 

[Zambatoh]

When on Live was a thing I can't remember people talking about data caps or usage as much as people are doing these days. What gives?

What gives is that Net Neutrality died a few years ago. This in turn led to many ISPs throwing up datacaps to blackmail more money out of their customers.

 

[LOLCats]

Are caps still a thing for most people? I’d presume so.

If so...

ya, comcast has a 1TB cap most places. Some areas it may be 300GB cap per month

 

[MajinSweet4]

For people in this thread saying this doesn't matter cause you don't have a data cap, that's probably not true. While ISPs are not supposed to many will almost certainly start throttling the hell out of you if the Stadia truly eats up data like this.

 

[Stuart360]

For people in this thread saying this doesn't matter cause you don't have a data cap, that's probably not true. While ISPs are not supposed to many will almost certainly start throttling the hell out of you if the Stadia truly eats up data like this.

Mine doesnt throttle, i even downloaded 800gb of games in a day to check, and speed never reduced, even in peak times. Of course i pay through the roof for mine, but you get what you pay for with BT in the UK.

As for this, i actually thought it would be much higher, certainly compared to movies or tv shows, and thats the problem i suppose, its always going to look like playing a Youtube video, unless the internet needed is 4 or 5 times higher than it currently is.

 

[off duty ninja]

Google should have rolled out Google Fiber to more cities before launching this abomination. Of the two ISP’s readily available to me I have to use Frontier DSL because they don’t have a cap.

I used to use Comcast but back when they instituted the cap I used 1.5 TB a month and it was going to more than double our cost when the cap was added.

Now we have shit service but I can stream and download as much shit as I want, even if it can take a day or two to download a game between 50-100 GB.

No way in hell would I attempt to use this service on either of these ISPs due the inherent drawbacks of each.

When on Live was a thing I can't remember people talking about data caps or usage as much as people are doing these days. What gives?

 

[nkarafo]

100mb per minute is reasonable. 1gb/minute is reasonable.

as much as Stadia sucks the fault for your crappy internet does not lie at Google's door. it's your ISP.

not an issue for me.

datacaps are non existent. if it was 100GB a minute then it still wouldn't be an issue.

What you "no issue" people don't get is that it can easily become one for you too in the future.

The issue is the possible standardization of streaming. If Stadia becomes a success, what stops everyone doing the same? And if everyone does the same, what stops ISPs from paywall the shit out of this?

Stadia only adds another dependency on your gaming experience. This dependency CAN be exploited in order to milk more money from you. Stop trusting corporations that much, Stadia was made to help publishers gain more control after all, not for you.

 

[-Arcadia-]

Google should have rolled out Google Fiber to more cities before launching this abomination. Of the two ISP’s readily available to me I have to use Frontier DSL because they don’t have a cap.

Well, they would, but they killed that too.

 

[nikolino840]

The problem Is when they start on the mobile connection

 

[raduque]

not an issue for me.

That's nice. Dont you feel special now?

datacaps are non existent.

Yes they are, and I'd say they're in place for probably 90% of users in the US.

 

[DeepEnigma]

What gives is that Net Neutrality died a few years ago. This in turn led to many ISPs throwing up datacaps to blackmail more money out of their customers.

Datacaps we’re there (in Comcast’s/Cox’s case) even with net neutrality in place back in 2016.

Net neutrality didn’t protect you from data caps.

Thankfully I am way out of both their areas, and left them long behind before they instituted their caps.

Does Net Neutrality Give The FCC Authority To Overturn Data Caps?

While some cable companies, like Comcast and Cox, continue to run regional tests of data caps for their broadband services, at least one major industry analyst is egging the industry to establish h…

consumerist.com