How Much Internet Speed a Household with Three Schoolkids Actually Uses

Three K–12 students in a single household can use different amounts of data during a typical five-day school week, depending on their ages, the applications they use, and the devices they own and share with the entire family. However, homeschool students may use more data than public school students, given they often rely on internet-connected software and video services for learning rather than in-person instruction.

We dig into the data to get a rough estimate of the amount of data the average household with three K–12 students uses during a school week.

Data use during the after-school hours

Data use is typically lower during the school week than on weekends due to the smaller window between the student’s return home from school and bedtime. The after-school window is also wider for older students who can self-regulate their sleep schedule, while the younger ones need a strict schedule that limits specific forms of media and promotes longer sleep hours.

Here’s an example of an after-school schedule and the devices that are likely at play, depending on the student:

Most of the data students use in the after-school hours is during the homework and free-time windows. The studying window may require data, depending on the source. If studying isn’t needed, then the free-time window can expand.

The average student may have up to four devices

How much data a single home needs to function is no longer about the people, but about the devices. The typical homeowner has a smartphone, a laptop or desktop, and a smart TV at the very least. Double that number when adding a spouse or partner, and then add at least two devices per child.

With a family consisting of parents and three students, the starting device number is roughly 12.

In the household we examined, two students were at grade 12 level and one at kindergarten level. Here’s how their devices add up:

The chart above lists devices parents provided to the students to use exclusively. The list does not include devices provided for the entire family to use, such as smart TVs, media streamers, and other game consoles.

With the exclusive devices, we can safely assume that the computer, tablet, smartphone, and game console can stream 4K video at 25Mbps. That download number equates to 9GB per hour, depending on the resolution, frame rate, and platform.

A smartwatch may use as little as 5MB per hour, but increases if the user streams audio or uses the watch for navigation.

Why list game consoles when they can’t be used for schoolwork? Again, we’re counting exclusive devices, and these devices count towards the daily data usage during the free-time hours.

Also, homes managed by Generation X and younger parents typically have several gaming consoles, possibly one for each child.

The average student has access to other devices

Modern homes have many devices beyond the smartphones, tablets, and laptops students exclusively use for homework, research, and entertainment. These family-accessible devices can be used for both schoolwork and free-time activities, including:

• Smart TVs
• Media streamers
• Smart speakers and displays
• VR headsets
• Printers/scanners
• Game consoles

Some can be used in connection with homework, while some also support free-time activities.

For example, students can watch educational videos on smart TVs, media streamers, smart displays, and, where supported, VR headsets. Students can also cast or mirror a desktop or laptop screen to a smart TV or media streamer as needed.

At the end of the day, each student uses a mixture of exclusive and family-accessible devices. How and when these devices are used depends on the after-school schedule.

Data use is more about the applications than the devices

Most devices students use are multi-functional, meaning they support different applications that use different amounts of data. For example, a browser used to access an educational platform uses far less data than YouTube. Let’s take a quick look at how common student applications fall within low, minimal, and high data use.

Low and minimal data

Basic text-based schoolwork doesn’t require a lot of data. A single student may use up to 500MB to upload and download files, conduct research, and access school platforms for assignments and submissions.

Here are examples of applications that use low or minimal amounts of data:

Low data

• Cloud storage: Google Drive, OneDrive
• Communication: Google Chat, Microsoft Teams
• Educational platforms: Time4Learning, ABCMouse
• Learning platforms: Canvas, Google Classroom
• Productivity: Google Workspace, Microsoft 365
• Research: Google Search, Wikipedia
• Specialized software: Blender, Adobe Illustrator

Minimal data

• School-specific apps: Campus Cafe, Gradelink

High data

Video requires the most data, potentially adding several gigabytes to the weekly total, depending on the bitrate used to stream the content. For example, a 720p video may use around 1 to 1.5GB per hour, while a 1080p video may use around 2 to 3GB per hour.

High data

• Video: Coursera, YouTube
• Video conferencing: Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet

Video data during a two-hour homework window

Let’s examine how much data three students can use while watching video during the two-hour homework window:

Data use for watching educational video

The resolution of school-related video is typically 1080p. This format keeps the file sizes small to accommodate the limited storage, network bandwidth limits, and screens used in schools. The format also works best with most smartphones used by students.

Repeat the numbers for free-time use

Again, video uses the most data. Students who elect to watch TV in their free hours can do so on any device that supports video playback. However, 4K video (2160p) plays a larger role in this window given that many platforms offer TV shows and movies in that resolution. Take a look:

Data use for watching entertainment video

Total video hours can stack up

Let’s assume each student watches two hours of 1080p video during the homework window, and two hours of 2160p video during the free-time window. First, let’s see how much the three students use each day, and how much their data adds up in a five-day school week.

Three students can use up to 75GB a day watching video—up to 375GB in a five-day school week. Homeschooled students may use even more data throughout the week because their education relies on internet-heavy services that require video instructions.

Gaming also requires data

Gaming is typically exclusive to the student’s free-time window, but the amount adds up when you combine the data with all the other data students rack up in the after-school hours. Gaming data can be broken down into three types: online, cloud, and downloads.

Playing games online

Here are examples of games students may play online during the free-time period:

While we tend to say games don’t require a lot of data to play online, the data they do use stacks up over time. Plus, voice communication adds to the hourly data use, and any custom content that must be downloaded so the student can play, like with Roblox and Minecraft.

Streaming games

Cloud gaming is different. Students can play games rendered and streamed from a remote server—no minimum or maximum hardware requirements needed. Take a look at the data usage of three popular game streaming services:

The table lists the maximum data used per hour based on the recommended internet speeds for multiple resolutions. NVIDIA’s GeForce Now service supports the highest resolution of the three: 5120p at 120 frames per second.

So, if each student streams games from each platform during a two-hour window, the total used is up to 128GB.

Downloading games

Whether games are on discs or retrieved digitally from the cloud, modern games must be partially or fully downloaded and installed to the device, depending on the game and platform. Game updates are exclusive to digital downloads, which can happen automatically or manually.

Determining the amount of data students use to install and update games can be difficult. High-resolution open-world games are the largest given the virtual world’s size and the detailed textures used to paint the scene. For example, the size of Halo: Campaign Evolved is up to 100GB, whereas small games such as Pokémon Go can be 400MB.

That said, game downloads and updates are random spikes in a student’s daily data use.

An example of grade 12 student data use

A senior in high school will use more data than a kindergartener. Content restrictions decrease over time, allowing older teens to consume more content.

We dug into the applications each 12th-grade student in the household used in a school week.

Windows 11 desktop top data use

Microsoft Family Safety doesn’t keep track of the amount of data each student uses—it reports the time instead. To see how much data a Windows 11 device uses per application, parents can follow this path:

Settings > Network & internet > Data usage

Parents can choose to list the seven-day data, divide an app’s amount by seven, and then multiply the result by five. It’s not an exact science, but parents can get an idea of how much data each app uses in a school week and compare the data usage to the hours listed in Microsoft Family Safety.

iPhone top data use

The grade 12 students typically use both computers and mobile devices during homework and free-time hours. To see data usage on an iPhone, follow this path:

Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data

The caveat here is that the information only pertains to cellular use, so the iPhone doesn’t track app usage using Wi-Fi. Most routers and mesh systems we’ve tested offer this data through paid subscriptions.

But in the case of cellular data, parents can choose to reset the data to measure what’s used over a five-day period. If that’s not an option, parents can see when the billing cycle started, divide the total data amount each app uses by the number of days since the cycle began, and then multiply the number by five. Again, it’s not an exact science, but merely gives a rough estimation based only on cellular use.

Each grade 12 student used at least 130GB during a five-day period

As noted, we only tracked the Windows 11 and iPhone use of two 12th-grade students over a five-day school week. Both platforms combined total 260GB, and don’t include activities such as watching Netflix, playing games on consoles, and so on.

What about the kindergartner?

Our 12th-grade students are on the high end of the weekly data spectrum. The kindergartener is on the opposite end, consuming very little data during the week. Take a look:

In both cases, we list the maximum amount each platform uses in an hour.

With Roblox, the amount depends on the different games provided on the Roblox platform. One game may require 600MB per hour, while another may require 100MB per hour.

The maximum amount listed with YouTube Kids is based on the recommended speed requirements posted by Google. A 480p (SD) video has a recommended speed of 1.1Mbps (495MB per hour), while a 1080p (Full HD) video has a recommended speed of 5Mbps (2,250MB per hour).

So, if we assume the child gets one hour of Roblox gaming and one hour of YouTube Kids, the nightly total is around 2.86GB.

Spectrum has the bandwidth to accommodate three students

Modern homes can function with a data cap, but internet use is limited.

For example, a 1.2TB monthly allotment translates to 1,200GB. A kindergartner can use around 57GB in a month by merely watching an hour of YouTube Kids and playing an hour on Roblox each school night. Tack on two 12th-grade students with their devices, the parents and their personal devices, and all the other internet devices used in the home, and that 1.2TB data cap becomes a serious bottleneck.

Plus, now that traditional cable TV services have mostly moved to digital, homes tend to leave TV applications loaded and streaming, just as they did with analog TV. That data in itself can use up a home’s monthly data allotment, requiring internet providers to ease back on their data caps if they want subscribers truly off cable TV boxes.

Spectrum doesn’t have data caps. Subscribers can stream and download without worry about monthly data limits and overage fees. Spectrum also has a variety of plans to choose from, so parents can decide what fits best for their home’s speed needs.

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