How would we enjoy online gaming without Xbox? It came as a lifesaver to avid gamers who love to play more than the basic games we see on our phones. It’s also more fun since you get to connect with multi-players online. However, there’s one thing that we have to deal with – data usage.
Your Xbox can use between 40MB to 300MB/hr playing an online game with your Xbox console. This isn’t a ton, but it all depends on how long you play. Other factors that affect data usage are downloading large game files and using other apps on the Xbox like Netflix or Hulu.
Data usage doesn’t have to be an issue, as long as you can monitor it and try as much as possible to avoid things that will make you spend more data while playing. We’ve put all these together in this article to help you have a fun experience with your Xbox.
Average Data Usage for Popular Online Games
Well, there’s absolutely no way you can play online games without using up data in the process. Contrary to what many people think, you don’t need data that costs a fortune before you can conveniently play some popular online games. In fact, some of these games only use about 40MB to 300MB each hour.
However, there might be an issue if you’re an avid gamer, as you might end up using more data over the month. For this reason, it wouldn’t hurt to know how much data you should expect to use when playing some popular online games.
| Game Titles | Data Per Hour |
| Overwatch | 135MB |
| League of Legends | 45MB |
| Fortnite | 100MB |
| Call of Duty: World War II | 40MB |
| Battlefield V | 100MB |
| Monster Hunter: World | 30MB |
| Grand Theft Auto V Online | 60MB |
| Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout | 70MB |
| Rainbow Six Siege | 70MB |
| Counter-Strike: Global Offensive | 250MB |
You can see that most of these games don’t use up as much data as some would expect. And they are much cheaper than downloading games online. If you plan to do this, you should be thinking about 50GB and above.
How to Check Data Usage on Your Xbox?
Xbox is fun and all, but the part we’d honestly love to do without is the data usage. However, it’s important to monitor your data usage during online gaming. For one, it helps you know how much data you have left to play your games for the rest of the month and how much data you’re consuming on your games.
People who don’t monitor their Xbox data usage might exceed their plan’s data limit earlier than they should in a month. When this happens, gamers’ carriers will charge you overage fees or throttle your speeds.
So, how do you check data usage on your box? You can check the Network Settings on your console. Here is a breakdown of how to go about it. Note at this point that checking your data usage is the same as the bandwidth usage:
- Tap the Xbox button
- Choose “System,” then “Settings.”
- In the “Settings” options, select “All settings,” then “Network,” and afterward, “Troubleshooting.”
- After selecting “Troubleshooting,” a drop-down menu will appear on the right-hand side of the screen. You will see the “Bandwidth usage” option there, and you can choose it.
The bandwidth usage shows you a breakdown of the amount of data you use per hour within a 24-hour time frame. It will also give you a log of how much data you’ve used each month since you’ve been using the Xbox console.
By seeing this log, you get an idea of how much data you presently use, how it affects your monthly data limit, and how it has affected your data use in the past.
Can You Play Xbox On a Hotspot?
One thing that makes your online gaming experience enjoyable is a smooth internet connection. Sadly, we don’t always have it that way, and the internet connection in your house might interfere with the smooth progression of your game.
When this happens, your phone comes to the rescue. Thank goodness! You can link your Xbox console to your phone’s cellular connections via its in-built hotspot feature and resume your game in no time. This option works well, especially if you’re playing an online game with friends or colleagues. You won’t have to worry about any network interference.
To connect your console to your phone internet via hotspot, all you need to do is create a hotspot connection on your mobile device and find your console’s access point that can be visible through “Settings” options.
From “Settings,” go to “Network” and locate your phone’s hotspot. Then enter your phone’s hotspot password to access its internet. It’s that simple. Now, your phone’s internet is tethered to the Xbox console.
This step applies to any mobile device, whether iOS or Android, as either operating system has the mobile hotspot feature. All you have to do is ensure that you have sufficient data on your phone. Otherwise, there’s no point in creating any connection between your console and your mobile device.
Why is Your Xbox Using So Much Data?
It’s so easy to get addicted to online games and play for hours, even days. It gets more interesting when there’s a smooth internet connection, especially if you’re on a 4G LTE. But while we’ve mentioned that online games don’t use up so much data, your Xbox is still using so much data. So, what’s going on?
Although gameplay doesn’t suck up your data, other factors contribute to extreme data consumption. They are:
- Online game downloads: Downloading online games is a sure-fire way to spend more data than you plan to. By downloading these games, you can spend enough data that you could have used to play a two-year worth of online games. To avoid this, avoid online game downloads unless there’s a need to do so.
- Game updates: Game updates is another factor that lets your Xbox use up so much data. A single game update can use up as much data as you would use to play online games for about 12 hours. If your console isn’t portable, you don’t have a choice, and these game updates have to occur. People with portable devices are lucky – they can always turn off automatic updates. Instead, they’ll update games by connecting to unlimited internet connections, like at a local library.
- The Number of Players: This is straightforward – the more the players on a game, the more data you use. This data usage is necessary for your network to send and receive information from other players. This could be the stats and scores of the players.
- Voice Chat: Once you’re on a voice chat while playing, you’ll definitely use up more data.
These are some factors that increase the amount of data your Xbox uses. That means you can reduce data usage by avoiding or reducing some of these factors.
Final Thoughts
We’ll forever be grateful to technology for making things easier and helping us experience things differently. That includes online gaming, and Xbox is a major highlight for game lovers.
Get familiar with how much data you use, and you don’t have to worry whether you’re overusing it or not.