Skype to New Zealand
 

I have been trying to talk to my daughter in New Zealand using video
Skype beta 2.0.0.63, under Win XP Home. I am on broadband in the UK, but
unfortunately she is still on 56 kbps dialup.

The connection starts off well -- excellent picture and acceptable audio
-- but after a few seconds the audio starts to break up badly, and my
daughter sounds as if she is overdosing on a mixture of mogadon and
helium!

Then, after about 30 seconds, the connection automatically terminates.

This is repeated every time we connect.

I assume that Skype is automatically terminating the connection because
the audio is broken up so badly. (I don't have any problems talking to
other people overseas, but they are all on broadband).

Is there anything in Skype we can twiddle to improve things? Connection
timeout? Codec?

--
Ian

Re: Skype to New Zealand
 

news laid this down on his screen :
> I have been trying to talk to my daughter in New Zealand using video Skype
> beta 2.0.0.63, under Win XP Home. I am on broadband in the UK, but
> unfortunately she is still on 56 kbps dialup.
>
> The connection starts off well -- excellent picture and acceptable audio --
> but after a few seconds the audio starts to break up badly, and my daughter
> sounds as if she is overdosing on a mixture of mogadon and helium!
>
> Then, after about 30 seconds, the connection automatically terminates.
>
> This is repeated every time we connect.
>
> I assume that Skype is automatically terminating the connection because the
> audio is broken up so badly. (I don't have any problems talking to other
> people overseas, but they are all on broadband).
>
> Is there anything in Skype we can twiddle to improve things? Connection
> timeout? Codec?

Voice alone will consume virtually all(if not all) the dial-up
bandwidth & you're sending video as well?

Re: Skype to New Zealand
 

I'm not sure about Skype, But Google Talk is very good at keeping
quailty as good as can be, changing codecs when needed itself.

Does not do Video though.. Very good voice :)

Re: Skype to New Zealand
 

If you are not too worried about the video, why not just ring her on
her normal land line with Voipstunt (www.voipstunt.com).

Me


On Sat, 11 Feb 2006 20:47:46 GMT, news <news@care4free.net> wrote:

>I have been trying to talk to my daughter in New Zealand using video
>Skype beta 2.0.0.63, under Win XP Home. I am on broadband in the UK, but
>unfortunately she is still on 56 kbps dialup.
>
>The connection starts off well -- excellent picture and acceptable audio
>-- but after a few seconds the audio starts to break up badly, and my
>daughter sounds as if she is overdosing on a mixture of mogadon and
>helium!
>
>Then, after about 30 seconds, the connection automatically terminates.
>
>This is repeated every time we connect.
>
>I assume that Skype is automatically terminating the connection because
>the audio is broken up so badly. (I don't have any problems talking to
>other people overseas, but they are all on broadband).
>
>Is there anything in Skype we can twiddle to improve things? Connection
>timeout? Codec?

Re: Skype to New Zealand
 

"news" <news@care4free.net> wrote in message
news:Oav8UrBcwk7DFwvk@care4free.net...
> I have been trying to talk to my daughter in New Zealand using video
> Skype beta 2.0.0.63, under Win XP Home. I am on broadband in the UK, but
> unfortunately she is still on 56 kbps dialup.
>
> The connection starts off well -- excellent picture and acceptable audio
> -- but after a few seconds the audio starts to break up badly, and my
> daughter sounds as if she is overdosing on a mixture of mogadon and
> helium!
>
> Then, after about 30 seconds, the connection automatically terminates.
>
> This is repeated every time we connect.
>
> I assume that Skype is automatically terminating the connection because
> the audio is broken up so badly. (I don't have any problems talking to
> other people overseas, but they are all on broadband).
>
> Is there anything in Skype we can twiddle to improve things? Connection
> timeout? Codec?
>
> --
> Ian

Why try to achieve something the program
clearly states isn't possible?

You can lead a horse to water etc.

Re: Skype to New Zealand
 

In message <vk0tu1ptulfrv61qtju5vn115jpucdgvom@4ax.com>, Me <Me@me.com>
writes
>If you are not too worried about the video, why not just ring her on
>her normal land line with Voipstunt (www.voipstunt.com).
>
>

We already use VoIP extensively for all our voice calls. No problem
there.

But we also want to give our grandchildren the opportunity to see their
grandparents as well (and the other way round, of course :-))

--
Ian

Re: Skype to New Zealand
 

In message <2qzHf.87322$zt1.62322@newsfe5-gui.ntli.net>, Nick
<not.known@here.com.uk> writes
>
>Why try to achieve something the program
>clearly states isn't possible?
>
>You can lead a horse to water etc.
>

Saying that something "isn't possible" is the sign of a closed mind.
Where would mankind be today if we stopped trying to do things because
they were deemed "impossible"?

In any case, where does it say that it isn't possible?

>

--
Ian

Re: Skype to New Zealand
 

I don't know how well it'll work with a dialup connection, but you
could try Kapanga, a SIP client that also does video:
http://www.kapanga.net/IP/home.cfm

or FWD, that does video too:
http://www.pulver.com/communicator/

Re: Skype to New Zealand
 

In message <1139743033.683697.244310@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups .com>,
paul123 <paul@redy.net> writes
>I don't know how well it'll work with a dialup connection, but you
>could try Kapanga, a SIP client that also does video:
>http://www.kapanga.net/IP/home.cfm
>
>or FWD, that does video too:
>http://www.pulver.com/communicator/
>

Very useful. Thank you.

--
Ian

Re: Skype to New Zealand
 

"news" <news@care4free.net> wrote in message
news:gQMXmDDQ0u7DFwLM@care4free.net...
> In message <2qzHf.87322$zt1.62322@newsfe5-gui.ntli.net>, Nick
> <not.known@here.com.uk> writes
>>
>>Why try to achieve something the program
>>clearly states isn't possible?
>>
>>You can lead a horse to water etc.
>>
>
> Saying that something "isn't possible" is the sign of a closed mind. Where
> would mankind be today if we stopped trying to do things because they were
> deemed "impossible"?
>
> In any case, where does it say that it isn't possible?
>
>>
>
> --
> Ian

The bandwidth of dialup is perfectly adequate for voice.

It is balefully inadequate for video. Even ISDN gives very poor results and
there you get 64kbps both ways rather than the 32<->40kbps typical on dial
up.

Trying to do both is going beyond the limits of physics - Shannon's Law see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannon-Hartley_theorem

of course if they get broadband or even ISDN2 (and aggregate the channels)
then you might just get a serviceable channel - choose a low resolution
image in black and white.

BTW it always amazes me that people whose children move to the far side of
the world never realise that there is an underlying reason... So don't
expect an upgrade at their end soon.