[WXC/VFX] Problems with basic skype video calls

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › [WXC/VFX] Problems with basic skype video calls - how to troubleshoot?

Hatch

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#111475 4-Nov-2012 21:56

I've been having problems with basic skype video calls with parties living in Asia.

I can see and hear the feed coming in fine, but the outgoing feed is unusable for the party overseas.

I am told that the voice feed is constantly breaking up and is unintelligible.

I am running a Draytek 2710Vn at home with open Vfx.

I don't know if I can somehow finetune the Qos settings for skype.

Troubleshooting attempts thus far:

Disconnect all other wireless/Lan devices from router
Use direct Lan connection
Reduce outgoing skype video resolution/fps with http://www.evaer.com/blog/change-the-webcam-resolution-for-skype-video-calls/

My connection via ADLS is decent and probably fairly standard although Ping could be better:

Things to try:

Disable VOIP (if possible) during skype calls?
Mess around with Qos settings
Portforwarding etc
Upgrade to VDSL (too expensive for us)

Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated

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#711936 4-Nov-2012 22:04

You should be doing a speedtest to the country you are making the skype call to not the same country you live in

nakedmolerat

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#711938 4-Nov-2012 22:09

which country in Asia?

gzt

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#711958 4-Nov-2012 23:17

Does it change if you disable outgoing video completely or still horrible?

Hatch

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#712009 5-Nov-2012 08:13

johnr: You should be doing a speedtest to the country you are making the skype call to not the same country you live in

Thanks for that suggestion, didn't even know you could/should.

This just done at home:

This just done at work on a supposedly commercial plan:

Hatch

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#712010 5-Nov-2012 08:14

nakedmolerat: which country in Asia?

Japan

Hatch

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#712012 5-Nov-2012 08:17

gzt: Does it change if you disable outgoing video completely or still horrible?

It's better without video somewhat. Am I just kidding myself that my bandwidth is sufficient for even basic SD skype video?

johnr

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#712015 5-Nov-2012 08:27

I was in Japan about 6 weeks ago and had no issues doing a Skype call back to NZ to my parents

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Hatch

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#712016 5-Nov-2012 08:33

johnr: I was in Japan about 6 weeks ago and had no issues doing a Skype call back to NZ to my parents

So any ideas what it could be then? assuming your parents are on a standard residential connection like me. Is there anyway I can test the stability of my connection?

sbiddle

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#712017 5-Nov-2012 08:34

Can you make a Skype video call to somebody in NZ OK?

Hatch

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#712034 5-Nov-2012 09:01

sbiddle: Can you make a Skype video call to somebody in NZ OK?

Actually I just checked with my wife and she says even NZ based skype calling is poor.

Hatch

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#712035 5-Nov-2012 09:03

I just remembered that we have a wireless IP camera that is always on and connected, but is never really connected to or operated.

sbiddle

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#712052 5-Nov-2012 09:29

Do you have something sucking your upstream bandwidth in the background? The issue could also be your PC performance, it's not something old that doesn't meet the specs for Skype is it?

gzt

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#712081 5-Nov-2012 10:01

Is the problem on your work account or your home account?

What is your exact model of computer / specs of computer?

Hatch

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#712142 5-Nov-2012 11:31

sbiddle: Do you have something sucking your upstream bandwidth in the background? The issue could also be your PC performance, it's not something old that doesn't meet the specs for Skype is it?

I do have several unattended wireless devices being:

1 X wireless IP camera
1 X squeezebox classic
1 x squeezebox boom

The squeezeboxes are used within the home network to stream audio internally only, and when not used are "asleep".

I don't have any applications such as icloud backups etc running.

The PC's we use at home aren't the newest, but both sport intel core 2 duo 2.53 CPUs with 4gb ram (1 x HP Pavilion, 1 x Macbook Pro). I have a higher end quad core gaming laptop that I could try out - which I will test and report back later.

Skype via Samsung Galaxy SIII last night was equally atrocious to Japan.

Hatch

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#712145 5-Nov-2012 11:34

gzt: Is the problem on your work account or your home account?

What is your exact model of computer / specs of computer?

No the problem is at home only, I was just putting up work specs for comparison. Don't use skype at work.

PCs: Macbook Pro (circa late 2009) Intel 2.53, 4gb ram
Samsung SIII phone.
Ipad 2

Ran the macbook and later the SIII two nights ago when I was trying to troubleshoot. Then when back to the Macbook (running Win 7) when restricting the skype video upload specs to absolute minimum via third party app.

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