theramblingman

Hi all,

The frustration of a glitchy Skype connection is really getting to me! I know Skype can be temperamental but I've tried other video call services and they don't seem to be much better. I'm talking about PC-PC calls by the way (I read some of Skypes other services are restricted here).

I'm based in Dubai, with Du on a 16mbps/4mbps package, using my laptop with wifi connection. Will buying a cable make any difference?

Any other tips?

Cheers,
Stephen

calman014

Hello, it depends how reliable your wi-fi connection to the router is, but yes a direct cable to your router/modem can block out wi-fi interference, then it's just down to the quality of your connection. Skype calls often drop (even if you have a paid subscription unfortunately) but if you hang up and restart the call you quite often end up with a more stable and better quality call. Microsoft is now owner of Skype, but they still haven't done much to the core structure to get rid of the bugs. If you still have problems try addressing this in "The Lab" section of the forum. Maybe there's somebody in your area who can give further tips.

Bahtatboy

I've more or less given up on Skype--not sure if it's the internet here (which isn't great) or Skype itself, but I now talk on Messenger on my iPhone and iPad, and it's generally very good. Skype is awful on my iPhone, and slightly less awful on my iPad.

Tockalosh

No dramas with Skype from the ranches on 16/4. Rarely have an issue and of course I never forget it's free.

Bitzer

Try Vsee (vsee.com). It's designed for remote and bad connections.

I have a dodgy connection here in the middle of KSA and I can put Skype and Vsee up at the same time and compare quality - while Skype is pixellated and audio sounds like Max Headroom, Vsee is running like TV. Free, easy to install/run and simple to invite others to sign on.

Irishbeekeeper

yep, been on Du in the office for over 3 years now and its always been like that. You can text chat in skype all you want to but voip or video chat is blocked as far as my connection is concerned. The call goes through all right, but sometimes no sound or video at all or sometimes it is so so so bad that you just give up.
On the other hand I have Etisalat at home and skype works perfectly for me there.
And Viber is vice versa btw ...wont work on Etisalat and will work on Du.

Oh fyi, google talk works great on Du. I know its a crappy interface and I HATE the fact that google are trying to ram their sh**ty 'hangouts' thing down your throat by making sure you can only use it with google chrome but hey...it works on Du atleast so there you go

NorthernLad

I'm on Du at home (24Mbps) and Skype works fine, no issues at all (over wifi).

I've never had any issues with Skype here that I can remember.

Last week there did seem to be some internet performance issues, my torrents were showing ETA of days as opposed to minutes, but it looks to have been resolved now.

theramblingman

I tried the cable and I thought it helped a little at first, but then still had terrible connection at times so I don't think the wifi is the issue.

I'll give Google talk a try, but don't think that'll help for my chats to China (as far as I know Google products/services are banned there). For China I tried their version called QQ International. Seemed a little better but the connection was still so bad after a while we had to give up.

Thanks for all the tips! I'll keep trying...

Dubaiexile

I use WeChat for video calls to my wife in China, never any problems and crystal clear as well on my phone....and it is free!