hey just wanted to ask whether anyone has used skype video callin to home. is the quality good and is it easy enough to connect?

thank you

ypu'll need to pay £20 for a VPN (virtual private network) so you can bypass the fact that its blocked, it's easy enough, then yeah it's ok, a bit of a delay but not much - mrs spugsy talks to her folks on it quite a bit, its alright.

Who sells these VPN thingies? Are they transferable or can they only be used on one computer?

I got mine from a website in america, most of us did, do a search, and not sure to be honest about the 2nd bit.

You don't need a VPN for video calling as by implication its PC to PC which is not blocked.

chatted with a friend the other day with video and it worked very well.

yeah, i use it with my brother in hong kong and it's usually not bad...

MM, xx

Yeah I use it no problems here in Riyadh, no VPN needed. Pretty good video and audio if talking to someone with a decent computer at the other end.

doesn't even come up green for me when I open skype mate, only when I launch the vpn can I see who's online.

Skype-to-Skype isn't blocked on du, and it shouldn't be blocked on Etisalat either since the TRA has made a specific exemption for it. You only need a VPN to make Skype-to-phone calls through du.

As for quality, it all depends on how the connection is being routed and how busy the net traffic out of the UAE is at that moment. Call at the right time of day and you can get stunningly good video quality with no delay, especially if you're using a high-res webcam. Call at a busy time, though, and you can get low-quality video with choppy audio. It's just the luck of the draw.

cheers! im only planning on making skype to skype calls. so all i need to do is install skype software hav a webcam n hedset n im done?

u need a newer version of skype

Yeah, install it before you come out here. I use a Mac, so have a built in mike - don't need a headset. Your laptop might have the same, but headsets are not that expensive these days should you need to get one.

Is the Skype website still blocked via Etisalat? It shouldn't be, now that they can selectively block Skype-to-phone now rather than just doing a blanket block. It's not blocked via du.

yeh the website is still blocked

I'm on a mac In Abu Dhabi and have no problems with Skype to skype ......pretty good no delays, just make sure as nottmbantam said download before you get here