Ah, so you *can* spell correctly. So why would you want to give the impression that you've got the spelling ability of a six-year-old?

Anyway, the problem probably isn't at the UK end, it's more likely to be due to the bottlenecks in and out of the UAE.

hello mate, never mind him, but I have 1MB broadband here and I use skype, it's a bit jumpy and the sound isn't brilliant, you get a bit of a delay but it works ok.

XimmyX - never a good ploy to upset the Mods m8...just change the first letter to a G and you have the complex they suffer from.

Thanks mate I will hav a look and let u no.

cheers!

good man.

A neat little trick that works....

Buy a small or medium sized file server in the UK (aren't to expensive anymore) install the paid for version of Skype on it. Login to it from anywhere in the world and you can even call people that don't have Skype. Calls are made against local rates, delays aren't to bad. And... For people in Saudi? (Okay Riyadh isn't to bad anymore.) Install Limewire or Emule on it, you can download a truck load of uncensored movies / talk shows / news on it. With the new fiber optic networking being tried out in Amsterdam it works like a dream. Even downloading the movies to your PC or Laptop.

Dutchie

so just to summarise for us technophobes, if you want to talk for free to the folks at home in the UK and you both have computers you need to:

1. install skype software on my computer (is this cheap? readily available in UAE from places like plug ins?) and

2. get VPN if calling from skype to home in UK if they don't have skype (VPN costs about £20 - look it up on the net).

Is that right?

skype software is free mate, yo can download it, just google it. But obviously you need to speak and hear, so obviously a webcam is best and a sound card, so I hear for you Pc users, obviously all macs have sound....

and yeah about the VPN, it's all very easy mate, you'll be able to sort it nee worries.

I log onto a server when in the ME. It logs on to the paid for version of Skype for me. Saves me fortunes in international calls. I use VPN, even with a (decent) server in between caller and receiver the audio en video are good. The system works so well it scares the shit out of the Americans while in the USA. I store all my files on there, scramble it with PGP, download them PGP scrambled if needed. No problem... And as there are only a hand full of IT freeks that can crack PGP you're pretty safe.

Dutchie

Thanks for that.

On that subject i'm going to get a new laptop with built in webcam (recommended?) and was thinking of getting a Mac. Can you recommend a good all round laptop which isn't too expensive?

Also i hear that they are cheaper in the UK - i plan to travel home for a visit next week and will buy one there if that is the case - do youthink that's true?

Errrrrrrrrrrrrrr what????

macs in general are more than PCs easily, but they are *****in great.

I think macs are pretty much the same wherever you go to be honest.

exactly, its double dutch to most of us...

Forget it...

What I'm trying to say is, with exception of buying the Server and installing the software it's pretty strait forward. You login to your server via the www as http:// 198.......... It automatically activates VPN, then you get a screen with software options. You click on skype, enter either the skype name or phone number and there you go...

I pay to call the USA from Holland € 0.0014 per minute. And if I download a file and the UAE censorship copies it? The first thing that pops up "Please enter a valid private key..." As Big Blue (IBM's most powerful mainframe took about 2 years and 4 months to crack one PGP Private key, I don't think those Sand Rabbits down there will do it in a day)

Dutchie