Hi,

I'm very pleased to say that video is finally working again for the first time since I upgraded from version 2.0. Fantastic.

Unfortunately, I have been experiencing really poor audio.

1. Called here from Japan to a friend in America.(voice only)
A. Call cut out once. We couldn't hear eachother and then the line disconnected.
B. Experienced distorted and choppy sound throughout the entire conversation.

2. Called a friend in the southern part of Japan. (voice and video)
A. With video on we could both see eachother, but only I could hear my friend, whereas my friend said the sound was so choppy they couldn't make out anything, or that it was completely nonexistant. The problem didn't rectify itself until after disconnecting and then reconnecting with voice only.
B. With voice only there was sometimes an odd clicking sound during a pause in conversation. It was almost as if someone were hanging up a phone.
C. Again with voice only, I could hear my friend fine, but as the conversation went on the connection for my friend would become steadily worse until the choppiness would become too terrible to continue the conversation. At this point my friend would hang up, wait a bit, then reconnect and the problem would be fixed until a small amount of time had passed and it would happen again.

My Computer Details.

Sony Vaio PCV-W102(w)
Celeron CPU 1.60Ghz
736MB Ram
Windows XP Home
SiS 650_M650 Video Card

Cable Internet Service J:Com
Download: 16Mbps(16.3Mbps,2.04MByte/s)
Upload: 1.9Mbps(1.90Mbps,230kByte/s)

That's about it.

I hope these details help with the official development of version 2.6.
I also kind of have the feeling that perhaps my internet connection is too slow, but when I first installed version 2.00 I was getting a really smooth connection using video with all of my contacts around the world, however, suddenly version 2.00 started to flip out and the sound became extremely choppy while using the camera. Any advice on this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
Oninotsume

Interesting as I noted in SKYPE testing that a Sony via showed some issues. anyway can you switch on tech display in advanced, make a call first to echo123, hover your mouse over avater and report

1) Packet loss
2) UDP status
3) Round Trip
4) relays
5) CPU (both figures)


also try same with your PC calls

Report back the figures
Regards

Gladiator,

Thanks for the reply.

Is there any way to save the tech data that is displayed while keeping the mouse hovered over the avatar. There really isn't much time to get all of that information down.

[Edit]

Okay, I made two calls to the Echo123 service with the following results.

1. Packet loss: 1st time: 0% 2nd time 0.1%
2. UDP Status: 1st time: Good 2nd time: Good
3. Round trip: 1st time:323 2nd time: 321
4. Relay: 1st time: 0 2nd time: 0
5. CPU: 1st time: -1.0%/46.9% 2nd time: -1.0%/50.6%

I'll try to see what other kinds of figures I get while talking to other contacts and post them here.

Thanks.

Oninotsume

Your problem is most likely round trip. 350 ms is on the very border of a decent call, what was quality of call like to echo123.

For round trip issue, suspect router set up or ISP, can you give more details on both.

Gladiator,

Thanks for taking to time to look into this matter.

The call quality to Echo123 was okay, but not the best. Actually the first time I tried it I got some pretty heavy distortion at times, almost as if the voice recording suddenly changed into that of a robot. I also experience this sometimes while speaking with friends from PC to PC.

As far as the Router is concerned, I don't use one.

I have a Motorolla SB5100 Surfboard Cable Modem, which is listed as having no router fuctions.

My ISP is a large cable company here in Japan known as J:com

Here is a link to their English page regarding their internet service.
http://www.jcom.co.jp/english/corporate/what_we_do_net.html

I'm using the premier service which is supposed to give me 30mbs download, but as you can see in my previous post I'm not getting that.

As far a firewall is concerned I don't have windows service pack 2 installed, but I do use Norton Anti-virus. Norton is set to allow Skype to pass through unaffected. Perhaps it will just come down to a change in my internet provider.

Thanks.

Oninotsume

Your echo123 description is exactly what I would expect ith round trip issue.

My first port of call would be to the ISP, and request they check the line and your upload/download speed. Thereafter here are some router set up tips:

Subject: Router Issues (Hack)

1) Drivers
Make sure you have latest drivers by visiting manufacturers site. Include any WI-FI card driver updates. For example, Linksys are a nightmare for drivers and they especially have many updated/hidden drivers. Try upgrading to the latest (enhanced) firmware here: http://www.thibor.co.uk try deleting all the uPnP entries.

2) Look through the router config settings in the config utility, under "Access"/"Special App." Look for the setting for "PC-to-Phone" apps. Enable this and Skype now works perfectly across my wireless network. According to the USR help file, so-called special application "need multiple connections that are inhibited by NAT"

Those of you with different routers could try looking for a similar setting in their router configuration.

3) Port Forwarding
In Skype, under Tools/Options/Connection there should be an option up the top letting you specify what port your router should use for incoming connections. Keep note of that number and make sure the option to use ports 443 and 80 as alternatives is checked.

The next part of this section must be done with caution.

Open up your router settings and try forwarding that port (as well ports 80 and 443) as UDP ports. Also, if it's not up to date, try updating your router's firmware too.

Warning Port Forwarding Ports 80 and 443 may leave your PC open to security attack, suggest you try firstly without opening those two ports in your router.

Take a look here for how to set up YOUR routers port forwarding:
http://www.portforward.com/routers.htm

Please find an example on how to open ports.
http://www.dlink.com.au/tech/drivers/files...n.ports_DMZ.zip

4) Port Scanning
It is "Some routers apparently think Skype is port scanning, and temporarily block all internet access". A number of routers/access points behave strangely with Skype. Most frequent reports are about D-Link 604/614 and Linksys BEFSR41/BEFSX41, but there are others as well. Some of it are straight bugs in router firmware, e.g. D-Link 614 firmware versions earlier than 2.33 crash the router (yes) if there are more than 1000 NAT entries. This link might be of use for Linksys router problems also http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,15837974

Latest Linksys firmware and driver updates here http://www.linksysinfo.org/modules.php?nam...page&pid=35

5) High Packet Loss after @ 30 secs
If you are getting really bad quality calls on Skype and lots of Packet loss after 30seconds.

Some ISP have what they call a heartbeat, I believe it checks every second or so if you are connected.

If you have a router set timeout to 0 minutes, Upload is 1/4 of what it should be 128kps down to under 40kps. If you re-set it to 60 on the timeout, fantastic, perfect! Zero Packet Loss!

6) Tracert Test
We've seen this happening with some broken routers that crash and reboot when tracert command is used.

Try , Start Run--> tracert www.skype.com --> Ok
Does this causes also connectivity loss? If it does, it is your router problem.
Solution is to upgrade router firmware or replace it with different brand.

Adam Harris 1st May 2006

Just an update.

I tried Skype talking to a friend in southern Japan (audio only) and the sound quality was so poor that neither of us could understand eachother. It was continually jittering and stuttering.

I took a look the data and this time the roundtrip was about 286ms, but this time send packet loss was pretty high somewhere around 36%/76%.

As I said before, I'm not using a router, so I suspect this is purely and ISP problem.

Oninotsume when you call to same person and have 2.5 installed is there any difference in audio quality?

Have you checked your setup within skype sound device configurations. In there you will see that skype will have already selected "windows default device", by default. <-- Don't use this option. If that is the case you need to change it, so that its using your "system sound card hardware device". Also you need to [un-tick] "Let skype adjust my audio settings". Both of these are highlighted with a RED box in the attached picture.