help needed with skype, please

[Guest UzinOz]

I have been speaking to family and friends on skype for ages but everytime I speak to my brother we get about 5 minutes and then I can't hear him, does anyone have any suggestions as to what is causing this, it's very annoying

He uses Virgin Media wireless connection, he spoke to support people there who said it should work OK.

 

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated

 

Jackie

[ianb]

not got any real suggestions but just to say when we arrived our Skype was not as good with similar problems to yours and found that our old laptop was not powerful enough, despite being ok in uk. Brought a "better quality" one here with more memory and faster processor and works fine now and no problems at all.

Just a suggestion but sounds very similar

[Guest UzinOz]

excellent, thanks, I know he uses a laptop, which is new but don't know how much memory etc it has.

Thanks for the suggestion

 

Jackie

[Guest andrew_obrien]

if skype works int he uk on your current hardware then it will work in oz on that hatdware the only variable is your internet connection which i would check, Also check if you are or wireless or networked via cable as this can cause issues. Try changing your wireless channel. With regards to the skype connection is it with everyone or just that 1 person, if it is with just that one person then the issue is at there end and not urs

[Guest UzinOz]

I know it's my brother connection because everyone else I speak to is fine, I am in Oz and on ADSL2, he is in Uk and using a new laptop with virgin media wireless broadband.

 

Jackie

[Guest kangomik]

it is your brothers laptop, its a memory issue.

New laptops work fine ( if big enough) but when cluttered they run sooooooooo slllloooooooowwww.

 

We brought a lap top here and use 3 mobile internet, it kept jumping out, and getting terrible time lag.

I bought a tower here and now the connections back home are fine, i tried the laptop again and even on a voice only call it kept lagging.

 

The problem is deffinately memory based in my opinion, so tell your brother to get sorted! LOL.

[Tamara (Homes Down Under)]

We use skype every day. Some days are better than others. Do you use video as well as speech? If you do then try disabling the video and just using speech.

We don't have too many problems with calls to the UK and New Zealand but we have issues with video/ speech calls to South Africa. This is a problem at their end...too little ram on the machine or perhaps the wireless provider is not able to offer sufficient transfer speeds?

If all else fails you can take out a skype unlimited country subscription and phone anyone on their landline in the UK for an unlimited period of time.

Hope that this helps!

Tamara

[Guest andrew_obrien]

it is your brothers laptop, its a memory issue.

New laptops work fine ( if big enough) but when cluttered they run sooooooooo slllloooooooowwww.

 

We brought a lap top here and use 3 mobile internet, it kept jumping out, and getting terrible time lag.

I bought a tower here and now the connections back home are fine, i tried the laptop again and even on a voice only call it kept lagging.

 

The problem is deffinately memory based in my opinion, so tell your brother to get sorted! LOL.

 

Not being funny but on what do you base this on?

 

What specification is your brothers laptop?

 

I.E

What operating system? (vista 32bit/64bit, XP, Linux)

Memory (2gb+ minimum)

Graphics Card? (nvidia/ati/intel) Shared Memory or dedicated

Sound Drivers installed correctly (i would make sure he runs windows update)

Is he using Norton Antivirus/Internet Suite (if so i would remove it A.S.A.P and use Avast)

 

Norton Antivis/Security suite is the biggest problem causer i have found.

 

 

Hope this helps

[Guest kangomik]

i base it on the fact the tower has more meory and power than my laptop.

The laptop worked well when it was new, but as it now has more things stored on it, it is next to useless on skype.

The tower works fine, and just to comfirm the laptop i do occasionally try it on skype just to cheese my self off.

 

If the OP's skype connection works fine with everyone else in the world, then surely even you may just agree that it is more than probably the brothers laptop at fault???????

Hence i reckon the brother should by a new laptop, preffereably high powered to speak to his lovely sister.

 

To the rest that will use skype for phone calls.

You have to prepay (pay as you go) but don't worry its 1p a minute to a UK land line and only 12p a min to mobiles in the UK so £10 lasts quite a while.

This has a small time delay which is only to be expected...

 

Can you tell i love Skype?

[Moosh]

Since the upgrade of both Skype and MSN Messenger, I have had terrible call quality with my Mum in UK yet before then, we were both fine. Mum says I sound like I'm under water but she sounds fine to me. Other people are ok but calls drop after 5 minutes. It is annoying but its a free way to call and video your friends and family abroad.

 

According to Skype's help page, they say it is to do with the quality of broadband. Some companies offer cheap broadband (say with the tv package) which offers a lower bandwidth, therefore, less quality. Unfortunately this is not the problem I am having as we both pay for the top services.

 

I also wouldn't say it is a memory issue but saying that it would be a good idea to take off all photos (put them onto a usb stick) and do a disk cleanup. Check how many applications are running and close ones you don't need at the time. Make sure your anti-virus is not doing a virus scan at the time you want to webcam. See if this helps.

[Guest UzinOz]

Thanks for all the suggestions, you guys obviously are clued up on this. My brothers laptop is only about 1 month old, he has nothing on it like pictures etc. don't know if he has anti buirus, I'll check, he did make sure everything else was closed before he came on, so that rules that out.

He is getting really frustrated with it, we find that we have the webcam on skype and talk to each other on the phone.

 

I'll get him to check the spec of the laptop.

 

Thanks

 

Jackie

[Guest kangomik]

see if he runs over 1.8ghz processor, if so new i would think it should have.

 

Memory over 2000MB

 

I think that sounds right.

 

Woosh, i found the new SKYPE better, less lag. Don't know about MSN never bothered with it after setting it up.

I am not sure about band width because it works fine around the library, and i find that slow to download. I pressume this is the same thing.

 

UzinOz, i hope you get it sorted, i know how frustrating it can be.

[Guest UzinOz]

Thanks again, I will post later with the outcome!!

 

Jackie

[Guest andrew_obrien]

Thanks for all the suggestions, you guys obviously are clued up on this. My brothers laptop is only about 1 month old, he has nothing on it like pictures etc. don't know if he has anti buirus, I'll check, he did make sure everything else was closed before he came on, so that rules that out.

He is getting really frustrated with it, we find that we have the webcam on skype and talk to each other on the phone.

 

I'll get him to check the spec of the laptop.

 

Thanks

 

Jackie

 

If you wish to just make a voice call then i would reccomend ventrillo it is way better than skype or msn. As for the laptop if it is only a month old it should be around the 2gb ram,and a core2duo. I would think it is your brothers broadband as i use a laptop and have no issues what so ever.

 

I can chat with you on skype at night or with your brother to try and sort it out for you if you wish, but only in the next 10 days as i will be jetting over to glenelg then