Problem with Skype

TrishaM

Hi techies,
Could someone answer this for me. I have just downloaded skype a few days ago, and I bought a usb headset and mic from argos. Went throught the testing set up and can hear my own recording so no problems I thought. My friend has skype so i called her up, having probs now. Sometimes she can hear me for up to 35 secs then my voice cuts off and she can't hear me but I can hear her perfectly. Other times when I call she can't hear me from the outset. She can see my webcam though and me hers. I have checked my mic via start>accessories>sound recorder and this works also. So can anyone tel me is it me or her. She has been able to talk to other people. I have zonealarm free version of course, would this restrict my voice. Have also gone into a yahoo chat room and tested my mic to see if anyone can hear and they could. this makes me think it is not me.

Help please..

MercilessKiller

Are you accessing the internet from behind a network? If it's a home network you could try "port forwarding" the ports needed for Skype to work on you're router to your computer...

Try disabling Zone Alarm and running Skype, this would tell you whether that is the cause of the problem or not. It's all about testing really!

TrishaM

I have a belkin wireless modem router, connected to my computer via ethernet, need to find some who has skype and speak to them if possible to rule out that it is/is not my machine, I disconnected zone alarm for a few mins earlier but made no difference. don't understand "port forwarding" and how to change this.
But because I can be heard on Yahoo does that not mean that my computer audio is set up correctly?

bordercars

i have put a usb phone on with skype all sound now comes thro the earpiece how do i reconfigure the pc's speakers please

TrishaM

Many thanks for the info. I have a belkin 54g wireless moden router. went into the settings and enabled the Upnp setting. Seems that is the universal plug and play thngy. should be enabled for voice messaging video etc. have called my friend and was able to speak for more than the 35secs I had before so I hope this has helped. Again thank you for your help

albertross_2

enabling upnp is a security risk..

It will allow applications to open ports on your firewall that are normally blocked

you can check what ports are opened with this:

https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

MercilessKiller

bordercars wrote:

i have put a usb phone on with skype all sound now comes thro the earpiece how do i reconfigure the pc's speakers please

Start > control panel (or settings > control panel) > Sounds and Audio Devices.

In this window, click on the audio tab and change the Default Device under Sound Playback to you're sound cards Wave Device (I.e NOT the USB one that will be your skype phone). This way normal playback will be through you're pc speakers

Hope that helps.

albertross_2

http://www.theregister.com/2006/02/23/isps_set_skype_limits/

TrishaM

Hi Albertross I went to the link you posted and it did a security check on all the ports, inc the upnp apparently my computer cannot be detected and all the port are marked stealth in green so I can only assume that this is good. Apparently they cannot detect me with the "pings" Again thanks i hope I am safe!
TrishaM

albertross_2

After posting the link, I remembered that grc's scanner only does the 1st 1024 ports, and there are 65536 ports available, you could try this one as well. The problem with upnp is that they may be closed now, but if you get infected with some rogue software, that could open them up. The risk is low, but it is something to be aware of.

http://www.dslreports.com/scan

Using a software firewall such a zonealarm is always a good idea, as you will be prompted when a piece of software tries to talk to the outside world.

TrishaM

Thanks albertross again, went to the last link you posted and got this result


Conclusion: Healthy Setup! We could detect no interesting responses from any of the commonly probed TCP and UDP ports. It would be difficult for an attacker to know where to start without further information.
TCP ALL FILTERED No response packet was received.
UDP ALL FILTERED No response packet was received.
So I think I may be ok what do you think?
TrishaM