Improving Voip clarity?

fatboyonadiet

I've got VOIP on my laptop but for the people I call it's sometimes a little quiet, is there anything I can use to improve the sound? I'm only using a cheap headset, is it better to get a more expensive one? I notice some come with software too.

sandroad

It depends on a range of things from your headset to your connection you are using as well as whomever you are talking too.

Things you need to be aware of:

Your upload bandwidth, how much of it do you have with your broadband (assuming you are using broadband)
The people you are calling. Do they have broadband with good download/upload speed?
How congested your network or ISP's network could be.
I use VOIP thru my onboard mic and speakers on my laptop and have no issues.

If you can give me some more info, I could try to recommend a few things to try.

Regards,
Sandroad

fatboyonadiet

I am on broadband, it's part of a university halls which I guess will make a difference and I'm calling landlines.

letsbehonest

Hi Sandroad,.
Just read your comments on VOIP,I would like some advice please, I use skype along with MSN for video on a PC-PC link to my daughter in Australia , Over the last 6 months or so I have noticed more time delay with both sound and video. We both have BB I use Win 2K pro she uses XP home my bb speed is 516k and hers is about 1 meg.
regards

Toxteth_OGrady

'ello, 'ello, can you hear me?:D

:rotfl:

:cool:

TOG

sandroad

Hi Letsbehonest

Sorry for only replying now, but i have been extremely busy. The most important factor for VOIP is bandwidth. Both your daughter and your broadband speeds are fine but remember this.

The speed that your ISP gives you, i.e 512kb/1mb in your daughter's case is the maximum download speed but your upload speed will be much, much less than this. The upload speed is important when it comes to voip otherwise you will have the delay/lag that you both are experiencing. I have also had issues with calling Australia via Skype from London and the problem is not just the amount of speed we have but more the latency/distance it is from us.

This was the response I received from Skype with regards to calls dropping/quality to Australia.

Hope this helps.
Sandroad

__________________







Thank you for contacting Skype Support.



First, make sure you are using the most recent version of Skype (download available from http://skype.com/download/).

Make sure all your PC's drivers are up-to-date (sound, video, motherboard controllers etc - please contact the manufacturers of your hardware for updated drivers).

Please use our Sound Setup Guide to make sure your audio settings are correct:
http://www.skype.com/help/guides/soundsetup.html

Make sure your firewall/router is not blocking Skype in any way.
For firewall settings please see our Firewall Guide: http://www.skype.com/help/guides/firewall.html

In Skype's top menu: Tools > Options > "Connection" window; please tick the option to use the ports 80 & 443.

Try to restart Skype. This will refresh Skype's routing information.

If the problem persists, a manual refresh in Skype's data traversal information can be helpful:
The procedure is as follows:

NB! Showing hidden folders and files has to be turned on: please navigate to My Computer > Tools > Folder Options > View. Once there, please make sure that the option "Show Hidden Files and Folders" is enabled.

* Close Skype
* Locate the shared.xml file found in
C:\Documents and settings\Your Windows Username\Application data\Skype\shared.xml
* Delete shared.xml
* Start Skype (shared.xml will be recreated)

Best regards,

Indrek Si | Skype Customer Support