Skype quality

Q: My problem is, when using my webcam (Logitech Communicate STX) and having connection with a another party, my sound on both sides is cutting in and out. I am currently using Skype, in the past I used Windows Live Messenger and the problem existed then too.

I can receive the video and the sound without any problem. I can also transmit video from my camera, that is when the sound starts to cut in and out on my and the other parties system. Both can view the video without a problem. Through a process of elimination I found if I turn my camera off and use sound only we both have perfect sound and I still have a perfect video. I would like to know what I can do to correct the problem that we both have video and sound?

A: As a first step you should make sure that you have the latest drivers for your camera, you can download them from www.logitech.com/index.cfm/support_downloads/downloads. However, this is most probably caused by the quality of your broadband connection rather than anything to do with your local hardware. If you have broadband making VoIP calls shouldn’t be a problem, but it’s worthwhile checking that your connection is up to the job. Using the www.testyourvoip.com website you can run a free test linking to one of seven international destinations. The results show as a graph comparing the quality of your VoIP link to that of a normal phone call.

Your problem may simply be that the round trip time for the connection is long, or the level of packet loss is high, due to heavy network traffic. In Skype if you go to the Tools, Options menu and select Advanced there’s an option to display technical information during calls. Switch this on, then hover the mouse cursor over the duration bar during a call to see information which may help you troubleshoot problems.

From Skype’s Call menu you can access the Call Quality Guide to troubleshoot problems

Originally featured in PCU122

Tagged as: quality, skype