100mbps + i7 = Poor Skype video and audio?!

panyan · 22 Nov 2011 at 17:53

i am on 100mbps internet with an i7 rig, pings are in the low 20's

my parents are on 25mbps internet, i3 SB rig, pings are mid 20's

and whenever i skype them it breaks up, the audio keeps freezing, the framerate is very low and the resolution is horrendous

we both have logitech c200 cam's with the latest drivers, etc, etc

and then that box comes up: "your internet connection is too slow for good video"!!!! :mad:

seriously - what am i meant to do to get this working well?!

is there a skype alternative that will give a decent image, framerate and audio? that works on mac and pc?

BusError · 22 Nov 2011 at 17:56

Try Google Plus "hangout" . it even works in linux!

panyan · 22 Nov 2011 at 17:57

BusError said:
Try Google Plus "hangout" . it even works in linux!

and how is the quality?

KIA · 22 Nov 2011 at 19:24

100Mb/s what?

Skype is P2P and might be shaped.

Brycheiniog · 22 Nov 2011 at 19:39

Next time you call them open up Call->Call Technical information after you have started the call. You will need to resize the window so that everything fits (This is important!), then take a few screen shots through the call and stick them on here. I will take a look and see what looks wrong.

Do your parents get the same sort of breakup? Does an audio only call work ok?

Jonathan

Orcvader · 22 Nov 2011 at 20:06

What's your upload speed? Is it 100mb as well? What about your parents? I'm assuming 1.3mb if they're on ADSL?

panyan · 22 Nov 2011 at 22:26

Orcvader said:
What's your upload speed? Is it 100mb as well? What about your parents? I'm assuming 1.3mb if they're on ADSL?

my upload tops out about 20mbps, my parents about 3mbps

panyan · 22 Nov 2011 at 22:27

Brycheiniog said:
Next time you call them open up Call->Call Technical information after you have started the call. You will need to resize the window so that everything fits (This is important!), then take a few screen shots through the call and stick them on here. I will take a look and see what looks wrong.

ill try this next time, thanks

Do your parents get the same sort of breakup?

yep

Does an audio only call work ok?

poor quality, but yeah, doesnt break up as much

Jonathan

geuben · 22 Nov 2011 at 22:29

I have 50mbps with virgin and also an i7. I get shoddy audio and video with skype a lot too. I've put it down to my girlfriends connection being rubbish (kingston communications in Hull).

bledd · 23 Nov 2011 at 09:52

Is anyone using wireless? Could be a horribly crap wireless connection causing issues

Skidilliplop · 23 Nov 2011 at 11:12

bledd. said:
Is anyone using wireless? Could be a horribly crap wireless connection causing issues

Or anything else running on LAN if there's no QoS configured.

Is the quality poor at both ends?

It's also probably being shaped. No scrap that, definitely being shaped.

PistolPete · 23 Nov 2011 at 14:15

Skidilliplop said:
Or anything else running on LAN if there's no QoS configured.

Is the quality poor at both ends?

It's also probably being shaped. No scrap that, definitely being shaped.

Virgin shapes what it believes is P2P. Can you reconfigue Skype over HTTPS or anything like that?

panyan · 23 Nov 2011 at 22:50

bledd. said:
Is anyone using wireless? Could be a horribly crap wireless connection causing issues

yes, unfortunately, im on a wireless n router and wireless n pcie adapter

Skidilliplop said:
Or anything else running on LAN if there's no QoS configured.

nothing else on the lan/attached to router

Is the quality poor at both ends?

yep

It's also probably being shaped. No scrap that, definitely being shaped.

they dont shape any other traffic, would they shape the skype port?

PistolPete said:
Virgin shapes what it believes is P2P. Can you reconfigue Skype over HTTPS or anything like that?

i hope so, but neither of us are on virgin

KIA · 24 Nov 2011 at 10:44

Who supplies the connection? Uni?

panyan · 24 Nov 2011 at 16:51

KIA said:
Who supplies the connection? Uni?

student accommodation, a company called ask4 - usually very very good service

KIA · 24 Nov 2011 at 18:20

3.1.12 allow Ask4 to carry out port scanning traffic shaping, traffic management, advert blocking or substitution and traffic monitoring and such other measures as Ask4 may determine from time to time to ensure optimum performance of the Service and Additional Services for all or a majority of users

http://www.ask4.com/students/student_terms_of_use

Have you tried Skype with someone else?

Orcvader · 24 Nov 2011 at 18:25

I don't know... my friend is in Leeds Met with Ask4 and during peak times he gets heavily throttled and latency jumps up to silly levels. This could be the cause of the problem?

panyan · 24 Nov 2011 at 18:44

this is the skype screenshot:

Brycheiniog · 24 Nov 2011 at 18:53

One or other of you is having a problem with the network. Traffic shaping is a possibility. The 1% received packet loss isn't going to help with the image that you are receiving. The video codecs that Skype use are not very resilient against this. Having said that your biggest issue is on the upstream side.

Skype has a fairly good bandwidth estimate and it has decided that your uplink is only good for 2KBps which is why it is only sending QVGA video. If you could get the same stats from your parents end of the same call it might narrow down which side has the problem.

PistolPete · 24 Nov 2011 at 19:48

Ah, sorry I saw 100Mb and I assumed Virgin.

Try running a few Glasnost tests and see if that shows anything:

http://broadband.mpi-sws.org/transparency/