Advice - broadband for Skype Video only

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teszeract

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Hi people

I am hoping there's enough experience on this forum to point me in the best directions.

I'm in NZ, and my & wife's parents are in Durban. We want to Skype esp. for the video so they can see their grandson more often.

I was thinking of buying some kind of Asus eee (maybe the 900) so the 2 sets of grandparents can share the laptop & connection from wherever they are. They're old and not even into email much.

So what's the cheapest broadband option for them? There are many choices for mobile broadband, and some assistance in pruning the alternatives would be greatly appreciated.
 
teszeract said:
Hi people

I am hoping there's enough experience on this forum to point me in the best directions.

I'm in NZ, and my & wife's parents are in Durban. We want to Skype esp. for the video so they can see their grandson more often.

I was thinking of buying some kind of Asus eee (maybe the 900) so the 2 sets of grandparents can share the laptop & connection from wherever they are. They're old and not even into email much.

So what's the cheapest broadband option for them? There are many choices for mobile broadband, and some assistance in pruning the alternatives would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Hi, I am just going to warn you in advance and ask advice as well... I have been using broadband for 4 years now and am in the Eastern Cape.

Recently I got a webcam and tried Skype calls to my brother near Auckland. He uses xtra.co.nz as his ISP with a 4Mbps line - I use 4Mbps Webafrica ADSL shaped (the fastest available in SA bar the fact that it is shaped).

I have tried again and again to use the webcam using Skype, Yahoo messenger and TokBox using two different computers (one with a dual core CPU) and all 3 display the same issue - the sound is dropped anywhere from 10 seconds to 5 minutes into the call (I get snow and he gets nothing). It's incredibly frustrating.

I am able to use the webcam to the USA without any trouble at all. I have yet to test an unshaped account from SA which might help, but i find it very odd that there should be a problem. Regular skype calls to NZ are perfect or at least as expected.

PM me if you would like to test the cam - possibly there is something wrong with my brother's setup (although I doubt it as we have tried two different ADSL lines and 2 different PCs). At least you can give it a go before you commit to one technology or the other. I will also see if I can get an unshaped verizon / SAIX account to test - my feeling is that this is the deciding factor.

Anyone else with experience - please let us know if you have had success or not to NZ with webcam.
 
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I would strongly suggest you do with ADSL because of the low lag and stability (or at least more stable than the rest). Wireless connections and other "broadband" options in South Africa will just be an exercise in frustration. If you really cannot get ADSL in your area, then try Neotel. If not, then third, try Vodadcom 3G.
 
Out of interest, I had a 40 minute video conversation with a relative last night in Wellington (spelling?) and we had only minor problems. Their internet was 256kb/s up and down and we had 4meg down and 392kb/s down.

I was a bit worried when I read some of these posts but the call went off fine. It was a bit laggy with the video sometimes but on the whole it worked great.

I have an IS uncapped account so I don't know if that makes a difference but it usually gives me worse speeds for stuff like this than SAIX accounts get
 
Interesting - I suspect SAIX is the issue... thanks wizzard... Verizon will be the best then IMO, but needs to be tested. Unshaped SAIX may do the trick... dunno yet...

It's no surprise that SAIX sucks for voip / video.
 
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