Skype call quality issues on uncapped

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drpol

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I am on Mweb Uncapped 4Mbps and have had major issues with Skype over the past few months. For the most part, callers can hear me but I cannot hear them: their voice gets broken up and split and has that robotic sound.

It is normally better with overseas callers in that the call works for a while but then after exactly 20 minutes their voice gets broken up. Yesterday I was speaking to someone on the either side of Cape Town and it was working fine, and then after 20 minutes exactly again it happened. Then after us both resetting our modems and trying a few times we got it to work, but then exactly at 20 minutes the same thing happened.

I have spoken to MWeb and they deny there is anything going on from their side in this regard, but it seems that there is some cap happening at 20 minutes on Skype. As Skype is an important part of my business this is becoming increasingly frustrating and unacceptable.

Has anyone else experienced this? Are there any solutions or ISPs you've had with more success?
 
I also used to sometimes get that "robotic" voice effect - after changing my dns to google's open dns, the problem went away.

Primary: 8.8.8.8
Secondary: 8.8.4.4

Try changing you DNS settings the above and see if it helps.
 
Could well be due to "shaping" - once I switched to an unshaped system (OpenWeb) this kind of issue went away.

Andrew
 
drpol said:
I am on Mweb Uncapped 4Mbps and have had major issues with Skype over the past few months. For the most part, callers can hear me but I cannot hear them: their voice gets broken up and split and has that robotic sound.

It is normally better with overseas callers in that the call works for a while but then after exactly 20 minutes their voice gets broken up. Yesterday I was speaking to someone on the either side of Cape Town and it was working fine, and then after 20 minutes exactly again it happened. Then after us both resetting our modems and trying a few times we got it to work, but then exactly at 20 minutes the same thing happened.

I have spoken to MWeb and they deny there is anything going on from their side in this regard, but it seems that there is some cap happening at 20 minutes on Skype. As Skype is an important part of my business this is becoming increasingly frustrating and unacceptable.

Has anyone else experienced this? Are there any solutions or ISPs you've had with more success?
Click to expand...

MWEB don't know how to operate their new shaper. Move to Openweb GOLD.
 
Thanks all for your suggestions, I'm going to try OpenWeb and also Google DNS.
 
I'm on mweb 384 and have had absolutely no problems with skype, even while working remotely on the machine of the person I was skyping with at the same time.

If you are downloading concurrently with skype you may have a problem.
 
Ok so an update. I bought 2GB Gold Unshaped on Openweb and also switched over my DNS IPs to Google DNS. Sadly I'm experiencing the exact same issue of getting the voice distortion while the other side hears me clearly. My Netgear router claims my downstream speed is 6144 kbps and a test on Speedtest.net showed a download speed of 4.09 Mbps. Something is amiss and I'm not sure what. I have contacted Telkom and they reset the line which also didn't make a difference.

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions? Some other info which may be pertinent: I'm using a MacBook Pro, have the latest version of Skype, and am on Wifi (although even tried plugging in a network cable to my router instead of Wifi, but it didn't help).

Thanks.
 
I think a ping test will tell you more than a speed test.

If you're experiencing network issues, it's always better to reduce your bandwidth so that your SNR margins increase.

Could you perhaps run a ping test, and post your ADSL's stats (SNR margins, line attenuation and sync rates)?
 
Some ADSL routers have QoS (Quality of Service) settings where you can give certain traffic higher priorities. There will probably be a default setting for "VoIP/Skype/etc", maybe try adjusting these to a higher priority.
 
After all that, it turns out that the issue was my Netgear DG834v4 router. The firmware had a bug that causes voice distortion on VOIP calls. Can you believe it. So I upgraded the firmware and it's working.

Thanks everyone for your help. I hope other Netgear users see this and upgrade their firmware (or stick to another brand).
 
Exactly the same issues ...

drpol said:
... it seems that there is some cap happening at 20 minutes on Skype. As Skype is an important part of my business this is becoming increasingly frustrating and unacceptable.

Has anyone else experienced this? Are there any solutions or ISPs you've had with more success?
Click to expand...

Yes, I am having exactly the same issues - after exactly 20 mins the voice quality of the other party downgrades dramatically (they seem to hear me) and the only way to recover is to restart skype entirely (and even that has not always worked). I am in Cape Town, but the issue seems one linked to Skype rather than anything else. I have started a twitter thread #skypeconspiracy on this theme in the hope of flushing out others with the same problem.

Anyone else seeing the same behaviour? I agree, it is unacceptable if they are doing this on purpose (to get us to move to Skype Premium - whatever that is? I am already a paying subscriber).
 
I see only now you say it is your netgear router. I am using it in an office - will try to find out what router they have. Will also test from home later today to see if it repeats itself (no netgear router there).
 
bickit said:
I see only now you say it is your netgear router. I am using it in an office - will try to find out what router they have. Will also test from home later today to see if it repeats itself (no netgear router there).
Click to expand...

Well no NETGEAR in sight - so I don't know what is causing it here in the office .... certainly was not happening 3 months ago ...
 
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