Very poor quality Skype

[Broadback]

I skyped a relative in the USA a short while ago, the quality was abysmal. I did a speed test immediately after and it is the highest it has been , though only a mere 5 MB. Was it just bad luck or could it be that I have replaced the router since my last Skype connection? Is there any way to improve it?

[pctech]

It could be congestion at any point between you and your relative in the States.

[Gary]

Skype can be great or poor, depends on their connection also if you used wifi and its just Skype so it can be a bit poo tbh anyway.

[pctech]

In my experience Skype also only really works well if there is absolutely nothing else downloading or uploading on either PC as it tries to grab as much bandwidth as it can but doesn't degrade gracefully when bandwidth decreases by reducing its bit rate.

This is because it is effectively peer to peer, only routing via servers when necessary and these are minimal.

The following article describes it well
http://www.technology-training.co.uk/skypesroadmapandarchitecture_28.php

[Lance]

I would have assumed that latency was more of a factor than bandwidth for the majority of users? Most people of sufficient bandwidth but low latency can be hard to come by!

At work, we have started using MS Lync and I'm finding it really useful. Whilst I've got a work mobile, most people do not so being able to call them over Lync when they are remotely working has decreased email traffic.

[Gary]

I would have assumed that latency was more of a factor than bandwidth for the majority of users? Most people of sufficient bandwidth but low latency can be hard to come by!

At work, we have started using MS Lync and I'm finding it really useful. Whilst I've got a work mobile, most people do not so being able to call them over Lync when they are remotely working has decreased email traffic.

I dont know about you, Lance buy I find Facetime to always be much clearer than Skype.

[Lance]

I've never used Skype and only once used FaceTime so can't make a judgment.