Catshanghai

I have been using Skype and other VOIP services like Dialpad and Net2Phone for a number of years, but the quality of Internet calls was always awful on dial up. Instead, I used the prepay accounts where you dial a number and pincode to access very cheap calls during the daytime hours when using my cell phone was prohibitively expensive.

When I came to China, I looked around for cheap and convenient ways to ring friends and family in the UK. I tried IP cards, but they were expensive at 35 RMB and they ran out after just half an hour. When I got hooked up to ADSL, I tried using Skype again. It is cheap at about 2p a minute to landlines using SkypeOut. Calls to other Skype users are free if they are online and logged in. However, the calls at that time were echoey, had long delays and frequently broke up. For over a year, I settled on a prepay service called Call2 (www.call2.com) that you log on to initiate a ring back, which initiates the call. Premium quality calls are charged at 4p a minute, which was fine for long conversations. I have been using it until very recently.

I tried Skype again when I moved into this appartment and it was much better than before. Using a USB headset has removed the echo, but there was still too much delay and many calls were still prone to dropping out. Today this has all changed. Thanks to Lab Rats’ video netcast (http://www.labrats.tv) and the Portforward website (www.portforward.com) for teaching me the geeky black arts of port forwarding with Skype.

Ignore this paragraph unless you are a geek. Basically, they illustrated that firewalls slow Skype connections by blocking the port receiving and sending the call data. This means that calls are diverted through another server, which greatly slows the flow of data compared with more direct connections. To fix this you need to create a static IP address in Windows network connections instead of one that gets refreshed everytime you log on to the Internet. You also need to setup a port forward connection so that the router allows data to fly in and out through the opened port required to make the Skype call. I imagine it works just the same for Macs, because you are configuring the firewall router rather than the computer.

Port forwarding works. I’ve just called my Mum in the UK and the call quality is superior to anything else I have ever tried. There is a very very slight delay of less than a quarter of a second, but the call was in full duplex (two way speaking and listening). You just need to go through the pain of setting it up.

Given Skype is now fast, I’m going to try and see if I can get good results for video conferencing using MSN Messenger.

PS. The writng is on the wall for phone network operators, because VOIP calls are going to continue to improve as bandwidth and Internet connectivity increases. More people are going to be using wi-fi devices to make VOIP calls. The cost of long distance calls is much less than using regular phone networks, which means the old telecom companies are going to lose their revenue streams.