Where To Call With Skype Sufficiently ?

[cityboy]

I need to have calls to US, EU and Latin America daily, weekly. Most of the Internet connections are lacking and providing really bad quality sound to these calls through Skype. They either are bad quality of sound for the other party or keep on dropping the connection sporadically. When I do pingtest.net I get package drop rate around 90%.

I was wondering if anybody would know;

- An internet cafe with (in thai standards super) high-speed connection in closed rooms that the customers can use for such calls

- A place which has a telephone facility with cheap but quality lines for international calls, also with personal room or space

Also, of course, I would not like to spend trillion bath on phone calls.

All answers highly appreciated!

[filingaccount]

Would be nice to know which ISP you use and what computer equipment and Internet equipment you have.

90% packet loss is abnormal even for the abysmal Thai ISP's, so there is some other issue(s) adding on to your problem. A likely culprit is the use of bittorrent, and/or a shared Internet connection in an apartment building where everyone is saturating the connection with <favorite online application>.

You also do not say if you are in Bangkok or any other province. I will assume you are in Bangkok, and know your way around a bit. I suggest you check out Third Place on Thonglor (http://www.thirdplacebangkok.com/). A very decent place to work. Last time I used them the price was 600 Baht for a month "membership" with a limited amount of free coffee/drinks. Or you could pay 100 baht per day with free coffee/drinks. The Internet connection was decent, but limited per user to 500 kbps and they asked you to refrain from using bandwidth/peer hungry applications such as bittorrent. They also have 2 conference rooms with facilities and space for up to 10 or so people. The cost to rent this I forgot, but a quick call to them should inform you.

Edited February 2, 2010 by filingaccount

[Nio]

I use Skype from home TOT ADSL and never have problem with dropped video conferencing calls to Dubai or USA

Second is mouthmon.com VERSION 1 calls to USA phone from Thai PC 0.07 baht per minute I have stayed connected 3+ hours before

Third check this out http://www.thaitelephone.com/1195.html click the tab upper right hand for English, maybe there is something there you can try

My wife uses thaitelephone card to call me from places all over the world when she is flying

I surmise if you are living in an apartment or room, the internet connection there must be too low for Skype to work effectively

[TerraPosse]

I too use Skype video calls every week to Europe without any problems on True, I think. Even with torrents running in the background does it work although the video then drops sometimes.

[cityboy]

Thanks for replies - will check it out.

It's bkk and windows stuff - though i tested other OS's with same problems. My apartment have their own connection and servers which they poll it through. I have to authenticate through some kinda middle software - no idea what provider. SUpposed to be 4megs but nothing like that is seen in my cpu.

I guess i have to find new condo or place to work like thonglo above..

[el jefe]

I'm in Chiang Mai and use both Skype and Jajah on a daily basis. Never a dropped call.

Plenty of internet cafes with private booths for calls but I don't think that will help you much.

[crev]

90 percent drop rate is time to switch to another ISP.

[Gobbledoc]

Where U calling from, what www.speedtest.net to USA,Europe do you get?

Is it wireless or a cable?

[KTD]

Greeting's everyone,

I will be in Samui next week and was curious also regarding internet speeds being sufficent for using skype.

What are the ISP's availible on the island and is coverage good enough with USB modem/air card or

would you require ADSL? Thanks.

[Lomar]

Alternatively, you could try True Move InterSim for cheap international calls using VOIP access code 00600 (I think). I find the call quality to better than Skype and less likely for call to be dropped/other party to not be able to hear me etc.

Calls to UK landlines cost only 1b per min, and 6b to Uk mobiles, but not sue about US or other EU countries. Lots of info on their website tho.

Hope this helps!

[NALAK]

i use voipcheap, it has a phone to phone app, your first 3 months are free from Thailand to outside country, so you only pay for the call from bkk to your phone. its as clear as can be and costs less than a baht a minute to the UK.

[hunglikea]

No problems using Skype via TOT ADSL. I use Apple Mac tho' so never a problem unlike PC's

[ZXT]

I suggest do a speedtest (pick a US server) first before you make your call. If you get at least 512kbps then its good enough for VoIP call.

Also sometimes the softphone you use for making calls affects the quality so make sure you use a good softphones. Here's a side by side comparison of free softphones you can use.