video chat performance issues

dkowalski · EVDO Newbie Joined: 01 May 2009 Posts: 4

I just purchased a Sprint Mobile Broadband USB modem (S98U Sierra Wireless) Aircard to use on a recently purchased HP Pavilion Laptop to perform video chatting (using Skype) from various locations in my area.

As a new user of this technology, I'm having problems with performance. Some times the video on the laptop is quite good and at other times it's not. The video on the desktop which I'm calling in my tests always is less than desirable.

I'm using Skype's diagnostic tool to monitor Frame Per Seconds and will get 'BW_low' or 'BW_critical' messages where FPS drops to below 10 on either the send or recv end of the chat.

I have also run 2 tests using Sprint diagnostics. Test 1: download-1183 kb/s upload 114 kb/s latency 96ms. Test 2: download-605 kb/s upload 120 kb/s latency 85 ms.

Is there anyway to tune for short 10 minute video chat applications? Or is this a poor application for Aircard as I will always be subjected to signal strength and cell traffic...thereby affecting video quality.

Please advise.

Thanks!
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Dan

Alex · Posted: Fri May 01, 2009 7:56 am Post subject: Re: video chat performance issues

dkowalski · EVDO Newbie Joined: 01 May 2009 Posts: 4

Thanks for the input!

I would then assume video chatting is poor application for this configuration due to bandwidth/signal issues which I can't control (outside of possibly improving signal with an external antenna).

I'd be curious to know if others are using this setup for video chats and their opinion of the quality.
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Dan

Michael · Posted: Fri May 01, 2009 8:23 am Post subject:

Besides signal being important, there are some settings you can adjust to make the video chat work much better.

Over 4 years ago, I wrote this article on how to do a 2 way video chat:

http://www.evdoinfo.com/content/view/79/63/

There have been a lot of improvements over the last 4 years - so this article *is* a bit outdated.

Good luck!
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dkowalski · EVDO Newbie Joined: 01 May 2009 Posts: 4

I read your article which was good. However, still not clear on how to adjust bandwidths. Is that done within IM (Skype)? If so, does anyone know how to do it?

I just ran another test. Video coming from desktop (to laptop) was excellent (~30fps).

Going the other way (laptop to desktop), video was running about 8-12fps...and of poorer quality.

Will video always be better coming from the desktop??
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Dan

SignalSeeker · EVDO User Joined: 28 May 2008 Posts: 83

dkowalski · EVDO Newbie Joined: 01 May 2009 Posts: 4

will the new 4G network improve video chat quality signifcantly?
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Dan

Alex · Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 9:17 am Post subject:

falsedragon · EVDO User Joined: 13 Oct 2008 Posts: 45