Skype for Pocket PC?

[maikii]

Has anyone had good results with it?

Out of curiosity (since I get free long distance with my T-Mobile service in any case), since Skype calls to US phones are free now, I tried making a call via Skype rather than the regular way. This was with my T-Mobile (USA) MDA (HTC Wizard). I overclocked it to 240 using Omapclock, which I had seen recommended for using Skype on this phone. I turned on WI-Fi, and made sure I had a good wi-fi connection, which I have at home. Then I started Skype, and placed the call through it.

It worked, I connected with the other party. However, the connection was very bad, frequent dropping out of the other party, etc. He couldn't hear much of what I said as well. I've tried a couple of times, same bad results each time. Much worse than a cellular connection.

I'm curious--from those who have used this more--is that common for Skype PC to phone--poor reception and quality? Only on the Pocket PC, or when used on the PC as well? (I haven't yet tried it on the PC.)

How about other VOIP services? Can any others work on a PPC phone? Are their connections any better?

[Sven Johannsen]

I haven't played with it much. Used a Wizard, but a K-Jam. pretty similar results, though mine isn't overclocked at all. Lot of factors. Certainly the processing power of the phone is one, but it has a lot to do with the quality of the connection too. You have good WiFi you say, but that only gets you to your AP. How is your IP connection and is it good both up and down. Lots of uplinks, can be significantly worse than down and you'ld never know just surfing. The other issue is that doing a SkypeOut you have to go to one of their IP-PSTN gateways. I'm sure those are pretty clogged with it being free for a while. Have you tried just doing Skype to some other Skype user. Use your headset to do it. I've found that helps, even on a PC.

[maikii]

I haven't played with it much. Used a Wizard, but a K-Jam. pretty similar results, though mine isn't overclocked at all. Lot of factors. Certainly the processing power of the phone is one, but it has a lot to do with the quality of the connection too. You have good WiFi you say, but that only gets you to your AP. How is your IP connection and is it good both up and down. Lots of uplinks, can be significantly worse than down and you'ld never know just surfing. The other issue is that doing a SkypeOut you have to go to one of their IP-PSTN gateways. I'm sure those are pretty clogged with it being free for a while. Have you tried just doing Skype to some other Skype user. Use your headset to do it. I've found that helps, even on a PC.

I don't know who is another Skype user. My IP connection is DSL, and it normally works well. I did use my BT headset (using BTAudio applet to route the sound through the headset), but the sound went in and out from the headset to the handset. (Sounds worse on headset than handset.)

[Brad Adrian]

Results can vary widely, and sometimes it's hard to determine the cause of less-than-perfect experience. I tend to not be too critical of the Pocket PC's performance, though, because even when I use a fairly powerful notebook PC and robust setup my Skype calls seldom sound better than a so-so mobile phone, with lots of echo and a significant delay.

VoIP technology has definitely come a long way during the past few years, but there's still plenty of room for improvement.

[Darius Wey]

I'm curious--from those who have used this more--is that common for Skype PC to phone--poor reception and quality? Only on the Pocket PC, or when used on the PC as well? (I haven't yet tried it on the PC.)

I'm with Sven on this one. It's most likely due to your lack of processing power, which is a very important factor contributing to Skype's performance on Pocket PCs. Skype is optimised to run on 400MHz or higher processors, though can run on 312MHz at times. At 200MHz, and marginally overclocked speeds, it's scraping the bottom of the barrel.

But Brad also raises a good point about other factors playing a part here. Wi-Fi signal, interference, and quality of microphones are all factors to consider.

[maikii]

Anyone tried Barablu? It's the only other one I know of that has a Pocket PC client.

It doesn't have free calls to phones, but its overseas rates are much better than Skype. I thought of perhaps using it for overseas calls. However, since all calls to phones cost there, with money having to be put in your account in advance, I'm rather reluctant to shell out money in advance to use it, after the poor reception I had in trying Skype.

If anyone has tried Barablu Pc to phone, and/or PPC to phone, please report on the call quality.

[isajoo]

i too have made many skype calls on my ppc, but i always have a different experience, i am running at 400mhz, with high speed and every call is different.

so i tried to over clock my processor to 472mhz, but still get weird results, i even tried underclocking it to 200mhz, and it still worked half the time.

I really think the problem is on skype's end.

i even tried it on wifi signals in the city, some low speed, some high speed and same thing, works and doesn't work.

What i mean by doesn't work or experiences or results is that i sometimes get echos of me talking or cutting in/out voice on the other end and people telling me over and over that they can't hear me. so i just give up and call from my cell or landline.

never tried it on a pc.

[MTIW Podcast]

Well, the problem with Skype is that it uses your computer or mobile device's bandwidth to allow others to place calls (kind of like zombifying you PC or Mobile Device). This, in turn, is CPU intensive. That's why Skype takes such a long time to run on devices as well as computers and that's why calls differ with quality- it depends on the number of users online as well as the "supply and demand" for bandwidth.

[Joelacrane]

I could never get the 312mhz version to work well on my rx3115. If you have anything less than a 400mhz processor, dont even try. Sorry.

[ctmagnus]

Actually, from xda-developers.com (www.xda-developers.com):

Getting Skype to work - the answer is here. (http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=60283) (A free login is required to get the download.) I followed the instructions in the second post.

This works fine for me, with the 195MHz, non-overclocked CPU in my device.