Dedrei Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 Who uses webcams to chat to family in SA? What programs do you use to do this? What is the quality like if the people you chat with have dial-up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Zak Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 Hi Dedrei,MSN Messenger doesn't work too bad. I have used that before and I believe it serves the purpose. Although Skype is focussing on voice over IP, I have noticed somewhere that Skype has brought out a beta version of their software that can now do video confrencing. Maybe it is worthwhile checking that out.A clean dial-up connection could potentially run a video conference, but I would stay clear. ISDN connection is fine - and the best is ADSL (even the slowest connection ADSL, 192 (?) Kbps will do). But, in order to run voice and video over IP an unshaped connection would be recommended. You will still get some sound and some video with shaped. But having a unshaped ADSL connection will give you smooth picture. (I know, this is getting expensive now).Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Seoul Sister Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 *phew* YOU GO ZAK !! I guess I don't need to ask if you are in IT !!? Good job.My dad in SA has an ADSL connection. We got him a little Logitech camera in Japan last time (US$100, so really not expensive), we have the same one here. We have used Yahoo Messenger ( which you can download for free) and MSN Messenger ( I prefer Yahoo). We are able to see them and they are able to see us and speak to us live. It's great ! Our quality of video is much better than theirs, but they are happy with just being able to see us, , so I don't think they care too much. On hubby's last trip to Japan, we used Skype and the quality was A LOT better than messenger, we used the conferencing and it works great. So I would recommend Skype, eventhough the messenger programs also do the trick.Wow Zak, I will keep you in mind next time I have a technical hick-up, you're obviously the Beau of the Ball (I miss Serileen now !! thanks for the term chommie) when it comes to the wired domain...Love from hereThe Blond one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riekie Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 We use msn - works 100% (Has skype too, and have used it, but msn seems to be more popular - more of our contacts on msn). You can download both free from the internet. I guess it's a matter of 6 of one and half a dozen of the other..... I'm not technical but can say this from an end user point of view. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marius Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 We use MSN almost every weekend. We have found the visual quality good on MSN but the audio quality not the best, audio for us seem to be better on skype. So now we use both at once, we "call "on skype to have good audion, then minimise the window and at the same time hook up on MSN for visual on the webcam, share photos ( and explaining each one verbally on skype ) and of course typing if required. We found a mix of the 2 best to at the same time fully share photos, visual on the webcam, type if required and talk. Don't ask me the system requirements to do this, Zak may be able to help. I have broadband, fast unlimite connection, that might help.We have even had "tea"over the internet a few times for birthdays etc, visual on MSN and a good old chinwag over skype, all while we were all having "tea" 12000 km apart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NZHigh Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 We have even had "tea"over the internet a few times for birthdays etc, ..... all while we were all having "tea" 12000 km apart We used a Creative webcam 2001/2002, MSN and dial up at both ends, and it was better than the standard dial up quality. Reason: I friend recommended a server in Belgium which would somehow speed (slightly) up the slow dial up transfer rates. We soon found out why it was 'faster' than the standard servers one tends to use. It was used in the porno industry for their chat facilities (that's where the big money was/is). We quickly had to block all the relevant ports or what have you's to ensure that some Dick (literally) does not pop onto the screen while my young one is chatting to my elderly Mother. We chatted invisibly. We, like Marius also had 'tea', normally morning tea in South Africa and evening tea in New Zealand. My youngest at the time was only in Kindy and loved to draw in full colour using the drawing feature, the family could save or print it instantly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janine Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 We quickly had to block all the relevant ports or what have you's to ensure that some Dick (literally) does not pop onto the screen while my young one is chatting to my elderly Mother. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!! Very funny, NZHigh! Especially with the mental picture that inevitably immediately sprung to mind!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Does anyone know when Telkoms monopoly ends? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gautenger Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Alan, I can't say with authority, but the last I have heard is that SNO (Second Network Operator) will climb into the market next year (2007).I pray that they do & bring broadband into someting resembling an internationally competitive product lineup. I get calls almost every day from Telkom trying to get me to sign up for ADSL, but their best package is a pathetic 3Gb shaped and capped service. Thay then still expect you to sign up for two years. I reckon that they are trying to get as many contracts signed before SNO opens next year, but I will suffer along with ISDN till then to see what happens, thank you very much. Besides my ISDN may be way slower, but it isn't capped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathanb Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Does anyone know when Telkoms monopoly ends?It does and it doesn't. Telkom might have competition but the competition is in a great part owned by the government through their holdings in Transtel and they still own a big part of Telkom. Everyone knows that when the government owns or has anything to do with a business you can expect ........................Just that. Nothing much at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zappa Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 hi, when I was in the middle east i had a 2MB ADSL connection and used msn and yahoo and both audio and video were very good (if there was an adsl connection other side). there was no limit on how much i could download. and it was a flat fee once a month. telkom charges about 3 different monthly fees for esentially the same thing plus high installation costs. i find telkom too much of a rip-off and due to it's monolopy and being too expensive i won't support them with their ADSL contracts unless i really have to. i'm anyway in oz in 3 weeks time where i'll get ADSL again. for you IT boffins, what's the difference between shaped and unshaped, as telkom calls it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathanb Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 (edited) hi, when I was in the middle east i had a 2MB ADSL connection and used msn and yahoo and both audio and video were very good (if there was an adsl connection other side). there was no limit on how much i could download. and it was a flat fee once a month. telkom charges about 3 different monthly fees for esentially the same thing plus high installation costs. i find telkom too much of a rip-off and due to it's monolopy and being too expensive i won't support them with their ADSL contracts unless i really have to. i'm anyway in oz in 3 weeks time where i'll get ADSL again. for you IT boffins, what's the difference between shaped and unshaped, as telkom calls it?Unshaped means that all traffic gets the same priority and is the way things should be however to make browsing speeds seem faster, Telkom shape their traffic by prioritising certain traffic on the lines. normal http web browsing traffic get priority over mail and ftp traffic etc. This makes a huge difference in certain cases. As an example one of my website hosting customers with an adsl connection had a problem connecting to their control panel which uses a secure https connection. They had no problem using dial up and we discovered that the problem was that with Telkoms port shaping, the secure (https) traffic was given such a low priority his connection was timing out when he used adsl.There are ways around it though. I dont know if it has changed but it was only international traffic that was shaped and measured for bandwidth use so all you need to do is find one of the local free proxies and use that as all your international traffic then looks like local traffic and is unshaped. Edited March 17, 2006 by jonathanb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zappa Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 (edited) thanks jonathan, now i understand the difference bet the 2 and also why my internet banking (https) from work's adsl connection sometimes times out but never from the 48kbs connection at home. Edited March 17, 2006 by zappa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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