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#1 2005-05-05 8:04 pm
- sparrow
- Member
- From: Baltimore, United States
- Registered: 2004-11-14
- Posts: 46
SKYPE!!!!
http://www.skype.com/
Skype is an free instant messaging application that supports voice conferencing.
It is cross platform, free, stable, easy to set up and use and supports file transfers up to 4 gigs.
We had it up and running on ranger last night for a while and it worked perfectly. The only drawback is the voice conference only supports 4 participants at a time. It is perfect for smaller games and could also be used by dividing the players into teams - ex. conf 1=alpha conf 2=bravo conf 3=charlie.... we had one player in Montreal with a pretty dated g3, his voice came through laggy and robotic. However another player in Switzerland with a more current g4 came through as clear as talking on the telephone.
I strongly suggest checking this one out.
Also, it is my understanding that iChat for Tiger allows you to participate in audio conferences with up to 10 participants.
Sweet. Once we have all upgraded to tiger we will be set. But in the mean time check out skype.
Rifleman - socom or oicw w/sensor
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#2 2005-05-06 3:22 am
- NightCougar_37
- Has been Larrabee vaccinated..have you?
- From: The back of my Netherdrake
- Registered: 2001-07-22
- Posts: 8774
Re: SKYPE!!!!
I'm Tigerized here but i'll check it out. From looking at that other thread it seems it might not be totally lowband friendly so, might have issues there. But probably have the same with ichat anyways. Slowest speeds we got right now are just me, Jeap, and Carb. Jeap is just coming from the far north and its a crappy connection anyways. Then Carb has to share his line.
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#3 2005-05-11 11:23 am
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#4 2005-05-15 7:53 pm
Re: SKYPE!!!!
What's your guys SN's?
Mine is vir2l.sog or you can find me by searching for Vir2L.
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#5 2005-05-16 11:21 pm
- sparrow
- Member
- From: Baltimore, United States
- Registered: 2004-11-14
- Posts: 46
Re: SKYPE!!!!
MAsparrow
I only log into skype if we decide to use it in a game. We were using it last week playing skull valley and it definitely does hog up some bandwidth.
Rifleman - socom or oicw w/sensor
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#6 2005-05-17 2:56 pm
Re: SKYPE!!!!
ya it is extra hard on the host.
I remember trying to host and play using skype once and it just wasn't worth it to me. Let alone you need at least 256k upload transfer rates to host 6 people or more on Ghost Recon, you're gonna need even more than that while using skype. I would guess Skype uses at least 50k/sec per person.
on a side note for hosting GhR:
I can only host 5 people max in Ghost Recon (without Skype), if i go over that amount the clients start experiencing lag/packetloss and i start getting horrible framerates. My ISP claims i have 256k upload, but it is more along the lines of 170k on average.
I would suggest hosting more than 6 person rooms, only if you are getting more than 256k upload.
Here is a website for testing your transfer rates:
http://lax.speedtest.dslextreme.com/speed.php
Last edited by Vir2L (2005-05-17 2:59 pm)
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#7 2005-05-18 1:57 am
- NightCougar_37
- Has been Larrabee vaccinated..have you?
- From: The back of my Netherdrake
- Registered: 2001-07-22
- Posts: 8774
Re: SKYPE!!!!
Yeah most likely its not a full 256kb which in KB would be about 32KB. 170kb would be 21.25KB/sec upload.
If you want to figure it out for yourself heres the equation. Its rather simple. Just converting kb into KB: 1024*<kb/sec>=<bits/sec>/8=<bytes/sec>/1024= KB/sec
I spent the other night talkin with Nox about figuring out the exact KB/sec speeds you get. Ran the numbers from some tests I did know to make sure I was doing it right. Then I started running numbers from the speeds DSLextreme provides. Found out to host the # i'd like to host, i'd need to pay more and possibly go for the 3000/768 package which has peak of 375KB/sec down and 96KB/sec up. Course most likely it would probably be 340/80 or less but it would be better than the 3000/384 package.
btw, Vir2L if you are on cable and going thru a router and you need speed. Try running it off just the cable modem. When I got things working at my sis's place thru the cable modem, I ran a test and the speeds saw a nice boost vs going thru the router.
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#8 2005-05-19 3:16 am
- Leonard Nimoy
- Here and there
- From: Kodiak, Alaska
- Registered: 2003-04-17
- Posts: 3673
- Website
Re: SKYPE!!!!
Supposively I have a 64KB download... hmmm...
(liars 
)
[MA]Nimoy
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#9 2005-05-19 5:09 am
Re: SKYPE!!!!
Be mindful the link for the speed test i provided is based in southern california.
I might suggest trying to find a test closer to your location for a more accurate result.
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#10 2005-05-19 1:59 pm
- NightCougar_37
- Has been Larrabee vaccinated..have you?
- From: The back of my Netherdrake
- Registered: 2001-07-22
- Posts: 8774
Re: SKYPE!!!!
, Jeap.
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#11 2005-05-19 11:56 pm
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#12 2005-05-20 3:12 pm
Re: SKYPE!!!!
sparrow wrote:
MAsparrow
I only log into skype if we decide to use it in a game. We were using it last week playing skull valley and it definitely does hog up some bandwidth.
I tried entering you in on my list, and cannot find your username MAsparrow.
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#13 2005-05-21 6:13 pm
Re: SKYPE!!!!
In order to use Skype for Mac OS X, your computer must meet the following minimum system requirements:
Macintosh computer with G3, G4 or G5 processor
Mac OS X v10.3 (Panther) or newer
128 MB RAM
20 MB free disk space on your hard drive
Microphone
Internet connection (either dial-up: minimum 33.6 Kbps, or any broadband: cable, DSL, etc.)
* Bold for NC 
Also if you don't know version 1.0.024 is out, get it Here
Last edited by Ceemkm (2005-05-21 8:43 pm)
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