Skype on vodafone

jaceq

Hi guys,

As many, many people who have vodafone mobile broadband I have problems with skype.
After few seconds of connection voice gets robotic and shredded.
I mentioned that on vodafone forum and they told me that they don't guarantee speeds... etc.
However, I checked speeds and ping / packet loss etc and everything is fine and well above what skype needs.
Interesting bits are:
1. All other applications (other than voip) seem to work fine
2. Vodafone is now selling an add-on to make VOIP work for 20 E / month
3. When I connected with VPN to my work SKYPE WORKS FINE!!

All above tells me one thing, they are filtering this!!
I see no other explanation why over VPN (when vodafone can't see what traffic am I generating) skype works fine. If this would be latency / packet loss / speed related issue skype would be even worse over VPN as it's a bit slower...

I am VERY unsatisfied with this and WILL NEVER BE VODAFONE CUSTOMER AGAIN!! EVER!! It's worst experience !!

So hint for all stuck with VF for a year, VPN somewhere and try skype then!!

DECEiFER

jaceq wrote: »

Hi guys,

As many, many people who have vodafone mobile broadband I have problems with skype.
After few seconds of connection voice gets robotic and shredded.
I mentioned that on vodafone forum and they told me that they don't guarantee speeds... etc.
However, I checked speeds and ping / packet loss etc and everything is fine and well above what skype needs.
Interesting bits are:
1. All other applications (other than voip) seem to work fine
2. Vodafone is now selling an add-on to make VOIP work for 20 E / month
3. When I connected with VPN to my work SKYPE WORKS FINE!!

All above tells me one thing, they are filtering this!!
I see no other explanation why over VPN (when vodafone can't see what traffic am I generating) skype works fine. If this would be latency / packet loss / speed related issue skype would be even worse over VPN as it's a bit slower...

I am VERY unsatisfied with this and WILL NEVER BE VODAFONE CUSTOMER AGAIN!! EVER!! It's worst experience !!

So hint for all stuck with VF for a year, VPN somewhere and try skype then!!

Are you sure it's a connectivity issue that's causing the stutter/robotic conversations? If it's on your end only, where the other person hears you sounding like a robot, then it may be hardware related. For example, if you own an older breed of Creative soundcard with Windows Vista/7 x64, that is a regular occurrence no matter how good your connection is. It's Creative's fault and it'll never be fixed. I resort to using my on-board Realtek audio controller in this situation.

watty

A Mobile phone sector can support loads of phone calls. It may only support 5 to 10 Skype/VOIP users, if NOTHING else happening. The Jitter and packet loss is also too high most of the time for VOIP/SIP/Skype. You'd need to be nearly the only user on a sector for reliable quality VOIP. There is no QOS (Quality of Service). You'll find the phone is fine via WiFi and real Broadband and rarely any good for Skype on Mobile other than text only.

This is not a Vodafone issue but a Mobile problem. It's not Broadband. Skype will actually work better on ISDN!

jaceq

Hi guys,

My problem is not hardware related, on UPC and on O2 mobile broadband skype works perfectly , also it works fine on vodafone + vpn.

watty@ my line is actually quite good, I've got no packet loss and jitter is low, also on o2 mobilem broadband skype works perfectly. There are many people on vodafone who have that problem.

zacseph

Hmm... well, don't quote me on this, but someone above said a cell would only support about 5-10 skype/voip calls at a time... I think with mobile networks while a voice call has to be kept up, there are much fewer "spaces" for data calls, so data jumps between users...
A skype call would NEED a constant stream of data, so i'm guessing that means one of those "spaces" would need to be just for you for the duration of your call... maybe that's what the extra charge is about?? I'd imagine if that was the case, 1 voip call for one user could mean connection problems for several others...
Anyone know if this is right? Or am i way off?? :P

jay93

Even tough midband isnt supposed to support skype calls to much i always get a stable enough video call on skype with three pings around 65ms-110ms so dont have much of a problem.
but when trying to use skype on vodafone it would keep dropping the call everytime no matter what time of day or night i would use it :rolleyes:
vodafone have a poor network imo

zacseph

jay93 wrote: »

Even tough midband isnt supposed to support skype calls to much i always get a stable enough video call on skype with three pings around 65ms-110ms so dont have much of a problem.
but when trying to use skype on vodafone it would keep dropping the call everytime no matter what time of day or night i would use it :rolleyes:
vodafone have a poor network imo

Perhaps... tho maybe there's just more people on vodafone around you?

jay93

zacseph wrote: »

Perhaps... tho maybe there's just more people on vodafone around you?

doubtful really most people i know who use mobile BB use three or o2..
even after 12am at night when hardly anyone would be online with vodafone it still would never work :P;)..thats why i had to get rid of them their service was useless and they had 3 masts in the area while three only have one mast around here and still outperforms vf by a long shot:cool:
i rang vodafone so many times and they told me nothing was wrong in the area when i knew there was getting 0.10mb/s at 2am is a bit 2 far for me lol

zacseph

jay93 wrote: »

doubtful really most people i know who use mobile BB use three or o2..
even after 12am at night when hardly anyone would be online with vodafone it still would never work :P;)..thats why i had to get rid of them their service was useless and they had 3 masts in the area while three only have one mast around here and still outperforms vf by a long shot:cool:
i rang vodafone so many times and they told me nothing was wrong in the area when i knew there was getting 0.10mb/s at 2am is a bit 2 far for me lol

Ah... fair enough so!! Lolz!! :cool:

jaceq

zacseph wrote: »

Hmm... well, don't quote me on this, but someone above said a cell would only support about 5-10 skype/voip calls at a time... I think with mobile networks while a voice call has to be kept up, there are much fewer "spaces" for data calls, so data jumps between users...
A skype call would NEED a constant stream of data, so i'm guessing that means one of those "spaces" would need to be just for you for the duration of your call... maybe that's what the extra charge is about?? I'd imagine if that was the case, 1 voip call for one user could mean connection problems for several others...
Anyone know if this is right? Or am i way off?? :P

I'll quote you
So the thing is, that I tested my line and I am having 0% packet loss , it only jumps to 60%-100% on skype connections (you can make skype to show you all connection details).
And important is that it DOES work fine over VPN when using same Vodafone connection, and if this would connection problem and not filtering my skype would be even worse over VPN.

There is NOTHING so far that would convince me that those packets aren't filtered on purpose.

For me vodafone is the dirtiest company out there, this is very unfair.
As I said, I will never be customer of this crowd again.

I hope that whoever reads this won't become their customer either!!

zacseph

jaceq wrote: »

I'll quote you
So the thing is, that I tested my line and I am having 0% packet loss , it only jumps to 60%-100% on skype connections (you can make skype to show you all connection details).
And important is that it DOES work fine over VPN when using same Vodafone connection, and if this would connection problem and not filtering my skype would be even worse over VPN.
There is NOTHING so far that would convince me that those packets aren't filtered on purpose.

Ok... interesting. Thing i don't get is... how is that even possible? HOw to they know it's skype you're using all of a sudden?
Also, if the vpn gets around it, whatever it is, what's the difference with how the vpn works vs. the basic connection? what is it you're taking out of voda's control?
e.g. if it's blocking a certain port, and it's the one skype uses?
If this was the case, could the port in skype just be changed?

If the vpn gets around it, there must be a way to work out what exactly is being done and get around it without using a vpn...

jaceq

zacseph wrote: »

Ok... interesting. Thing i don't get is... how is that even possible? HOw to they know it's skype you're using all of a sudden?
Also, if the vpn gets around it, whatever it is, what's the difference with how the vpn works vs. the basic connection? what is it you're taking out of voda's control?
e.g. if it's blocking a certain port, and it's the one skype uses?
If this was the case, could the port in skype just be changed?

If the vpn gets around it, there must be a way to work out what exactly is being done and get around it without using a vpn...

Ok, let me explain this:
Case of regular usage:
In this case you send what ever your application sends (so encrypted or un-encrypted data) over to vodafone routers and then based on vodafone let's call them VF) routes your traffic to it's destination with help of their routing protocols.
It is fairly easy to spot VoIP / skype trafiic, it basically consists massive amounts of UDP packets (as opposed to TCP packets used for almost all other applications). Also there might me some specific headers in those packets that can be found and filtered. It's not hard to do.

Case of usage through VPN:
In this case you are setting virtual VPN (VPN stands for Virtual Private Networks) tunnel between point A and B (so let's say your laptop and your company server). All your traffic gets encrypted, encapsulated and send to the other side of the tunnel.
This means that your provider (so VF in this case) has no knowledge of type of your traffic what so ever, they see only encrypted payload (which in fact are your real packets) in packets that are begin sent through VPN tunnel.
The thing is, that VPN tunnel is "built" on top of you real connection (VF mobile broadband).

So just to compare above things is, in case 1 your traffic will be slightly faster (since there is no encryption, encapsulation etc) but, VF can see your packets (and yes, they do look at them), can distinguish their type, and apply what ever filters they want.
In case 2 (VPN), VF can see ONLY encrypted packets and nothing else, since your packets get unencrypted on the other side of the tunnel and send towards their destination from there.

Bottom line is, if skype problems would in fact (as VF states) be related to poor line quality, it would be even worste via VPN tunnel, but... it isn't!


I also observers very interesting thing, I tested my packet loss etc. (with www.pingtest.net) and I am getting 0%... When I start skype after 4-5 seconds, 60%-100& of it's packets gets dropped... what and handy coincidence!

Spooky1666

jaceq wrote: »

Ok, let me explain this:
Case of regular usage:
In this case you send what ever your application sends (so encrypted or un-encrypted data) over to vodafone routers and then based on vodafone let's call them VF) routes your traffic to it's destination with help of their routing protocols.
It is fairly easy to spot VoIP / skype trafiic, it basically consists massive amounts of UDP packets (as opposed to TCP packets used for almost all other applications). Also there might me some specific headers in those packets that can be found and filtered. It's not hard to do.

Case of usage through VPN:
In this case you are setting virtual VPN (VPN stands for Virtual Private Networks) tunnel between point A and B (so let's say your laptop and your company server). All your traffic gets encrypted, encapsulated and send to the other side of the tunnel.
This means that your provider (so VF in this case) has no knowledge of type of your traffic what so ever, they see only encrypted payload (which in fact are your real packets) in packets that are begin sent through VPN tunnel.
The thing is, that VPN tunnel is "built" on top of you real connection (VF mobile broadband).

So just to compare above things is, in case 1 your traffic will be slightly faster (since there is no encryption, encapsulation etc) but, VF can see your packets (and yes, they do look at them), can distinguish their type, and apply what ever filters they want.
In case 2 (VPN), VF can see ONLY encrypted packets and nothing else, since your packets get unencrypted on the other side of the tunnel and send towards their destination from there.

Bottom line is, if skype problems would in fact (as VF states) be related to poor line quality, it would be even worste via VPN tunnel, but... it isn't!


I also observers very interesting thing, I tested my packet loss etc. (with www.pingtest.net) and I am getting 0%... When I start skype after 4-5 seconds, 60%-100& of it's packets gets dropped... what and handy coincidence!

Hi Jaceq. I know this hasn't much to do with the thread but just out of curiosity ( you don't have to answer this if you don't have time ) how do you set up a vpn? Thanks if you do answer P.S I really don't mind if you don't reply

Dagmara

jaceq wrote: »

Hi guys,

As many, many people who have vodafone mobile broadband I have problems with skype.
After few seconds of connection voice gets robotic and shredded.
I mentioned that on vodafone forum and they told me that they don't guarantee speeds... etc.
However, I checked speeds and ping / packet loss etc and everything is fine and well above what skype needs.
Interesting bits are:
1. All other applications (other than voip) seem to work fine
2. Vodafone is now selling an add-on to make VOIP work for 20 E / month
3. When I connected with VPN to my work SKYPE WORKS FINE!!

All above tells me one thing, they are filtering this!!
I see no other explanation why over VPN (when vodafone can't see what traffic am I generating) skype works fine. If this would be latency / packet loss / speed related issue skype would be even worse over VPN as it's a bit slower...

I am VERY unsatisfied with this and WILL NEVER BE VODAFONE CUSTOMER AGAIN!! EVER!! It's worst experience !!

So hint for all stuck with VF for a year, VPN somewhere and try skype then!!

i have the same problem. Was on the phone with Customer Care for like an hour and all they told me was that if i want to use skype i"ll have to pay 20euro extra a month!!!!!! Skype is the only way i can see my family all the time and now vodafone took it away from me. please help

jaceq

Spooky, I didn't see your reply.
A VPN is a tunnel so you need two endpoints (one is your laptop / desktop second is server in internet to which you are connecting), so basically if you don't own / have access to vpn server than you can't really do it...

There might be another way of making skype work, there is slight chance that it will work with help of encryption enabled proxy (https or socks), I will test this solution in some future (but again, you need a server in internet that you will be able to connect to). Using proxy is better than VPN because only skype traffic would go through it and not all your internet stuff.

I see there are some people interested getting skype / voip working so there is a thought.
I could look into setting up a VPN (or secure proxy if this solution works), however I wouldn't be able to do that for free as the amount of traffic could be substantial (especially with VPN solution), so question is, would you (I mean all interested people) be interested in let's say paying 5-10E / month for access to such solution?

Please, don't treat this as my business, I'm just trying to help here.
Above solutions would enable people on pre-pay vodafone broadband to use skype as well.

watty

And then Vodafone will block the IP used by the 3rd party Skype VPN service.

Skype also might not be happy if you don't do it right
http://www.fring.com/blog/?p=2322

For 4 years we have led mobile communication innovation, most recently with video calling on any advanced Smartphone and network.
Now that fring expanded capacity to support the huge demand for video calling for all users, Skype has blocked us from doing so.
They are afraid of open mobile communication. Cowards.

Note that that Skype claims they didn't block Fring

Spooky1666

jaceq wrote: »

Spooky, I didn't see your reply.
A VPN is a tunnel so you need two endpoints (one is your laptop / desktop second is server in internet to which you are connecting), so basically if you don't own / have access to vpn server than you can't really do it...

There might be another way of making skype work, there is slight chance that it will work with help of encryption enabled proxy (https or socks), I will test this solution in some future (but again, you need a server in internet that you will be able to connect to). Using proxy is better than VPN because only skype traffic would go through it and not all your internet stuff.

I see there are some people interested getting skype / voip working so there is a thought.
I could look into setting up a VPN (or secure proxy if this solution works), however I wouldn't be able to do that for free as the amount of traffic could be substantial (especially with VPN solution), so question is, would you (I mean all interested people) be interested in let's say paying 5-10E / month for access to such solution?

Please, don't treat this as my business, I'm just trying to help here.
Above solutions would enable people on pre-pay vodafone broadband to use skype as well.

Thank you for replying Jaceq. That does sound like a very good solution but I'm currently with upc and as Skype works perfectly I do not at the current time need to avail of such service. However if I ever, in the future, need to avail of such a service I would be more then happy to look into it.

jaceq

watty@ well if they will block IP, than we can change IP, if we would use virtual server this would be very simple

Spooky@ no probs, I was on UPC before as well... I was a happy man back then

watty

Change a Public IP given from an ISP? Not simple. Vodafone can cheerfully block a subnet.

jaceq

watty wrote: »

Change a Public IP given from an ISP? Not simple. Vodafone can cheerfully block a subnet.

I am talking about virtual servers... it's not a problem ot change IP... especially on Amazons' EC2

Plebs

I wouldn't be surprised if Vodafone throttle Skype packets. The operators are doing everything in their power to prevent themselves from becoming a commodity. VOIP services facilitate this. Skype et al. are service provider enemy no. 1.

I would guess that Vodafone see your VPN packets, can't identify what they are (because they're encrypted) and hence let them through as normal. May be why you experienced improved performance through your VPN.

watty

The other factor is that just FIVE skype calls and nothing else can use up an entire sector. I think a 3G sector can support about 75 phone calls. For the same revenue, Data costs the operator about 100 to 300 times more than phone calls, say average of 150 which is generous

so profit
5 users x skype calls profit
Or
75 users x 150 = 11250 times more profit (realistically actually 150 times profit).

On any basis a Mobile phone operator that encourages or doesn't block Skype on mobile devices is mad.

BTW 3's Skype phones actually use a java app to connect, then make a 3G phone call (NOT Skype VOIP via DATA). The ordinary mobile phone call is then converted to Skype by a server on 3's back office network. This makes far more sense than native skype over 3G/HSPA as you can support 25x more callers, the costs are lower and quality is higher (as 3G/HSPA has too much packet loss and jitter for decent VOIP).

bredman

I contacted the Vodafone helpdesk yesterday about a problem that I have with Skype. I have 2 Vodafone 3G accounts, and one account loses more than 50% of Skype packets, while the other account has no problem with Skype.

The answer from Vodafone is that one of my accounts is from 2007, and the other is from 2010, and therefore they are under different terms and conditions. As a result I should expect the newer account to have problems with Skype.

I pressed the Vodafone agent to state clearly if Vodafone were throttling Skype packets, but he just waffled and wouldn't give me a straight answer.

The end result is that Vodafore 3G accounts before April 2010 are more valuable because Skype works perfectly for these accounts. It seems that Vodafone are unwilling to cripple accounts which were activated before they started to throttle Skype.

jaceq

Heh...

I am still using skype over VPN (daily now) on Vodafone and it works fine, including video!

wil

bredman wrote: »

The end result is that Vodafore 3G accounts before April 2010 are more valuable because Skype works perfectly for these accounts. It seems that Vodafone are unwilling to cripple accounts which were activated before they started to throttle Skype.

So Vodafone has joined the Enemies of the internet :eek:

andresapitt

Does anyone know how to setup a VPN in the ROuter
UPC gives you the cisco EPC2425?
I want to setup a VPN so that i can connect with my iphone to the vpn and start using skype.
Cheers.

jor el

andresapitt, this is a thread about Vodafone mobile midband, not UPC cable. Use the Broadband Forum for this question.

cancercowboy

jaceq wrote: »

Hi guys,

As many, many people who have vodafone mobile broadband I have problems with skype.
After few seconds of connection voice gets robotic and shredded.
I mentioned that on vodafone forum and they told me that they don't guarantee speeds... etc.
However, I checked speeds and ping / packet loss etc and everything is fine and well above what skype needs.
Interesting bits are:
1. All other applications (other than voip) seem to work fine
2. Vodafone is now selling an add-on to make VOIP work for 20 E / month
3. When I connected with VPN to my work SKYPE WORKS FINE!!

All above tells me one thing, they are filtering this!!
I see no other explanation why over VPN (when vodafone can't see what traffic am I generating) skype works fine. If this would be latency / packet loss / speed related issue skype would be even worse over VPN as it's a bit slower...

I am VERY unsatisfied with this and WILL NEVER BE VODAFONE CUSTOMER AGAIN!! EVER!! It's worst experience !!

So hint for all stuck with VF for a year, VPN somewhere and try skype then!!

I can confirm this. I'm having the same problem. When testing my Vodafone mobile broadband (Novatel Wireless MiFi 2352) against the Fibre connection at my office the Vodafone actually has a better jitter rate and the download and upload speeds are are nearly the same. I have a full 3G connection (all bars). It seems that Vodafone is throttling Skype connections. Probably because they see Skype as a competitor. This is why we need Net Nuetrality laws in Ireland.

What I was hoping to do was use my new iPod Touch with the Skype App installed to make calls when out of the house using the MiFi as a mobile hot spot.

OP: do you know of a good and free VPN connection to try this on? Cheers.

Does anyone know if the Three network is doing the same thing? If not I may move them them.

cancercowboy

Those of you who need a VPN connection you can't do much better than The Pirate Bay's iPredator VPN service. Good price and anonymous.

https://www.ipredator.se/index.php?lang=en

Sadly, one shouldn't have to use a VPN just to use Skype, I am going to test other carriers to see if they do the same. I have a friend who works at Three and I am gong to ask if I can get a lend of a mobile broadband hotspot to test this on.