White noise on video call

Hi there, can anyone help with a problem that I'm having with video calls on
Live Messenger?

I live in England and use Live Messenger (v 8.5.1302) with a Logitech
Quickcam STX Webcam and headset to communicate with a friend in the USA. In
the last couple of weeks I've started experiencing a problem with white noise
that suddenly occurs on the audio channel when making a video call. Although
I can hear this, my friend in the US cannot. However, when this problem
occurs, the microphone volume indicator in Messenger at his end (i.e. the one
that shows the volume on his mike) rises to the maximum level. If he mutes
his mike, the noise stops; if he unmutes, it will start again. Sometimes the
noise stops of its own accord, other times we must break and restart the
connection. This problem only occurs on video calls; voice only calls are OK.

He's tried using a different machine in the same house (i.e. same cable
modem), but still has the same problem. I've tried speaking to another friend
in the UK, and the problem does not occur (although the conversation can be a
bit jittery).

Even when we get good voice connection, there are many times when his words
are repeated i.e. I seem to be getting the same word fragments repeated at my
end. Sometimes Messenger warns of a low network speed, so this might be a
factor, although the video is generally OK.

This problem has only cropped up in the last couple of weeks, and coincided
with with my ADSL Broadband connection going dead. This was restored and the
fault was apparently due to a fault on the exchange. The broadband works OK
and has good speed for file downloads, it is only this video call that is
giving me problems.

At the moment I'm at a bit of a loss. The fact that I can speak OK to
someone in the UK suggests the problem is at the US end, but I can't help
wondering whether it is linked to the broadband problem my end. Before
dealing with the problem my ISP insisted I disconnect my normal modem/router
and use the USB one they initially supplied. I have now removed this,
uninstalled the software and deleted the connection in windows, but I wonder
if some settings have been changed. Messenger reports that the connections is
made through a uPnP restricted NAT. I’ve not changed the NAT settings, which
worked fine beforehand.

Regards,

Chrisk

"Chrisk" <> schreef in bericht
news:114F71D4-ECF8-479F-8322-...
> Hi there, can anyone help with a problem that I'm having with video calls
> on
> Live Messenger?
>
> I live in England and use Live Messenger (v 8.5.1302) with a Logitech
> Quickcam STX Webcam and headset to communicate with a friend in the USA.
> In
> the last couple of weeks I've started experiencing a problem with white
> noise
> that suddenly occurs on the audio channel when making a video call.
> Although
> I can hear this, my friend in the US cannot. However, when this problem
> occurs, the microphone volume indicator in Messenger at his end (i.e. the
> one
> that shows the volume on his mike) rises to the maximum level. If he mutes
> his mike, the noise stops; if he unmutes, it will start again. Sometimes
> the
> noise stops of its own accord, other times we must break and restart the
> connection. This problem only occurs on video calls; voice only calls are
> OK.
>
> He's tried using a different machine in the same house (i.e. same cable
> modem), but still has the same problem. I've tried speaking to another
> friend
> in the UK, and the problem does not occur (although the conversation can
> be a
> bit jittery).
>
> Even when we get good voice connection, there are many times when his
> words
> are repeated i.e. I seem to be getting the same word fragments repeated at
> my
> end. Sometimes Messenger warns of a low network speed, so this might be a
> factor, although the video is generally OK.
>
> This problem has only cropped up in the last couple of weeks, and
> coincided
> with with my ADSL Broadband connection going dead. This was restored and
> the
> fault was apparently due to a fault on the exchange. The broadband works
> OK
> and has good speed for file downloads, it is only this video call that is
> giving me problems.
>
> At the moment I'm at a bit of a loss. The fact that I can speak OK to
> someone in the UK suggests the problem is at the US end, but I can't help
> wondering whether it is linked to the broadband problem my end. Before
> dealing with the problem my ISP insisted I disconnect my normal
> modem/router
> and use the USB one they initially supplied. I have now removed this,
> uninstalled the software and deleted the connection in windows, but I
> wonder
> if some settings have been changed. Messenger reports that the connections
> is
> made through a uPnP restricted NAT. I've not changed the NAT settings,
> which
> worked fine beforehand.
>
> Regards,
>
> Chrisk


Hi,

I experience the same trouble in the netherlands at the moment.

Two friends who lives 50 km away from me.
We all got a UPNP (nat restricted (symetric)) connection.

The sound look like listening to the mid-wave-band on a radio, some words
are repeated several time, and so now and then the video freezes and then we
got disconnected.

What i don't understand is that we are expected to have a direct
connection.
(with A-ports i can see their IP address), but still i got the message that
the video quality can be reduced because of a slow network.

I'm abit confused, just trying to make UPNP working by friends and then this
happens.

In my opinion it must be the network, as i had a perfect connecton to the
USA before, and i didn't change anything on the settings.

Anybody know what is happening now ?

heian

In earlier posts i read that Upnp doesn't work when it is behind a proxy
server.
Maybe our internet provider use a proxy?

I noticed that during chat, there are three ports connected to the internet.
One with my chat contact, two others with an other (nearly the same)
IP address. Could that be the relay server? Even everybody is using Upnp?

Is one port ddirectly connected to the chat partner enough for transfering
video chat?

Feeling me a newbie at the moment ;-)

heian