Iflyfish
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Skype on the road in Baja
We have an RV and are thinking of installing a satelite system on our RV so we can use Skype in Baja. What is your experience?
Thanks,
Iflyfish
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Diver
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I have a Hugh's dish in my barn that you can have CHEAP !!
I had a 6000 system and never sued it with Skype but friends with Hughs call me on Skype and it seems to work fine.
I think you get better reception with a USB phone than a headset.
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Desertbull
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I have 2 MotoSat mobile Hughes systems on trucks we use to provide live event coverage from Baja and our employees use Skype to chat with their family
and friends every night from remote locales.
Of course, they're all using iPhones with the free iPhone Skype App...logged into our MotoSat Wi-Fi...works great.
DREAM IT! PLAN IT! LIVE IT!
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goldhuntress
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I use my Skype iphone app all the time in Baja and it works great as long as the wifi speed is fast enough. So, if you have a speed choice with the
satellite, get the fast one. If it's too slow it cuts out and the voice is garbled.
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J.P.
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We use Magic Jack with our lap top when we travel. Tried Scype in the past and for my purpose it Sucked Big Time
When I first moved down here I had satalite intrenet and scype did not work well at all
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gnukid
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I've been using skype mobile on an unlocked blackberry using a sim card provider, telcel provides a mobile banda-ancha wifi sim card based solution
that works in populated areas in baja. Perhaps this could compliment your mobile dish, those are expensive typically upwards of $5k for a mobile
mounted self-tuning sat-dish, plus monthly fees of at least $100. you can also carry one and set it up yourself at each stop, but it must be placed
firmly on the ground and the wind will move it unless it's secure.
Here are a few options $7k-20k, apparently BCS requires a larger antenna than California due to the position of the closest Satellite.
http://www.groundcontrol.com/prod_ig2500_001.htm
p.s. I am using skype in baja phone to phone and we have had a very clear connection. It's very nice to be able to call anywhere in Baja to the most
remote people, on their land line from my mobile skype and have a clear connection at such a s low cost.
I just found out how the costs are so low and spread so far using something called termination fees, the calls are routed through certain in small
towns across the US which distribute the cost according to laws known as termination (tower) fee laws. It's being abused and may not last forever,
some US regions are footing the bill more so than others for all these low cost long distance calls.
[Edited on 5-15-2011 by gnukid]
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MrBillM
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Skype via Hughes Sat
Whether or not Skype performs satisfactorily with HughesNet Satellite seems to be: 1. Individual level of Acceptance and 2. (most importantly) the
level of Hughes service purchased.
For myself (and others) who use the $59.95 (lowest) level of service, it is mostly unsatisfactory and erratic. Those I have talked to with higher
levels of service have been generally satisfied. Last month I allowed my Skype (and my balance) to expire knowing I'd never depend on it. Usually, I
try the "Magic Jack" first and, if it's also unsatisfactory at the time, one of the Cell Phones.
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Pompano
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I am using Skype now and have been using it daily for over a year..with my Hughes.net sat system for the Baja casa and RV...
...and also with Verizon's air card for motorhome travel in the USA. Never a problem with performance issues.
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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MrBillM
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Assessing Acceptance
From afar is ALWAYS a problem.
Discussing the relative merits of the various VOIPs with a friend who Liked Skype and had the same level of Hughes service, it wasn't until I tried
HIS at his house that I could make an accurate value judgment of HIS judgment.
"OH, you consider THIS OK" ?
It's always that way with anything. Discussing how bad a road is, the weather or anything else.
It's ALL Subjective.
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larryC
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I use magichack and starband with the slowest service. It works OK, not good enough to run a business, but for family and freinds it is fine. Been
working well since last October. Skype does not work as well for us, and I don't know why.
Larry
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monoloco
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My experience is that the majicjack works better with Telcel Banda Ancha than skype does.
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MrBillM
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A Mystery to this day ?
To ME, anyway, is WHAT happened to the technology that 'Crystal Voice" was using.
When I signed up for Direcway/Hughes many years back, I was told that the ONLY decent VOIP on Sat was Crystal Voice. Which turned out to be true at
the time. As a fairly well-satisfied customer until the day they (as a result of being acquired by someone else) ceased offering that service, I've
always wondered why the technology wasn't sold to some other provider. IT was pretty darned good.
????????????
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larryC
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| Quote: | Originally posted by MrBillM
To ME, anyway, is WHAT happened to the technology that 'Crystal Voice" was using.
When I signed up for Direcway/Hughes many years back, I was told that the ONLY decent VOIP on Sat was Crystal Voice. Which turned out to be true at
the time. As a fairly well-satisfied customer until the day they (as a result of being acquired by someone else) ceased offering that service, I've
always wondered why the technology wasn't sold to some other provider. IT was pretty darned good.
???????????? |
I agree, Crystal voice was good. I think they over came the packet loss and latency issues by building in a long delay in the system. Sometimes it
seemed like the delay was 3 seconds or longer. Once you got the other party to say "over" at the end of their sentence, then it seemed pretty easy to
communicate.
Those were the good old days.
Larry
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Iflyfish
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Thanks for all of your input, lots to consider in this, big bucks and questionable value.
Iflyfish
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bonanza bucko
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I think that Skype bought Crystal Voice and shut it down....too much competition. Now Skype has been bought by Microsoft and maybe things will change.
Now the fastest HughesNet home service ($80/month) is almost unusable by Skype except in hours when the sat is not being used much. We have to call
Grandma every day from Baja and Skype would save us the $1.25/ minute that the sat phone costs...but Grandma can't hear us due to the break ups on
Hughesnet.
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Iflyfish
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Thanks bonanza, I appreciate your experience with this technology.
Iflyfish
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goldhuntress
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If you just want to check in with people while your out of cell service we use the Spot Connect. My boyfriend camps out in Baja about 8 months out of
the year and he is able to email or text me a 41 character message from anywhere. It works great. The only thing is that it's only one way, I can't
message him back Not as cool as a sat. phone but a lot cheaper. When he comes into
town he goes to somewhere that has wifi and we use the Skype app on our iphones to talk for free.
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Iflyfish
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goldhuntress,
It looks like hooking up to land based WIFI is the way to go now. I have had good WIFI all over Baja. Thanks
Iflyfish
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