cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

How do you improve Video calling (e.g. FaceTime)

rolya
Grafter
Posts: 47
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎09-05-2014

How do you improve Video calling (e.g. FaceTime)

I recently got my mum and dad onto PN 38mb fibre, in an attempt to improve their overall communication experience. Whilst download has uplifted to speeds of 32-35mb, the upload is stuck at 2mb. Consequently our FT experience is still prone to drop outs andpoor connection issues. I have the higher  package and get 63mb/16mb respectively.

can anything be done to improve this for my M&D; Are there some settings ? Or is this now stuck with only a larger personal investment? 

Kind regards

 

15 REPLIES 15
rongtw
Seasoned Hero
Posts: 6,973
Thanks: 1,541
Fixes: 12
Registered: ‎01-12-2010

Re: How do you improve Video calling (e.g. FaceTime)

Yes unfortunatly PN only sell 38 down with 2 up Embarrassed  unless you can get the 78 / 20 package more money of course , have a look here and put your phone in https://www.dslchecker.bt.com/

Asus ROG Hero Vii Z97 , Intel i5 4690k ,ROG Asus Strix 1070,
samsung 850evo 250gig , WD black 2 TB . Asus Phoebus sound ,
16 gig Avexir ram 2400 , water cooling Corsair H100i gtx ,
Corsair 750HXI Psu , Phanteks Enthoo pro case .
MrSilver
Pro
Posts: 550
Thanks: 82
Fixes: 9
Registered: ‎05-10-2016

Re: How do you improve Video calling (e.g. FaceTime)

The biggest difference I have found for ft quality is dependant on the phone camera. When I ft my sister on a 5s it is much worse than my parents on an iPad Air, what devices are you using both ends?

On a 5s it's coming in around 1meg/sec but the iPad closer to 2
rolya
Grafter
Posts: 47
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎09-05-2014

Re: How do you improve Video calling (e.g. FaceTime)

Interaction is an IPAD AIR (me) to an IPAD MINI (M&D). It was not great on ADSL and not much better on Fibre

Its a shame that with progressive technology, the speeds aren't kept in-line with demands. You would have expected basic-Fibre to at least blast through some basic comms requirements, its not like this is a niche market with Facetime/Skype etc. There has to be a seismic shift at some point on upload speeds as my understanding that copper-wire to home has reached its financial viability peak. 

 

2mb is just so poor!

MrSilver
Pro
Posts: 550
Thanks: 82
Fixes: 9
Registered: ‎05-10-2016

Re: How do you improve Video calling (e.g. FaceTime)

2mb is slow yes, that's the basic product. As jelv said you Can go for the 80:20 for £5 more if your parents line supports it.

Copper has a long way to go yet, http://www.increasebroadbandspeed.co.uk/2015/what-is-gfast

Bt is already rolling out trials and committed coverage plans. Be interesting to see who can use 300mb though even in a multi 4K household! Not seen anything from plusnet on g.fast plans.
rolya
Grafter
Posts: 47
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎09-05-2014

Re: How do you improve Video calling (e.g. FaceTime)

Interesting link - thank you. 

Its something I need to consider I guess, paying the extra £5, Their line is supported on the higher speed. 

 

Cheers

 

Mustrum
Community Veteran
Posts: 3,554
Thanks: 1,055
Fixes: 76
Registered: ‎13-08-2015

Re: How do you improve Video calling (e.g. FaceTime)

You should also be considering the WiFi connections to the iPads.

Splitting the 2.4 and %Ghz channels on the Hub 1 and unsyncing them will help. How far are you from the router when making the calls?

Also knowing how congested the WiFi channels are in each hose, are you using the least congested ones? A WiFi analyser will help determine which channels to use, don't use the auto setting, it does not seem to do what it says it will.

rolya
Grafter
Posts: 47
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎09-05-2014

Re: How do you improve Video calling (e.g. FaceTime)

Good points. I didn't get into the SSID setup as not enough time, but will try to look another time. 

The upload and download speeds were compared between cable and wifi with no discernible difference. I did a network health checker and all was fine too.

What is frustrating is that 2mb is about as useful as a chocolate teapot and other similar fibre products offer 8mb and above. Without too much trouble I'm sure PN could increase to 4mb to ease some of the pain on what are considered ubiquitous comms tools. 

 

MrSilver
Pro
Posts: 550
Thanks: 82
Fixes: 9
Registered: ‎05-10-2016

Re: How do you improve Video calling (e.g. FaceTime)


@rolya wrote:

 

What is frustrating is that 2mb is about as useful as a chocolate teapot and other similar fibre products offer 8mb and above. Without too much trouble I'm sure PN could increase to 4mb to ease some of the pain on what are considered ubiquitous comms tools. 

 


The products Openreach sell are 18:2 40:2 40:10 55:10 and 80:20

So a 4mb upload isnt doable unless you pay for the 40:10 and get it capped.

If you arent doing anything else on the line, 2mb is quite a bit for facetime, if you go for 80:20 you arent going to get 10mbits/sec video streaming going off ipads.

 

The other thing that helps is good lighting, the front facing camera get a lot of noise in darker rooms lit with lights rather than the sun/daylight.

 

Just looking at the apple sight, the mini4 (not sure if thats the one you have?) only has a 1.2m pixel front camera that does 720p video, so that is also going to be a limit. Maybe next time they visit get them to try a facetime call from a different room while on your wifi and see if that improves, or if they have a neighbour to try with.

rolya
Grafter
Posts: 47
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎09-05-2014

Re: How do you improve Video calling (e.g. FaceTime)

Thanks for info - will do all that is suggested. It looks like sky offer the 40:10 by default, as opposed to 40:2. My friend has no such issues when I FT them. 

 

 

MrSilver
Pro
Posts: 550
Thanks: 82
Fixes: 9
Registered: ‎05-10-2016

Re: How do you improve Video calling (e.g. FaceTime)

get your parents to facetime for friend 😉 that is where the problem issue is - is the line to slow or the ipad mini delivering the lower quality.

jafreer
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 858
Thanks: 41
Registered: ‎13-10-2012

Re: How do you improve Video calling (e.g. FaceTime)

My parents are on ADSL2+ with an upload speed of about 800 kbps. Whilst the picture quality isn't that great, there aren't any drop outs. The point being that lower upload speeds will definitely affect picture quality, but shouldn't necessarily cause drop outs, which I think you said are happening.

 

One way to check, is to try facetime audio with them. It uses less bandwidth than facetime, and see if you are still getting drop outs. If so, there may be another issue, and not just the slow upload speed.

Mustrum
Community Veteran
Posts: 3,554
Thanks: 1,055
Fixes: 76
Registered: ‎13-08-2015

Re: How do you improve Video calling (e.g. FaceTime)

If there is nothing else going on within your network connection 2mb will be enough to do FaceTime. The problem will e with all the external issues and traffic, but as you are too busy to check, its easier to blame the 2mb upload!

rolya
Grafter
Posts: 47
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎09-05-2014

Re: How do you improve Video calling (e.g. FaceTime)

I've not done Audio only for long enough. The couple of times we have has been ok

Clearly need to do more tests, but can't help think that the lower uplink speed is not my best friend 

rolya
Grafter
Posts: 47
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎09-05-2014

Re: How do you improve Video calling (e.g. FaceTime)

Seems like you're not my best friend either 😂