Skype on Vista - Reliable?

[dmdiver]

Is there anyone out there that has used skype on Vista recently?  Our daughter will be leaving her 13 month old with her in-laws & is considering getting the premium wifi plan so she can video skype with the baby.  I recently received an email from Carnival saying you could now use Netflix on Vista, which would lead me to believe that skype would be reliable.  I'd still like to see what people's actual experience has been.  

[dmdiver]

I've read Vista reviews until my eyeballs are about to fall out & no one mentions using Skype.  Someone did mention WhatsApp, but I don't know if that is voice only or video as well.  While I would love to read all 700+ reviews, I just don't think that's gonna be possible.  

 

So again, is there anyone out there that can give first hand experience trying to video chat with people back home?

[VolzCruiser]

I haven't used Skype on the Vista but I can give what I would think could be some solid advice about service. Because you are bouncing a single off a Satellite in space there will always be some lag. How bad this is going to be is really up to the user. If  you are just sending text probably won't be a big deal. Watching a Video might be a bit more. So you mentioned Netflix why would it work and skype might not and that is because Netflix is able to buffer which basically means it will start downloading the program before it starts showing so it can stay just a head of the lag. It gives the appearance of seemless. Live video chatting doesn't have this ability. I think it would still work for your Daughter she just might have to wait a couple of seconds between breaks in conversations so everyone doesn't talk over each other during the lag. 

[dmdiver]

I think she's decided to go ahead & try it.  We wondered if the connection might be better if you can skype from a computer in the internet cafe, rather than over wifi.  Seems it would be one less highway for the data to travel down.  I can remember leaving our first baby with family in the 80s.  That was when you had no cell phone, no internet and if you wanted to call to check on kids, it was gonna cost a lot.  I think we called once during the week.  We figured out what we wanted to say before we called so as not to waste any time.  Of course, the baby could have cared less.