Walking Forum
Main Boards => General Walking Discussion => Topic started by: gunwharfman on 09:41:39, 11/06/20
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When I'm away hiking I tend to use Skype to phone my wife, sister and others, it works far better on my phone than it does on my PC, why is that?
Duo is on my list to try, do you use it? Any difference at all to Skype?
Is there anything better or is it just down to personal choice?
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I only ever phone home to say where I am and that I'm safe, I have heard of Skype but wouldn't know how to use it but never heard of Duo. Happily away from technology when I am walking unless you count a notebook and pen to write up my journal! Not totally antisocial, happily chat with people in the pub who always chat when they see a map and me writing up my journal.
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There is really very little to chose from with all these communication apps, they all use similar underlying technology.
I have used both phone based Whatsapp and Vibre in the past, and everything from AOL chat to Zoom on the PC.
Quite simply, if you are happy with what you have, stick with it.
For me, I am happy with making normal calls and sending texts, but I don't make many anyway. Hard to believe that 35 years ago, I went to Holland for a week and ended up, 2 months later, in West Africa, not one phone call back home.
How times have changed.
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I don't really have a preference. Depends on the situation.
If I have a decent mobile signal, I just phone normally. If I'm somewhere with rubbish signal but wifi (often the case with cafes or hostels in valleys) I tend to use Facebook to call because the family doesn't use Skype and VOIP to normal phone rarely seems to work clearly for me.
Basically, I call for the children's going to bed routine.
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The only advantage that I can see in either Skype or Duo is being outside the EU and within a free WiFi area. Otherwise just calling using the inclusive minutes is more reliable as that can be made in a 2g area whereas Skype etc ideally need 4g and then use data. So I use a mobile phone to call another phone. I did use Duo when in Thailand recently, it worked well with the hotel's WiFi. I did use WiFi calling once when in North York Moors on a Caravan Club site. I had to sit by the office as it only had a hotspot.
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I use WhatsApp. Video, voice and text capable. Encrypted end to end. Free. Can create groups if required. I use it for phone to phone video from UK to NZ and for family chats.
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I looked into video chat prior to my hospital admission.
Skype on the pc requires you to have a Microsoft account, I do have one, but then Skype can only be used with Edge or Chrome browsers, neither of which I have, nor do I want them.
So, goodbye Skype, and hello Zoom, which is so simple to register with and install, and to use. While I was bedridden I even used it to look at myself on my laptop while guiding my rechargeable electric shaver around my face.
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WhatsApp has been working well for me to keep in touch visually with family.
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We used Skype before WhatApp came along. It can do many things that WhatsApp Can not do. Share screens video conference and much more. This is why we still use it at work. Crucially though it's not end to end encrypted. WhatsApp is, so all of our family and friends groups and chats and photo sharing is done on WhatsApp. O0
I regularly post a where's Dad today picture up for everyone else to guess at, as I am walking. They are getting quite good. ;)
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They are getting quite good.
Going to have a go, without seeing the picture.
West Country.
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I tend to use Skype to phone my wife, sister and others, it works far better on my phone than it does on my PC, why is that?
Without knowing a lot about the fine detail, the app - and the hardware it runs on - is designed from the outset for live person-to-person communication, a PC is not. I've thought about video calling on a desktop for a while, off and on, but never got around to pursuing it. I've read a few reports that Skype's performance on a PC can be rather poor with video lag etc. It's the default choice for the legions who don't give a toss about privacy.
I only ever phone home to say where I am and that I'm safe,
Same here, just dumb PAYG feature phones in our case, topped up with a few quid very occasionally.
So, goodbye Skype, and hello Zoom, which is so simple to register with and install, and to use.
Zoom is better but has its own security and privacy problems, it's highly advisable to join meetings through a web browser rather than install the software (this option is hiding in the fine print), the session is then sandboxed which limits the attack vectors and its access to personal data.
Once I can concentrate for long enough I'll try Jitsi. It requires no software and doesn't even need a registration or signup, it's all anonymous via a web browser.
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I looked into video chat prior to my hospital admission.
Skype on the pc requires you to have a Microsoft account, I do have one, but then Skype can only be used with Edge or Chrome browsers, neither of which I have, nor do I want them.
So, goodbye Skype, and hello Zoom, which is so simple to register with and install, and to use. While I was bedridden I even used it to look at myself on my laptop while guiding my rechargeable electric shaver around my face.
Great idea. O0 But don't get shaving foam on the keyboard. ;)
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Going to have a go, without seeing the picture.
West Country.
I'm tempted to post a few from last weekend, but I think that could be a bit of a thread hijack, so I will resist the temptation.
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I rarely take a phone with me, simply because the mobile phone signal in my favourite haunts, is non existent.
Last year, when travelling down to South Wales, to visit my friends, i thought i would try an experiment, and see if anything has changed.
From around Trawsfynydd onwards, gaining any mobile signal, on any network, is very touch and go, and the most of Powys is off limits.
The Western Mail tried an experiment three years ago, where two members of staff drove all the way from Llandudno to Cardiff, using the A470, to see what the mobile coverage was like.
Once they hit the other side of Blaenau Festiniog, it was game over, with EE being about the only provider that could get any coverage, but even in Mid Wales, you lose all mobile coverage.
Ladies and Gents, a lot of Wales is still in the 19C when it comes to a strong mobile signal, and just recently Gwynedd council in conjunction with Snowdonia National Park, refused permission for a phone mast in the upper reaches of Bryn Gwynant.
The only network that occasionally works here in Dyffryn, is EE, and ive got to walk half a mile down the road to reach a spot where sometimes a signal is available.
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. . . a lot of Wales is still in the 19C when it comes to a strong mobile signal
Oh, did we have mobiles in the 19th century? ;-)
In my experience, EE provides the least unreliable service of all the networks.
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The secret to getting good residential mobile coverage is to have an air ambulance landing ground nearby. Our coverage was almost non existent until the air ambulance wanted a night landing ground on the village footbal pitch. It had floodlights but no means of turning them on remotely. There followed a quick negotiation and lo and behold, an antenna was fitted on the tower, they got remote lights and as a by-product, 4G all round for us!
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...lo and behold, an antenna was fitted on the tower, they got remote lights and as a by-product, 4G all round for us!
Until the nutters find out and think it's 5G and burn it down. :)
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I rarely take a phone with me, simply because the mobile phone signal in my favourite haunts, is non existent.
Please take your mobile with you out on walks DA.
Calls to 999 or 112 don’t rely on which provider you are with. So EE may not have a signal in the area but dialling 999 / 112 will trigger an “all networks” response and pick up the strongest signal to connect you. Not sure if all phones display this but if mine has no signal it says “no signal emergency calls only”.
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Thank you for the message, but like many areas on the west coast of Wales, with very tiny populations, there's no reason for the mobile companies to justify spending large sums of money, when the population is so small.
The further up my road i go, towards Cwm Nantcol, and the Rhinogs, the weaker the signal.
People in the densely populated areas of the Uk, simply cannot comprehend there's areas of the country where a mobile phone is useless.
5G coverage, it might as well be 9G here in parts of Gwynedd, the population is so sparse and small, that theres no financial incentive for the mobile companies to install a phone mast, and even when businesses do cry out for better coverage, permission to erect a phone mast in usually denied, because its within the National Park.
If theres anywhere that needs a phone mast, then its central Snowdonia, but both Gwynedd council and the National Park, said a definite BIG NO when they wanted one sighted near Pen Y Pass.
Its something ive get used to, going for a quiet jaunt down the road in search of a possible signal for my phone.
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Usually WhatsApp however much of the time I try to stay off the phone when doing hiking trips. Usually trace my route on my map and send a picture of it and instructions for when I expect to be back and who to contact if not, once I've left I quite enjoy just having a few days of immersing myself in between resupplying.
It always seems like a slightly 'dirty' backpacking experience when you bring chargers and battery packs with you to ensure you're hyper connected at all times. I mean sure we can all accept these are a function of modern life - I've noticed some young climbers and backpackers coming through now don't even bring a phone and there is a bit of a counter-cultural push to experience the outdoors without those things so perhaps there is a compromise to be had.
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I've decided to give Duo a go, it seems simple to use and appears to have fewer keystrokes to worry about?
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Skype or another?
Nothing at all.
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I really like using Skype when hiking, I've Skyped from campsites, (given people a tour) from halfway up or from the top of mountains, when I've been lounging around, when I've been miserable sitting in a bus shelter with the rain teeming down, sitting in restaurants, showing my daughter in law my meal and wine choice (she likes that sort of thing) one time being surrounded by horses (my niece liked that one) and real-time videoing myself crossing snow or when walking along 'ledges' and other dangerous places. Its been a real comfort to me sometimes and has 'amused' or 'scared' quite a few family members as well.
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I use Skype from home and when abroad on business, but don’t use anything when hiking, except a quick call to let my wife know I am safe.