Hack26.Test Call Sound Quality (echo123)

Hack 26. Test Call Sound Quality (echo123)

Use the echo service provided by Skype to test your transmit and receive voice quality.

Works with: all versions of Skype.

If you have just installed Skype and want to give it a try, or if you're having problems with your sound system or sound quality, there is no better way to test Skype than to use its echo service.

echo123 is an English-speaking service; echo-chinese is a similar service, but in Chinese (dialect Mandarin, Taiwan); soundtestjapanese is for Japanese speakers; and testyuyin is another voice test service for Chinese (dialect Mandarin, mainland China).

echo123 is nothing more than a Skype username set up by Skype and linked to an automatic sound recording and playback system. Enter "echo123" (or one of its other language variants) in the Skype address bar and start a call. A voice on the other end will guide you through the process of recording your own voice and then playing it back to you. If you can hear the automated announcement and your own voice when it is played back to you, you will know that your sound input and sound output devices work properly. As a further test, you can have Skype call you! Open a chat session with echo123 and send the text message 'callme" (enter it without any whitespace and without any quotes), and Skype's echo service will call you back for a voice test. It's as simple as that.

3.3.1. Fix Sound-Quality Problems

If your echo123 test doesn't work, you have a problem. While it is impossiblegiven the sheer variety of hardware availableto give specific advice on how to repair or configure your sound system, there are some general guidelines that, if followed, are likely to fix the problem with the least pain (see "Troubleshoot Skype" [Hack #12]).