What if your internet connection sucks?

[Anoulie]

Hi people,

I'm not even in an LDR (yet?) and already have a techy problem. My non-SO and I are going to meet in August, but before that, we wanted to start Skyping weekly. We tried it last week when I was at my parents' house, and Skype was really lag-y (the video worked fine, but audio sounded really awful, like when you're on your mobile phone with a bad connection), so we tried Google Hangouts instead. I didn't have some browser plug-in that they wanted and couldn't install it because my laptop was being fussy, so we decided to give it a try at some later point.
That night, I installed a new version of Linux, wiping off all my data and programs etc. (don't worry, I saved it all on an external hard drive, and I was planning on doing that anyway), then went back to university the next day, where I installed that plug-in (wiping the hard drive really worked). Yesterday, we both had some free time, it being the weekend and all, so we decided to try Google Hangouts again. I got a connection error (There seems to be a problem with your network connection, please check it, or something to that effect). So we went back to Skype. Establishing a video call wasn't possible because of my slow connection. It's true; my dorm's internet is pretty slow, and I've heard the other girls there complain about it quite often (some said they couldn't even read their e-mails, but for me, that was never a problem, and I can even watch Youtube videos; then again, I'm sitting right under the modem). The internet at my parents' is better (my brothers play those online games all the time, and talk to their team via headphones, so surely a Skype/Google Hangouts call should be doable), but I hardly go to their place as it's pretty far away. Next time will be for a wedding in three weeks.
Does anyone have any ideas on what to do? We haven't tried audio only calling yet, but I think that's kind of a sad substitute anyway, especially if we do end up starting an LDR. And I don't really want to sit at the library or some coffee shop and chat with him (and that'd be in English, too, which would be kind of weird for people around us). Oh, and I'm not planning on moving out here anytime soon, either. It's super cheap and central and the community's pretty good.

[mllebamako]

This is just one of those challenges that some of us have to deal with! When we were LD, I was living in France with an average internet connection and my SO was in Africa, going to internet cafes every night. His internet connection ranged from average to awful and we also had to deal with power outages! It's just something you have to accept. We always started out trying a video call, we would spend some of the time with really laggy video or saying "Can you hear me?", "I can't hear you", etc. Sometimes it would be so bad that we'd switch to audio only, which usually made it much better. Sometimes we'd have to switch to text-chat only. And certain days we just had to give up and try again the next day.

Basically, you do the best you can to work with what you got and accept from the get-go that some days communication will be easier than others.

[abna1]

His internet connection ranged from average to awful and we also had to deal with power outages! It's just something you have to accept. We always started out trying a video call, we would spend some of the time with really laggy video or saying "Can you hear me?", "I can't hear you", etc. Sometimes it would be so bad that we'd switch to audio only, which usually made it much better. Sometimes we'd have to switch to text-chat only. And certain days we just had to give up and try again the next day.

I know THIS too well ! Half of the time we're just trying to figure out if we can hear each other. Then the picture freezes. Then we lose the connection completely. Funny when I think about it... really frustrating when it happens.

Technology has made LDRs so much easier over the past years. Lucky us ! You can actually talk to the person AND see them. But at the same time it can be quite a pain. There's nothing we can really do about. Just hope for the best. If audio-only works well for you guys, use that until you have a good connection for video calls again. It's definitely not a sad substitute. Better than a quick "We'll try again tomorrow" text.

[SeeRat]

I know this situation SOO WELL. As abna and mllebamako said half of our call time is all about Can you hear me? or I can hear you but i think you cant than disconnecting call trying again On top of everything is power crisis in my country which makes our communication even more difficult its frutrating but its how it is we just have to bear with it. Sometimes only option we are left with is text chat but atleast its better than nothing. You just have to suffer it there is nothing you can change about it.

[Jess!]

ohhh, I feel this. and I still have to connect my camera to my laptop by usb cable. such a pain in the ass have you tried the internet connection of your Uni library? or could you buy an internet pen-drive/connection which is different than the wireless?
I tend to 'unplug' the image, and just hear him when this happens.. and I realize in some parts of my house the connections is better than others... I hope I could help, but I find myself having the same problems:/

[Ejoriah]

Agree with the suggestion to try the uni library. I don't know what policies are in place over where you are, but in my university one library is open pretty much all night. If you stick to the group study areas where some noise is allowed, and go late so there won't be as many people, it might work. I've skyped my mother from there a couple of times of course it limits the kind of conversation you can have, but it's better than nothing

[Jade_Crystal]

I sadly think that might be the case once I go to college this autumn... Dorm room wi-fi is horrible due to a lot of people using it, so I don't have high hopes from it. My best bet will probably be getting a wi-fi Internet USB stick once I get a part time job and I can afford it. Otherwise we'll just have to stick to making videos and taking pictures and sending those back and forth, chatting mostly through text...