I run the Linux version of Skype. I constantly annoy my Windows-based Skype brethren, by commenting on which codec any given call is using, how much packet loss we are seeing, what the current jitter is, and even telling them what kind of firewall/proxy they have.
You see, the Linux version of the Skype client displays all this information in a tooltip highlight, if you hold the cursor on the icon of a call in progress. I’ve gotten in the habit of monitoring this on every call, just to see what’s going on. (As I’ve previously said “OK I’m a geek”.). This doesn’t seem to work the same way on Windows, might not be available at all, and since I’m not a Windows user I haven’t gone looking.
The real point of this post is that increasingly over the last month or two, more and more I see Skype selecting the iLBC codec (long live the wikipedia). This is happening even when there is very wide bandwidth on both ends. I’m unhappy about this, because one of the features I like about Skype is the superior audio quality of the wider-band codecs like iSAC, or even the really wide band iPCM-wb that is in the GIPS engine but I’ve never seen Skype use.
Has anyone else noticed a similar trend? Does anyone have any insight into the negotiation algorthim used by the Skype client, and what if anything you can do to predispose the environment to selecting a higher bandwidth codec? My ears will thank you for any advice you can offer!