I’ve been thinking about Skype and wanting to jump into it. Boy did I ever today. I downloaded the app, and signed up for Pro and SkypeIn within an hour. This service is ingenious. If you don’t know what Skype is, I suggest you take a look. It allows you to make phone calls from your PC to other Skype users. When you upgrade to Pro, you can do that and make calls to national cellular and landline phones. International calls are 2.1 cents/minute. Adding SkypeIn gives you a regular phone number that landline and cellular users can call that you can answer on a WiFi phone or through your PC.
After setting up the account and activating the features (Skype Pro and SkypeIn at $60/year), I wanted to make calls and test it out.
On my 15″ PowerBook, I have an internal microphone that is located very near the speakers. Everyone I called said there was an echo, similar to a tunnel.
I though about going out and grabbing a WiFi phone, but then remembered that I had a Jawbone headset sitting around. I figured I could get it to sync over Bluetooth and use it as a headset with my Mac.
My setup: PowerBook G4 OS X 10.5 (Leopard), Skype 2.6.0.184, Jawbone
The process:
First, we have to pair the Jawbone with the Mac.
Ensure the Jawbone is OFF.
On the Mac, through the Bluetooth Setup Assistant, select to add a new Headset, but DON’T press “Continue” yet.
On the Jawbone, press and hold the ‘NOISE SHIELD BUTTON’ for 3 seconds until the LED status indicator alternately flashes white and red. This means Jawbone is now in pairing mode. This mode will last for 2 minutes or until pairing is complete.
On the Mac, press “Continue.” (The two should pair. If they do not, try the above again.)
The Setup Assistant will display ‘Jawbone’, once it finds it.
Select it and “Continue.”
Th Mac will prompt for a passkey. The paskey is four zeros, 0000.
After the pairing is successful, under the Bluetooth icon in your toolbar, “Jawbone” will be an option to use as a headset. Select “Use Headset.”
In Skype, under Preferences, Select Audio and set the Input and Output to ‘Jawbone.’ I selected to still have the ringing go through my Logitech speakers.
Once all of that is configured, you can now make Skype calls and have the Military grade clarity of the Jawbone.
Perfect! Great, concise directions that worked for me the first time through. My iMac runs 10.5.5, Skype 2.7.0.330
Great directions. Works like a charm.
I’m having some issues with this solution. I got the jawbone to pair just fine, and I made one successful call. However, my second call just generated static on the receiving end. I can’t get the static to stop and the person on the other end can’t hear me at all.
I’ve replicated this problem 6 times. 3 with the old jawbone and 3 with the new jawbone.
Any ideas what is causing this?
I’m running os x 10.5.6 and skype 2.7.0.330.
davelinhardt: I am having the same trouble, and I suspect it is related to using the Jawbone headset (I’ve not experimented with any other Bluetooth headset, by the way). Using my MacBook’s speakers and mic seem to be okay.
Were you ever able to diagnose the problem further? Or resolve?
Having the same problem.. Can make one successful call, then the rest sound like they are almost “looping” half a second of static. Any ideas?
Yup, I am having the same problem. The jawbone continues to work fine with my iPhone and worked great for a couple of skype calls, but now on a test call, only outputs static. Checking the Sound Pref in the Mac, it seems the mic is constantly picking up this static.
I’m having the exact same problem with Skype, my MacBook, and the Sony bluetooth headset for PlayStation 3. I made one Skype call successfully with the headset and after that, the headset only inputs the constant static loop. I even recorded a few seconds in Garageband to verify that all apps, not just Skype, are receiving the static.
Has anyone found a solution? This is extremely frustrating for me because I use Skype as my work line and would like to use this headset to take calls on it.
Check the apple.com support forums for bluetooth. there is a thread about this with more then 100 entries. Seems to be an OS issue.
If you want to see a reader’s feedback
, I rate this post for 4/5. Decent info, but I have to go to that damn google to find the missed pieces. Thank you, anyway!
Bluetooth frequency of 2.4 GHz receives interference from any 802.11n 2.4-5 GHz Wi-Fi ?, Just when you think that Alien reverse engineering (Bluetooth Special Interest Group)is coming along-you discover it’s as backwards as health care!
Awesome Blog, Mate! I am constantly on the lookout for new and interesting sites and postings about speaker systems… which is what led me here. I certainly plan on visiting again! Adios
very nice expression
Excess on occasion is exhilirating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit. ~W. Somerset Maugham, The Summing Up, 1938
Between me and my lazy husband, I won the argument on this subject because she did not agree with you..
watch and learn. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIX_7JvHziI
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