How to Silently Kill Unwanted Skype Echoes

Ever had that disturbing moment when someone suddenly mimics your words over a precious Skype call, and does it again…and again? What makes it creepier is that it copies your voice perfectly… and never stops… ops… ops…

Fear not, random Skype user! That experience did not come out of a horror flick; it’s just the annoying Skype echoes that a lot of users experience. Here’s a simple solution to that:

Why it happens.

Usually, the reason behind these annoying echoes lies behind the microphones and speakers themselves. When the equipment you use are of poor quality or aren’t properly set up, echoes are more likely to happen. Oftentimes, only either of you can hear these echoes; it makes tracking which of you is causing the noise harder. This gets more complicated when the person causing the echoes can’t hear it at all.

What to do.

Echoes can be really annoying, especially if you’re recording your calls on trusty video call recorders like SuperTintin. Good thing Skype came up with a solution. Echo 123 is a built-in contact from Skype especially made for you to test if you’re causing the nuisance or not. All you have to do is ask the other party to call Echo123, while you do the same after hanging up. Whoever experiences the echo should try some measures to fix it. If that person is using external microphones and speakers, he can simply lower the volume of the speakers or move the microphone further away from the speakers in use. Switching to a headset or a USB phone, if available, would give better results, especially if that person is using laptop microphones and speakers. They are usually placed close to each other, and there’s no way to move them apart from each other, unless you are willing to dissect your laptop.

After trying these simple steps, and you’re still experiencing echo, excessive bandwidth consumption may be responsible for this. It’s advisable that you refrain from downloading files, browsing the web, or doing any other bandwidth-intensive activities while on a Skype call. If you use routers, remind the others in your local network to do the same.

So there you go, feel free to record your smooth and echo-less conversations today!