I noticed that some people have trouble operating
Skype.
So here are the basic rules of a successful voice chat for
Skype
1. Use a group where all potential speakers share their
interest in the forthcoming conference in text form only. This
group already exists. It's called {ko ciska po'o tavla ...}
(meaning "Talk by writing only...") This group is only for
planning, not for actual talking. Ask in this mail thread to
add you there.
2. One person runs a desktop version of Skype and has good
incoming and outcoming internet connection (~1Mbit/sec in both
directions is fine).
3. This person must add all interested people to his/her
friend list and those people must confirm "friendship".
4. This person calls the first person and after successful
connection drops other people into the chat window.
5. Please, everyone switch off your video by pressing on
the video button so that it becomes crossed out.
6. Before any conference check your microphone and audio
settings of Skype. Add "echo123" user (it's a bot) to your
friend list, call it and follow the instruction. Change
settings of your Skype client if necessary.
7. If you have noise around you during the conference or if
other members notice a noise from your side switch off your
microphone by pressing on the Microphone button so that it
becomes crossed out.
I think that as of now Skype is preferable since it has
better voice compression and buffering mechanisms preventing
clicks/pauses during conversation due to unstable internet
connection. As of now it's unlikely that 100% of potential
students of Lojban get normal internet connection. Many even
change to mobile connection dropping the level of fast +
stable internet connection even more.
I should also note that QQ messenger used in China has been
successfully tested by me several time with mainland China
residents and it works okay. Just like Skype.
Commercial clients win but explanations of that are outside
the scope of this post.