My brother who lives in France and I are trying to communicate by webcam. We both have MSN messenger. We both use the built in mikes on our cameras. The problem is that I can always hear him but he can't always hear me. We started doing this about a month and half ago. The first time was great. The 2nd and 3rd times there was a lot of echo and droning noises. So I decided to return my camera (Logique) and step up to the Logique Cam Fusion, thinking the sound would be better ( I later learned , I believe, that my better camera improves the sound for the recipient not me.) When I installed the new camera my brother could not hear me - he had no audio. Yesterday we talked and it was fine then he lost audio. It seems to be hit and miss. We are very frustrated. I've looked on the internet for this problem and there seems to be many theories but none match all my criteria. P.S. my camera is fine - have done all the tests - everything OK)

Well today my brother and I were able to talk "to each other" - he had sound but now he keeps getting disconnected. Finally he just couldn't reconnect at all. Is it possible it is a problem with MSN. Does anyone who uses a webcam regularly use another service that does not have these problems. What makes Skype different?