Chat to China

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simon1963 Author

Level 1

0 points

Chat to China

I recently upgraded to Leopard with iChat 4 and so has my father. We both signed up to googlemail and now can message, chat and videochat, no problem. In fact it was so easy it surprised me. The way it should be.

However, my wife is Chinese and wants to chat with her brother in China. A different story altogether!!!

How do you do it. He has a PC. Not sure what software he is using at the moment.

What is the best provider to sign up with? He currently has googlemail/GMail as well but can't seem to get that to work except for instant messaging. Video and Chat don't work.

Is there a better piece of software we can both use? Should we look for a different service provider? Is it just a problem that I have a Mac and he has a PC? Or is it China's restrictive internet policies?

Any help gratefully appreciated

G5 imac, Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on Jan 26, 2008 3:28 AM

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Answer 1

CodLBi

Level 3

720 points

Jan 26, 2008 5:06 AM in response to simon1963

Chances are big the Chinese end uses QQ, this might work with iChat. Have a look at http://pidgin.im/about/

Message was edited by: CodLBi

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Answer 2

CodLBi

Level 3

720 points

Jan 26, 2008 6:50 AM in response to CodLBi

Actually, if the PC meets the requirements and the Chinese end has a broadband connection you can video chat.

http://www.oovoo.com//download/

You need to send a Mac request to the support centre.

Do keep in mind it is in Beta this means that it still contains bugs, you may have to reinstall your OS. If issues occur contact their support centre. It connects, use your ISP's proxy server.

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Answer 3

simon1963 Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 26, 2008 9:39 AM in response to CodLBi

Thanks I'll give it a go.

You're right the other end does have QQ and we tried that but couldn't get it to work with iChat. Therefore the other end now has Gmail the same as me and I know that works because I have used it with others in the UK, just can't get it to work with China. Although we can send instant messages. The only other thought was that in the UK it's Googlemail and the rest of the world it's Gmail, but I thought that was only a copyright issue over the name of the service and they should work together no problem.

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Answer 4

CodLBi

Level 3

720 points

Jan 26, 2008 11:42 AM in response to simon1963

The Chinese Copy by nature, it's in their character set creating [many|http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10006715o-2000498448b,00.h tm?new_comment] customers.
So now W.C.Q them. 😉

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Answer 5

simon1963 Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 26, 2008 11:42 AM in response to CodLBi

Sorry to sound stupid but I didn't understand that last message.

I went to http://www.oovoo.com//download/ as you suggested but don't seem to be able to download anything at the moment. Both Windows and Mac download buttons seem to be disabled and looking at the html source the image for the buttons is called "btn_downloadOff.jpg" so it would appear to be intentional. Perhaps they are doing server maintenance or something. I will try again later.

I hope the windows version at least supports a Chinese interface as the other end might not understand otherwise. It doesn't matter if the mac one doesn't because I can help my wife with the English version. It would be nice if it did though as that's one of the benefits of using iChat.

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Answer 6

Defcom-UK

Level 6

15,494 points

Jan 26, 2008 11:47 AM in response to simon1963

Try mebeam a web based video chat room http://www.mebeam.com/

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Answer 7

CodLBi

Level 3

720 points

Jan 26, 2008 12:23 PM in response to simon1963

The Chinese had an issue with ICQ, copyright related, I tried to be funny We Ce Q U. Happens all the time.
The Chinese language is supported, If unicode has been implemented in a way it stays unicode I don't know.

Could be there is work in progress at the moment, works here though.

Does this work? http://oovoomac.smnr.us/

Message was edited by: CodLBi

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Answer 8

simon1963 Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 26, 2008 2:22 PM in response to Defcom-UK

Thanks for that. Just tried it with my dad and almost worked. He could see and hear me but I could only see him. Still I'll get my wife to try it with her brother when he's awake. Wrong time of day at the moment. Hope its not one of the sites that the Chinese Government deems fit to block!

Message was edited by: simon1963

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Answer 9

simon1963 Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 26, 2008 2:27 PM in response to CodLBi

Yes that worked thanks. However that page only has the Mac version, is there a similar page for the PC version which I can send to my wife's brother.

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Answer 10

simon1963 Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 28, 2008 10:58 AM in response to Defcom-UK

Tried this site for a conversation to China. Started off OK but other end kept getting cut off. afterwards picture OK and we could hear audio fine but other end had a delay on the audio of about 30 seconds so not very usable

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