skype.com

Colin Angus Mackay

Brian Delahunty wrote: instead of shouting up the stairs to ask her something I just skype her Be careful when you say things like that. The Zero Tolerance zealots will be after your blood faster than you can say VoIP. ;P

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markstu

This is interesting and I've only heard a little about it, but what's the advantage of having skype as opposed to the more common VOIP providers right now, in terms of residential use? Is skype totally free?

Ryan Binns

Brian Delahunty wrote: instead of shouting up the stairs to ask her something I just skype her Ummm, I use these things called "legs" ;P

Ryan

"Punctuality is only a virtue for those who aren't smart enough to think of good excuses for being late" John Nichol "Point Of Impact"

jerry0davis

Hmmm, a bit of marketing hype me thinks. The library most people use called OpenH323 was a bit ropey at first but in the past year it's improved a lot. I know of quite a few British call centres that use OpenH323, so it can't be that bad. As for SIP, SIP is not good enough for Skype, but it's good enought for BT (British Telecom)? :suss: SIP seems to be the protocol everyone is using now.

I feel like I'm diagonally parked in a parallel universe Jerry Davis http://www.astad.org
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KaRl

Jeremy Davis wrote: SIP seems to be the protocol everyone is using now At least that's the one we use in the company I work for. H323 leaded to too many problems, but SIP fitted to implement VoIP. That's why Skype's comment made my laugh so much.

Fold With Us! "A leader is a man who can adapt principles to circumstances - Georges S. Patton, 1885–1945"

markstu

So SIP is what most of the the major players are using right now in terms of residential VOIP? I'm about to get VOIp at home. Seems the time is right. As far as business use goes, there are some companies out there that are going to be making some money in the next 10 years with implementation.

KaRl

AFAIK, but I'm not a specialist in that domain, SIP is the most promising technology for VoIP. It begins to be widely implemented, and major actors are moving towards that direction, as Cisco[^], for example.

Fold With Us! "A leader is a man who can adapt principles to circumstances - Georges S. Patton, 1885–1945"

markstu

So Karl, have you gone to VOIP for your home yet or are you holding off?

KaRl

markstu wrote: have you gone to VOIP for your home yet or are you holding off Hum, not yet. In France there are several commercial offers coupling telephony and ADSL for a few months, but I'm not sure VoIP technology is totally ready for a large scale. That's why I'll wait a little bit, just to let providers the time to correct the problems :-D

Fold With Us! "A leader is a man who can adapt principles to circumstances - Georges S. Patton, 1885–1945"

markstu

I hear you. I've been struggling with that as well, although I think I am going to go ahead and test the waters. It seems that some of the problems these companies were having with the technology in the last 6 months or a year have been resolved. Price is still low, and reliability doesn't seem to be much of an issue. We live in the Washington, DC area and just heard about this company called SunRocket that we may go with. Cheap price. Seemingly good customer service from what we've experienced so far. We'll see how it turns out, but I'm optimistic. What specific "problems" are the root of your hesitation?...just to make sure I'm seeing the full picture.

KaRl

markstu wrote: What specific "problems" are the root of your hesitation?...just to make sure I'm seeing the full picture Most of the time, problems come from a non-existent customer service. The only company performing quiet well about that is the historic public company, France Telecom, but prices it offers aren't very attractive. New private companies are more eager to advertize to collect clients than to offer a reliable service (I heard about access problems, promised bandwidth not reached...), that's why I'm waiting that economic laws apply and eliminate the bad ones :) In 6 months it should be done, and then I'll do like you, cross the Rubicon :-D

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markstu

Good point on the customer service issue. I know people who have had some problems with customer service in the past with larger VOIP providers. I think the problems exist from these companies losing sight of what is going on and thinking they have become succesful. Customer service is going to be extremely important to me and I will not go with a provider until I am convinced they will provide me with satisfactory customer support...especially since the technology is so new and everyone is so new to the technology. Hopefully more and more of the companies popping up will put a focus on this and really work to make good on promises. I can already see it in one or two of the companies we are looking at as of now, and from conversations with them and their willingness to answer questions about their services, I don't have any reason not to believe I will be treated fairly. We'll see soon enough.