Comments on: Skype goes for the gold

Can new paid services put the Net phone upstart on the path to profits?

[Stating]

Problems With Skype VoIP Service

I bought the minimum pre-paid amount for SkypeOut (USD $20) to try it out. My experiences have been less than stellar. The three people I called on different occasions all complained about the voice quality. They asked me to call them back on my cell phone! On another occasion, Skype?s "network" was down and I could not even get logged in to Skype. There was yet another outage for 30 minutes as recently as 3/11. The only way to find out about an outage is to go online to the skype.com support forum and look for announcements.

I also tried using SkypeOut on my Windows PDA. I had the same voice quality issues. The PDA client software doesn?t support a proxy connection, so now it is useless to me.

Skpe problems from my perspective:
1) No live customer support except for billing matters
2) Unreliable network including major outages
3) QoS issues related to peer-to-peer. Latency is a problem for real-time voice and video transmissions.
4) Payment in Euros means it costs more to use SkypeOut every time the dollar weakens

Sure Skype may be cheap, but in this case I think you get what you pay for. I hope they make it, because we need more telco competition in the U.S., but I am doubtful of their ability to succeed. Their problems will only increase as they sign on more and more subscribers. I'd like to see some stats on their paying customer defections.

I'll use up my remaining SkypeOut credit, and then it's on to test competitors to see if they meet expectations. But before I SkypeOut someone else, I must convert my Euro balance to U.S dollars. What a pain.

SkypeOut
?9.81 remaining SkypeOut Credit.
You have 185 days, until September 20 2005, to use this credit.


Keith
www.techcando.com

Quality Issues

I've been using SkypeOut for a few months now and for the most part have no complaints. There have been issues calling Chile from Spain, but none when calling the States. PC to PC calls, free, sounds just great in the majority of the calls I've made, even to Paraguay!

[Stating]

Problems With Skype VoIP Service

I bought the minimum pre-paid amount for SkypeOut (USD $20) to try it out. My experiences have been less than stellar. The three people I called on different occasions all complained about the voice quality. They asked me to call them back on my cell phone! On another occasion, Skype?s "network" was down and I could not even get logged in to Skype. There was yet another outage for 30 minutes as recently as 3/11. The only way to find out about an outage is to go online to the skype.com support forum and look for announcements.

I also tried using SkypeOut on my Windows PDA. I had the same voice quality issues. The PDA client software doesn?t support a proxy connection, so now it is useless to me.

Skpe problems from my perspective:
1) No live customer support except for billing matters
2) Unreliable network including major outages
3) QoS issues related to peer-to-peer. Latency is a problem for real-time voice and video transmissions.
4) Payment in Euros means it costs more to use SkypeOut every time the dollar weakens

Sure Skype may be cheap, but in this case I think you get what you pay for. I hope they make it, because we need more telco competition in the U.S., but I am doubtful of their ability to succeed. Their problems will only increase as they sign on more and more subscribers. I'd like to see some stats on their paying customer defections.

I'll use up my remaining SkypeOut credit, and then it's on to test competitors to see if they meet expectations. But before I SkypeOut someone else, I must convert my Euro balance to U.S dollars. What a pain.

SkypeOut
?9.81 remaining SkypeOut Credit.
You have 185 days, until September 20 2005, to use this credit.


Keith
www.techcando.com

Quality Issues

I've been using SkypeOut for a few months now and for the most part have no complaints. There have been issues calling Chile from Spain, but none when calling the States. PC to PC calls, free, sounds just great in the majority of the calls I've made, even to Paraguay!

[hadaso]

Theycannot move too much of their network to mobile phones

They cannot move too much of their network to mobile phones: the connectivity relies on peer to peer technology. The cellular phones are free riders on this network, relying on Skype clients on PCs to provide the service, so it can only work if the cell phones remain a minority on the network (or if somehow the cellphones can contribute to the network by providing service to other clients).

About Skype voice mail: they can make it much cheaper by forwarding the recorded messages to the client's email address instead of storing it on their servers. As long as they keep the use of their own servers to a minimum they can survive and be profitable even as a very small company serving every internet user.

[John Kuzak]

minority on the network

http://www.analogstereo.com/mini_cooper_owners_manual.htm

[hadaso]

Theycannot move too much of their network to mobile phones

They cannot move too much of their network to mobile phones: the connectivity relies on peer to peer technology. The cellular phones are free riders on this network, relying on Skype clients on PCs to provide the service, so it can only work if the cell phones remain a minority on the network (or if somehow the cellphones can contribute to the network by providing service to other clients).

About Skype voice mail: they can make it much cheaper by forwarding the recorded messages to the client's email address instead of storing it on their servers. As long as they keep the use of their own servers to a minimum they can survive and be profitable even as a very small company serving every internet user.

[John Kuzak]

minority on the network

http://www.analogstereo.com/mini_cooper_owners_manual.htm

[ntrsource]

Can and will SKYPE survive?

Can and will SKYPE survive?

I sure hope so. It has been a so, so experience using their service, but considering that it has been free why would I complain.
If I don't like it I'll remove it, it's that simple.

However, one thing is missing!
All I get with SKYPE is the ability to speak with someone on the phone, BIG deal right. Well so is it with all the other companies that are offering
VoIP and all for a monthly charge and for the most part with a 12 month contract... OUCH... I don't think that anyone understand that we the
consumers are looking for something special and it better be free.

Hold on to you hat folks.
Visit http://www.NTRSource.com and get what you asked for absolutely FREE.
Free calling to every telephone in the US and Canada including Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, Guam, that's right FREE NO CHARGE.
Get free coupons and special offers, use the search engine that are conveniently located on the cell phone look alike virtual dialer.
Get free streaming movies and so much more.
All you have to do is go to http://www.NTRSource.com download and install
the free dialer and you are on your way to enjoy free calls, free special offers and soon free streaming movies. An Icon will be placed on your desktop so you conveniently can get to the service without searching around when you need PIZZA or wanting to make a phone call or even watch the latest released movie.

Go get your you own free dialer today and please tell a friend.
http://www.NTRSource.com

Beware

Install a dialer? Are you crazy? Don't anybody ever install a dialer on your PC!

[ntrsource]

Can and will SKYPE survive?

Can and will SKYPE survive?

I sure hope so. It has been a so, so experience using their service, but considering that it has been free why would I complain.
If I don't like it I'll remove it, it's that simple.

However, one thing is missing!
All I get with SKYPE is the ability to speak with someone on the phone, BIG deal right. Well so is it with all the other companies that are offering
VoIP and all for a monthly charge and for the most part with a 12 month contract... OUCH... I don't think that anyone understand that we the
consumers are looking for something special and it better be free.

Hold on to you hat folks.
Visit http://www.NTRSource.com and get what you asked for absolutely FREE.
Free calling to every telephone in the US and Canada including Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, Guam, that's right FREE NO CHARGE.
Get free coupons and special offers, use the search engine that are conveniently located on the cell phone look alike virtual dialer.
Get free streaming movies and so much more.
All you have to do is go to http://www.NTRSource.com download and install
the free dialer and you are on your way to enjoy free calls, free special offers and soon free streaming movies. An Icon will be placed on your desktop so you conveniently can get to the service without searching around when you need PIZZA or wanting to make a phone call or even watch the latest released movie.

Go get your you own free dialer today and please tell a friend.
http://www.NTRSource.com

Beware

Install a dialer? Are you crazy? Don't anybody ever install a dialer on your PC!

Billing Issues

While I have been fairly happy with Skype's voice quality, both PC to PC and PC to phone (SkypeOut), I have had several problems with their billing. Looks like they are taking after traditional telecoms in this aspect. Case in point, I just tried signing up for the SkypeIn beta, advertized for ?10, and realized, once I was redirected to Paypal, that I was about to be charged ?35 for Voicemail. I am pretty upset about that, feels like they were trying to rob me. At least I notice before clicking on the purchase button.

Billing Issues

While I have been fairly happy with Skype's voice quality, both PC to PC and PC to phone (SkypeOut), I have had several problems with their billing. Looks like they are taking after traditional telecoms in this aspect. Case in point, I just tried signing up for the SkypeIn beta, advertized for ?10, and realized, once I was redirected to Paypal, that I was about to be charged ?35 for Voicemail. I am pretty upset about that, feels like they were trying to rob me. At least I notice before clicking on the purchase button.

ineen vs. Skype

I have found ineen to be more useful than Skype and I enjoy the ability to connect with other SIP networks. Anyone else use ineen? http://www.ineen.com

ineen vs. Skype

I have found ineen to be more useful than Skype and I enjoy the ability to connect with other SIP networks. Anyone else use ineen? http://www.ineen.com

[loufoltzer]

Skype Customer Service Policy Beware

Be very careful. Skype has a credit cancellation policy in place where they can cancel your credit. They just cancelled mine ($71.00) despite many attempts to correct audio problems and attempt to get an adjustment and return for unused service because of an inability to communicate. After ten emails and in inability to raise any single person in a verbal communication, all I can do is advise the public that Skypes popularity is not entirely warranted and that their credit cancelation policies are akin to stealing. BEWARE! BEWARE!

[loufoltzer]

Skype Customer Service Policy Beware

Be very careful. Skype has a credit cancellation policy in place where they can cancel your credit. They just cancelled mine ($71.00) despite many attempts to correct audio problems and attempt to get an adjustment and return for unused service because of an inability to communicate. After ten emails and in inability to raise any single person in a verbal communication, all I can do is advise the public that Skypes popularity is not entirely warranted and that their credit cancelation policies are akin to stealing. BEWARE! BEWARE!

[Surimax]

No Skype SMS to Suriname

Although Skype claims to be able to Skype Out and SMS to phones all over the world, I have not been able to send SMS's to Suriname (South America). I discovered this only after purchasing, for the first time, US$10 with my credit card. The unsuccessful charges were fortunately re-deposited, but after having read many other complaints about failed skype-outs and wrong billing I am actually afraid to even use that credit. The customer service to my repeated complaints was very unprofessional; the first time I was told that 'some changes to that location have been made' (probably this was the first time ever someone tried to VoIP to Suriname through SkypeOut :-)) but it still did not work, and when I asked where I can make a formal complaint and speak to a manager, it went fully silent; that's how I ended up to complain in a public forum. Any useful advice would be appreciated!

[Surimax]

No Skype SMS to Suriname

Although Skype claims to be able to Skype Out and SMS to phones all over the world, I have not been able to send SMS's to Suriname (South America). I discovered this only after purchasing, for the first time, US$10 with my credit card. The unsuccessful charges were fortunately re-deposited, but after having read many other complaints about failed skype-outs and wrong billing I am actually afraid to even use that credit. The customer service to my repeated complaints was very unprofessional; the first time I was told that 'some changes to that location have been made' (probably this was the first time ever someone tried to VoIP to Suriname through SkypeOut :-)) but it still did not work, and when I asked where I can make a formal complaint and speak to a manager, it went fully silent; that's how I ended up to complain in a public forum. Any useful advice would be appreciated!