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May 24, 2005 2:23 PM PDT

Newsmaker: Skype: Interference on the line?

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Skype: Interference on the line?
Skype CEO Niklas Zennström vowed to shake up the phone industry 20 months ago with his creation, the first ever peer-to-peer Internet phone service.

More than 110 million downloads and 2 billion minutes of phone conversations later, Zennström has shown that he wasn't kidding. But Skype's success has led to perhaps the most difficult chapter yet for the Luxemburg-based company. It now faces mounting concerns over a lack of customer service and a growing backlash by utility regulators as it hunts for new revenue opportunities. Zennström spoke to CNET.News.com about these and other issues earlier this week.

Q: There are a lot of customer complaints about SkypeIn, where you get inbound calls from any phone, and SkypeOut, which is used to call any phone. Is there a problem with it?
Zennström: One thing you have to bear in mind is that the telephone system has been around for 135 years; Skype's been around for 20 months. We are going through all kinds of improvements.

But clearly something is wrong. Customers are fuming about dropped or badly distorted calls. Any changes in the offing?
Zennström: There actually are people using SkypeIn that say it's better than SkypeOut. We are using a new software version for SkypeIn, which we will be gradually introducing into SkypeOut. We are continuously working on it.

One thing you have to bear in mind is that the telephone system has been around for 135 years; Skype's been around for 20 months.

Is that going to solve the problem?
Zennström: We're also adding more carrier partners in order to terminate more calls to traditional phones. That will help. We are also developing lots of new ways to correct errors in the traffic. I think we will continue to see improvements in quality.

These are quality of service problems Skype can address. But Skype can't control the quality of someone's broadband connection, which has a direct impact on Skype calls.
Zennström: We've identified a list of things we can do. But in cases where people are on a badly congested Internet network, that will have an impact on quality. But you're starting to see multi-megabit, per-second connections. In many places, Sweden for example, you can buy a 24mbps line here, and you'll start seeing that in a lot more places.

Your proprietary software has come under fire from those Net phone interests advocating open-source Session Initiation Protocol. What's Skype's SIP stance now?
Zennström: We've been using SIP to interconnect SkypeIn and SkypeOut calls to the (traditional) public switched telephone network (PSTN) since July. Second to Yahoo Broadband in Japan, we're probably one of largest SIP traffic generators. But doing

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Skype, SkypeOut, telephone system, QoS, call

Add a Comment (Log in or register) 12 comments
Skype
by May 24, 2005 6:26 PM PDT
And what's with charging for a minute if the connection lasts 6 seconds or somesuch.
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Poor Quality with Skype
by May 24, 2005 7:56 PM PDT
I think the idea of Skype is fantastic and it is also very affordable. However the quality of the call is so poor that it is extremely hard working having a conversation. I use Skype in Australia to call a landline in Italy. I am going to abandon using Skype until the quality gets better. I currently have a fast Brodband connection.
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Bandwidth Is Shared, That's The Problem
by Stating May 24, 2005 8:51 PM PDT
Skype's advantage of saving capital by not having to build their own network also seems to be their Achilles Heel. Everyone who uses Skype shares a potion of their network bandwidth to contribute to a bandwidth pool. This is why Skype doesn't need to have their own VoIP infrastructure -- hence they can offer a free or low cost service. The problem seems to be that because this is a peer-to-peer network the quality of service (QOS) varies a lot. That's OK if you are simply swapping files around (like BitTorrent). But it is a disaster for real-time voice and video communications.
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Visionary Stuff!
by badrot May 25, 2005 12:39 AM PDT
Sorry to say, there may be customer service problems with Skype, but the bigger story is how Skype is already shaking the establishment. Too bad the interview did not touch on that!

With the introduction of Skypeln, Skype is hitting the market with two major disruptive features:
1- they have already enabled the ability for a single (mobile) phone unit (in this case, a pocket PC running Skype) to be on the receiving end of multiple international phone numbers.
2- In many cases, they have effectively made incoming roaming free, another disruptive feature.

As an example, I have a US and French number that I use on my trips to Romania free of any roaming charges. And by the way, my connections have always been pretty good!

If anything is true, the telco should really pay attention; there are bundles of new features and services they would need to roll out to compete effectively. The next couple of years will be very interesting for the least. Can?t wait!
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Skype problem
by May 25, 2005 2:07 AM PDT
Skype works good on PC to PC connection ,but the PC to phone connection is pathetic at the momemt,
Works well for first 5 minutes then the problem starts , there is staggering of voice and sometimes the voice is played faster then the speed of speaking.Even with the best network speeed. Skype provides good deal at the moment on landline but calls to mobile phone are way costlier atleast for rates to Switzerland.Need improvement in quality.
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Happy with Skype
by May 27, 2005 2:46 AM PDT
I am an occasional user of all 3 of Skype?s services, PC to PC, SkypeOut and SkypeIn. I am very pleased with the quality in general. The main issue is with SkypeOut, where voice quality is bad as often as it is good. SkypeIn is phenomenal and my friends and I are amazed at the voice quality and technology of it every time we use it. I have a Chicago number that rings on my PCs in Spain.

My main concern with Skype is the lack of SIP interconnectivity. As a corporate IT guy reading about various Open Source PBX projects, it?s sad to think that Skype won?t be able to fit in somewhere.
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Why can't VOIP be paired with GPS?
by jamie.p.walsh May 28, 2005 5:46 PM PDT
I understand that GPS is a separate service, but you'd think that this would be a no brainer in convergence. Sure, GPS service and device pricing is a barrier, but with market pressures, it would surely drop rapidly. Both services stand to benefit greatly. GPS is great, but the added value is what can be layered on top of it. If VOIP wants to truly compete with POTS, they need location based services--ESPECIALLY 911. Cellular triangulation is no exact science and to some extent neither is GPS. GPS, however, DOES do better at location. A directory service doesn't provide worth in a mobile society in terms of location.

In short, some cross investment between GPS, Cellular, and VOIP businesses would be a giant leap toward relieving the consumer of the stranglehold of the antiquated POTS.
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Something has to be done about Skype
by pettydeb March 17, 2007 8:27 AM PDT
In November of 2006 I ordered Skype service and payment cleared on December 5, 2006 through bank transfer. I never received my service so I had requested a refund. Over the past 3 months customer service has told me the refund is being processed over and over again. I look on the skype forums and it is filled with refund requests and customers not getting service, nor refunds. It appears to me from my experience and research that Skype is cashing in on not providing service and not refunding money. I have requested from Skype information on how to file a formal complaint but they have not provided me with this information. Its ashame, it is not a large amount but if you multiply it by the amount of people not receiving refunds, and the time they are waiting if they ever do receive a refund, Skype is making out on ill-gotten money. Good scheme they got going there.
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