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Skype Makes U.S. Retail Debut
JamesAlfaro wrote to mention a C|Net article discussing the U.S. retail debut of Skype. From the article: "More than 3,000 RadioShack locations nationwide on Monday [the 21st] will begin offering the Skype Starter Kit, which includes the software that enables a customer to use Skype's free computer-to-computer telephone service, a headset and 30 minutes of Skype's premium service, with which a user can call a landline or cell phone, company executives said. The move is an attempt by Skype, the world's largest provider of voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, to introduce its service to mainstream America."
Let's just hope it's not crippled with over-regulation before it, or any other VoIP service, becomes mainstream. Telephone calls need to do some serious catch-up with free email & IM.
I'm not holding my breath though.
Argh.
Dear ./ editors,
in upcomming articles about Skype tell us (=the readers) that Skype was aquired by eBay.
It's important to know that Skype has the multi billion dollar backing of eBay. Whatever Skype tries out, they never will run out of money for the next years.
Grundgesetz * 23. Mai 1949 - 30. November 2007 - http://www.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/
Skype and Vonage are both crap in my perspective, because they are closed systems that insist on controlling all ends of the transaction.
Guess you think Slashdot is crap merely because it is a closed system that insists on controlling all ends of the transaction.
I initially had planned on using skype for my long distance. However I soon grew tired of being tied to the computer with a headset. While there are some ways to get a regular cordless phone to work with skype, all involve having a computer running. You can also purchase stand alone voip phones that are skype compatable for the small price of $200+.
I finally settled on buying a Sipura voip adapter and service from SIPphone. Setup was pretty easy and now instead of my $60 phone bill I have a $10 - $15 bill. After two months it paid for itself.
VoIP not only needs to catch up but also be open like email, and unlike the divided IM space.
Unfortunately Skype is not the application which connects to an open network.
Only applications like Gizmo http://www.gizmoproject.com/ and many other ones (which I don't use) connect to the International Standard-compliant Protocol known as SIP.
If you want voice chat (VoIP) on Linux then you have a good selection too (I don't know which are SIP compliant and which are not though):
http://www.phonegaim.com/
http://cockatoo.mozdev.org/
http://www.gizmoproject.com/
http://www.linphone.org/
http://www.wirlab.net/kphone/
http://www.minisip.org/
http://www.sflphone.org/
http://www.sipfoundry.org/
http://www.twinklephone.com/
http://www.openwengo.com/
http://yate.null.ro/
http://www.divmod.org/projects/shtoom
The kit includes "30 minutes of Skype's premium service"! One has to wonder how they can throw in something so valuable. I mean, SkypeOut currently charges, umm, 1.7 euro cent per minute for calls. So 30 minutes is a stunning 51 euro cents of value (~$0.65)!
Deals like this don't come along every day!
I've said it before and I'll say it again until more people know. Here are some concrete reasons why Skype is kind of a bad thing.
I think you overestimated how much it is costing them.
That is at the rate they charge to make a profit - it comes to 65 cents (US Dollars).
Really may we expect about $0.40 (40 cents (USD)) or thereabouts for Skype's Premium Service?
Saying that, thats a kind $0.40 or so, thanks n all. But, I'd rather stick with a SIP standard-compliant phone.
Bullshit, ozzie.
I can use any browser, on any OS I choose, on any hardware I choose, via the internet service of my choice, to get to Slashdot to read your inane statement.
It's cheap and cheerful software on a CD, a few minutes of outgoing call time, and a headset. You're paying for convenience more than anything else - this is an ideal pack to get people started with who may not have a headset, or not fully understand if you tell them to "Go to skype.com, download it and register". The pack (In the UK at least) comes with a nice clear instruction leaflet for the whole procedure.
How many people can read hex if only you and dead people can read hex?
Because we all know how well they handled the :CueCat ;)
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
Because throughout the United States there are just as many Radio Shacks as there are Starbucks: about 7,000 of each.
Stop invalid scientific research. Ask your local scientists to feed their lab rats with a phytoestrogen-free chow.
Skype is great.
.Audio 85 Headphone:s p?id=33411
I bought a powerbook about 5 months ago, and whilst overseas working (I'm Australian) I bought a headset from an Apple store in NYC in Soho.
It was around $60 USD or something like that.
Plantronics
http://www.macaudiopro.com/articles/viewarticle.j
Highly recommended.
Comes with a DSP, and is USB. A LONG cable with a comfortable headset thats foldable a big bonus for frequently travellers like myself.
I was totally impressed on the mac, no drivers to install, and it Just Worked. Skype detects it as a Plantronics in Skype config.
Totally cool..
Once Google Talk offers their service via SIP and most importantly allows federation with others, they will become the glue that binds together all the currently fragmented voip offerings. Providers that don't want to open up and federate with Google will slowly dissappear. After all it won't be long and most the people that you talk to will not be on landlines, but IP only, and you therefore don't want a provider that is not connected.
If I was an incumbent telco in any part of the world, I would be scared, I would probably try dirty games such as providing restricted internet access with SIP traffic filtered out.
If the headsets are the same as those being given out at my student union, they're just this. I don't know about the quality.
The contrary seem to be the norm. Skype calls are quite good for most users from what I've heard and read and experienced myself. I use it frequently to call from Thailand to the U.S., both PC-to-PC and PC-to-land line. PC-to-PC with broadband on each end is very good, good sound quality and latency is noticable but not annoying. To land lines my calls are usually quite good - sometimes the call gets dropped and I have to call again. But quality and latency are pretty good.
Khao Yai Land
Literally all VOIP providers have statdardized on SIP for their protocol. This means that a Sipura VOIP box can work with any of them - EXCEPT Skype! Skype uses their own protocol that's incompatble. This is why you CAN't use them with a VOIP box such as the Sipura or Linksys. Skype only works with a computer. This relegates it to 'toy' or hobbyist status. Until they come out with an inexpensive (around 50 dollar) VOIP box that's easy to configure and works with a standard telephone, the masses will NOT use Skype except as a novelty.
If Vonage is like a telephone line, think of Skype like a phone card. You can buy a few dollars' worth of time and spend it calling people over a period of up to 6 months. (Every time you buy time, all your existing time gains another 6 months of useful life.) I like Skype better than Vonage because I make very few long-distance calls; on those rare occasions when I'm about to run out of cell phone minutes, I can use Skype instead.
For more information, click here.
Well, not the same exact thing, but Skype reps here in London were handing out little packages with a mini CD with Windows software (Mac, Linux, and Pocket PC users had to go to the website), the 30 minute card, and a little earbud with mic. Of course, I would recommend getting a real headset.
Oh, and those that say that Skype will never be big until it uses SIP: the fact of the matter is, it already is huge in Europe and some other parts of the world (3,402,086 users are currently online, according to my client). Also, Skype calls to other Skype users have excellent sound quality and are far better than SkypeOut calls (ie to a standard phone number). So, like any service that seeks to become the standard, they're giving you incentive to join their orbit (think Aol Instant Messenger not working with other IM clients). But yes, it doesn't use SIP. However, if someone made a Skype-enabled box (like the Linksys Vonage ones), I'm sure they're clean up.
I agree with your sentiment. I am a US military member, stationed overseas. Phone cards here run about 11 cents per minute to the US, while Skype calls are the roughly-two-cents per minute rate. You can see the obvious savings.
In addition, I am aircrew on C-130s, so I travel throughout the Pacific. With Skype I don't need to deal with the hassle of local access numbers or phone cards that don't work in certain countries. Since I bring my laptop with me everywhere and high-speed internet access is prevalent in virtually every major metropolitan area, Skype works for me.
What I'm getting at here is that Skype, while probably not the best system from a purely technological perspective, is still a very good solution for some specific purposes, like mine. And let's face it. Joe Schmoe will not care about interoperability. He will care about cheap.