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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."
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.
The case here is slightly different. It is a question of money, but quite a different one.
If you look at the people who founded Skype their previous P2P ventures were started and sold when the number of freeloaders exceeded the network capacity. They waited for that moment every single time. Same with Skype, as the proportion of people with NAT and firewalls increased the quality of the network decreased. In fact some of the analysts noted this. So did many of the users. And that was the moment when Skype was sold.
Now Ebay is "saving" its venture by the only means possible - by recruiting an enormous amount of hypernodes from population that is too clueless to use a router or a firewall. An ebay is footing the bill for this seeding. Quite smart actually. And not entirely unexpected.
Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
http://www.sigsegv.cx/
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.