With internet usage reaching almost every country, and economic class,
and with its permeation throughout the western world, applications
designed to harness its potential in ever more practical ways are
constantly arising. One such application is Voice-over-Internet
Protocol (VoIP), which continues to challenge its own limitations.
There are a few leading players who are jostling for supremacy,
including Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger, Skype, and Vonage.
Recently, there have been many converts to Skype, including this
reviewer. There are several factors that have influenced my own
personal move, but my primary motivations were innovation, quality, and
marketability. VoIP has always been an application that is easily
marketable, and Skype has added innovative features that are
quality-rich:
• SkypeOut, where you can use your computer to call ordinary phone
numbers all over the world. The global SkypeOut rate is currently 1.7
Euro Cent (about 2 US cents or 1.1 pence) per minute to more than 20
countries.
• SkypeIn, which is a virtual phone number your friends can call. This
is in beta testing at the time of writing this review, but the 12-month
subscription is available for € 30 and 3 months for € 10.
• Skype Voicemail, which lets you redirect calls to your voicemail, is available at € 5 for 3 months or € 15 for the year.
However, the most widespread application of Skype is PC-to-PC calls.
Any user can make free calls over the Internet to anyone else who also
has Skype. It is a simple wizard-based process to download and use the
application, and works via your broadband connection with operating
systems based on Microsoft Windows, Mac, Linux, and Pocket PCs. All you
need is a PC microphone and speakers or a basic USB headset, and what
you get is a real-time, telephone-quality voice conversation with any
PC end-user in the world. I found the downloading to be extremely
simple and straightforward and imagine that anyone, no matter your
computer fluency will find it easy as well.
In addition to its ease of setup, the features of Skype are really
impressive. There is a facility to search the Skype database, so that
you are able to build a list of contacts. We have used Skype for
Windows 1.4 for a PC-to-PC conversation between Los Angeles and Mumbai
(India), and there was no recorded break in the half-hour call. The
clarity was definitely on par with a normal telephone, perhaps even
better, with no noticeable time lag. On subsequent calls between these
destinations and other US cities including Chicago, the quality
continues to amaze us, and the fact that Skype works in most
environments, irrespective of firewalls or NAT, widens its reach.
So, what’s the downside? A comparative analysis will help clarify the
situation. For a start, Skype does not offer as many calling features
as other service providers like Vonage. Then, there have been question
marks about the technical/customer support offered by Skype. Another
point where Skype loses out is the quality of the SkypeOut package,
where the calls made to landlines are of inconsistent quality. One
hopes that Skype can add video chat to its repertoire in the near
future, which will place Skype on an equal standing with other free
VoIP providers like Yahoo! Messenger and MSN Messenger, which already
have video capabilities. Skype is undoubtedly ahead of both MSN and
Yahoo in terms of voice quality and the real-time conversation
experience. On the other side of the spectrum, Vonage offers
feature-rich services and better customer service, although all this
comes at a price.
My Overall Assessment: Vonage is a better option than Skype for
traditional telephone users because Skype is totally computer-dependent
and caters to consumers who are “living out of their computers.”
The future has a lot to offer, and undoubtedly Skype will move forward
in its evolutionary process, and hopefully improve SkypeOut and emerge
successfully out of beta testing for SkypeIn. However, for the moment,
Skype is arguably the best option for free PC-to-PC calls. Skype says
that the “current focus is to make the best voice-application on the
planet”—judging from user feedback around the world, Skype has already
gone a long distance towards that objective.
