Comments on: Skype and VOIP Thoughts

By: John M

John M — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 20:29:36 +0000

hey, just a comment on the VoIP… I’ve never used Skype before, but there are other free VoIP software out there. For example, TeamSpeak or Ventrilo. This applications are mostly used by the gamming community but can be installed and used by anyone with a mic. TeamSpeak currently allows the average user to maintain a 100slot server free of charge where’s Ventrilo only allows 8slots. Many claim Ventrilo has better sound quality, but It’s trully a Mac-Vs-PC kinda thing ;)

By: John Neilson

John Neilson — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 11:41:22 +0000

I use Skype from Australia to U.S.A.mainly for two reasons – it’s cheaper than my other VoIP service and I can dial toll-free numbers [800] in the USA from Australia for free. My other service “Freshtel” is good for local and STD calls witin Australia – 10 ¢ untimed to landline phones, 21 ¢ per minute to mobiles, and no flagfall. It’s also clearer than Skype.

By: bayoujim

bayoujim — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 13:33:25 +0000

Skype is easy to use for beginning VOIP users, I do voice communications with people from Morocco, China, England and where language is a barrier the chat (with Powerword translation) works at the same time as voice.

Voicemail is nice, no one is left out. Video cam is nice also.

If Skype raises their prices anymore I will change to another VOIP.

By: Mikelinux

Mikelinux — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 00:39:32 +0000

Skype is imho very popular for a lot of users. But microsoft are also providing “audio-calls” and “video-calls” in their Windows Live messenger.
Together with the build in Livecall, its even possible to call normal phones after creating a livecall account.

For me it’s a bit different. Since i am using Opensuse Linux as my main OS, i cannot use Windows Live Messenger. I do have a MSN clone, called Amsn, but for now it’s only supporting voiceclips when it comes to audiochat. Skype however is available for linux as well, and in my case, even as an precompiled RPM package. The sound works great, and i also like the group conference calls on skype, however the sound quality changes during the “calls”. Its like having some bandwith issues.

I also think that Skype is a good OS independant Instant messaging application with good voice support and it really forms a good bridge for people who are using different operating systems.So i could call people who are on a Mac,windows or Linux computer with just 1 application.

Only for the feature that Skype is almost platform independant, it will remain in the future. I do hope that there will be more better features available in Skype, so that it can compete with the more “mainstream” instant messaging programs.