The Skype Experience

Come July 25th, I would have finished 6 months using Skype-In. I had used Skype prior to that, but it was mainly for Skype to Skype calls or Skype-out calls. I would also be finishing my 6 months here in the United States this month end.

During these 6 months, i have used Skype as my *only* phone to receive calls. This service is called the Skype-In service. The main reason for me to go for Skype-in initially was, I wanted a phone number which I could give to my parents before I left India!. So, I had a US number of Kingpsort Area code, when I was in India. I also had a feeling that it would take some time for me to settle down in US and get a phone number.

Over all, I am kind of satisfied with Skype. But I must say, I am not very happy. Here are some of the Pros and Cons of using Skype in no particular order:

Pros:

• The Call quality is great. No questions here.
• Outgoing calls - Very Cheap. I can say dirt cheap. Initially, it used to cost me around 2.1 cents per minute to call any number in US, but later on in May, Skype make all calls made from US to US and Canada free.
• Incoming calls - The Skype-in service costs $12 for 3 months (or some $38 for a year). So, its cheap again. The local phone service here (Sprint) costs around 30$ per month. So, comparatively its much cheaper.
• Voice mail is free with Skype-In. Its a very basic voicemail service. But it works. Well, most of the time.
• You can forward your calls to any other number
• You can make and receive calls from anywhere as long as you have Internet access.
• Skype worked pretty well from my office network too which is behind a firewall. Skype is pretty popular for this reason too. So, I can make long distance calls or even receive calls at office
• In its current version, Skype allows upto 4 parties in a conference. Works well while making international calls.
• International calls rates are pretty cheap and are comparable to other VOIP players. Its a bit expensive when compared to Reliance India call - when making calls to India, But again, Skype - to - Skype calls are free.
• Has got excellent SDK/API support - so, there are lot of third party tools/software which interact with Skype.
• I have bought a skype-to-usb-to-Phoneline adaptor. So, I use a regular cordless phone to make and answer calls. So, I am not tied to the computer.
• Video conference works great - Quality of video is much better than other applications.

Cons:

• Well, Skype is not a true telephone company. Its a Internet company based out of Europe. So, there is absolutely no customer service. There is an helpdesk and a ticket system on the Skype website, but it sucks big time.
• Even though you buy stuff from Skype, you don’t get a proper invoice (phone bill), which shows your name/address and phone number (Skype-in number) on it. Now, you might be wondering why the hell that would be required?.. .. Its required when you are new in US, and you want open and bank account or something similar, and they ask you address proof etc. I had a very difficult time trying to open a citibank account, which they refused to open without a phone bill.
• Couple of months back, Skype had some technical problems, and I think i missed some incoming calls.
• Same with the case with voice mails.
• No caller id for your outgoing call. So, the receiver receives your calls as a call from 012345.
• You get caller Id for your incoming calls, but only the number. It does not display the name. (the local phone lines, and some other VOIP players show caller ID with the name of the caller).
• If you don’t have a the adapter that I have mentioned about, then you must be close to the computer (with a mic) to make/receive calls.
• The Processor utilization is relatively high when call is in progress.
• Video chat take lots of bandwidth - It does not matter here in US, but if you are in India, and have a Usage Limit on your Internet access, then you need to be very careful while using video chat.
• No 911.

Overcall I would rate my Skype experience around 6 on a scale of 10. But I must say, you can really save a lot of money if you can live up with basic telephone connectivity.

Currently, at Houston, in Chitra’s appartment, we have subscribed to the Sunrocket service which is again a VOIP service, but works much differently from Skype. Its not as cheap has Skype, but has lot less cons then mentioned in the above list. Will post more about Sunrocket in the future after using it for a couple of months.

6 comments | July 14th, 2006 at 12:35am