Subject: Re: [ql-users] Skype
Hi Calls to landlines from Skype are charged at receivers local rate, out of the 20 euros credit I took out, their is still 17.50 left, calls to all 5 continents, mostly USA and China, a lot to Europe. Can talk to whole groups all day free. Have had it about a year, not a problem. Great for fixing comps on help lines and forums, can talk to person while fixing their comp. Regards Mike MacNamara [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- > From: "David Tubbs" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2004 10:44 PM > Subject: [ql-users] Skype > > > I was going to ask about this again, but today's Telegraph had this article > :- > YOU mean you actually pay for your phone calls? That's like... soooo > 20th century." Thus brag the 12.7m customers of Skype, the upstart > company that offers free calls over the internet between users of its > software. > > Founded last year by the people behind Kazaa - the free music downloads > service Skype and its rivals are serious headache material for the > traditional telephone operators. > > Some analysts even compare the threat that Voice over Internet Pr9tocol > (VoIP) providers like Skype poses to the /ikes of BT with that posed by > file-sharing sites such as Kazaa upon the record industry. > > This time around there'll be no legal recourse either. Skype's > operations are unarguably legitimate, so BT won't be able to pursue > fanatic teenage tech-heads through the courts like its peers in music > publishing. > > Tomorrow, Stephen Sale of industry research house Analysis will publish > a report warning that western European incumbent voice operators lilçe BT > could lose ?6.4billion in revenues to Skype and others between now and > the end of 2008. Most of the revenues would disappear into the ether - > rather than transfer to the new breed - because calls over the internet > are "free": provided you have a decent PC, a monthly broadband > subscription and your call stays on the net. > > In fact it's difficult to describe most users of Skype's software - > which is also free - as "customers" at all - at least not yet. > > Here's how the service works. Skype's software can be downloaded from > the website www.skype.com. It converts analogue voice signals from a > microphone into digital data, which is then turned into data "packets" > that are sent over the internet in the same way as e-mails 'and Web > pages. > > At the receiving caller's end the packets are collected, turned back > into sound and pumped through the computer speakers or the listener's > headset if they've got one (you can buy one for a flyer). > > The proposition is "viral", as marketing nerds love to say, because the > more users join, the more people you can call for free. At the moment, > 70,000 people a day are signing up, most of them in Europe. It's rather > like the Carphone Warehouse Talk Talk service - another irritant for BT > - which uses the traditional switched network but also offers calls to > other users for free; > > Take-up of Skype in the UK is lagging behind Germany, Sweden and other > countries where fasterinternet speeds are more easily accessible. > However, BT is fast rolling out broadband across Britain, which will > make voice calls over the internet easy for millions more. > > The irony is that this could come at an unexpected cost as people use > their traditional telephone less and less. > > BT's share of the voice market is already shrinking as more people make > calls on mobiles. Those calls that people do make on the home phone tend > to be longer, sit- down calls to family and friends. If those calls are > all free on the internet via a rival company, that becomes a problem. > > Of course, companies like Skype need to make money somewhere, which is > one reason to be wary of the hype around VoIP. Just to prove nothing is > free, Skype has begun charging l.lp for calls to traditional landlines > in Europe, North America, Australia and parts of South Africa and > significantly more for calls to less developed places. > > Users can't receive calls from normal phones either, although the > founders claim they are working on this. They also plan to start > charging for new services such as voicemail. > > BT has launched more than one VoIPproduct for its own consumers but has > failed to market these too hard for fear of cannibalising its own > revenues. It has been lucky that until recently most other VoIP services > for consumers suffered from poor quality. > > Now, however, that appears to be changing. To date, Skype has been the > most successful upstart, perhaps because its founders had, in Kazaa's > user group, a ready-made community of tech-savvy, heavy internet users > to market to. BT, which is currently rebuilding its network to send all > voice calls over internet technology, has a far more vast subscriber > base to target with its own VoIP offerings. > > Shareholders can only hope it doesn't blow its big advantage yet again. > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ================================================= > I checked the web site but little info and a screenshot that looks very > similar to MS Messenger, so how much advantage over that and AOL's AIM, > there are more yet ? > > DT > > _______________________________________________ > QL-Users Mailing List > http://www.quanta.org.uk/mailing.htm > > > -- > Incoming mail is certified Virus Free by AVG > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus (http://www.grisoft.com). > Version: 7.0.280 / Virus Database: 264.11.1 - Release Date: 15/10/2004 > > _______________________________________________ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.quanta.org.uk/mailing.htm
