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Originally Posted by Minnie M does anyone know anything about this Free calls - Skytype:-
Just can't believe you can get something for nothing  |
I have used Skype a bit
I think PC to PC is "free" because the voice is carried over the internet. Remember you are still paying for whatever internet connection charges.
A friend of mine in a small business has converted all his international calls to Skype.
From what I remember, you pay a relatively small fee to go "off-net". So you call Gambia - the call is transported IP to nearest point-of-presence and the voice is carried to the conventional subscriber using standard telephony. So you only pay in-country cal charges - not exhorbitant international rates.
You can buy a conventional looking handset that sets up all calls through Skype.
I think there is lots of concern in standard telephony operators as to how much voice traffic and revenue IP telephony will syphon off
Downside to IP telephony. Unless you have dedicated lines you are vulnerable to IP congestion and dropped packets at any point along your path to the other subscriber. The impact is the voice quality maybe compromised compared to standard telephony or you may experience "drop-outs" (silences) or "delays" (think conversations to astronauts in space) in speech - which ranges from unnoticeable to irritating to making the call unintelligible.
I have almost always found voice quality for person to person IP over skype (or yahoo) to be good to excellent with few delays
Clive