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Choosing Skype Or A VoIP Service Provider |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Friday, 27 October 2006 |
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Page 1 of 6
With the amount of media coverage Skype gets, its
a little difficult to understand the difference between it and the
growing band of specialist VoIP service providers or the increasing
number of ISPs offering IP telephony services. VoIP News readers
often contact us to ask what which type of service they should use. While the
answer is different for every individual, we though a closer look at
the options might make the
comparison easier for them.
One of the huge advantages Skype has in the marketplace is
the sheer number of users it has been able to amass to date. If it's totally
free calls you are after, then signing on with Skype is a sure way to instantly
give yourself access to millions of people to call. The inclusion of telephony
functions in a growing list of Instant Messenger-type applications like Microsoft
Live, GoogleTalk and Yahoo! Messenger puts them in pretty much the same
position as Skype.
In most cases calls within a service provider's network are free, so if you
sign on to a IP phone service with your ISP or a dedicated VoIP service
provider, you will only be able to make free calls to other people using the
same service.
This is the same with Skype, of course, but there are already a hundred million
people or so using that service so your chances that the person you want to
call has a Skype account is relatively higher than with your other options.
Skype also has a global directory of users, so you might even be able to find
who you are looking for by searching online.
Cheap Not Free
Of course, the cost of IP Telephony is very low, so you may be willing to
accept cheap instead of free. Keep in mind that even Skype to Skype calls are
not literally free. You still have to pay for your broadband connection and
although voice calls don't take up much bandwidth they are very sensitive delays
caused by other traffic as we will see later.
If the person you want to contact isn't on the same network, its unlikely you
will be able to call them computer to computer, so you are going to have to
call a regular phone number on the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network)
also called the POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service). This is going to cost you
money because your VoIP provider has to pay the telco that owns that system (in
Australia
that's Telstra) for the service. This is done at wholesale prices which should
make it cheaper depending on how your provider structures their rates.
The main difference between Skype and other VoIP providers here is likely going
to be that your ISP will charge you after the fact (post paid) while Skype will
require you to buy a block of credit up front (pre-paid). This will mean using
your credit card online.
Many dedicated ITSP (Internet Telephony Service Providers) will charge you a
monthly subscription. Some, but not all include a bundle of ‘free' local,
National or International calls in that price, much like a mobile phone contract.
Some are now offering free un-timed local calls - your ISP may structure their
charges in this way and if you make a lot of local calls, this could be a
significant incentive. But be wary if they are charging a high rate for timed
local calls, a long chat with your mum down the street could end up costing
more on a timed VoIP call than using the normal phone.
The call rates are likely to be pretty close to each other as they are in a
competitive environment, but don't take this for granted. There's plenty of
room here for price gouging, so it's going to be a matter of understanding your
calling patterns and comparing the offerings.
Unless you want a normal phone number attached to your account, Skype
subscription is free. So if your ISP expects you to pay a regular monthly rate,
or an establishment fee to set up your account, you need to factor that into a
comparison between the two.
SkypeOut calls (from your Skype phone to a regular land line) are charged at
the same rate pretty much regardless of where it is. So if you are calling your
mum down the street, it's going to cost the same as it would to call your old school
buddies in another country. Skype offers what it calls The SkypeOut Global
Rate which is good for about 20 of the most popular countries.
If you are calling a person in one of the other countries, Skype's rates are
still pretty competitive. The SkypeOut Global rate at the time of writing was
1.7 Euro cents per minute (about AUD$0.03).
All SkypOut calls originating and terminating in the United States are currently free
until the end of this year, so the situation there is a little different.
You also need to consider whether you make a lot of calls to mobile phones.
SkypeOut calls to Australian mobile phones are 0.16 Euro's or about 28 cents.
This is pretty competitive with most Australian ITSPs (even with fixed to
mobile rates), although you can pay as little as 20 cents on the right plan.
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