Dennis Ferguson

On 2008-04-23, Larry <noone@home.com> wrote:
> "At least the news is cool. Skype is introducing a $9.95-per-month global
> plan that will allow users to call out to any mobile or landline phone in
> 34 countries. The move expands upon earlier plans that allow similar calls
> to select European Union countries or all 50 U.S. states. Activity charges?
> They don't apply unless you use more than 10,000 minutes per month."
>
> $10/month.....DEAL!

That's not a bad price, but the email Skype sent me said

Unlimited calls to landlines* in 34 countries worldwide.

No mobile phones. Skype's prices to call mobile phones are still
generally unattractive.

Dennis Ferguson

 

Larry

Dennis Ferguson <dcferguson@pacbell.net> wrote in
news:slrng101o2.4e.dcferguson@akit-ferguson.com:

> No mobile phones. Skype's prices to call mobile phones are still
> generally unattractive.
>
> Dennis Ferguson
>
>

Skype prices to SHARED EXPENSE mobile phones reflects the SHARED EXPENSE,
just like any other service I know of. If you find a VoIP where the
provider pays your half of the mobile phone per minute rate, I'd be very
interested in it.

Most countries have a ponzy scam setup where they charge both the caller
and called party double to call mobile phones. This isn't Skype's fault.

It's still a helluva deal if you compare it to any Sellphone expenses.

SMS

Dennis Ferguson wrote:

> No mobile phones. Skype's prices to call mobile phones are still
> generally unattractive.

They're quite a bit more expensive per minute than companies like
OneSuite and TalkLoop to call mobile phones, though for occasional use
it'd be alright.

Skype is great for free Skype to Skype calls. However unless you're
calling a lot of foreign landlines, few people make enough peak time
calls to make it worthwhile, $10 buys you about 500 minutes to most
major countries, and you don't have to pay that every month! Skype has
the same problem as Vonage, there just aren't enough people that can
benefit from their product, and while "unlimited" sounds as great as an
all-you-can-eat buffet, there's a limit to how much you can eat.

Skype is doing very poorly. eBay is trying to unload it, but who would
buy it? They've lowered the valuation from the $3.1 billion they paid
for it, down to $1.4 billion.

Todd Allcock

"Larry" <noone@home.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9A8A6893356Enoonehomecom@208.49.80.253...

> Skype prices to SHARED EXPENSE mobile phones reflects the SHARED EXPENSE,
> just like any other service I know of. If you find a VoIP where the
> provider pays your half of the mobile phone per minute rate, I'd be very
> interested in it.

That's not the point- the point is that Skype charges more than other
providers for those calls- for example, Skype charges $0.25 for calls to UK
mobiles, while Onesuite charges $0.17 and Rebtel gets $0.18.

Regardless of the fact that the billing system is different for foreign
mobiles, Skype is charging significantly more for the same calls than other
providers. (Probably robbing Peter to pay Paul, considering Skype's
excellent domestic rates.)


> Most countries have a ponzy scam setup where they charge both the caller
> and called party double to call mobile phones. This isn't Skype's fault.

Actually most countries have a "caller pays" scheme where the caller pays
for the call, and the recipient pays nothing.

And, frankly, it's besides the point who's "fault" the system is. Again,
all other providers are bound by the same system, but Skype charges 40% or
more above the other guys. You said it yourself back when you were using
Mobivox- Mobi's int'l rates were usually better than Skype's.

> It's still a helluva deal if you compare it to any Sellphone expenses.

Which would be an excellent point were Skype a cellco. It's a lousy deal
compared to other VoIP providers, which is what Skype is.

That's the old "Vonage" argument- Vonage is the most overpriced VoIP
provider for domestic calling, but they compare themselves to landline
telcos to pretend they're a "bargain."

Larry

"Todd Allcock" <elecconnec@AmericaOnLine.com> wrote in
news:eO5Qj.30345$kl6.21483@fe103.usenetserver.com:

> That's not the point- the point is that Skype charges more than other
> providers for those calls- for example, Skype charges $0.25 for calls
> to UK mobiles, while Onesuite charges $0.17 and Rebtel gets $0.18.
>
>

AS you may have noted, I was simply posting this thread for "Skype
Lovers" who enjoy all the freebies Skype provides all those other VoIP
ONLY oddball providers you troll with do not.

I tried to warn you not to read this thread, but you wanted to troll so
here we are. I don't care which Outer Slobovian SIP provider you use or
whether he provides .01c/hour to English mobile on T-mobile or Orange.
I don't call English mobiles, personally, so it makes little difference
to me. Skype's rate seems to reflect an outrageous profit margin on
English mobile calls, so therefore I wouldn't use them.

What does VOIP Umptisquat charge to call Yellow Knife, Saskatchewan per
hour? What's their interconnect fee? What's their tax fee and admin
addons? Can I talk to Yellow Knife, Saskatchewan for 8000 minutes every
month for $23.60/year, if I so choose such an absurd scenario?

What if I call a Sellphone in Yellow Knife, Sasketchewan? How much does
Umptisquat want for a 6000 minute per month obsession?

This is no more absurd than your troll....

My post was to point out to Skype users these new packages as it saved
me more money over Skype Pro I was using. Your mileage to Yellow Knife,
Saskatchewan may vary....

Oh, how much does Umptisquat VOIP charge for a computer-to-computer,
full motion color video call to Yellow Knife, Saskatchewan in an 8-way
video conference call with Kuwait, The Czech Republic, Azerbaijan,
Bahrain, Brazil, Chile, and St Kitts/Nevis? On Skype, it's free with
unlimited service. What about full motion color video while
simultaneously instant messaging and sending a 380KB binary file to
Sahkalin Island, Russia, in the Sea of Japan? That's also free on nasty
ol' Skype. What does Umptisquat VOIP charge for international video
conferencing per hour/day/month/year/ever??

I await your terse answers....(c;

Larry

willajabir <willajabir@spam.net> wrote in
newsft1149qromhr7j8tnherqm35cb4gb6h4o@4ax.com:

> For those who call mobile phones in other countries, check the skype
> website. There are "some" where calling mobile is included in the
> unlimited. Most, are not. So, depending on your needs, it "could" be a
> deal.
> For me, calling China is great. Mobile is included.
>

If your friend in China has a laptop or one of these little Linux tablets
tethered to his Sellphone data link, you wouldn't even need to buy a Skype
Credit to talk to him forever....(c;

I wasn't too interested in foreign mobile service, but I'm glad you can
call him for this great cheap rate. I got 4 months free by paying for
"Unlimited US/Canada" by the year, $US23.60, about the cost of 4.8 US
gallons of diesel fuel at any station in South Carolina....this week only.

I wonder what the mainland Chinese are paying for regular gasoline. Ask
your friend next time you talk to him and post to here...(c;

Larry

SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote in news:KU1Qj.5617$iK6.3828
@nlpi069.nbdc.sbc.com:

> Skype is doing very poorly. eBay is trying to unload it, but who would
> buy it?

Google. Search the blogs and VoIP news.

SMS

Todd Allcock wrote:

> That's the old "Vonage" argument- Vonage is the most overpriced VoIP
> provider for domestic calling, but they compare themselves to landline
> telcos to pretend they're a "bargain."

Plus comparing their price to a landline price with all the ridiculous
extra features that most landline subscribers don't have and don't want.

SMS

Larry wrote:
> Dennis Ferguson <dcferguson@pacbell.net> wrote in
> news:slrng101o2.4e.dcferguson@akit-ferguson.com:
>
>> No mobile phones. Skype's prices to call mobile phones are still
>> generally unattractive.
>>
>> Dennis Ferguson
>>
>>
>
> Skype prices to SHARED EXPENSE mobile phones reflects the SHARED EXPENSE,
> just like any other service I know of. If you find a VoIP where the
> provider pays your half of the mobile phone per minute rate, I'd be very
> interested in it.

Not half, but Skype is more expensive than most VOIP dial-around
companies for calling mobile phones in Europe and Asia. It's not
terribly more expensive, only 30-40% more per minute, but it can add up.

> Most countries have a ponzy scam setup where they charge both the caller
> and called party double to call mobile phones. This isn't Skype's fault.

No, in most countries the caller pays, and the caller knows whether
they're calling a landline or a cell phone by the prefix.

> It's still a helluva deal if you compare it to any Sellphone expenses.

No it isn't, because cell phone generally give you unlimited off-peak
minutes, which are usually especially useful when you're calling to
Europe or Asia. Call via OneSuite or TalkLoop, and you're paying less to
call a foreign cell phone than you pay with Skype.

Diamond Dave

On Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:34:17 +0000, Larry <noone@home.com> wrote:

>SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote in news:KU1Qj.5617$iK6.3828
>@nlpi069.nbdc.sbc.com:
>
>> Skype is doing very poorly. eBay is trying to unload it, but who would
>> buy it?
>
>Google. Search the blogs and VoIP news.

Even Google would be fools to buy Skype and not start their own.

Heck, they already bought GrandCentral. They could just expand that
and compete with Skype, and win!

Todd Allcock

"Larry" <noone@home.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9A8ACAF1C2881noonehomecom@208.49.80.253...


> AS you may have noted, I was simply posting this thread for "Skype
> Lovers" who enjoy all the freebies Skype provides all those other VoIP
> ONLY oddball providers you troll with do not.

Fair enough- I wasn't responding to your original post- I was responding to
your defense of Skype's international rates. I've already agreed Skype's
domestic rate is excellent. My advice would be to use Skype for it's
strengths (free Skype to Skype and unlimited USA/Canada) but look elsewhere
for international calls.


> I tried to warn you not to read this thread, but you wanted to troll so
> here we are. I don't care which Outer Slobovian SIP provider you use...

I use one in Florida (Magicjack) one in California (Gimzo) and one in
Atlanta (Voicestick.) The closest one to "Outer Slobovia" I use is located
in Luxembourg... maybe you've heard of it?

> or whether he provides .01c/hour to English mobile on T-mobile or Orange.
> I don't call English mobiles, personally, so it makes little difference
> to me. Skype's rate seems to reflect an outrageous profit margin on
> English mobile calls, so therefore I wouldn't use them.

Exactly my point. Use each for it's strengths. That's why I use multiple
VoIP providers, including Skype (more for it's ability to skirt around
hotspots employing VoIP port blocking than for it's rate structure.)

> What does VOIP Umptisquat charge to call Yellow Knife, Saskatchewan per
> hour?

Magicjack is $20/year for unlimited incoming/outgoing to the US and Canada.
At least until they run out of VC money and go out of business. ;-)

> What's their interconnect fee?

Um, only ONE VoIP provider I know of charges an "interconnect fee" and I
think you're intimately familar with that one.

> What's their tax fee and admin addons?

For the VoIPs I use, zero.

> Can I talk to Yellow Knife, Saskatchewan for 8000 minutes every
> month for $23.60/year, if I so choose such an absurd scenario?

No, you'll have to settle for $20/year if you use Magicjack.

> What if I call a Sellphone in Yellow Knife, Sasketchewan? How much does
> Umptisquat want for a 6000 minute per month obsession?

All VoIP providers charge the same for cell calls to the US and Canada as
they do for landlines, because the US and Canada do not have a caller pays
system.

> This is no more absurd than your troll....

Making 6000 minutes of calls to Saskatchewan is no more absurd than
occasional calls to UK mobiles?

> My post was to point out to Skype users these new packages as it saved
> me more money over Skype Pro I was using. Your mileage to Yellow Knife,
> Saskatchewan may vary....

That was the point of your first post. I'm not sure WHAT the point of the
last post claiming Skype overcharged to foreign mobiles because of "caller
pays." If you'll recall, YOU asked "If you find a VoIP where the provider
pays your half of the mobile phone per minute rate, I'd be very interested
in it" so I suggested a few which, although they don't "pay your half," they
charged significantly less than Skype. I get that Skype offers a great deal
in many circumstances, and you are wildly happy with them. You tread
dangerously close to Fanboy territory, however, when you turn a blind eye to
Skype's faults and disadvantages.

Your witness, counselor...

> Oh, how much does Umptisquat VOIP charge for a computer-to-computer,
> full motion color video call to Yellow Knife, Saskatchewan in an 8-way
> video conference call with Kuwait, The Czech Republic, Azerbaijan,
> Bahrain, Brazil, Chile, and St Kitts/Nevis? On Skype, it's free with
> unlimited service. What about full motion color video while
> simultaneously instant messaging and sending a 380KB binary file to
> Sahkalin Island, Russia, in the Sea of Japan? That's also free on nasty
> ol' Skype. What does Umptisquat VOIP charge for international video
> conferencing per hour/day/month/year/ever??
>
> I await your terse answers....(c;

I don't know- I don't use any VoIPs beside Skype that steal my idle
bandwidth for torrent-like distribution of their users' files! I believe
Gizmo does all that crap you mentioned if you use their software, but I only
use them for cellphone Visual Voicemail and the occasional SIP call- I don't
even have their software client installed on my machine. (I removed Skype
from my PC when I saw how much bandwidth was flushing through my system
whenever it was running as well. Now I only have it on a USB key and my
WinMo phone and just fire it up when I want to place a call.)

Larry

"Todd Allcock" <elecconnec@AmericaOnLine.com> wrote in
news:3lbQj.30759$OV4.4651@fe127.usenetserver.com:

> I don't know- I don't use any VoIPs beside Skype that steal my idle
> bandwidth for torrent-like distribution of their users' files! I
> believe Gizmo does all that crap you mentioned if you use their
> software, but I only use them for cellphone Visual Voicemail and the
> occasional SIP call- I don't even have their software client installed
> on my machine. (I removed Skype from my PC when I saw how much
> bandwidth was flushing through my system whenever it was running as
> well. Now I only have it on a USB key and my WinMo phone and just
> fire it up when I want to place a call.)
>
>
>

I have Gizmo but find Skype much easier to use and Gizmo doesn't run, of
course, on any of the Skype wifi phones I have in the other rooms of the
house. I don't need 27 people calling me on 8 different systems. One will
do nicely...(c;

I've been a Skype supernode for about 8 hours, tonight. There's one local
Knology user 24.214.49.19 and some user-0c6tde1.cable.mindspring.com
connected through it as I type this. My other Skypes are all the wifi
phone types and not able to supernode, including the N800 Linux tablet, but
they are making the lights blink every few seconds along with the supernode
contacts. It's nothing. Grabit is quite happily downloading and cramming
my poor RAID stack at 650KB/second so they're not using any bandwidth.
What kind of bandwidth did you see from your supernode? Skype only routes
routing information through you as part of the system redundancy around the
various bastards trying to block Skype from their systems. No file data or
audio data at all goes through other users. When you're talking to texting
or file swapping, you're directly connected to your other party....no
relays are necessary.

I've seen 10 connections at once a couple of times, but it never makes a
dent in my bandwidth, here.

Some people get kinda paranoid when they look at a list of things connected
and see all the skype connections. It's really nothing....

Todd Allcock

At 24 Apr 2008 21:17:37 -0400 Diamond Dave wrote:

> >Google. Search the blogs and VoIP news.
>
> Even Google would be fools to buy Skype and not start their own.


Why? Skype has millons of loyal customers and a complete, running system
with fairly polished software.

> Heck, they already bought GrandCentral. They could just expand that
> and compete with Skype, and win!

That sort of defeats your own argument, doesn't it? Why did they buy
Grandcentral when they could've just started their own version?

I doubt they'll buy Skype, but if they did, it could integrate nicely with
Grandcentral, much the same way GC integrates with Gizmo, allowing users to
forward GC calls to a Gizmo SIP URI, essentially giving all Gizmo users a
free incoming number in virtually any area code. If Google allowed you to
tie a GC number to a Skype username directly, that'd eliminate the need for
a "Skype In" number.

Todd Allcock

At 25 Apr 2008 02:38:09 +0000 Larry wrote:

> I have Gizmo but find Skype much easier to use and Gizmo doesn't run, of
> course, on any of the Skype wifi phones I have in the other rooms of the
> house.

Are you sure about that? I thought most of those Skype phones also handled
SIP. (While you need Gizmo's software to do video, IM, and filesharing,
for just voice calling, it acts as a standard SIP provider tha works on any
SIP-compliant hardware or software. As I said, I don't even have Gizmo
installed on my PC.

> I don't need 27 people calling me on 8 different systems. One will
> do nicely...(c;

For incoming, sure- for outgoing I use the most advantageous one.


> I've been a Skype supernode for about 8 hours, tonight. There's one
local
> Knology user 24.214.49.19 and some user-0c6tde1.cable.mindspring.com
> connected through it as I type this. My other Skypes are all the wifi
> phone types and not able to supernode, including the N800 Linux tablet,
but
> they are making the lights blink every few seconds along with the
supernode
> contacts. It's nothing. Grabit is quite happily downloading and
cramming
> my poor RAID stack at 650KB/second so they're not using any bandwidth.
> What kind of bandwidth did you see from your supernode?

Beats me- whenever I'd notice the "internet" light on my DSL modem blinking
like a strobe light, and it meant I've left Skype running, so I removed
it, more on principle. Imake maybe a two dozen Skype calls a year, so it
doesn't need to be running 24/7 in my house anyway.

> Skype only routes
> routing information through you as part of the system redundancy around
the
> various bastards trying to block Skype from their systems. No file data
or
> audio data at all goes through other users. When you're talking to
texting
> or file swapping, you're directly connected to your other party....no
> relays are necessary.
>
> I've seen 10 connections at once a couple of times, but it never makes a
> dent in my bandwidth, here.
>
> Some people get kinda paranoid when they look at a list of things
connected
> and see all the skype connections. It's really nothing....

Probably so, but again, as little as I use it, it doesn't need to be
running constantly.

For convenience, I'm moved all of my VoIP software to one USB key that can
run it without installation, and can carry it traveling even if I don't
bring a laptop.

Larry

Todd Allcock <elecconnec@AmericaOnLine.com> wrote in
news:furpa5$h24$2@aioe.org:

> Are you sure about that? I thought most of those Skype phones also
> handled SIP. (While you need Gizmo's software to do video, IM, and
> filesharing, for just voice calling, it acts as a standard SIP
> provider tha works on any SIP-compliant hardware or software. As I
> said, I don't even have Gizmo installed on my PC.
>
>

There's no way to install SIP on them, even if they did support it. Hell,
the Netgear SPH101 hardly can run its native code. I'm on my 4th refurb.
It's a terrible phone, still unable to talk/play Skype's test call like
everything else. The code sucks. The phone sucks.