Skype over EDGE (Was: VOIP Softphone over Edge?)

[originally posted to alt.cellular.attws]

In <825add3c.0410270220.7871c2bc@posting.google.com > on 27 Oct 2004 03:20:04
-0700, sjconcord@yahoo.com (sjconcord) wrote:

>Anybody know if a VOIP Softphone would work over an Edge data
>connection? If so, would if require a dedicated PCMCIA card in a
>laptop, or would a laptop connected via a USB cable or Bluetooth to a
>6620 with mMode work?
>
>I run Vonage at home but sometimes I travel and I would like to
>utilize my Vonage service via my laptop instead of bringing the
>terminal adapter with me. Running the softphone on my laptop would be
>helpful when I am away from home, but I don't always stay where there
>is an Internet connection.

I can't speak for Vonage (which officially "doesn't support wireless"), but
I can speak for Skype:

The Good News: Skype does work over GPRS/EDGE* as tested with Cingular MEdia
works (over a Sony Ericsson GC82 PC Card using a Sony Ericsson HBH-30
Bluetooth headset paired with a Belkin F8T003 USB Bluetooth dongle on an IBM
ThinkPad 600 running Windows XP SP2).

The Bad News: Latency of GPRS/EDGE* at 600+ ms is far worse than even a
dial-up connection (110+ ms), not to mention a broadband connection (typically
15-50 ms), so there will be long delays when taking turns on a call.

(* More accurately EGPRS)

--
Best regards,
John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/>