Skype not playing honest with their customers? Hardly news is it? I dropped them several years ago because of basic dishonesty on their part.
Skype lies, breaks "Skype-to-Skype"calls are free promise
51–60 of 93 posts
Re: Skype lies, breaks "Skype-to-Skype"calls are free promise
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
I disagree with this, it's entirely possible for vendors to honour gift cards (and credits) indefinitely. In fact, here in Canada, in most provinces, if not all, it's law and has been for some time: http://www.gov.on.ca/mgs/en/News/133713.html
The problem comes in the accounting. Try borrowing X million dollars against 2X million in assets when you have 4X outstanding debts that can be called in at any time. Sure, they probably won't be, and you might discount them to near zero, but the lender won't be so generous.
But in the sale of the gift cards/credits, at a 1:1 exchange rate, your assets would increase as well as your debt, surely?
Re: Skype lies, breaks "Skype-to-Skype"calls are free promise
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
iPhone? I'm sure this will apply to Skype's Andrioid client, too. (Also, "you idiot"? Really?)
I'm pretty sure he was talking about Apple having the opportunity to block competing VoIP solutions (say Google Voice). With Gizmo going to Google you can bet that they will be doing really interesting things with SIP on Android.
Background VoIP support in iPhone OS 4 suggests Apple has no intention of blocking these apps; in fact, it seems that they're encouraging them. And as I understand it, G Voice is not a VoIP solution yet. (And that's not to say I agree with it being blocked. On the contrary, their UI — the supposed rejection reason — doesn't look much different from the other dialer apps, including Skype.)
As far as "competing VoIP solutions", it's not like Apple is competing in the VoIP arena; they seem perfectly content to let other companies battle it out.
Re: Skype lies, breaks "Skype-to-Skype"calls are free promise
#54Not fair. I pay my operator a monthly fee for mobile data (10 € for unlimited 384 kb/s including two SIMs / devices, to be exact). Skype pays for their incoming/outgoing data – it doesn't cost extra for them whether the data is originated from mobile network or network. Skype is simply not justified to charge extra based on client's connection type, not even if I used Iridium network to route my bytes to them. Maybe…
Skype-to-skype is cool but when you're tethered to a computer and internet connection it clearly has limited to value to most people.
Now that phones that run apps and have internet connections are popular the game is changed entirely. They had to give it away for free before because it wasn't as useful. When you can use this on the go it becomes much more useful and they will see many more people using it.
When things change that drastically sometimes you have to re-evaluate your business model.
Re: Skype lies, breaks "Skype-to-Skype"calls are free promise
#55I'm not bothered by this, because it's their funeral. There are other VoIP programs, it's not particularly difficult to write one, and with Android set to dominate open-architecture 3G phones, something else will dominate VoIP. Hopefully, something open source and using an open protocol. (SIP?) Oh and if you bought an iPhone and can't access the cost-free VoIP solution? That'll teach you to buy locked-down hardware,…
Skype won in part because other attempts at VoIP didn't work very well. There are lots of practical problems in just getting a p2p connection to work, there are often firewalls to route through. Trying to debug these is not helpful when you're just trying to find a way to talk with your mom.
Re: Skype lies, breaks "Skype-to-Skype"calls are free promise
#56When I bought my last phone nearly three years ago, the selling point was that pre-installed skype app worked for free over their 3G network and skype to skype calls were free. Skype out calls were barred though. I presume this new charge only applies to iphones? If it is the case that Apple badgered them into applying a charge which some are suggesting, I presume this information will leak at some stage. Won't be go…
I can think of absolutely zero reasons, technical or otherwise, that Apple would want Skype to charge for only its iPhone software, much less a reason strong enough to "badger" them into charging. Isn't it far more likely that Skype's new buyers see that they need to begin to monetize their largest usage stream in order to survive, especially since that usage stream has started to migrate to more "usable" platforms?
Re: Skype lies, breaks "Skype-to-Skype"calls are free promise
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not easy to create a competitor to Skype. Skype's main attraction is not the technology, but the network effect and it's closed system. You could make a cool SIP client for Android/iPhone/etc. but it wouldn't matter because you wouldn't be able to talk to 90% of the mundane's who only have Skype.
Skype's network effect and lock-in is extremely small compared to something like Facebook, or even something like an IM network. Think about it: early adopters (techies) start using a free competitor (or several free competitors). They get their less tech-savvy friends and family to switch. The rest of the world follows. It's easy to explain ("It's like Skype"), the carrot is obvious ("except it's free"), and the loc…
Quote: I don't think the "mundanes" really use Skype
You are wrong based on my experiences. Skype is used for free international calls all over the world by "mundanes". Immigrants use it to communicate to their home countries. A local immigrant-run mom&pop store in my Helsinki neighborhood is even advertising Skype-calls in addition to normal international calls.
And I think that Skype has some brand value as it's been used for these very personal calls between family members.
However, you are right that the network effect for Skype is not that strong: As it's used for "calling home", a hypothetical better and "cheaper" Skype-competitors can spread family-by-family, as it's easy to replace only two endpoints. But it will nevertheless take several years, which gives Skype time to adjust their strategy.
Re: Skype lies, breaks "Skype-to-Skype"calls are free promise
#58I'm not bothered by this, because it's their funeral. There are other VoIP programs, it's not particularly difficult to write one, and with Android set to dominate open-architecture 3G phones, something else will dominate VoIP. Hopefully, something open source and using an open protocol. (SIP?) Oh and if you bought an iPhone and can't access the cost-free VoIP solution? That'll teach you to buy locked-down hardware,…
My guess is Google is gearing up to do to VoIP what it did with email.
"gearing up"? You can use GTalk since 2005. It's available to anyone with a gmail address. And you get free GTalk-to-GTalk calls.
Re: Skype lies, breaks "Skype-to-Skype"calls are free promise
#59From Skype's perspective, how is the cell network different from any other ISP? It's the carriers who will shoulder the burden; and there's no indication that any of the fee is going to them, given that Skype says "operator fees may still apply". I don't get it.
It's many times more useful to use Skype on your mobile. If you're on 3G, it means you have no access to desktop Skype. And if it's more useful to you, they can charge for it.
Re: Skype lies, breaks "Skype-to-Skype"calls are free promise
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not easy to create a competitor to Skype. Skype's main attraction is not the technology, but the network effect and it's closed system. You could make a cool SIP client for Android/iPhone/etc. but it wouldn't matter because you wouldn't be able to talk to 90% of the mundane's who only have Skype.
Skype's network effect and lock-in is extremely small compared to something like Facebook, or even something like an IM network. Think about it: early adopters (techies) start using a free competitor (or several free competitors). They get their less tech-savvy friends and family to switch. The rest of the world follows. It's easy to explain ("It's like Skype"), the carrot is obvious ("except it's free"), and the loc…
"Skype's network effect and lock-in is extremely small compared to something like Facebook, or even something like an IM network."
Skype is an IM network. I really hate that I have to use it sometimes for that.