Skype Hype Is Tripe
Last week, the blogosphere was all atwitter over Skype, a P2P VoIP (”peer-to-peer voice over IP” for the acronym-challenged) application.
This week, several weblogs pointed to the New York Times today about Dartmouth transitioning to Internet telephony:
This week, as classes begin, the 1,000 students entering the class of 2007 will be given the option of downloading software, generically known as softphones, onto Windows-based computers.
Using the software together with a headset, which can be plugged into a computer’s U.S.B. port, the students can make local or long-distance telephone calls free. Each student is assigned a traditional seven-digit phone number.
Of this Dartmouth development, Stephen Downes wrote about an article that
says students will be able to make long distance calls for free – but neither indicates what software is used and whether the institution is paying additional (and post-Skype, unnecessary) charges.
Nope, nope, and nope. Skype doesn’t make the telcos unnecessary at all. I think Stephen and the bazillion other people writing about Skype and Dartmouth are conflating computer-to-computer VoIP with real internet telephony.
Skype has made this conflation easier by appropriating telephone terminology (clever business move), but Skype’s VoIP is not Internet telephony. What the Dartmouth system has, that Skype does not, is an interface between the IP network and the dedicated circuit telephone network. This means at Dartmouth, in addition to computer-to-computer calls, you can place computer-to-telephone calls or telephone-to-computer calls. Mom can use her land-line to call you on your laptop (and vice versa). With Skype, both sides are tied to the computer (and a Windows computer at that) and limited to computer-to-computer calls. Because most people on the planet don’t have the luxury of making calls only to people sitting at a computer running Skype, Skype won’t make any significant dent in telephone usage.
At some point, to gain market, Skype needs to open a gateway between the IP network and the telephone network (which is apparently in the plans). At that point, I would lay bets that Skype ceases to be free and falls into pretty much the same realm as Net2Phone and DialPad. It’s only differentiators will be (a) it has a slightly higher geek quotient than equally free solutions like Microsoft NetMeeting through of the inclusion of P2P in the marketing hoopla and (b) the instant messaging-like interface piggybacks on a popular interface that millions of computer users are familiar with.
In the long run, I think it is the latter — the instant messaging-style interface for voice communication — that may prove to be Skype’s real innovation. Presence detection could be a significant improvement over the traditional telephone network.
Skype is far away from being a replacement for telephones — try using Skype to get kung pao chicken delivered from the local Chinese eatery if you don’t believe me. It’s not even a replacement for a system like the one Dartmouth is implementing.
Don’t throw away your telephones anytime soon.
Hi Greg, your points are definitely right on when it comes to the hype over skype in relation to the overall phone system. Personally, I was excited by Skype as a seemingly very good quality computer-to-computer voice over IP client. While you are right of course that Skype, or any product like it, would not touch the existing telcos until it interfaced with their networks and the regular phone thingies normal people use, a good quality voice chat program (i.e. one that doesn’t make every conversation feel like it’s taking place over CB radio) is not an insignificant development for business communications where lots of people are in fact tied to a computer. So maybe the hype is just haggis instead of tripe. No wait, that doesn’t rhyme…and doesn’t really even make sense. Cheers, Scott.
I’m one of those “bazillion other people” referred to in this entry that is covering Skype with fascination.
Skype has worked out really well so far in my business by allowing me to talk to my customers all over the world and provide some phone-based basic technical support for those overseas through Skype. I’ve learned of some things that don’t work well with Skype, but for a *beta* download, it is a very promising system to date.
The makers of Skype have said since the beginning, also, that they do plan to have some way of connecting with standard telephone numbers, so it’s not really a question of if but when.
Also, there isn’t any doubt that a pay model is going to be a part of things. It says that in the EULA. I suggested some possible pricing for those interested can hit my blog.
Anyone know if Skype comes with any spyware or adware? KaZaA (as opposed to KaZaA Lite) has such annoyances…. and Skype is from the folks at KaZaA, is it not?
What would make skype take off is if they come out with a reasonable priced 802.11 telephone handset that can log onto skype and large scale 802.11 networks in city areas also took off.
If you could make such a device similar in size to some of todays GSMs then you have a device that can in part replace some of the GSM usage, which is very expensive but none the less very prolific.
This situation could actually help promote 802.11 networks within homes as well, so that one could be easily reachable when visiting friends.
What makes this so different from say Yahoo Messenger, which allows me to share video and talk to other Yahoo IM users without having to pay anything now or in the future.
I mean I cn use my computer to chat (voice and video) right now with anyone else who has similar software running. What is the advantage of SKYPE over the software currently available now?
Skype big advantage comparing to the other VoIP programs I have used before , that Skype is REALY working. If your computer doesn’t have external ip or your internet connection is done trough firewalls and routers, You probably will get connection problems with other VoIP progs. I have tried different connection with Skype to the computers behind firewalls and routers, and amazingly- it works!
http://www.realtunnel.com offers a VoIP solution that supports all NAT/firewall configurations, but in contrast to Skype it supports standard SIP clients (currently Messenger and HotSIP. Other clients will also be supported later).
I agree Skype is a great advantage I use it without any problem which was often a case with some other VoIP programs. I tworks fine and the connection is always stable, almost up to the mark
Skype may be a good VoIP application, but comparing pne VoIP app to another VoIP app is really beside the point, because, in general, VoIP has been a spectacular failure as a mainstream communication medium.
Any VoIP implementation that lacks a gateway to the existing plain old telephone system (POTS) won’t even come close to competing with telephones or making per-minute telephone charges obsolete.
VoIP products will remain relegated to small or niche markets, until someone figures out a way to reliably, cheaply, and ubiquitously provide a quality gateway between IP and POTS.
What would make me sit up and take notice? A voice communication technology that lets me get rid of my phone and still talk to everyone who hasn’t gotten rid of theirs (and do so for less money than it would have cost me to keep my phone). Then you’ve got a revolution.
Until then, you’ve just got a fad.
Skype is the best!