03.30.04

Skype Internet Telephony

Posted in Science and Technology at 12:00 am by Jeff

Skype is a peer-to-peer internet telephony application developed by the makers of KaZaA. The Skype website describes the product thus:

Skype is free and simple software that will enable you to make free calls anywhere in the world in minutes. Skype, created by the people who brought you KaZaA, uses innovative P2P (peer-to-peer) technology to connect you with other Skype users. If you are tired of paying outrageous fees for telephony, Skype is for you!

If you are familiar with AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Windows Messenger or ICQ then Skype will seem very familiar to you. The application allows for standard instant messaging, but the main feature is high-quality voice telephony.

Even though it has been around for a while, there has been a recent buzz regarding VOIP (Voice over IP) technology. This technology uses the public internet for routing phone calls, helping users to save costs over using a standard POTS (Plain-old-telephone-system) phone. Unfortunately, VOIP has not delivered on its promises.

Internet-based telephony–Voice-over-IP–(VoIP) has been around for years but has not reached the mainstream market. The reasons for this are quite clear to those of us who have tried VoIP software:

• Products which have a true cost-saving advantage over standard telephones do not have comparable quality.
• Call-completion rates are very low due to firewalls and the use of Network Address Translation (which renders over 50% of residential computers unable to communicate with traditional VoIP software).
• The User Interface is typically bloated and requires substantial configuration and technical skills.

Skype technology solves all of these problems. The price is amazing (free, though added services will come for a fee) and the quality is stunning. I have been using Skype to communicate with my office from home. You can purchase special hardware from the Skype website but the product works fine with the built-in microphone and speakers on my Dell Inspiron 8100. There is no noticable latency in the call and the quality easily surpasses that of the best cellular phone. As if all this wasn’t enough, the latest version of Skype includes free tele-conferencing for up to 5 simultaneous users.

The banner on the Skype homepage sums it up well: “Skype(TM) is Free Internet Telephony that Just Works”

Download it: http://www.skype.com/download.html
Learn more: http://www.skype.com/skype.html
Tell a friend: http://www.skype.com/skype_tellafriend.html
For Geeks Only!: http://www.skype.com/skype_p2pexplained.html

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