On Mon, 7 Jan 2008 06:33:18 -0800 (PST), Funny NYPD wrote:

> Curious why not use skype? What's the pros and cons compare with other VOIP? 

I use Skype to speak to my girlfriend, who lives in New York.  It's remarkably liberating to have absolutely free calls, because you can just call for trivial things - to 
say you're nipping out into the garden so not to call for ten minutes - something you wouldn't do if you're paying, no matter how cheap.  We only use it via our PCs, 
so we're limited to one place in the house.  Cordless "Skype phones" are available, but we've never found the need for them.

The "chat window" is very handy, as you can send short notes when the other person isn't there, or URLs while you're discussing something that's on-line to show 
them what you mean, and you can send files too, but we've found that it's best to discontinue the voice call while a file transfer takes place, as otherwise it's 
horrendously slow.

As for reliability, I'd say it's *reasonably* reliable, but it does have its moments.  Broken or echoed sound is fairly common, and re-calling, usually in the opposite 
direction, usually clears it.  It's nowhere near reliable enough to replace POTS, in my opinion, and as well as the call-quality glitches, you are adding another failure 
point in the Internet link.

Cheers,




Howard Winter
St.Albans, England


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