I’ve been playing around the last week with Skype, the free P2P VoIP service from the people who brought KaZaA to the Internet. While it is not nearly as good in sound quality as Vonage or iConnectHere has proven to be, it is Free.
As a result, I tend to look at Skype at this time as simply another voice chat program similarly to what is available inside the leading Instant Messaging tools. In some cases, it’s not as good, yet. Until there is QoS built in at the P2P level, Skype really is only geared for people who won’t or can’t pay for phone service. When I compare it to Free World Dial Up or SipPhone it’s not nearly as clear in call quality. But somehow, I expect that to change for the better as Skype rolls out some premium (i.e. pay for) services.
But as an adult who can afford to pay for things, it sometimes clouds the understanding of the vision. Taking the blinders off means that I also expect that Skype will take/has taken a major roll in college “on campus” communications. Just like P2P download tools allowed the students to get free music, for a college kid on an allowance or working for minimum wage, being able to save money on a monthly cell phone bill will start to hit the wireless companies on the balance sheets. Within a college network, there is little server switching or jitter. Latency is reduced and bandwidth is pretty constant. Why else would the Telco managers of major colleges be looking at VoIP as a PSTN replacement? If their network will be good enough for Enterprise grade VoIP, it has to be good enough for Skype.
With Skype and a WiFi card and a headset, being on campus, in a broadband enabled dorm room or even in a student activities center that has been turned into a hotspot means the students can communicate without having to pay for minutes or SMS’. As more powerful PDA’s come on line with 802.11b capability, and as a Skype client reaches that level it will really change things.
So, while the wireless companies are busy trying to get customers to switch, Skype may just be where some of the minutes and money gets switched to.
That said, it is a cool application and one that allows people to stay connected….
I’m off to Las Vegas…
Andy Abramson
If you want to learn more about Skype, read the Business Week article.