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Speak_Freely_ _Voice Over IP_Taking_Root
| Speak Freely - Voice-Over-IP Taking Root
Years ago, I tried to convince my parents, who lived about three
hours away from me, to install a program called PGPfone on their
computer so they could call me online for free (as a bonus, it
was encrypted, so nobody could eavesdrop on their lecturing me
about school and work!); but this was in the days of dialup
access, and it was too complicated or something.
But it did allow me to look a decade or so into the future and
see the Internet merging with and taking over traditional
technologies like phone service. That's finally starting to
happen, now that broadband for the masses is a reality, and one
little company stands poised to make it huge.
In 2003, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, better known as the
founders of the wildly-popular peer-to-peer file sharing system
called KaZaA, created Skype, the Global Internet Telephone
Company. Based in Luxembourg, the Skype Group's website
(http://www.skype.com) states that their client program has been
downloaded over 100 million times and the company's website
ticks the number of minutes served -- over 8 BILLION and
counting.
How Does It Work?
At the most basic level, you download the free Skype program,
which most resembles a chat program like iChat or AIM. You can
even use it to type back and forth if that's your thing. You set
up an account at the Skype website where you can maintain
profile information, preferences and contact lists. It even
stores your chat transcripts in your account online so that you
can access that important website link your boss sent you while
you were home when you get to the office the next day. Yahoo!
could take a lesson.
The real beauty of Skype is when you connect with another Skype
user and talk with them as if they were sitting next to you. I
was blown away by the quality and ease of use the first time I
used it here at Cafe ID (http://www.cafeid.com) to talk to one
of our programmers in Eastern Europe. You set up contact lists
and making calls is as simple as initiating a chat in a lesser
program.
You can also use your Skype program to call normal phones
anywhere in the world simply by depositing money into an account
and dialing the numbers. SkypeOut Calls are billed based on
their destination. For example, if you're in China, and you want
to call the U.S., you pay the low U.S. rate, but if you're in
South Carolina and you want to call China, you pay a higher
rate. Skype has blessed large portions of the globe -- the
continental U.S. and Canada, Western Europe and Australia --
with a low (roughly $.02/minute) Global Rate. Other destinations
are more expensive, as is calling mobile telephones. The most
expensive rate is $1.17/minute to -- you guessed it! East Timor.
Two new features are in the works, as well. SkypeIn is a service
that allows you to set yourself up with a Skype phone number
where the technological laggards can reach you. It doesn't
matter where you are, as long as you're logged into Skype,
you're at your phone number. This is an invaluable service for
business travelers who go places in which their cellphones don't
know they're in the world. The other new service is Skype
Voicemail. It, of course, works like your traditional voicemail
system, but stores your messages online where you can retrieve
them at any point.
What Do You Need?
Not much. It doesn't take broadband to carry decent-sounding
voice traffic -- a 33.6 Kbps dialup connection is fast enough.
The Skype site states that you need a PC running Windows 2000 or
XP, at least a 400 MHz processor and 128 MB RAM, 15 MB free disk
space on your hard drive, a Sound Card, speakers and microphone.
The Skype program is free, and is available for Windows, Mac OS
X, Linux and even PocketPC devices. To use Skype to call normal
phones, you'll have to put money in your account.
If you have those things, you're set. A good speaker and
microphone combination goes a long way toward making your Skype
experience more enjoyable. Better still is a nice comfortable
headset with a boom mic. It doesn't take much tinkering to get
your setup performing well, and once you do, the conversations
are crisp and clear, with a presence you really don't find in a
normal phone call.
Are There Drawbacks?
Not really. I'm sure some of you groaned when I mentioned that
the company was started by the founders of KaZaA, the notorious
peer-to-peer file sharing program that relied on advertising for
its revenue and became an enemy of the anti-spyware effort. But
Skype is different. Skype plans to earn money through services
like SkypeOut and by offering value-added services to
businesses. According to its founder, viral marketing drives
awareness of the product. Zennstrom points out that "If we had
adware in Skype, it would kind of be counterproductive to our
business model."
For viral marketing to work, he continued, "you need to gain
trust of end users... If there is a bunch of adware in the
software, you probably don't recommend it to friends and family."
As a practical example, we're super-paranoid about spyware and
adware at our office. We've had Skype installed on our machines
for months, and haven't seen anything out of order yet. Skype is
going out of its way to appeal to business users, and the
company seems intent on doing things the right way with regard
to privacy and security. Calls are digitally encrypted and Skype
has a stout privacy policy. Three cheers for that bit of news.
What Next?
Who can say? Zennstrom and Friis both seem proud to be purveyors
of what they have termed "disruptive technology." That sounds
like it could be a bad thing; but in reality, what's being
disrupted is a stale status quo in desperate need of disrupting.
Most local phone companies are a monopoly in the regions they
serve and are only now beginning to face competition. Cable
companies like Time-Warner want a piece of the VoIP action, and
deals are popping up everywhere.
We're pulling for the friendly little Luxembourg company,
however, to change the face of not just Internet telephony, but
of all sorts of person-to-person direct communication. They want
you to tell your friends, family and coworkers to treat
themselves to Skype and spread the word by cheerful praise. It
seems far-fetched to talk about talk about that in the same
sentence with your telephone service provider; but that's the
point here. Once in a while a company comes along with an idea
that changes the world, and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if
this wasn't one of those times.
About the author:
Trevor Bauknight is a web designer and writer with over 15 years
of experience on the Internet. He specializes in the creation
and maintenance of business and personal identity online and can
be reached at trevor@tryid.com. Stop by CafeID.com for a free tryout of
the revolutionary SiteBuildingSystem and check out our
Flash-based website and IMAP e-mail hosting solutions, complete
with live support.
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