


Skype Start-Up To Undercut International Wireless 103
Mob-Money wrote to mention a Boston Globe article describing a Skype-based startup that is set to undercut the exorbitant fees wireless companies charge for international calls. From the article: "Through a $10-a-year software rental that goes on sale today, iSkoot promises to let people make international calls to other Skype users for nothing more than the price of local air time for the link from their cellphones to their broadband-connected home computers. Just as Internet phone technology has slashed the price of making conventional landline long-distance calls and enabled unlimited calling for as little as $20 a month, the iSkoot technology could put pressure on still-exorbitant wireless international calling charges."
the logo... (Score:1)
You can only call Skype users? (Score:1)
Note to VoIP droolers, the shit ain't going to work until you're *all* using the same protocols, and it interoperates seamlessly with POTS.
Paying 10 bucks to call skype, 10 to call this, 10 to call that.. It'd add up pretty quick. And the Bells have plenty of room to slash prices if they feel the need to.
Re:You can only call Skype users? (Score:1)
With iSkoot, You Can Now Make and Receive FREE Phone Calls with Any Cell Phone Through Skype
from the article (aka RTFA)
Making outbound calls is a little more complicated. After registering the cellphone number with iSkoot, the user creates and sends a text message to the e-mail address dial@iskoot.com. The text message can contain either a phone number, a Skype speed-dial number, or a screen name for someone in the user's Skype ''buddy list."
Re:You can only call Skype users? (Score:2)
Basically, if you want a totally free VoIP solution, y
Re:You can only call Skype users? (Score:2)
Now here's a different question... now that more people are getting VOIP and have SIP devices on their home networks (e.g. all Vonage users), can I place a call to them from my laptop, by connecting to their SIP device over IP? This would bypass the POTS network and the VOIP "provider" (e.g. Vonage) entirely.
In case you're wondering why anybody would want to do this, I'm a business tra
Re:You can only call Skype users? (Score:2)
Why not just add Vonage's softphone? Then you can call a landline; don't know if you can call you're own Vonage number.
OTOH, some hotels that offer internet access include free long distance in the mix - such as Marriott.
Re:You can only call Skype users? (Score:2)
Besides, Vonage is a POTS-to-IP bridge. There's no need for such a thing if I'm calling from my laptop to my home network - it's pure IP, and there should be no need for Vonage to have anything to do with the call.
Re:You can only call Skype users? (Score:1, Interesting)
Then get Asterisk. Hook Asterisk to BroadVoice and then call your Asterisk box from the cell phone and if you signed up for the $20 plan, you can call pretty much anywhere in the world from your cell for the price of a local call.
Been doing it for months and it works like a charm. Plus of course, hook your regular phone up at home and its totally free when you're in the house too!
Re:You can only call Skype users? (Score:1)
Re:You can only call Skype users? (Score:2)
VoIP 2 local exchange works great, in my experience. I subscribe to Skype to make calls to fixed lines and mobiles regularly. Great call quality and consistently good reliability.
To make cheap international calls I use 'calling cards'. These guys use a variety of technologies. One of my favourites (due to cheapness and consistent reliability) have used a mishmash of VOIP for at least 5 years. Here's how it works: you buy a calling card (like a phone card), call a l
Re:You can only call Skype users? (Score:2)
i spent most of last year in a uni block where you had to use a university supplied card (no they wouldn't let you direct dial the 0800 access numbers for other cards for some reason) to make all calls. I switched to voip on my laptop simply because i could direct-dial that way.
Re:You can only call Skype users? (Score:2)
Re:You can only call Skype users? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:You can only call Skype users? (Score:1)
iSkoot (Score:1)
http://www.iskoot.com/ [iskoot.com]
Re:iSkoot (Score:2)
Is it me, or does this software not sound like much of anything?
What we know:
1. It connects skype to you phone. Sort of
2. It will at some un named date in the future provide you with msn, aim, and yim, which most cell phones these days can do anyway.
3. According to this [iskoot.com] you should be able to make long distance calls for a fraction of a penny. Nice feature, but they don't really explain what they're doing with it, or how it actually works. Do you think that's too much to ask from a page
Twiddling Our Thumbs (Score:2)
What else are they going to do? If it becomes successful look for iSkoot to be bought out quickly.
Wait for the hand-wringers ... (Score:1)
Reminds me of the V. Postrel book "The Future and Its Enemies" -- it's always nice to see things like this where the Enemies are temporarily set back
timothy
Ignore the hand-wringers ... (Score:1)
Don't worry, they already have a blanket tap on you without a warrent if you're in the US, no matter if you use the Net (IP address, roaming taps are ok), cell phones (it's got an ID for your phone, and it broadcasts unless you turn it off, even when not ringing), land line (any phones you have had anything to do with, including phoning them), and payphones (ditto).
Just another Homeland Insecurity service for you who live in Fe
Re:Wait for the hand-wringers ... (Score:1)
There's no such thing as "International 911" -- it's just that it seems with any telecom method even semi-similar to conventional POTS service, everyone gets up in arms about it not supporting 911 in exactly the same way (or at all) that the old conventional system has evolved to use it.
911 is an interesting, positive thing for the most part, but it's far from a birthright, and shouldn't be the basis on which new means of communication are applauded or rejected. That's all I meant
tim
Re:Wait for the hand-wringers ... (Score:1)
000 in Australia.
Re:ATTENTION JANITORS: (Score:2)
Apple... (Score:1)
*ducks*
Re:Apple... (Score:1)
Crigley (Score:1)
price is not right (Score:2)
Note that behind the scene, many carriers use voip and toll free number call charge in USA, is only 2 cents a minute. So most companies like skype,
Re:price is not right (Score:2)
First of all reliance is not cheap. 13 cents per minute. Onesuite is also not cheap (ranging from 2 to 14 cents per minute).
Skye is... say it with me: FREE.
Also this is totally different than using some cheap long distance carrier. This is usin
Re:price is not right (Score:2)
Out of curiosity, which company is this? Is it a raw provider of long distance over voip, or a Vonage-like company?
Re:price is not right (Score:2)
Here in the UK, there's a company offering much better. You can use your network bundled minutes on your mobile phone to call a gateway, which then allows you to dial out globally. All for the cost of a local call, which (if I'm within my bundle limit) is completely free.
Any new startup looking to make money out of voice calls really should look into their competi
Re:price is not right (Score:1)
get a calling card (Score:2)
No need to waste time, money, or electricity on a complicated software/hardware/broadband setup.
Re:get a calling card (Score:1)
Exactly (Score:2)
Re:800 numbers cost airtime (Score:2)
That's total bullshit: the calling card company is just a local phone number as far as the cell phone company is concerned (if you take the local number option), and the calling card company doesn't care where you call from. The rate is no different from that of making a local phone call--that is, it is as low or
Wow (Score:1)
Its an interesting idea, but a little too early to be taken seriously.
Can already do it for free on Yahoo Messenger (Score:1)
And since my laptop has very good speakers and a reasonable microphone, plus there are tons of free wireless outlets in my neighborhood, can't get much cheaper than that
Uh. I already do this for less... (Score:2)
I use cognicall. No monthly fee, 800 access number (so for me it only costs me minutes btw 6a-7p M-F), and 10c/min calls to the UK. Not the absolute cheapest rates around, but they're convenient and good enough.
Cognicall also has plenty of international access numbers, so it works in reverse when I'm traveling with a pay-as-you-go mobile, or from a regular payphone.
The good thing about cognicall is they'll pre-authorise your cell number, so you don't have to enter
Re:Uh. I already do this for less... (Score:2)
Also, not every cognicall user does this, which reduces the set even further. But yeah, it's not good security. It relies mostly on obscurity - and even once you know about it, it's pretty worthless unless you also know the # of an existing, authorised DID subscriber.
Damn... (Score:1)
Re:Damn... (Score:1)
Making outbound calls is a little more complicated. After registering the cellphone number with iSkoot, the user creates and sends a text message to the e-mail address dial@iskoot.com. The text message can contain either a phone number, a Skype speed-dial number, or a screen name for someone in the user's Skype ''buddy list."
Re:Damn... (Score:1)
Do I smell a [Law] suite here...? (Score:2)
Re:Do I smell a [Law] suite here...? (Score:2)
might want to look up what suite means.
Re:Do I smell a [Law] suite here...? (Score:2)
Re:Do I smell a [Law] suite here...? (Score:1)
Err, have you tried Skype? The sound quality exceeds that of regular phones. So Skype is unlikely to be the weak link in the chain in terms of quality. JP
Re:Do I smell a [Law] suite here...? (Score:2)
good luck making money on that (Score:1)
What exactly is the difference (Score:1)
Re:What exactly is the difference (Score:2)
Re:What exactly is the difference (Score:2)
Skype protocol (Score:3, Interesting)
What we need is an open source protocol that works just as well. Skype is a great protocol, but it is *not* the way to go forward. Come on guys, it can not be that hard to send (encrypted) voice over UDP. Let's create a nice, extendible (video etc) protocol that uses UDP - at least for the data channels.
Re:Skype protocol / SIP (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Skype protocol / SIP (Score:1)
So. Every software company that does not produce open source software is "Microsoft in the making". Yep. Right. You got it.
Re:Skype protocol (Score:2)
I can't recommend it enough.
Re:Skype protocol (Score:2)
Re:Skype protocol (Score:2)
I use the danish musimi.dk for interfacing POTS's. I can call my own number from a cell phone, get a dialtone, and call another SIP-phone for free (except the cell phone charge) or make a 3c/minute international call.
Denmark do not have local calls (or you could say that all calls are local, but no PSTN calls are free), so there is no reason to waste money on your own PSTN line.
You can also have PSTN-numbers in different countries for the same SIP-phone. I.e. I
Legal beat-down approaching ... (Score:2)
That sounds like an ominous threat. I'm sure that the various incumbent carriers will find a way to twist the legal system and stomp this one into the ground.
Consider Vonage, which offered an excellent alternative to the pork- and tax-laden telco's in the US, until said
Re:Legal beat-down approaching ... (Score:2)
You make the terrible mistake of assuming that internet access in the public schools equates with learning. When I went to school, the only computers were in one classroom, and they were used for the computer programming classes. We got along just fine writing our
Seems kind of clunky to me... (Score:1)
No Thanks! (Score:2)
So you have to:
1. Get a land phone line.
2. Rent this software at $10/yr.
3. Leave a Windows computer always running at home.
So that you can pay a little more for international calls than you currently pay with a calling card.
Uh, no thanks!
Why do people come up with dumb dumb business ideas and actually follow through on them?
Calling from expensive countries... (Score:2)
At the same time, if you are calling from a comparatively expensive phone market to a comparably inexpensive phone market, say from China to San Francisco, this service creates significant value. Here in Beijing, it costs me US 50 cents per minute to call the US on my mobile and ~2 center per minute through VoIP. Is saving 48 cents per minut
Proudly Serving His Corparate Masters? (Score:1)
Re:Proudly Serving His Corparate Masters? (Score:1)
Another reason why Wireless Walled Gardens Fall (Score:2)
Roll your own (Score:2)
the Skype API to allow you to call your Skype-in number and then dial Skype-out using your cellphone keypad would quickly replace this service. Of course for those who have Asterisk running connecting to a VOIP provider, it's just a matter of changing some configuration files to make this work, but a lot more people use Skype than Asterisk.
slashdotted (Score:2)
Where is the news ? (Score:2)
There is nothing new about it, apart from it using a proprietary protocol, rather than the free and open SIP protocol.
Re: (Score:1)
Wow, Cringely business spin off. (Score:1)
Can you hear me now?? what?? hello?? you still.. (Score:2)
Not really a new idea - (Score:2)
Vonage and other Voip providers could do something similar - they could enable remote three way calling - you call your Voip # from a cell phone, enter an access could and get a dialout line - which you use to call overseas at the going rate. The down side is then Voip becomes a target for peopel to gain acces
Don't pay for SkypeOut! (Score:1)