Skype vs the world

The on-line worlds attention seems to be on Skype Beta 3 at the moment which is good news for Ebay Skypes owners and while the recent update is probably more to do with bringing Skype into the Ebay family then providing end user benefits (see our brief review here) it does mean Skype is now a very stable mature product. But is it any good at internet telephony?

Its not the cheapest, and most would say its not the most scalable it success has mainly been down to its ease of use and simplicity then any technological benefit. So with the praising over what do you do if you want to use Skype for more then say cheap calls to aunty Doris, can you run a business using Skype?

Before we answer our own question lets look at what different businesses need, lets start with the one or two man bands, maybe an on-line company that takes calls between 9-5 Monday to Friday and makes calls to clients. Skype is already suited to such clients using Skypein and Skypeout services they gain the benefits of cheap calls and their clients can get hold of them on a regular line so all is good then, they could gain some benefits of using programs like voxlib to make calls through their Skype connection on their mobiles. Alternatively they could use a service like ORB to manage voice mails directly to email (a use for that GMail or Google Hosted Account) when making sales pitches or other presentations Convenos maybe of some use for collaboration. So for a small business of 1 or two employees using the line it is a great way to communicate their are cheaper alternatives out their and more open alternatives using SIP standards but Skype is fine for those businesses.

What about larger businesses those with multiple lines in? Could Skype work here as well?
The biggest problem for Skype is its client luckily Skype have produced an API which the above tools use, Skypemate another plugin can be used to help run a collection of phones that sit on a traditional internal wiring network see this Linux journal article on how to do this. This I should point out is not for the feint hearted though is aimed at a home rather then a business, it is time then to look at alternatives and one obvious springs to mind Asterisk PBX and SIP protocol. I will save going into depths of Asterisk for another day and point you to the Nerd Vittles site to get you started, Asterisk is pretty straight forward to set-up particularly on Linux where binaries are available for most distros and hardware including wireless routers via OpenWRT and a recent Hak.5 video included a demonstration of Asterisk in use.

• Why use SIP over Skype, well its an open standard supported by major companies
• Their are a lot of providers out their and competition drives down prices
• Scalable1 phone or 100’s of phones its up to you
• Some Providers such as VoipTalk (UK) have gotten around NAT issues no longer will you confuse your Starbucks barrista with strange Techno babble.

So to sum up Skype is great, we use it but we also use a VOIP provider for outgoing calls and if you can’t see a reason to swap that’s ok but if you been struggling to expand Skype or what greater freedom with your calls then maybe give SIP a go and Asterisk is a great free way to go.

Other Articles on the Venture Skills Network about Skype
Skype 3 Beta - Skype 3 Beta any good?
Skypecast Consulting - Skypecast consultations a good idea?
Skypecast this Friday!  Promoting yourself online - Our Second Skypecast Details
Like what you see try these articles on the Venture Skills Network
Information mining the social way - Using del.icio.us to mine your competitors
What’s the future for Google Hosted Applications - Is the future Bright?

Subscribe to The Venture Skills Blog by Email

Spread it: del.icio.us | digg it | reddit

---