what will be the impact of the recent outage on skype?
Over at Disruptive Telephony, Dan York writes about the impact of Skype’s recent massive log-in outage.
The seductive aspect of Skype is that it makes it very simple and easy to use the product. It has (at least for the moment) a massive directory of users. It has APIs that let it be readily integrated with other web sites and services. It’s easy to use… and I expect that probably many if not most users will simply go back to using it as they have always done once it comes back into full operation. People have short-term memories…
Certainly, Skype has become an infrastructure layer on the net, as so many services are built on top of it. It was interesting to see
how much functionality I was personally unable to use. Crazily, as I was still logged in to Skype through iSkoot on my cellphone, that was the only way I could gauge whether Skype was becoming available again. “Are my contacts there yet”. Skype’s prolonged unavailability also raises questions about reliability of such software, as it was not the service itself, but merely access to it that was disabled. Important to keep this in mind: it has convinced me, that adding a layer to control access to a VOIP service is not the way I wish to have my VOIP needs met. SIP based protocols are becoming more available now, and I consider that a good thing. Meanwhile, for my international telephony needs, I gladly trade add-ons and plug-ins for Rebtel’s elegant simplicity: assign local numbers to my contacts, call them using just my mobile phone, done. No web based software, no log-ins.
Ping this!
Andy says:
August 18th, 2007 at 8:53 am
While Skype was OUT, one of my business associates suggested another similar app - DAMAKA. (http://www.damaka.com). I downloaded it and we ave been using it since. We both like it a lot. Simple and easy to use, packed with a lot of features. I love the conferencing - the fact that I can do video conferencing (for free) is really cool. We were actually paying for VIDEO Conferencing from another company, but after we found damaka, we will save more than $45 per month. (Just on video alone). Really cool!!!
Make sure you go to their features page to see how they can save you money:
The website address is:
http://www.damaka.com
Andy
massimo says:
October 8th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
@Andy: nice advert! It’s called spam, you know
@Alex: ok, rebtel is simpler, more elegant and robust. I trust you on this. But: once I have transformed my mobile number in a fixed number in Italy and you have done the same to your mobile number in Sweden (?) why does calling you on your mobile-that-now-is-a-fixed-number still cost me nearly 10 Eurocents (0,098 €) a minute, when calling you on a “real” fixed line in Sweden would cost me only 1.3 cents (0,013 €)? Thanks, Massimo
Niclas says:
October 12th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Rebtel does not transform your actual numbers. Instead of making an international call to a Swedish fixed or mobile number you call a national call to an Italian number. Rebtel then redirects the call to the “real†Swedish mobile or fixed phone. Unfortunately, the cost for terminating calls to Swedish mobiles is quite high (even for national calls within Sweden)
Best regards
Niclas
Rebtel Customer Team
Massimo Moruzzi says:
October 15th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
Thanks Niclas. So from this point of view, it’s like with Skype - or with any other VoIP service, for the matter. What matters is not where you call from, but where you make your call TO - which country, and mobile or fixed.