Skype might sound suspicously like “hype”, but it promises to offer PC to PC voice communication for free. Unlike KaZaA it doesn’t come with spyware and is 100% ad-free. Are voice conversations over Skype secure? They say yes, it has “secure and encrypted communications.” I downloaded, registered and am ready to test to see how it sounds with a broadband DSL. Their comparison chart says the sound quality is “better than phones.” We’ll see. If you want to look for me, my handle is “TDavid” and I will have it turned on most of today as a test. “Ring” me and say hello

So where are they making — or going to make — money to pay for future development and server resources? What’s the catch? The FAQ offers a clue: During the beta period Skype is free and helps us to refine and improve our product. Eventually, some features and services of Skype will require a paid subscription or prepayment. Our ambition is to keep the basic functionality of Skype (PC to PC calls) free. More information will be provided once our beta program is complete. In other words: we’ll see how popular it is and then make a pricing decision.

<b>Update</b> Have talked to a few folks and this is pretty slick and definitely the best sounding of any of the voiceIP technologies that we’ve ever tried out. Totally blows away net2phone.

Did this post make you go hmm?

 Loading ...