anyone try Skype vs. Yahoo VOIP? Which do you prefer and why?

[phatj]

im a poor college student so these services seem kcikass. Which one is better? Similar prices...

 

[phatj]

another bumperoo

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: phatj
im a poor college student so these services seem kcikass. Which one is better? Similar prices...

For what type of calls?

VOIP to VOIP or VOIP to landlines?

 

[funboy6942]

If it matters, I have not tried Yahoo, but I have had Skype. I never did pc to pc but made a ton of calls all the time from pc to landline and cell phones for 6 months while the free offer was going on. For $14.95 for a years worth of unlimited calling, Im paying that later today. Never tried Yahoo but for 6 months I never had a droped call, and never had one person say they couldnt hear or understand me. I hate ebay, but I like cheap long distance so its a damned if I do, damned if I dont situation. I dont think yahoo is offering a $14.95 for a year of unlimited so Im just going to stick with Skype. They offer a free shot to try, I will, and if they are good and offer the same plan, next year I will switch because I hate ebay, but till them here is my shameless Skype plug.

OH and I dont use a stupid Ipphone either, just a Logitech gaming headset is all and my sound card input.

 

[phatj]

sorry... VOIP to landlines and to cell phones... also phone in's

 

[randomlinh]

is it just me or is yahoo's phone in very limited in number selection? If you make a lot of calls, skype seems like a better deal. And they are pretty much proven provided your upstream is clean (well, that's a given requirement for VOIP regardless).

 

[phatj]

anyone else? Rossman?

 

[keeleysam]

Skype, it sounds MUCH better and there is less lag.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: keeleysam
Skype, it sounds MUCH better and there is less lag.

You speaking from first hand use of the products or just trying to increase your post count?

I have never expericed any discernable lagg using yahoo VOIP....

 

[WW]

with calling cards and services like http://www.onesuite.com/ charging 2.5 cents a minute, is it worth the hassle? how much and where are you calling

 

[keeleysam]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda

Originally posted by: keeleysam
Skype, it sounds MUCH better and there is less lag.

You speaking from first hand use of the products or just trying to increase your post count?

I have never expericed any discernable lagg using yahoo VOIP....

First hand expenince, and no, I'm not an intogamer-style neffer.

I've tested multiple VOIP systems for a business use, and Skype ended up being the best overall. iChat was really the best, but it's Mac only. Skype uses the highest bitrates and codecs, and the UI seems to be liked by most.

Skype being ad free is the kicker.

 

[phatj]

Originally posted by: WW
with calling cards and services like http://www.onesuite.com/ charging 2.5 cents a minute, is it worth the hassle? how much and where are you calling

hmmm that's intriguing; the only negative would be having to call a 1800 # and entering a pin every time u want to make a phone call...

I'd probably use ~300 minutes/month... just calling in the CONUSA

 

[funboy6942]

Well I just paid $14.95 for UNLIMITED calls for a year with skypeout. Starting Feb it doubles to $29.95. As soon as I can afford to do it Im going to get their unlimited skypein for $40 for the year as well. Cannot beat $54 total for in and out calls, including long distance, for a years worth of telephone service. Cannot call 911 through it but hey a cell phone will do that and it doesnt even need to have service turned on to make E911 calls from it, so Im set soon to turn off my home phone completely.

 

[Rumpltzer]

Originally posted by: phatj

Originally posted by: WW
with calling cards and services like http://www.onesuite.com/ charging 2.5 cents a minute, is it worth the hassle? how much and where are you calling

hmmm that's intriguing; the only negative would be having to call a 1800 # and entering a pin every time u want to make a phone call...

I'd probably use ~300 minutes/month... just calling in the CONUSA

The $15 for a year of Skype is pretty outstanding.

I make about 1000 minutes of international calls a month, and I use calling cards. I'm here to address your complaint about having to call an 800-number and then enter a pin when using a calling card. I use cards from 1stphonecard.com and they have a pin-skipping feature.

I tell the Web site my mobile phone and home phone numbers. When I call from those numbers I don't have to enter a pin. I can also set it up so my sisters can use the same calling card by entering their mobile phone numbers into the pin skipping feature. This only gets around having to enter the pin. I still have to call a local exchange and then dial the number I want to call, but I have it all set up in my mobile phone to auto-dial the local exchange and even the most commonly called numbers.

Good luck!

 

[phatj]

Originally posted by: Rumpltzer

Originally posted by: phatj

Originally posted by: WW
with calling cards and services like http://www.onesuite.com/ charging 2.5 cents a minute, is it worth the hassle? how much and where are you calling

hmmm that's intriguing; the only negative would be having to call a 1800 # and entering a pin every time u want to make a phone call...

I'd probably use ~300 minutes/month... just calling in the CONUSA

The $15 for a year of Skype is pretty outstanding.

I make about 1000 minutes of international calls a month, and I use calling cards. I'm here to address your complaint about having to call an 800-number and then enter a pin when using a calling card. I use cards from 1stphonecard.com and they have a pin-skipping feature.

I tell the Web site my mobile phone and home phone numbers. When I call from those numbers I don't have to enter a pin. I can also set it up so my sisters can use the same calling card by entering their mobile phone numbers into the pin skipping feature. This only gets around having to enter the pin. I still have to call a local exchange and then dial the number I want to call, but I have it all set up in my mobile phone to auto-dial the local exchange and even the most commonly called numbers.

Good luck!

rump, if i use a calling card w/ my cell phone, will my cell phone provider still charge me for minutes I've used to connect to the calling card company?

 

[Rumpltzer]

Originally posted by: phatj

Originally posted by: Rumpltzer

Originally posted by: phatj

Originally posted by: WW
with calling cards and services like http://www.onesuite.com/ charging 2.5 cents a minute, is it worth the hassle? how much and where are you calling

hmmm that's intriguing; the only negative would be having to call a 1800 # and entering a pin every time u want to make a phone call...

I'd probably use ~300 minutes/month... just calling in the CONUSA

The $15 for a year of Skype is pretty outstanding.

I make about 1000 minutes of international calls a month, and I use calling cards. I'm here to address your complaint about having to call an 800-number and then enter a pin when using a calling card. I use cards from 1stphonecard.com and they have a pin-skipping feature.

I tell the Web site my mobile phone and home phone numbers. When I call from those numbers I don't have to enter a pin. I can also set it up so my sisters can use the same calling card by entering their mobile phone numbers into the pin skipping feature. This only gets around having to enter the pin. I still have to call a local exchange and then dial the number I want to call, but I have it all set up in my mobile phone to auto-dial the local exchange and even the most commonly called numbers.

Good luck!

rump, if i use a calling card w/ my cell phone, will my cell phone provider still charge me for minutes I've used to connect to the calling card company?

You'll definitely eat into your mobile phone minutes. I have a 1200 minute plan (I use them all), and I also use like 2000+ night and weekend minutes every month. My point in talking about the calling card was to let you know about the pin skipping thing...


I'm not sure there's a better deal right now than the Skype offer. Too bad it's not still free, huh?

 

[walkure]

I used Skype several times in the last couple months with ZERO problems, in fact I loved it, for calls to land lines and cell phones from my PC using a cheap headset plugged in my mobo's microphone jack.

Now that it's a pay service, I haven't touched it.

Any other free alternatives out there? $14.95 for a whole year of calls is very good, but if there's a free option, I'm all ears... thanks

 

[funboy6942]

Originally posted by: walkure
I used Skype several times in the last couple months with ZERO problems, in fact I loved it, for calls to land lines and cell phones from my PC using a cheap headset plugged in my mobo's microphone jack.

Now that it's a pay service, I haven't touched it.

Any other free alternatives out there? $14.95 for a whole year of calls is very good, but if there's a free option, I'm all ears... thanks

I have checked and tried all the free service I could find, they all suck ass. One was even doing something when the computer was at idle. My HD light would come on and my pc went into slow motion. The status stuff showed my cpu was at 100% and my mem was at a staggering 2 gig (I have but 1 gig installed), and it was the one program causing that trouble. Id shut it down, hd light go off, cpu go back to zero, and mem back to around 500mb.

The other ones I would make some calls and the other part kept asking me to repete myself for it was always messing up. I went ahead and paid the $14.95 for a years service with skype. It comes out to almost free and it works. The others just plain old dont and more headache then anything even though they are free.

Gizmo
Voipbuster
For the life of me I cannot remember which one of the two was using up all my resources so use at your own risk but they both suck, you will go running back to Skype afterwards.

Oh yeah and as far as FREE service goes, this was all I could find for free that didnt look to be a scam, at the time.

 

[RossMAN]

Trust me Skype is the best and their 50% off offer expires TODAY 1/31/2007.

http://www.skype.com/products/skypeout/

Unlimited outgoing calls within the USA/Canada for $14.95/yr - no one can beat that.

 

[FoBoT]

i use skype

i couldn't get the $14.95 to work, it appeared that since i had a current skype out balance , it didn't give me the $14.95, it left it at $29.95 , so i decided i can just wait until i use up my $ and then buy more. i don't use much skype out anyway

 

[randomlinh]

i had a balance of $0.20 and it let me get it (yes, I went ahead and got it )

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: randomlinh
i had a balance of $0.20 and it let me get it (yes, I went ahead and got it )

Good to know

 

[phatj]

so i subscribed to skype and i really like it. i bought a linksys cit200 cordless phone to go along with it. Total cost was $55(phone) + $15(skype) = $70 for a year of phone service! That's awesome.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: phatj
so i subscribed to skype and i really like it. i bought a linksys cit200 cordless phone to go along with it. Total cost was $55(phone) + $15(skype) = $70 for a year of phone service! That's awesome.

Do you have a PC headset?